Style Business

Archive for June, 2009

What is free or zero down security system for you? For me, there is no such thing as free lunch. In terms of alarm system in your house, free means more expensive. You pay more money for maintenance, your total cost of ownership is higher, upgrades come at high price and the level of protection is low.

I will start with the most important – the level of security. Free security systems come with one to two door contacts and one motion detector. Such security system is designed to cover the most common points of entry in an average house. Most common break in points are front door, rear door and main floor windows. The rate of entry through these points constitutes 79%. That is exactly what zero down security systems intend to cover. That means that 21% of homes with “free” security systems stay unprotected. Burglars are smart. They enter where the chance of having a security system coverage is lowest – second floor, garage doors, side doors, basement, etc. That means, with a zero down security system, your house is almost completely unprotected. Here you can find burglary entry point statistics.

What if you want to upgrade your security system to provide you with complete coverage? Complete coverage for me is protecting all points of entry, protecting rooms with the most valuables in and having cellular backup communication. The price of such upgrade with an average $0 down alarm company will be relatively high. Providing you with such upgrade, the alarm company will cover their free security system installation costs. They will also make profit on an installation. Yet, your monthly monitoring rate will stay the same.

The total cost of ownership – the cost of having and maintaining your security system – also comes in expensive with $0 down. When you think of a security system, do you also think about maintenance? One hour of a technician on residential site could cost you $120? Do you also consider that you pay at least 8% interest rate on your “free alarm system”?

According to statistics, the rate of false alarms is almost 50% of all registered alarms. One false alarm with police dispatch costs from $100 to $150. Around 30% of residences will get a false alarm in a given year. To simplify, your total cost of having a free alarm system will equal to: (monitoring rate per month x 36 months) + $150 false alarm charge + $100 technician on site fee.

Now does Alfa Security install “free security systems”? We can but we do not – nobody buys free lunch from us. Are you still interested in a $0 down security system? Consider the following:

• your house stays unprotected for just $25 a month for consecutive 36 months
• your total cost of having free security system will be higher than having a custom designed security system from us
• you pay high 8% to 12% interest on a free security system

If you really want to protect your house, do not buy a “free alarm system”. Make a wise investment – protect your home with a custom designed solution from Alfa Security.

See more detailed burglary statistics from an FBI website. Also see tips on enhancing your house security apart from having a security system at home.

In the midst of the global economic crisis, many small businesses are on the brink of closing down if not enough capital infusion is found. It is now even more difficult to get small business loans from banks, though. Ironically, the exact reasons why small businesses need such small business loans – the fact that business has slowed down and profitability has plummeted – are the same reasons why banks turn them down for loans.

Small businesses now have to be more resourceful in finding alternatives to small business loans.

Government Grants and Contracts Instead of Small Business Loans

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama in February 2009 caused the pumping of billions of dollars for the revitalization of the economy. Because of it, there are plenty of government grants and contracts available to small businesses. These can be alternatives to small business loans.

But how can small businesses avail of the stimulus program?

The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) has the responsibility for helping small businesses obtain and perform federal, state and local government contracts. It has Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) throughout the country, ready to help small business owners to get registered and find opportunities in the area of government grants and contracts. Counselors assist small businesses in filling out bids, proposals and quotations.

The PTAC holds seminars teaching small business owners all the ins and outs of government legalese, including acronyms and registries. A one-day seminar with PTAC covers what small business owners may take months to learn on their own.

The PTAC then helps small businesses with Central Contractor Registration (CCR), a requirement for doing business with the federal government. This registration can be so complicated that some companies take two days to do it when the PTAC counselor can help them get through it in 15 minutes.

Local PTACs will be of help in acquiring state and municipal contracts.

Other resources that small business owners should consult include the Small Business Administration (SBA) which also coordinates with the APTAC; the General Services Administration (GSA) which acts as the government’s purchasing department and provides information on becoming an approved vendor; the Federal Business Opportunities website (fbo.gov) where federal contract opportunities currently available are posted; and the Small Business Innovation Research website (sbir.gov) where grant and funded research opportunities for small businesses are listed.

Cash Advances from Credit Card Services Instead of Small Business Loans

Another alternative to small business loans are cash advances from credit card services. This option is much easier than winning government grants and contracts.

Most small businesses are already availing of credit card services that enable them to accept payments by credit cards or debit cards. This is practically a requirement to doing business these days, with people hardly paying cash for goods and services. Many small business owners do not know that they could avail of cash advances from these credit card services, though, and that such advances can actually equal small business loans.

The amount that a small business can borrow is based on its average monthly income from credit card sales. This is so because the cash advance does not require collateral and future sales receivables from credit cards stand as the collateral. Payment will also be done through automatic deductions from those future credit card sales. There will be no set monthly amortizations. Instead, a certain percentage of the sales will be allotted as payment. The small business owner, therefore, need not worry over where to find cash for loan payments.

Cash advances from credit card services are the best bet of small business owners as alternatives to small business loans.

India SEO a Professional Internet marketing Firm located in Chandigarh, northern part of India, since 1999 has launched an
outsourcing of organic search marketing services at economical rates to its strategic SEO partners and customers  in UK, US, Canada,Australia, and other Europeans countries with the beginning of 2009.

IndiaBook CEO says “Recent recession in financial market has open a new door of opportunity for the Indian SEO agencies to provided SEO services world wide because of advantage of cost-effective services,increased efficiency, increased productivity, shared risks, reduced operating costs, increased quality, better services and more time to focus on core competencies.”

IndiaBook CEO further says “In these days SEO approach is not only important but crucial in any marketing mix. We cannot depends upon on our in house SEO consulting team, the pace of change has been obviously too fast for any company that is not dedicated to SEO as its core competency. We have also established our position as a major SEO authority in last 9 years. If any body see our portfolio of more than 500 sites, couldn’t possibly doubt our knowledge and expertise in the
subject”

IndiaBook is already into natural search engine positioning service since 1999 and already successfully completed website optimization of more than 500 websites. IndiaBook has more than 50 work station for search engine optimizers and team leader of SEO division has more than 10 year of search service expertise.

India Book SEO company India offers all type of Internet search engine optimization services including competitor analysis, keyword research,on page optimization, link building, directory submission, blog reviews, social book marking, SEO content writing, article writing,article submission and press release distribution services to its outsourcing customers in UK, US, Canada, Australia and Europeans countries.

IndiaBook SEO services India ensures highly qualitative, timely delivered and competitive affordable SEO rates to outsourcing customers because of location advantage in India, low labor cost, high volumes and 9 years of our search marketing expertise. We sign Non-Disclosure Agreements and understand secrecy better because of been already into SEO outsourcing services .We also offer customized SEO solutions even at customer sites to make complete secrecy and work
only at back end. Our global SEO optimization services outsourcing model makes sure we deliver maximum targeted result to you.

 

Strategic planning only helps organizations when they are kept active and implemented. The strategic plan defines the business direction. That direction is based on the future, the vision of the company. Before an effective strategic plan can be developed a clear and compelling vision is needed. Visions are optimistic, the ideal picture of the future. The strategic plan that results from the leadership team’s strategic planning is the map to that vision and then it is only effective if it is implemented.

 

Strategic plans can sound intimidating and overwhelming to many small business owners. The most effective strategic plans are those that are simple, completed with the leadership team and key people in the company. Complex documents that consume excessive amounts of time to create don’t guarantee success. In fact, the large and cumbersome strategic plan can be so overwhelming that it just doesn’t work. Strategic planning sessions that go on and on for months also fail because so much time is consumed in the planning and the implementation, which is the key, is pushed aside. The goal to have the perfect strategic plan doesn’t produce results. Instead, the team that engages in strategic planning and produces a good working document is more likely to succeed.

 

To create your strategic plan:

 

Start with vision. Write down what you envision for the future. What does the future of your business look like? What do you want for the future? Vision stories are inspiring, it’s your dream. Once you have created your vision you can begin building strategies.

 

The vision is the destination, where you are going. The strategies are the map that gets you to the vision. Company values are the guide or the “compass” in our map metaphor for making decisions along the way. Values keep you oriented and in alignment. When values are out of alignment the company is off track; not moving in the direction of the vision.

 

Strategic goals can be limited to the top 6-10. By having fewer goals the plan is able to stay alive and in front of you and the team. By alive, it means that the plan is always where you can see it, use it and keep working on it. It means that the team is focused on the strategic goals at all times, talking about them, brainstorming on them and reporting to each other their successes and challenges.

 

To set strategies for your business first look at the vision, the different aspects of the vision. Brainstorm all of the goals, all of the strategies for each aspect of the vision. With brainstorming it is important to get all of the ideas out and write them down without judging them or editing them. Often the best idea comes from an idea that at first look seemed too wild or crazy. Ideas jump off of other ideas.

 

Once you have brainstormed all of the possible goals, prioritize them. Often strategic goals can be grouped with similar strategies. This can help in the prioritization process. The goal is to narrow the list down to the top 6-10 strategies. What are the goals or strategies that will give your business the future you envision, that will create a breakthrough that will produce the results that you want? Those are the goals that you should be selecting as top priorities.

 

Creating a powerful strategic plan is just one of the first steps. Many organizations have strategic plans that are well thought out and crafted. Where they fall short is in the implementation of that plan. Implementation is the key. If you fail to implement, the results will not be what you set out to achieve.

 

Implementation is the result of focused and continuous action. Strategic plans don’t just happen on their own: they require your attention. By keeping the plan in front of you and the team responsible for the plan, focus is maintained. Regular meetings about the plan also keep the plan moving in the right direction. Check-in meetings hold people accountable. When teams don’t meet and don’t keep their eye on the plan, the day to day interferes and the status quo remains. In order to make changes in the results that you achieve there has to be intention and commitment on the part of the team. The check-in meeting gives the team the opportunity to review what is happening, what is interfering with the results they want and need and make the changes necessary to change the outcomes. Through the intention of the leadership, the plan and the team, the culture of the workplace can shift from one of non-performance to one of performance focused.

 

Performance focused companies are companies that are thriving. The energy of high performing teams shifts the energy of the whole organization. It becomes more positive and contagious. People become excited about the vision, the plan and their implementation of the plan. Results create energy and excitement that keeps the plan moving, it propels the plan and the ultimate results of the company.

 

Organizations that produce results have a clear vision of the future; have a plan that is simple and strategic; and they work on the plan all the time. Their actions are designed to move that plan forward. They don’t let themselves or others get in the way. Through effective strategic planning and by implementing the strategic plan organizations achieve results.

 

 

 

Plugins for the Wordpress platform are tons of fun and incredibly useful. You’ll find everything you need to turn your blog into something amazing that is every bit as great as you would have imagined. While there are many plugins out there that are worth your while, the five that follow are the cream of the crop.

Akismet

This plugin actually comes standard with your Wordpress installation. You will have to get a Wordpress.com API key to make it work, but after you do it’s pure bliss. This will help keep spam comments away automatically! Akismet is smart enough to put suspected spam into a separate folder, and it even learns from you as you go. You should always activate this plugin for the best results with your blog. It saves you a ton of time too!

Related Posts

Linking to different pages in your blog from every page is a great search engine optimization tactic. The problem with blogs is that it can be so hard to dig through old posts that are related and manually link them in your new post. Related posts solves that problem! This will automatically insert some relevant posts for your blog. It’s very hands-off and very effective. Both visitors and search engines love this plugin.

All in One SEO Pack

Once again, optimizing your site for the search engines is going to be one of the best ways you can make money with your blog. The higher you rank, the more traffic you recieve. The more traffic you receive, the more money you make! The All In One SEO pack makes your life easier because it allows you to specify the title, description (that will show up in the search engines), and keywords.

Wordpress Database Backup

Backing up your blog is crucial if you value your business. You never know what could happen to your server, and it would be awfully devastating to lose everything. You can easily back everything up by pressing a few simple buttons with this effective and very useful plugin.

Top Commentators

This plugin is greatly effective and it encourages a lot of interaction on your blog. It lists the people who have the most comments within your blog. They love this because they get the extra exposure. You love it because people really get into posting to try and be at the top. It also gives social proof. When people visit a blog for the first time they are more likely to stick around if there are clearly other people there who value your content. The fact that they can see others participating is a great thing.

There are an incredible number of different plugins out there that are ready for you to use. Install these essentials and you’ll be well-prepared to become the great blogger you’re going to become.