Online Shopping Guide

RSS - What You Need to Know

Many Marketers are wondering how they can use RSS Feeds to leverage their marketing initiatives. RSS Feeds are the ultimate in permission marketing because they allow users to subscribe to content updates that they receive immediately in their aggregators. This means marketers can commumnicate immediately to the clients and partners who are most interested in their company. And the best part is, it’s free.

Additionally, RSS Feeds have the added benefit of getting users back to your site. RSS fed content that is filled with links, means users can link directly back to your site and read more about your products, news, or services.

The advent of RSS Feeds could even mean the death of traditional press releases. Take this example from Google. When the government asked Google to release search records, Google made the decision to get the word out by posting it on their blog. This meant that news outlets had to go directly to Google’s blog to get the news. This also levels the playing field because industry insiders get the news the same way everyday users do– by subscribing to Google’s RSS feed of their blog.

RSS has quickly changed the landscape for communication with clients, the press, investors, and especially potential clients. Keep your name in front of interested parties on a permission basis by creating an RSS Feed for your blog, news, or even your press releases.

By Ivy Hastings

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What Is The Best Commercial Real Estate Loan?

Commercial real estate and commercial real estate loans have a lot of ?moving parts? and the approach that commercial lenders take is far different from those in residential lending. What is commercial mortgage planning? Which is the best loan? This way: ?The best commercial mortgage is the one that best fits the commercial investor?s short and long term goals, risk tolerance, investment style and the investment at hand.?

This question came from Kiho Kim in Anaheim, California and, surprisingly, doesn?t have a straightforward answer. When someone asks me that question, I know that they?re probably focused on one thing: The loan with the lowest interest rate. Unfortunately, in commercial real estate, this approach can end up costing you a lot of money.

When you get involved in commercial real estate, you become involved in a more sophisticated method of investing your money. Commercial real estate and commercial real estate loans have a lot of ?moving parts? and the approach that commercial lenders take is far different from those in residential lending. When considering financing on a piece of investment property, you have to approach the process with ?commercial mortgage planning? in mind.

What is commercial mortgage planning? It?s a process in which all aspects of the loan are considered in the context of the commercial real estate investor?s current portfolio, future portfolio goals, style of investment, and cash flow needs. Let?s see how this works in a practical example and then use that example to further answer the original question in the first paragraph.

Which is the best loan? A 3/1 ARM with a declining 3 year pre-payment penalty of 3%-2%-1%, a rate of 6.75%, a full amortization of 30 years, and a margin of 2.50% over 6 Month LIBOR, or a 10 year fixed rate loan due in 10 years, with a 30 year amortization, at a rate of 5.9%, with a Yield Maintenance prepayment penalty until 9.75 years have passed?

On the face of it, the 30 due in 10 is almost a full percentage point less in rate! No brainer, right? Let?s fill in a few more details and see if this analysis stands.

The investor contemplating the loan is an active real estate investor who purchases properties that have vacancies or month to month tenants that are slightly run down and in need of upgrades. He holds properties until re-tenanted, renovated, and then sells them to generate cash for new purchases in a 1031 Exchange to preserve his buying power.

In light of this information, the 30 due in 10 would be a terrible loan. It?s likely that such an investor would be ready to sell the property in the 3rd year to take advantage of the 1031 Exchange holding period and provide a stabilized leasing history to a new buyer. He?d only face a 1% pre-payment penalty using the 3/1 ARM, something he could easily factor into his ?costs.? The fixed rate loan with its Yield Maintenance pre-payment penalty could literally cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending upon market conditions, when he goes to sell the property. In fact, it would likely contain a ?lock out? clause completely preventing a payoff for up to 4 years. That loan would have to be assumed by the new buyer and the difference made up in cash, limiting the potential pool of buyers for that property.

So how does this example answer our question: ?What is the best commercial mortgage?? This way: ?The best commercial mortgage is the one that best fits the commercial investor?s short and long term goals, risk tolerance, investment style and the investment at hand.? And as a side note, be sure to work with someone experienced not only in commercial loan brokerage, but who will take the time to consider all of the factors that could affect the current and future transactions.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: ?The Investment Property Insider? is published by Craig S. Higdon, a veteran commercial mortgage broker. He publishes the weekly e-zine and blog, http://www.InvestmentPropertyInsider.com, for commercial real estate investors, developers, and industry professionals. Visit the blog and get this free report: ?The 7 Biggest Loan Mistakes Real Estate Investors Make And How To Avoid Them.?

What Is The Best Commercial Real Estate Loan? / Author: Craig Higdon

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Google Pay Per Click Making Money With AdWords

AdWords is Google’s answer to helping people get their ads out and increasing their website sales with heavily targeted traffic. This article will give you a big head start over most.

This is a PPC ( Pay Per Click ) system. You only pay for advertising when an interested person sees your AdWords ad and clicks on it. The amount you pay per click is dependent on many factors.

Some of the factors that go toward deciding the price per click are:

1. The amount of competition bidding on that keyword.

2. The site value that Google may give your site.

3. The amount of clicks on your ad itself compared to the amount of exposures your ad receives (CTR),

Even though a keyword may start at a high price per click, its popularity will bring the price down. Popularity is the result of people using Google to search a term or phrase and choosing your ad. As your Click Thru Rate (CTR) rises you will see the price per click go down. I’ve had keywords start at over one dollar and fall to about five cents a click. 

Some tips to lift your your CTR and thus lower your PPC (Price Per Click) are:

1. Use the keywords that you are bidding on heavily in your ad.This will make the keywords in your ad show in bold and stand out when someone does a search on Google using your keyword.

2. Encasing your keywords in [square brackets} or the use of “talking marks” will ensure your ad relates to what is being searched. Without the [square brackets} or “talking marks” around your keywords, your  keywords will cover a larger unrelated area giving your ads more exposure but less clicks. This will force down your CTR (Click Thur Rate) and force your price per click up. Not a good thing.

3. The use of negative keywords. Negative keywords really bugged me because I read all about them and their use but didn’t know what they were, the articles never actually explained what or how to make them. Just that it was the thing to do.

Negative keywords: if you were looking for people searching for the keyword “pink” but don’t want people who are searching for “light pink” then you would ad the negative keyword -light to your list of AdWords keywords the same way as you add the keywords you are bidding on.

Did you notice the minus sign (-) next to the keyword above? Here it is again, -light. You put in as many negative words as you can think of to narrow down searchers to the ones you want.

4. With AdWords you can go locally or globally. You can limit your ad to only viewers in a particular city, state or country. If you live in New York City selling meat pies, then you may not want to sell them to china. Limiting your ad to a specific location, country and language will increase the likely-hood of great targeted traffic clicking your ad and bringing the average price of your clicks down.

With AdWords your aim is to get highly targeted cheap traffic to your website and to make sure you are profiting from the use of AdWords. To see if you are profiting you have to answer these questions:

A. How many clicks does it take to get one sale?

B. How much do I profit from one sale?

Divide A by B to see if you are in profit using AdWords or losing money! If you are in profit great, if you are losing money your keywords, negative keywords and your ad need more fine tuning or changing. You may even have to reconsider what you are trying to sell or your sales copy. A customer follow-up auto-responder will help improve copy sales. People don’t often buy the first time they see a website, but you are off to a much better start then most.

AdWords gives us the ability to give people what they are searching for and to profit from that service. Start slowly with a small daily budget and have fun.

The opposite side of the AdWords coin is AdSense. For more information see my AdSense article. Read on:

By Michael Brymer

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Pharmaceutical Conferences ABPI Compliance

There are many things to keep in mind when arranging pharmaceutical conferences. These include selecting the location, booking the venue and accommodation, organising equipment and attending to a multitude of other details. At the same time you have to be sure that everything you do complies with the 2006 code of practice of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

Before beginning any arrangements, therefore, you will need to understand all the factors that could lead to a breach of the code. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the knowledge and expertise of a venue finding agency that specialises in pharmaceutical conferences. While you still have the ultimate responsibility to make sure your event complies with the code, the help of an experienced agency will enable you to carry out the task much more easily and efficiently.

When you hand over the planning of your pharmaceutical conferences to a venue finding agency certified by an industry consultant, you also hand over any worries about breaching clause 19 of the ABPI code of practice. Under this clause, companies are allowed to provide appropriate hospitality to members of the health professions in association with events, as long as that hospitality is secondary to the main educational purpose of the occasion. This results in a complexity of issues for organisers of pharmaceutical conferences, requiring them to make decisions about whether such issues as choice of venue, equipment, and activities comply with the code and whether the cost and quality of the hospitality is out of proportion to the level of the event. Breach of the code can lead to heavy sanctions. By using a venue finding agency to take care of the planning of your pharmaceutical conferences, you ensure that the event will comply with the code. Funded by hotels and conference venues, such agencies can provide a quality but free service, helping you to obtain the best possible rates for the cost of your pharmaceutical conferences, while also providing you with invaluable advice and support on other aspects of event organisation.

Locating and booking a suitable venue is one of the most important services a venue finding agency can provide for organisers of pharmaceutical conferences. Equipped with knowledge of the ABPI code of practice, the agency can advise you on the selection of a venue that is appropriate to the purpose of the event and is in a suitable location. It can also set up site visits for you, and arrange meetings with staff at the venue. Some agencies will send a representative to such meetings, if required, and will save you time by working with the venue staff on pre-event issues to ensure the smooth running of the conference.

As well as helping to locate venues for pharmaceutical conferences, venue finders are also able to give professional advice on whether the planned event achieves the correct balance between educational content and hospitality as required by the ABPI code of practice. This is a complex area, requiring expert knowledge. It can involve such issues as the timing, costs, and quality of the hospitality provided at pharmaceutical conferences, the advertising emphasis, the activities offered, and the materials used, as well as the venue itself. A venue finding agency that understands the conditions of the code of practice in relation to pharmaceutical conferences can assess whether everything related to the event is in line with the code, thereby saving you time and worry.

Finding suitable and available accommodations when attendees at pharmaceutical conferences need to spend one or more nights in the area is also a major undertaking, especially if you are not experienced at negotiating rates and comparing packages. With its specialist knowledge of hotels, rates, and booking procedures, combined with awareness of your event and your needs, a venue finding agency can save you time and trouble by sourcing a selection of suitable accommodation from which you can choose. An agency can also negotiate the best possible rates for accommodation required by attendees at pharmaceutical conferences and take care of booking enquiries on your behalf.

Other areas in which pharmaceutical conferences must comply with the ABPI code of practice include the choice of materials used before and during the event. Everything from letters of confirmation to equipment used by speakers needs to comply with the code, and must not give the wrong impression regarding the content of the meeting. Leisure activities offered to attendees at pharmaceutical conferences are also affected by the code. They need to relate to the main educational purpose of the event rather than to entertainment only.

In addition to the numerous tasks always associated with such events, therefore, the organisation of pharmaceutical conferences requires special care and knowledge. Like other pharmaceutical companies, you may decide to seek help to ensure compliance with clause 19 of the ABPI code of practice. By using the free services offered by a venue finding agency that specialises in pharmaceutical conferences, you will ensure that your arrangements are acceptable under the code and that you have more time to focus on running a successful event.

By Jigsaw Conference Venues

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The Truth About Your Competition

There’s more to identifying The Competition than just finding other businesses that offer similar services to yours.

Many business owners get very worked up about the issue of “The Competition”. But there are many things to keep in mind about “Them” as you define your competition and plan marketing materials that stand out:
Big businesses aren’t your only competition. Be sure to think about the smaller businesses that offer similar products or services-sometimes they can be more of an issue than their size indicates.

Your competitors are not just the other businesses that provide similar products or services to yours. Your competition also includes the other things that your customer could purchase to solve their problem, even things that aren’t in your immediate field. For example, massage therapists and chiropractors could be in direct competition for relief of back pain. Also, look for alternative solutions that might give your clients more pleasure-for example, a married couple having problems might be more likely to go on a vacation than to seek counseling.

Your competitors are often afraid of you, because you’re their competition, too! So, keep that in mind-you don’t need to be terribly concerned about them in many cases. Don’t make yourself a wreck over it.

Inaction, indecision, and postponement are other often-overlooked competitors. What happens if a client decides not to undertake the project or make the purchase? In these cases, you still don’t get the sale, making this a valid form of competition that you should be concerned about. Your competitors can even help you in many ways:

Direct cooperation: Partnering with your competition can expand the services that you offer, enhance your product offering, and allow you to brainstorm and leverage the knowledge of others in your industry. Cooperation can often be more powerful than competition.

Educating your target market: The competition’s articles, websites, and marketing materials can help to educate your clients so that they come to you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision. You can even think of your competition’s articles and information as work you don’t have to do, as long as you agree with their viewpoint and find their pieces well-written. You could form an alliance with them to sell their information products as an affiliate, and make some extra money that way. Or you could link to their articles from your website to give your visitors more information on your industry.

Creating a stir: Competition between your business and other businesses can generate publicity for your service or product offering, which can generate more perceived need or desire for the things that you offer. You might even get mentioned by name in an article!Providing information about what you are not: You can contrast your business with well-known competitors to point out what makes you different. By stating how you’re different from a competitor who is widely known, you can often more easily express your differentiation.

As you can see, there’s more to identifying The Competition than just finding other businesses that offer similar services to yours. You have to consider small and large businesses in your industry, and you have to think about the other businesses that provide other solutions to your clients’ problems or give them more pleasure. You also shouldn’t worry overly about your competition-they’re often concerned about you as well. And watch out for inaction-clients might do nothing instead of purchasing your solution. Finally, remember that your competition can provide you with quite a bit of help-competition doesn’t have to be a bad thing!

By Erin Ferree

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