Archives for November 2013

Weddings and More Weddings

November 29, 2013 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

I had such a strange conversation with an old friend/colleague last night. It was the night before he’s set to marry his longtime love and the tone of the conversation really put me in a somber mood. Well, not to go into detail but the topic has something to do with growing up and moving on. I’ve been feeling old these past few days and this particular conversation resonated with my conflicted feelings over “growing up”. It’s not that I refuse to grow up it’s just that I’ve been feeling quite melancholic lately about all the things I lost.

Meh. Anyway, I went to a couple of weddings this month and it was quite a thrill since I love dressing up. I have been driving the boyf bonkers with all the fussing over the makeup, the shoes, the dress blah, blah, blah. I love every moment of it, if not for the fact that I am forced to socialize with other people. I’m socially awkward, I hate all the small talks man.

Wedding number 1 was for the boyf’s friend. I couldn’t find a good dress so I wore a blue number I keep for such moments. I bought this a couple of years ago and it still fits me. The shameless selfie on the 5th photo is to show my makeup, I thought I did a fine job at it considering I messed the eye makeup really bad. I had to redo it, hahahaha!

Wedding number 2 is something I am totally excited about because it’s my longtime friend, Beni, getting married to Ila. I’ve known both couple since I started working at iWeb and I have seen their romance “blossom” into what it is now 😀 I picked up a blush number by Dorothy Perkins and while it’s a bit ill-fitting around the shoulder area (I have mutant huge shoulders), I like the overall pa-demure effect of the dress. I paired it with a nude Aldo heels which totally punished my feet but it’s okay, I felt taller than my boyfriend, hahaha!

My only regret is I never got a decent outfit picture, it’s shallow I know. But I rarely wear dresses and I feel like I should document each moment because my grandkids need to know their nana wasn’t that much of a fashion trainwreck!

I got the chance to catch up with old friends at Beni and Ila’s wedding. It made me miss everything we had and sorta made me feel old (again!). Everyone’s off busy doing their thing and over the years, we lost touch. But moments like these remind us why our group simply “clicked” to begin with.

Anyhoo, my dear Beni has grown up *tears* and he looked quite dashing! To me, he’ll always be the guy I exchange dick jokes with, the one that hides from everyone (me) to eat his dark chocolate in peace (because he knows I’d like to break off a piece of that) and the guy who totally captured Paeng’s heart (his real better half as far as we’re concerned!), hahahaha! the guy’s the pork to my chop, what can I say?

Gosh, I hate missing everyone.

Pushing For More Sales: Purchase Incentives To Win Over Buying Customers

November 26, 2013 by Tina Lee-Almazar | Tinaciouslee Leave a Comment

If getting solid sales seem like a battle you’re not likely to win, why not mix things up by offering great incentives to attract buying customers? Discounts, coupon codes or free shipping, these exciting deals are bound to be a hit among customers!

Let’s face it, sometimes no matter how hard you work on your marketing campaign to attract buying customers, the waiting game is affecting how you do business. This is especially problematic for people who are venturing into the eCommerce industry for the first time. If sales have been pretty bleak and your competitors are eating a large chunk of market share, your business is in real danger of being left behind.

The good news is, there are ways to increase sales while you wait for your marketing campaign to take effect. Offering incentives is one of the most effective marketing strategies on the web. From giving small discounts to offering free shipping, these incentives not only boost sales, it also help cultivate lasting relationships among customers.

According to ILoveCoupons, a leading Australian-based coupon site, more Australian retailers are reporting soaring online sales figures in 2012,all because they joined the online coupon revolution.

With a reported 30% jump on online sales, ILoveCoupons’ CEO Dominic Gluchowsk attributes the glowing sales increase on retailers seeing the value of offering great discounts to their customers. Incentives such as online coupons and discounts dramatically increases customer base which leads to increase in online sales.

“At the end of the day this is great news for consumers, who reap the rewards of unbelievable savings, while shopping at their own convenience; anytime, anywhere.” Mr. Gluchowsk said.

The latest National Australia Bank Retail Sales Index clearly shows a dramatic increase in online retails sales as well, with 27% increase in the 12 months to November. All these numbers point to one thing: purchase incentives are effective strategies that draw customers in and improve customer satisfaction.

However, with no definite plan for your pricing strategy, you could end up losing more if you offer purchase incentives. In this post, we will discuss some of the best ways to reward customers without being broke!

eCoupons

Offering purchase incentives like coupons is an effective way to increase sales for small online businesses. Unfortunately, not a lot of business owners are keen on offering any type of purchase incentives because of fear that they could face substantial loss that may result in closing shop. This couldn’t be further from the truth, eCoupons and other purchase incentives are proven marketing strategies that not only enhance business’ performance, it also helps increase the level of customer satisfaction.

Couponing has hit the mainstream market after the show “Extreme Couponing” went on air. The show was deemed by shopathome.com’s founder, Marc Braunstein as revolutionary because it spread awareness that with a little effort, shoppers could save a lot of money through coupons.

The show sparked total pandemonium among bargain hunters in the US, leading coupon aggregation sites like RetailMeNot and shopathome.com to achieve unprecedented growth shortly during the first season of the show.

To illustrate how couponing has helped increase online sales, Ipsos conducted a study for RetailMeNot.com. The study indicates that there is a 23% increase in online coupon usage in year over year for three months prior to November of 2011. Sales connected to coupons and codes also increased on other merchant sales with a jump of 82% for the same period.

In the US, more than 1.75 billion coupons were redeemed by consumers during the first six months of 2011 according to NCH Marketing Services. That’s an 18% increase compared to the first half of 2009!

Read more about the benefits of eCoupons from a 2011 commissioned study by Forrester Consulting on behalf of WhalseShark Media on The Impact of Online Coupons and Promotion Codes here.

All these statistics show two things. First, online shoppers love a good deal and couponing offers the best of deals and two, coupons as an incentive, helps increase business revenues and profits immensely.

How To offer eCoupons to Customers

eCoupons work the same way as traditional couponing we all love, except, you don’t need to spend hours collecting and cutting coupons from the dailies.

eCoupons a great purchase incentive because it is very easy to implement. As long as your eCommerce site features a shopping cart program, you can encourage customers to take advantage of this exclusive promo. Customers simply need to enter a coupon code during checkout. The coupon code is composed of a series of numbers and letters integrated within the shopping card software to apply the discount amount set for specific purchases. In terms of dispersing eCoupons to customers, here are the most popular ways to do it:

Loyalty Programs: Give repeat customers more incentives, issue eCoupons after they made a set dollar amount or they completed a specific number of purchases. Offering eCoupons as part of your loyalty program motivates customers to make more purchases each time.

Reward For Return Customers: Got customers who buy once and never come back again? Offering eCoupons is a great way to win back customers. You can add the coupon code once the customer checks out or by sending the coupon via email once you confirm their order.

Sign Up Promo: Convert new customers to avid buyers by offering exclusive deals if they sign up for membership! You can create a system that tracks down all new members and offer them one or a set of eCoupons so they can start shopping immediately.

Upsell, Cross-Sell:eCoupons can also be used to upsell or cross sell products to existing customers. For example, you can offer coupons for mobile phone cases or SD cards if your customer just bought a mobile phone from your eStore.

Subscriber Incentives: You can use eCoupons to reward customers who signed up to your weekly/monthly newsletter. By offering great incentives to subscriber signups, you will build a great contact list which may lead to future sales.

There are a wide range of ways to offer eCoupons so be creative! Remember, each company has different needs in terms of attracting customers so make sure you develop a compelling marketing scheme to disperse eCoupons to your target audience.

Special Discounts

Another popular way to reward customers online is by offering discounts on specific products or services. Just like eCoupons, discounts are a strategic way to increase sales, attract new customers and maintain high level of customer satisfaction from old customers.

Advantages of Offering Discounts to eShoppers

Customer discounts are quick ways to draw buying customers into your store. More than increasing sales, offering discounts or any other incentives for that matter, helps establish better reputation and retain existing customers. Below are other benefits of offering discounts to your customers:

Offering potential customers discounts on purchases is a way to quickly draw people into your store. Anytime you tell a customer that he can save money, you’re likely to get his attention. Discounts don’t only help your shoppers; they also help your business. From increased sales to improved reputation, discounts may be that one ingredient that can bring business success.

Increase Site Traffic: Most shoppers can’t resist a great deal. More people are likely make a purchase if you put emphasis on discounted items. Even better, offering discounts for a limited time only creates a sense of urgency among customers, increasing the chances of people rushing to your store to take advantage of a great deal.

Increase Sales: Because no one can say no to sale items, discounts help increase online sales. And these sales are not only limited to products with discounted prices but also items that are offered at regular rates. Why? Because buying discounted items meant customers have more room for buying other items in your store. For example, say you sell streetwear for women online and you just gave large discounts on all dresses from your collection. Customers are likely to take advantage of the discounts but they are also likely to purchase accessories like belts, cardigans or skirts to go with their other purchases!

Make Room For New Products: For multi-product businesses, offering discounts on slow-selling items is a sure-fire way to speed up sales and then free up some room in your inventory for new items. Put the offer prominently on your homepage to catch the attention of customers right off the bat.

Improve Business Reputation: Offering discounts is also an effective way to improve business reputation especially if special discounts are offered for the elderly or those enlisted in the military. By showing customers that your business provide more value to those who are in very difficult situations or those who may be having financial troubles, you show how much you value your customers and this will all lead to improved reputation.

Surpass Sale Figure Goals:Got revenue goals you’re not likely to meet? Flash sales and discount promos are the perfect solution to achieve weekly, monthly or annual goals you may have set for yourself!

As you can see from the examples above, offering discounts to your customers is one of the best ways to promote your business and continuously attract buying customers. However, if you do decide to offer discounts to your store, there are certain factors you have to consider first. One is the age of your business, as well as the number of your customers and how you implement pricing.

While offering discounts and other purchase incentives is an effective way to attract more people into your business, it’s equally important to know IF such strategy suits your business at its current state. Depending on your business plan, offering discounts may buying customers or it could create confusion that could affect how you do business. If you’re unsure whether now’s a good time to offer discounts to your customers, we’ve compiled these tips to help you decide your next move:

Use Discount Promos As Customer Rewards

… not to chase after customers. In some market culture, discounts are used to give incentives to long-time customers who have been making timely payments. This is a common reward to show customers their business is valued. If your budget allows for certain incentives like giving discounts to long-time customers, then by all means, show them that you appreciate their patronage all these years.

However, stop short at giving discounts for the sake of retaining customers who are threatening to switch to another service provider IF you don’t give them a discount. If you know that you provide better service at a reasonable price, don’t undervalue your business. Giving in to unnecessary pressure like these could have detrimental effects on how you do business later on. Discounts should be given to customers as rewards; it shouldn’t be used as a tool to forcibly lower costs just to retain customers nor to chase after customers who are threatening to make the switch.

Who Should You Give Discounts To?

This is a tricky question. On one hand, giving discounts to all customers is a great way to build better relationships and boost customer satisfaction. On the other hand, your profits and business revenues could be gravely affected if you offer discounts to ALL customers. Offering discounts to majority of your customers have its own perils. For one thing, it could be hard to switch the prices back to its normal range.

Another thing is, it’ll be hard to undo the effects of offering discounts if your income has become insufficient. Offering 10% discounts to select customers is a safer alternative than offering general discounts to, say, all new customers, etc. Additionally, don’t just randomly select customers to award discounts to. You need to create a set of standards to determine select customers’ eligibility for discounts. A great place to start is to determine by checking for:

Customers who have been loyal to you for years
Customers that pay on time
Customers that referred other people to your business
Customers you completed several projects for

Always weigh the pros and cons of any purchase incentives you offer. Find out if your business has more to lose if you offer such incentives and develop a plan B if things didn’t work out the way you intended once the incentives are rolled out to customers.

Check Your Customer Base

Don’t offer discounts when you’ve yet established a firm customer base! If you got very little to gain and so much to lose by offering discounts, then it’s better to wait for the perfect time to implement such incentives. Startups tend to offer discounts to give people a reason to check their business out instead of continuously patronizing their more established competitors. However, if such marketing ploy will only leave you short in the balance sheet, don’t.

Success in any type of business cannot be built around pricing strategy alone. It’s built around expertise, quality, high level of customer satisfaction and excellent customer service. Again, don’t undervalue your business by offering discounts to chase after customers.

However, if you must insist on giving customers discounts to increase your revenues, go for long-term projects and offer small discounts. You could also promise customers discounts for future projects. For instance, you could give 5% to 10% discounts for customers who can 1) refer you to other customers or 2) customer that come to you for second or third project/purchase

It pays to always check how firm your customer base is before implementing any sort of discounts because having a sustainable number of buying customers will make it easier for your business to yield funds for such rewards.

It’s All About Timing

If say, you decided to finally roll out your discount offers, it’s important to consider the timing of the promo. There are two ways to announce the discounts. One, you can post it publicly i.e. straight on your website or two; you can announce privately i.e. contacting select customers about the promo.

Public Announcement: The advantage of announcing incentives to a predefined group of customers is it encourages other customers to patronize your business to get the same incentives sometime in the future. It could also attract people to sign up for your service and help retain existing customers.

However, it could also alienate people who were not included in the predefined group of customers eligible for the discounts. You can avoid this by ensuring other parties may be eligible for discounts in the future. When announcing discounts publicly, do so with an inviting, well-written copy. No flashing graphics no oversized fonts or big buttons to get people’s attention.

Private Announcement: If you chose to discuss the new promo privately to select clients,make sure you offer such incentives to people who have been loyal to your service for years, those that you had great business relationships with and those who have referred your services to other customers. Use the promo to show your customers that you value their business all these years and also to improve business relations.

Free Shipping

Free shipping is without a doubt, a great incentive to give particularly for wholesale and retail eCommerce businesses. By offering free shipping, you encourage customers to make MORE purchases and provide them a more fulfilling shopping experience. However, shipping costs aren’t exactly cheap either and if you’re footing the bill, you need to make sure it’s worth the added cost. In this part the post, we will discuss the science of free shipping and how to do it right.

Free Shipping: Do You Need To Offer It?

When it comes to offering incentives of any kind, the first question you ask yourself is: “Do I really need to offer this?” Let’s assume you can offer purchase incentives like free shipping, let’s take a look on whether or not you should offer such rewards to customers.

A 2011 holiday survey conducted by comScore showed that around 26% of online shoppers won’t purchase products unless the eShops offer free shipping. 42% of those who participated in the survey said free shipping is somewhat important and are actively seeking free shipping deals when they shop online.

It’s hard to argue the importance of free shipping or shipping discounts on online businesses, particularly those that offer wholesale items.

In the same survey by comScore, more than half of all holiday transactions in 2011 included free shipping deals, a sign that retailers are finally recognizing the need to offer customers rewards for their continued business.

Another study conducted showed that women in particular, are drawn by free shipping offers than men with 31% preferring that offer versus 21% in men. Interestingly, searches for free shipping in general jumped to 29% last October, 2011.

Free Shipping: How Will It Benefit Your Business

Free shipping may be great for consumers but when you look at it from a merchant’s perspective, it could be both a good thing and a bad thing. Free shipping may benefit businesses because it helps motivate customers to make multiple and/or repeat purchases, minimize the risk of cart abandonment and enhance customer satisfaction. Below are other benefits that free shipping provides to business owners:

Boost Revenues: Free shipping is a great tool to boost online sales and business revenues. It could result in bulk orders. However, free shipping may not necessarily boost profits. A comScore survey indicate that although 46% of online retailers claims that offering free shipping increase their profits, almost a third of online sellers says otherwise. When it comes to offering free shipping, most online businesses tend to overlook the minimal profitability of the offer; rather, they tend to focus on the long-term gains of offering such incentives.

Enhance Repeat Purchases: Most online sellers that offer free shipping admit that they acquire new customers easily and repeat purchases have become quite common after offering free shipping or discounted shipping. Because customers sees free shipping as a way for merchants to give more value for their money, they tend to make the most out of the offer and this will ultimately result in repeat purchases, bulk orders, etc.

Edge Out Competitors: When you offer free shipping, you get the edge you need to stay competitive in a very tight race for more market share. With so many eCommerce sites fighting over the same target audience, how can your business possibly stand out? By aggressively pushing for better customer service, quality products and a rewarding shopping experience. Free shipping may just be the vehicle you need to maintain existing levels of sales in an otherwise cutthroat competition in the marketplace.

Free Shipping: Added Costs To Consider

Say you want to offer free shipping to your customers online but is unsure what types of added costs you have to contend with once you rolled out this new reward program. Below are added costs you have to consider before you offer free shipping to your customers:

Profit Margin Loss: One of the most common costs of offering free shipping is the loss of profit market. Shipping costs aren’t exactly cheap and prices have continued to rise over the past years. One way to minimize profit margin loss is to reduce the delivery charges via economy shipping. However, economy shipping tends to deliver very slow service at times and even order tracking loss.

Design and Marketing Costs: When you offer purchase incentives like free shipping, your website should be programmed to handle special promos like this. If your website cannot handle such promos, you will have to hire a team to program your website to manage orders with free shipping. You’ll also need to spread the word about your incentive programs and this will cost additional expenses as well.

Calculating Shipping Costs

Free shipping may be great for customers but not always for sellers, particularly for small and medium-sized online businesses that lack the negotiating power that bigger, more established retailers have. This means profit margins may become even slimmer if they implement free shipping. The good news is, there are ways to offer free shipping without it affecting profitability. But before we get into alternative options for free shipping, consider the following:

Profit Margins: As a business offering incentives, your profit margin is likely to be affected by such pricing strategy, especially if you offer multiple products as profit margins vary from product to product. These elements may affect the level of discounted shipping you can offer to customers.

Product Specs: From the weight of your product to restrictions in handling, certain products cost more when shipped. Some products require special handling and on average, is one of the most common reasons why products are very expensive to ship. Consumer electronic products, laptops, etc. are just a few items that require special handling during shipping.

Order Value: Most online sellers offer free shipping for bulk orders or when customers reach a set of order numbers.

Shipping Location:International shipping costs more than domestic shipping. You’re likely to absorb more costs when you ship in other countries. This is why most sellers tend to limit free shipping to domestic shipping only.

Ways You Can Offer Free Shipping To Customers

Nearly 61% of online shoppers are likely to cancel their purchases if free shipping isn’t offered to them, this according to a recent comScore survey. No free shipping offer is also the primary cause of cart abandonment as reported by many eCommerce site owners. As a business owner, there are different types of shipping promos you can offer to your customers. You don’t need to settle for free shipping to get people into your business. Below are different ways you can offer free shipping to your customers:

Members-Only Free Shipping: This option requires customers to pay an annual fee to join your members-only club where incentives like free shipping are offered. This reward scheme is similar to Amazon Prime.

Free Shipping For Minimum Order: In order for customers to get free shipping, they have to reach a certain number of orders.

Free Shipping For Selected Items: This is a great way to get old or overstocked items out of your hands. Offering free shipping for selected items only is also best to sell items with the best margins.

Site to Store Free Shipping: This type of offer is gaining traction particularly in big name brands that have several stores in various locations. This scheme offers free shipping if the customer drops by the store nearest to the customer’s location for pickup.

Flat-Rate Shipping: Although this type of shipping offer isn’t entirely free, it’s still considered as an incentive because it offers substantial discounts on the shipping that might otherwise be paid in full by the customer.

A Guide: Real Cost of Setting Up An Online Site

November 26, 2013 by Tina Lee-Almazar | Tinaciouslee Leave a Comment

Investing in an online business isn’t as costly as a brick and mortar store. However, for business owners on a shoestring budget, it’s imperative to plan out a realistic budget when setting up an online store. Read this comprehensive guide to get an idea how much you’d have to invest on a site and what other expenses you need to consider for a smoother, more efficient business online.

Most people, particularly those who are toying with the idea of establishing an online business instead of the more traditional brick-and-mortar business, automatically assumes that setting an online store is dirt cheap. Just a few hundred dollars and you got your very own online site with all the bells and whistles, right?

Wrong.

While you can get a basic website for free, customization is where the money is. And that’s just the beginning!A complex site, particularly those equipped with shopping cart feature, cost anywhere between $5,000 to $15,000! And with various components changing from time to time, the general figure is hard to calculate. In this post, we will go down the nitty-gritty and find out how to plan a budget for your site, what important expenses you need to consider to enhance its online performance and what other factors to take note of when calculating the cost of marketing your business online.

Hand Coded or Off-The-Shelf Web Design Package?

One of the first things to consider when setting up a website is to whether to work with a web design firm or to purchase an off the shelf web design package. Hiring a web design firm to handle the coding of your site is an excellent choice because it allows for complete optimization and your design team can base their design according to your own specifications. However, this is ideal only if you are ready to shell out a lot of cash for a customized design.

The fact is, customized sites cost as much as $15,000 and expenses could climb up if you include SEO, hosting, general website maintenance, etc. to the package. Although the cost of web design has gone down considerably, the need for interactivity has helped hold the price of premium web design at high prices. One of the most common reasons for the higher rates include the clamor for mobile-optimized sites, as more and more people demand mobile and tablet support from website owners.

Off the shelf web design is a great alternative to customized web design. You can purchase these ready-made web designs from leading web design firms and set up is fairly easy. Off the shelf web design appeals to most business owners, especially those who are venturing into the online business industry for the first time, because it’s cheaper and the diversity in design and quality is very extensive, giving people more options in terms of how they want their sites to look and what functionalities to consider.

The general rule of thumb is, if budget allows for it, then hand-coded sites make an attractive choice for unique and striking website. On the other hand, if you are saving your money on other pertinent expenses, then an off the shelf web design package should suit your business just as well.

Domain Name

No website is complete without a domain name. Yes, you can run a business without a domain name or perhaps, with no website, but there is simply no substitute. It’s not advisable to start an online business without a domain name! Sites that don’t have their own domain name will always be at the mercy of their web host’s domain name. If the web host came across problems or it closes down completely, your site, which you invested time and money on, will be gone in seconds.

Your domain name is a necessity for the health and longevity of your website and its price should always be a part of your budget when developing a website. Domain name rates will vary from registrar to registrar but the ballpark price is around $9 to $10.

Web Hosting Service

Commercial web hosting services offers an annually fee subscribers will pay in order to keep their sites accessible online. The payment terms will vary from service provider to service provider but others allow discounts if you pay a year in advance. Others offer monthly payments for sites with minimal traffic or data. Gradual increase in traffic and in data files means site owners have to upgrade their service plans in order to accommodate bigger files.

If you plan to establish a simple, personal website or a hobby site then you don’t need to purchase a costly hosting plan. In fact, you can get free web hosting services. You to set up a site and send an application form for free hosting and in exchange, they could either place adverts on your site or provide limited services.

When it comes to paid web hosting, it’s important to check for service providers that provide reliable services. Some web hosts have frequent “down” times and during these times, websites under their service will be temporary inaccessible online. If your website is down for a considerable time, you stand to lose profits and customers.

In terms of rates, web hosting services will range from $13 to $15 for basic sites and $90 to $200 for high traffic, high data sites. When it comes to selecting a hosting service, it pays to do your homework! Always compare rates, list down likely service providers and know more about the quality of their services before committing to one.

Additionally, cheap doesn’t necessarily mean the more cost-effective option. Some service providers might offer hosting at bargain prices but the service is unstable! Consequently, higher prices doesn’t necessarily equate to better service, which is why it pays to scour forums or customer testimonials from credible sources to see which service provider offer dependable service at great prices.

Programs

Another factor to consider when deciding your budget for a website is the software you want installed for the website being set up. For instance, blog sites can be set up using free software. You don’t need to spend a lot to create your own website, as you can get free software from online sources; you just have to know where to look. On the other hand, for those who want websites that can be managed directly from a web browser without using a web editor, you’ll need a site that comes with a software called Content Management System or CMS.

CMS is a type of program installed on the website itself. From here, site owners can control how they want their site to look like. From adding and deleting web pages to modifying its general appearance, CMS updates a website in real time. Websites with CMS cost a couple of thousands of dollars but if you want to save money, you can search online for free CMS scripts.

Blog sites and sites with CMS software require an FTP client to store files from your computer to your web host’s computer. Just like CMS, there are also free FTP programs online and if you use one, it should keep your expenses don to bare minimum.

Ordinary web editor is great for site owners who prefer to forego a CMS or a blogging software. Programs like Dreamweaver are great for professional web masters to develop their website but at almost $400, it’s an expensive tool. However, it’s a small price to pay when you think about the productivity you gain from using such software. But if you prefer free tools for developing your site, KompoZer and Nvu are great alternative to Dreamweaver. Do note that KompoZer and Nvu come with several limitations and the lack of bug fixes also makes it hard to work on. However, they should do when you are developing simple websites for your business.

If say, you want to do all the graphics and image editing on your own, then it pays to get the right tools for it. Photoshop remains as one of the best tool for designing and editing images. The cost is a little under $700 but it’s a great investment once you think about all the functionalities you can play with it. However, if you plan on buying both Dreamweaver and Photoshop then we advise that you get the Adobe Web Premium Suite instead. This package includes Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Acrobat, Flash and other useful tools, in one bundle.

Google AdWords

AdWords is Google’s paid advertising platform, it’s the tiny ads you typically see from top, sides and sometimes bottom parts of the search results. Google AdWords is considered as one of the best paid advertising tool that drives a high volume of traffic to different websites.

These ads will appear once a user types a search query, in the case of the image above, the keyword: web design. Essentially, companies will bid for keywords that are relevant to their business and Google enters thousands of keywords and ads into an “auction” to determine which of these keywords are the most relevant to the search query. Eventually, the winning ads will be displayed prominently on the search results.

For those looking for quick traffic from your business sites, Google AdWords and other Pay-Per-Click Search Engine advertising is the best way to get great way get results. By setting up your own Google AdWord marketing campaign, targeted visitors are delivered to your website almost instantaneously.

Google AdWords works great for site owners who want to see a return on their investment (ROI) while waiting for results on their SEO campaigns or other marketing strategies.

Advantages of Google AdWords

One: Google AdWords is great for quick traffic. Unlike SEO strategies where results can only be seen for weeks on end, advertising via Google AdWords offer almost instantaneous traffic.

Two: Set up is fairly easy. There’s more to Google AdWords than just campaigns like adgroups, keywords, etc., but all these are just puzzle pieces that make up a large marketing campaign. You can research the best keywords that fit your business, work on a budget and set up a campaign. If the ads were approved by Google, then you get huge volume of traffic in no time because approved ads will appear on searches instantly.

Three: Enjoy maximum exposure from the world’s largest and most important search engine, Google!

Four: You get control over your spending, making Google AdWords a great option for site owners on a shoestring budget. Setting up a small, tightly optimized search engine campaign is very cheap and the benefits are almost endless. You can specify how much you want to spend on a campaign. You can set the maximum cost of per click to keywords and pay only for the clicks and nothing else.

Disadvantages of Google AdWords

One: Whether or not a click is converted to a sale, you will pay for each click. This means you may get a lot of clicks from visitors but if they don’t have any intention of buying from you, you don’t earn revenues from the clicks alone.

Two: Number of characters in the headline and the body of the ads are limited. This is why it’s important to focus on attention-grabbing headline, quick show of benefits and a call to action crammed in 25-character headline, 35-character advert body and 35-character in the display URL.

Three: Mistakes are costly. It’s important to set your own campaign right in order to get the right results otherwise; you will spend a lot of money on simple errors.

Four: It’s time and labor-intensive. You need to keep track of your campaign regularly to find out what’s converting and what’s not converting and then adjusting your campaign accordingly.

Five: You can’t depend on Google AdWords for traffic and not work on your SEO because Google will assess the quality of your landing pages. If the landing pages are not up to par, in terms of relevancy to the search query, you will get the maximum benefits of Google AdWords.

On the other hand, Professional PPC campaign may cost as little as $200 per month to more, depending on the industry you are in as well as the amount of traffic you want. Be warned of cheaper campaigns though. Cheaper campaigns tend to yield very little ROI because your money is spend mostly on set up and management alone, rather than the media itself.

Web Marketing

Marketing online comes different forms. Unlike traditional media where your ads are confined in either print, radio or TV ads, online marketing can be done in a variety of ways, including social media marketing, content marketing, affiliate marketing, SEO, etc. Selling products or services online will require heavy marketing to attract more people into a certain business. Investing in a marketing program is probably the most important expenditure in establishing a website. It pays to factor this on your budget.

The great thing about marketing online is it’s relatively cheaper as compared to traditional marketing. Site owners on a shoestring budget can either hire a freelance writer and SEO specialist to handle the online marketing for their business.

Average cost for content writing is $200 per hour but if you want to keep the cost down, you can always outsource content writing in Asia where labor is cheaper without compromising quality. A content writer can work together with the SEO team and create optimized posts that will help boost search rankings.

Search Engine Optimization

All too often, companies big and small depend on their brand in order to generate traffic. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong about relying on your carefully built brand identity to attract buyers into your business. However, there are other ways to entice buying customers into your business. SEO is just one of the most effective ways to market your business online. And if you don’t integrate SEO into your marketing strategy, you could be missing out on millions of dollars in profits!

Through carefully selected SEO strategies, site owners can influence the appearance of a website in a search engine’s unpaid or organic search results. This will lead to more exposure among buying customers and inevitably leads to more sales and bugger profits. Most traffic is generated by article directories and search engines. Some sites see an increase of traffic by up to 60% from major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and/or Bing.

The principle behind SEO is to improve a website’s position in the search engine’s search result page using specific terms used by online users. If a site ranks high on the search engine’s result page, more visitors will click its link, leading to an increase in organic traffic.

Organic search engine traffic is free, which means there’s no click costs to consider but generating traffic organically will require expert marketers. An SEO program is an excellent tool that will maximize this free traffic.

In order to maximize the changes of landing the top spots in search results, SEO specialists will try to figure out how search engine works. They will take note of what users are commonly searching for and conduct an extensive analysis of actual search terms users will key into search engines known as keywords.

What are Keywords?

Keywords refer to search terms used by online users in an attempt to search for information via search engines like Google or Yahoo! For example, if a user wanted to know more about web design in Brisbane, he can simply key in the keywords “web design Brisbane” on the search bar. Within seconds, Google will present various resources relating to the keywords.

Typically, the user will click on the links listed on the first page of the searches. The first page of the search results is the plum spot that SEO specialists across the world are fighting tooth and nail for. If you make it on the first page of Google’s search results, you are guaranteed a massive spike in targeted traffic.

How Do You Research for Keywords?

Keyword research is a process that involves getting into the head of potential customers, determine what terms they are likely to use in order to search for your business and uncover a set of keywords to be used for content optimization. By using keywords integrated into your content, you maximize the chances of landing the first page of Google’s search results or at best, get a decent ranking for it.

In order to research for the best keywords that correspond to your business, you will need a special program to analyze your market. Paid keyword research tools are pretty expensive, with some costing anywhere from $200 to $500. The good news is, Google has its own Keyword Research Tool and it’s absolutely free. Best of all, it works just as great as any other paid keyword research tools in the market, maybe even better. So before you even think about shelling your hard-earned cash on some paid marketing tools, it pays to check if Google offers similar tools for free. You just might save hundreds of dollars.

Once you’ve done your research and have a list of excellent keywords, you can then integrate them into your content. Google’s crawlers will index your content and identify the relevance of your targeted keywords according to your business. This will help increase the chances of landing the top spot at Google’s search results.

An SEO program is by no means cheap. In terms of the rates, industry-leading SEO specialists will set you back $1,000 per hour of work rendered. Price goes down when you outsource SEO specialists from India or the Philippines.

In 2011, Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz ran an article relating to SEO pricing in major parts of the world. The comprehensive study was based on 600+ responses received from individuals from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands and India.

The rates were two years old and as you can imagine, prices has gone down since then. However, this study illustrates how SEO is an integral part of website promotions. If you want to attract millions of buying customers into your business, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better way to generate buzz than through effective SEO techniques.

When it comes to developing an SEO campaign managed by a skilled SEO specialist, expect the minimum rates go for $500 up to $1,000 maximum.

Link Building For SEO: The Misconception

During the infancy of SEO, rankings may be boosted by linking your site to other sites of the same niche, industry, or quality. This done through an SEO process called Link Building. An SEO specialist will create a list of trusted, high quality sites, blog sites, forums or articles and will attempt to increase rankings by leaving comments linked with the site he is optimizing or by being added to the site owners’ blogroll. If an SEO specialist was able to link a large number of quality sites to the site he is optimizing, the quality of that site improves, according to the point of view of the search engine.

Today, link building is considered as an old practice that’s likely to die down. Various algorithm updates by Google improved the process on measuring a site for rankings. Meaning, technology made Google smarter, making SEO as complex as ever. These days, if a site is linked to a large number of low quality sites, Google will get the impression that the site owner paid for these links rather than getting them organically.

Link building of SEO of yore is no longer as effective as it once was. In order to effectively optimize your website, you will need to generate healthy inbound link profiles and using the best keywords to integrate to your content. Other factors to consider when analyzing the quality of your site and improving its rankings include:

Content quality
Regular content updates
Frequency of visitor engagement (including social media engagement or via comment section)
HTML Everything: HTML tags, HTML META descriptions, and HTML headings
Keyword integrated in the website copy
Website loading speed
Online reputation
General URL structure of the site
Anchor texts used in hyperlinks
Domain name age
Social reputation
How many people blocked your site from search results

Search Engine Optimization Today

As technological advances made search engines smarter than ever (particularly Google after a medley of updates in 2011 and 2012), more and more factors are now being considered in order to figure out how search engines measure quality. SEO has become more complex than ever, figuring out what works and what don’t work is an uphill climb for even the best SEO specialists. However, as long as you take full advantage of optimizing your HTML tags, heading, and descriptions and of course, focusing on creating high quality content regularly, you should see an improvement on your rankings.

Online Newsletter

The advent of the internet paved way for cost effective publishing online and one of the fastest growing segments of company publishing is online newsletter.

Newsletters are great ways to provide current news about your business, sell products and even manage your affiliate marketing’s backend. For many site owners, an opt-in email newsletter is an integral part of their marketing efforts. And why not? It’s a cheap and effective way to build community with customers, get in touch with suppliers or business partners and spread information about specific businesses/services online. Without a newsletter, you’d be missing out on attracting more customers and encouraging them to make a purchase.

Does Your Business Need Online Newsletter?

The quick answer is yes; your business needs an online newsletter. Not only is online newsletter a great way to open the floodgates of communication between you and your readers, it also makes for an effective SEO strategy, which we will sink our teeth into later on this post.

In terms of engaging your customers, online newsletter works great because:

It Keeps Customers in the Loop: What latest services does your business offer? What exclusive deals are you launching this week? Online newsletters help keep your readers abreast with the latest offers or information relating to your business.

Offer Effective Solutions: By presenting informative articles or practical tips on how to resolve your customers’ problems, you position yourself as an expert in your niche and your customers will turn to you for help, which will improve your reputation and make you a credible source of information. All these will lead to more sales and repeat purchases in the future.

Touch Base with Old Customers: Sending out newsletters to old customers is a perfect opportunity to touch base and maybe get them to know more about your latest offers. It’s a great way to bring back customers who haven’t purchased anything from you for a while. Newsletters works well as a platform for engaging with customers on a more personal level.

Creating a weekly or monthly newsletter not only helps your business achieve the benefits mentioned above, set up is fairly easy too. It only makes sense to include online newsletters to your existing marketing campaign to increase online profitability.

SEO Benefits of Online Newsletters

Although online newsletters have long been regarded as a minor player in Search Engine Optimization, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The fact is, more than ever, online newsletter provides enormous SEO benefits for online businesses. You can expect huge leaps in your SEO campaign when you publish online newsletters to your customers.

Why?

Because Google is all about quality content these days. Aside from anchor text links and backlinks, original, high quality content is one of the best ways to get noticed by major search engines. The more quality content you publish, the higher the chances of being indexed and achieving better rankings. By updating content on a weekly or monthly basis, Google’s crawlers will index fresh updates and this will result in higher ranking.

Using an online .php or .HTML page to create great articles will dramatically boost your SEO campaign! What’s more, you can link these pages internally to other pages of the website for enhanced optimization. Finally, newsletters not only help improve the SEO element of your web marketing campaign, it also gives a more human element to your business that customers can reach out to and engage in communication with.

Online Newsletter Costs

In terms of the cost of publishing an online newsletter every week or every month, prices will vary according to service providers, the quality of the newsletter and the number of contacts to send the newsletter from. For instance, iContact, a service provider that provideshigh quality, HTML-based newsletters offers a monthly fee of $14.99 for 500 contacts and as much as $699 a month for 100,000 contacts.

Mail Chimp, one of the more widely used online newsletter service provider, offers paid and free services. The free service is offered for up to 2,000 subscribers. That yields around 12,000 emails each month. The paid services cost around $10 each month for unlimited emails. What’s great about Mail Chimp is that the format of the newsletter will mimic your own website design. They also offer a great selection of tools to create HTML-based emails. Quality is good but compared with iContact, which offers premium service, the latter offers better-looking newsletter layouts. However, Mail Chimp is a great place to start for those who are venturing into online newsletter for the first time or for business owners who are looking to save money on newsletter publishing.

Other notable service providers include ConstantContacts that offers newsletter plans at $15 per month with a free 60-day trial and Benchmark Email which offer their plan at $9.95. Benchmark Email is the preferred newsletter service provider of many businesses because the package comes complete with email newsletters, HTML templates, Real-Time Reports, Contact List Management, RSS and Social Media reports and other useful features.

Conclusion

When it comes to expenses leading up to owning a fully functional website, the devil is in the details. As you have learned, there are many variables that make up the total value of a website. From registering a domain name to paying for ongoing SEO or social media networking and any other ad campaigns, would-be business owners must factor all the important elements that make a successful website in order to enhance their own business.

Smart Product Packaging: Creating High Impact Product Packaging

November 26, 2013 by Tina Lee-Almazar | Tinaciouslee Leave a Comment

Whoever said “A brand is the sum of its details” is definitely right on the money. How you package your products says a lot about your business as a whole. How your product look and feel leaves an imprint to the minds of customers. A vital element in establishing brand image, packaging is your best chance to score a sale.

How?

Because most purchases are done based on emotions, particularly for customers that are unsure about choosing which products to buy. IKEA, Apple and Google Nexus are just a few of the hundreds of companies that redefined their products through smart product packaging, which inevitably led to getting the edge they need to widen their market shares.

What makes packaging a crucial element in marketing is based on the perception that consumers compare products, remember and associate everything according to what they see, feel or know. This is a natural gift which allows us to categorize everything we see. You may not be aware of it but our senses generate an enormous amount of information from our day to day life. Certain studies show that consumers tend to respond more to brands that were able to reach out to them by engaging all senses.

For business owners, how you present your product through your brand engages your customers’ sense of sight and tact. Now, imagine enhancing the experience by targeting other senses as well, sound, taste or smell. You could be developing a million-dollar product!

A great example of how a brand’s packaging influence a customer’s buying decision is this: say you are standing in the middle of the canned meat aisle at your local grocer. There are cans upon cans of processed food staring back to you. Some are made by recognizable brands while others seem to disappear from your sight. You automatically reach for a product made by a popular brand, like say, Spam. Why? Usually it’s because you either love the stuff or you recognize that the packaging of the brand you trust. The packaging alone triggered the basis for customer loyalty.That’s the power of packaging.

No matter if we are associating a specific product through a commercial or by being referred by a friend, how a product is package will always make the first impression. When we come across a certain product, we tend to pay attention the most attention to the packaging colors, the layout and the presentation of the content. We access its performance through its packaging and this marks the beginning of the brand experience. Even the brand’s paper bag or shopper bag could influence customer perception of the brand as a whole.

From developing your packaging prototype to the final version, product packaging enhances your products’ saleability. By creating a cohesive approach to packaging your product, you can establish a powerful brand presence online and offline.

The Anatomy Of Product Design

A product package offers more than what meets the eye. It’s a visual representation of your brand’s personality. A distinct packaging helps draw attention to your product despite the crowded retail space (which was illustrated earlier in this post in an example). This makes packaging an effective marketing tool too.

Packaging is also a great way to spread useful information about your product as well as a means to put it into a specific category and its perceived value. How you choose specific colors could trigger an association to the brand, it differentiates your product to your competitors’ brand. Excellent packaging may be a powerful tool that could shift, or even change, customer behavior patterns.

Essentially, your packaging not only represents your product, it represents your business, as a whole. World renowned brands like Apple. Apple started out as the underdog in the early 80s, second only to Microsoft. Today, it’s the number one consumer electronic brand in the world. The company has a checkered history but there’s no denying that it’s a market-leading brands to date.

One of the reasons why Apple differentiated itself from its competitors is the way they present each product. From highly anticipated product launches to the clean lines and simplistic designs of the products themselves, Apple products’ exude perfected technology in a sexy form factor. Its packaging is equally compelling too. It’s a perfect example of how one can create an impact in the market without all the frills. It’s also an example of how a product can create packaging that’s cohesive to the design of the product itself.

Design is synonymous to style and usability. It’s a mark that makes a product stand out beyond the seas of similar products of its kind. Physical differentiation is a critical part of marketing if you want your customers to identify your brand at a glance. Packaging also offers added value to customers, its perceived value is also likely to increase when its designs are extremely striking.

Effects of Changing Product Packaging OnOverall Sales

Changing the way you package your product not only affects how your customers perceive your products, it also has effects on your sales, the cost and the retail store placement of your brands. If the new packaging is not introduced to the consumers correctly, it could create confusion and even diminished sales later on. This explains why some of the most iconic brands always spend millions of dollars on promoting “new and improved” packaging. If you are thinking about changing your current package designs, it’s important to check how the new design will affect the overall saleability of your product. Here are tips on how to stand out amidst seas of similar products on the market:

Grab Attention, Win Market Share

If your product is lined in a shelf with competing products, how do you stand out? A great way to start is to be different, to grab attention. You can do this by changing the size or the shape of your product packaging. For instance, if say a competing product only offer big-sized containers, offer medium or small container as variants as well. This gives customers more choices and is likely to attract attention.

You can also use purchase incentives, such as discounts, bonus or content increase, to grab a large chunk of market share from competitors. Be creative, there are great ways to entice people into trying out your products by simply changing how you present them!

Checking Your Shelve Footprint

Say your product is packaging using a large box as a means attract attention. This could be a good thing and a bad thing. It could be a good thing because you do make a great impression on consumers. However, it can be a bad thing if the retailer needs more space from his shelves and your large box can fit two other products side by side. Most retailers tend to calculate the space a product takes up on the shelves because revenues are generated per square inch. So it pays to consider the size that both you and your retailers can agree on.

Packaging Graphics

In a lot of ways, the colors and the graphic you chose for your product packaging may elicit specific feelings or may convey marketing messages targeted for specific group of people. For example, children are always drawn to drawings and cartoons. Using cool graphics for kids’ products may help the chances of attracting the right people to your product. Red, yellow and orange are colors that may elicit excitement and are very striking. Fast food companies like McDonalds use red and yellow as their company colors because both colors are said to cause people to eat more.

Price

Despite aggressive marketing, customers are always drawn to products that are priced competitively. Through smart packaging you can increase your profits by changing its perceived value. For example, offering products at slightly larger boxes than the competitors’ products, gives the impression that the content are valuable than others. It’s also perceived as better because it gives them a clear sense that they are getting more than they’re paying for.

Developing AProfessionally Looking Product Package

When it comes to selling products, presentation is everything. Regardless whether you are selling products online or offline, packaging is an important element of building your brand. It’s the first point of contact between the buyer and the product so make sure your product packaging makes a great impression. Below are tips to create a professional-looking product package:

Offer Clear Information: Most products require specific information on the packaging. Food stuff, for instance, needs an indication of its ingredients, expiration dates, business name and its contact information. You packaging should provide a glimpse of all important details relating to your product.

Check Out The Competition:In most businesses, there is a set standard for packaging size, shape and color. Two things, you can either revolutionize your packaging or improve the set standard for the packaging. The great thing about revolutionizing a set packaging is that you will stand out from competing products. However, the downside is, you might stand out for the wrong reason. A great example would be Tide, which created a detergent tablet with a packaging similar to candies. It wasn’t long before it was mistaken by kids as candies.

On the other hand, if you chose to improve on the set standard, note what competing products looks and find aspects of it to improve on. Be creative, don’t limit your research on products of competing brands, look for cool packages you love and figure out what makes them so attractive. The more you know about how certain products are packaged, the better the chances of creating the perfect package for your own products.

Customer-Based Package: Most times, what older people like may not necessarily be the case for teenagers. Therefore, it’s important to tailor your product package according to your customer base, if your target market is children, colorful packaging with cool prints or designs will work well. But whatever packaging you decide on, make sure you stick to it otherwise; jumping from one design to another will cause confusion among customers.

Distinct Details For Branding: Effective branding requires consistency in all marketing efforts, including how you present your product. Your product package should translate the overall brand of the company. Adding your company logo, the same color combinations and font type to the product packaging is one way to create consistency between the company and the product. Always look for distinct details that will appear on all branding tools to make them recognizable to consumers.

Go For Sustainability:Everyone’s going green, no reason why you shouldn’t do your part in helping to preserve the environment. You can either advocate the use of recycled materials for your product packaging or create reusable packaging! Creating reusable packaging has its own benefits. Aside from the obvious, which is to minimize waste, it’s also a great way to extend product promotion to a wider range of audience!

Investing On The Right Tools For Packaging Products

Having the right tools to package your products helps streamline the packaging process for faster, more efficient delivery.

Bubble Wrap Machine: For fragile products that need protection from physical impact, it pays to invest on bubble wrap machines. A bubble wrap machine is great for products that need extra protection during shipping and handling, like consumer electronic products, laptops, PC, etc.

Stretch Wrapping Machine: For products that need protection against moisture, then a stretch wrapping machine should come in handy. Books, magazines, comic books, electronics, etc., these products needs to be sealed and protected sufficiently during shipping otherwise; they will be left vulnerable to mishandling and moisture damage.

Case Sealers: Invest on case sealers, especially if your products are packaged in large boxes. Case sealers ensure all products remain tightly packed and protected against the elements that may otherwise damage it during shipping.

SLR Camera: Creating attractive product images on your website is an effective way to make a great impression on people. If you want to post certain products on your website, make sure you have the right tools to create compelling images. Using SLR cameras for product images makes for a great looking, professionally made product photos that are sure to impress customers.

Labeling Equipment: Selling breakable products? For sellers that offer very fragile products, invest in labeling machines so it will be handled with care during shipping. Labeling equipment may also be used to establish a strong brand identity. You can create customized boxes with your company logo to create a lasting impression on customers after delivery.

As a business owner, your responsibility over your products does not end at shipping. A good business owner will take responsibility to their products until the customers received the delivery. When you’re selling products online, you don’t worry about overhead expenses. So investing in the right packaging tools will make a world of difference to your business.

Factors To Consider When Choosing Function Rooms for Corporate Events

November 26, 2013 by Tina Lee-Almazar | Tinaciouslee Leave a Comment

Corporate events such as cocktail parties and other social gatherings are more popular than ever because such events help encourage better personnel relations and boost morale among employees. With this in mind, most corporate events are organized at a month or a year’s end. A critical part of a successful corporate event includes the venue where the party will be held. A great venue helps leave a positive impression on employees as well as create the perfect ambience for the social gathering.

If you are organizing a corporate event, it pays to have deep understanding on what factors you have to consider when choosing the right function venue for the party. Consider these tips for starters:

Party Theme

The right venue will depend on the party’s invited guests. For instance, simple cocktail parties call for relaxed, unrestricted venues. On the other hand, formal social gatherings for important office delegates or board members are usually held in more upscale venues.

Are you organizing a simple Christmas or Halloween party or are you planning a company-wide event that will include the presence of key company officers, including the CEO, COO, etc. When it comes to picking the right venue for a social event, it’s a matter of knowing which type of social gathering it will be.

Accessibility

Choosing the right venue helps establish an impressive company image. So it’s always important to consider the location of the venue as well.

How accessible is the venue to all invitees? Most resorts or hotels require a specific number of orders per head before the actual event so it’s essential that all invitees can reach the venue without any problems at all. One way to make the venue accessible to all guests is to find a function room that has a good means of transport so even those who do not have their own cars can come to the party on their own. For bigger social gatherings that include foreign delegates, some hotels and venues owners will provide accommodation.

Booking for a venue that offer additional services like catering, accommodations or extra rooms for all party attendees will save you headache if certain things don’t go as planned. Whichever part of town you chose to hold a corporate event, make sure you checked and organized the little details first!

Decor

When invitations are sent and confirmation of attendees is received, it’s now time to take charge of the venue’s decorations. From the dance floor to the sitting arrangements, make sure you are sitting the right people together but don’t go overboard because you want to encourage conversations between personnel too. You can also set up a small stage if the company owner has to address their employees, for the band/DJ to start playing songs, etc.

Establishing A Structured Job Search

November 26, 2013 by Tina Lee-Almazar | Tinaciouslee Leave a Comment

With the demands of a saturated job market, it’s important to establish a structured job search in order to land the job of your dreams. Here are various ways to help you narrow down your search and bag the job you’ve always wanted in no time at all!

Get In The Zone

First, you need to have the right mindset as you prepare yourself for getting out there and landing a job. You want to adopt the mindset that looking for a job is a full time job. You want to apply yourself if you want results but you need to apply yourself thickly because for most people, the job of their dreams don’t necessarily land on their laps, they look for it earnestly and grab the opportunity before its gone.

Be Informed

Being unemployed meant having all the time in the world to do whatever you want. Make sure you spent your time wisely and productively by checking out all the trends and issues surrounding the industry you are in or will be in. Don’t get left behind, you want to get an idea what you can expect once you join the workforce.

Start Networking

Networking is not limited to marketers at all. The advent of Web 2.0 paved the way for social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook and as a job seeker; you want to get as much help as you can to spread the word about your cause, in this case, finding a great job. LinkedIn is an excellent social networking site to start off because it caters to professionals seeking to widen their networks. It’s a fantastic place to look for job openings or introducing yourself to people who might be able to help you find the job you want.

Join Member Groups

One of the best ways to add “gravitas” to your credentials is to join certain member groups, membership organizations or any other relevant trade associations that are related to your industry. This is a great way to rub shoulders with industry leaders, connect with fellow members and hopefully, build connections that may pave the way for landing a great job.

Follow Up On Current Applications

Most jobseekers tend to jump at a chance for a new opening but never really following up on their application after they’ve sent their resume and they never hear from the company again. Often times, this is mostly because the position might not have been the best fit for your skills. However, if you take time to make that call, treat the hiring manager or human resources personnel right, you are bound to make a great impression and may be considered for future job openings.

Tweak Your Resume

Creating flexibility in your job search will require creative ways to showcase your skill set. Always update your resume regularly or better yet, use different versions of your resume. Do note that it will take time before you see the desired results but creating standout resumes is the first step towards bagging the job.

Establishing structure, stability and listing achieving your goals during job seeking is understandably challenging. However, just keep the abovementioned tips in mind in order to boost productivity and improve your chances of finding the job that suits your skills and personality the best.