Why Do I Need an Appraisal on My Taxidermy Mounts?

The phone rings and the first question is "why do I need an appraisal for my taxidermy mounts"? Answering this question is easy, do you realize what you have invested in your trophies? Do you know the current replacement value of each taxidermy mount? Most hunters have never stopped to actually think about the investment that they have in all their taxidermy mounts. Also they don't have a list or pictures of each mount.

It is very important to have all your mounts cataloged and multiple photographs of every trophy mount available incase of a disaster. Keeping an electronic copy in the cloud or burnt on a CD in multiple places is and excellent idea. You could also have a bound copy or two at different locations, copies can be printed and bound at most office supply stores.

I would highly suggest getting a certified personal property appraiser to do this all for you, they will provide you an insurance appraisal. This report should include three photographs of every taxidermy mount along with the current replacement values for each trophy. The appraiser should deliver to you at least one printed and bound report and a PDF copy of this report. I would suggest burning the PDF on a number of CDs and file them away at other locations then where your trophies are located.

So the answer to why you need an insurance appraisal for your taxidermy mounts is because you don't have one and the information is vital to have available. Getting an appraisal is a small investment to cover your large investment. Your appraiser is required to keep on file your information for 5 years, this is another place where there will be a copy of your investment in your taxidermy mounts.

You can search taxidermy appraiser and find a qualified person on the internet, feel free to call them and ask questions.

Look Beyond Traditional Ways to Take Care of Your Newborn Baby

A newborn baby brings bundles of joy and happiness in the family. When a baby is born, it is said that the parents are blessed with the baby. This statement in itself is sufficient to explain the importance of a newborn in the family.

It is the prime responsibility of parents to take care of the newborn in the best possible manner. There are times, when a baby requires to go through some immediate medical care in order to adjust as per the world. Sometimes, babies are born with some birth related issues and thus, require treatment.

In India, a large number of people get health plans so that their health care needs are met. If you are working in private sector, then your company may have taken a group insurance policy under which maternity is covered comprehensively.

But, most of the times, medical insurance including the group insurance policies do not cover a newborn baby. The reasons are quite apparent. There are lot of possibilities that a newborn requires medical treatment immediately after birth and thus insurance companies do not want to spend their revenues on such well-recognised possibilities.

Is there any way out? Yes, of course, if your employer's group health insurance policy does not cover newborn baby, do not worry. There are some specific health plans, which cover newborn babies right from the birth.

In order to avail this facility, you have to buy a separate policy. Star Comprehensive Insurance, for instance, is one such policy which covers delivery related complications as well as the newborn baby.

The plan covers delivery whether it is normal or caesarean plus all the pre-natal and post-natal expenses are also covered up to a certain limit. This limit is ascertained as per the amount of premium you pay.

The plan also covers vaccination of the child. Yes, only a handful of plans cover vaccination because that is a sure shot expenditure one must incur.

The only thing which you have to take care is that you have to be the policy holder for at least thirty six months prior to taking the above benefits.

Religare also offers a health insurance plan called 'Joy', which covers maternity as well as newborn baby without any condition on a specific period.

Four Ways a Condo Warranty Can Benefit You

We have all had a dishwasher that puttered out or a washing machine that sat idle with clothes floating in a well of water. Fixing creaky old appliances can be costly, and it often seems there is no way of avoiding such expenses. However, many owners and renters have found a solution: purchasing a condo warranty.

Unlike insurance-which covers natural disasters, calamities, and theft-a warranty is a service contract that, among other things, covers major appliances for members of a condominium. These warranties are specifically designed to work within the existing support structure and services provided by your association, so you only pay for the protection you need. Here are four ways a condo warranty can benefit you.

Covers Major Home Appliances and Systems

While the definitions of major systems and appliances may vary from policy to policy, a condo warranty will typically cover HVAC, plumbing, electrical, hot water heaters, garbage disposals, dishwashers, stoves and ovens, washers and dryers, and garage doors. Refrigerators are often covered when they are in the property at the time of purchase. This can be even more beneficial in the event that a retailer or chain goes out of business and/or any coverage you have on the product lapses.

Enhances Market Value

Condo warranties are, in general, cost-saving tools when it comes to maintenance. However, they can also be an enhanced benefit in a competitive seller's market because they increase a unit's marketability. According to the National Home Warranty Association, units on the market that covered by warranties tend to sell about 50 percent faster than homes that are not.

Protects from Potential Post-Sale Legal Disputes

Warranties generally protect the condo's seller from post-sale legal disputes. They allow for the purchaser to invest with confidence, as they are given more security than what is offered by a statute of limitations, which, in most cases, only lasts four years. On the flip side, sellers can avoid legal disputes based on faulty or dysfunctional appliances and systems because they are covered. Of course, reviewing the fine print for specifics is always highly encouraged before purchasing a property.

Provides Peace of Mind

Out of the nine most crucial appliances in the home, at least one is expected to break down at some point in its 13-year average lifespan. A new buyer is assured some peace of mind in knowing that if something goes awry with any of the condo's major appliances or systems, they will likely be covered by the warranty.

Why You Need Liability Coverage From Your Insurance Company

Designed to cover professional practitioners against claims of negligence made by clients or patients, professional liability insurance goes by many names. When used in the medical profession, it is commonly called medical malpractice coverage. Notaries public also require this security, but they refer to it as errors and omissions insurance. Real estate brokers, management consultants, and even website developers are all eligible for protection.

What's It For?

Insurance is used to protect people in case something unfortunate happens. Auto policies protect them in the event of an accident; medical policies protect them from unexpected illnesses; commercial policies protect them from a number of mishaps. If there is a fire, theft, or an accident on the job, the commercial variety will cover it.

Why You Need It

Few companies are fortunate enough to survive for a protracted period of time without getting sued by a client, customer, or employee. Liability coverage from an insurance company is the only shield most businesses have against litigious attorneys. This goes double when an employer competes in a risky industry like construction. Why?

A construction site is arguably the most dangerous working environment on earth. Not because people are careless, but because making something, anything, is risky. Workers fall down stairs; they trip on cords; they cut themselves. Builders must assume this risk and purchase the right amount of coverage from their insurance company to protect them from financial ruin. But that's not all.

These policies not only shield the employer, but they also safeguard his workers. If an electrician falls off a ladder or a carpenter cuts himself, a liability policy will pay his medical bills. Commercial coverage will also cover most attorney fees and court costs if someone files a suit against you.

How Much Do You Need?

As you might expect, the size of the policy often depends on the size of the business. Most actuaries recommend at least one million dollars of professional liability coverage for small businesses. Large businesses and corporations obviously need a lot more and often carry huge policies. Because lawsuits are quite common in the medical profession, malpractice insurance is the most common form of liability coverage.

Most doctors have several million dollars of malpractice coverage at all times. When they work in a large practice, that figure might be five or even ten times as high. Lawyers and accountants must also carry liability because of the high rate of litigation in their fields. But what about everybody else?

Numerous Benefits

Any business that can be held financially responsible for failing to complete a project on time may need to purchase a professional liability policy from their insurance company. This includes general contractors, architects, builders, and many, many more. These policies also cover personal injury, breach of warranty, intellectual property, and security. In short, any company that has more than one employee should have liability coverage.

Don't Invalidate Fire Insurance

Don't invalidate your fire insurance policy.

I find this a very strange case but it just shows how important it is to read the small print as if you ignore the conditions of the policy your policy could be invalidated.

In this case it was a condition of the FIRE insurance that the SECURITY Alarm was maintained and monitored. Times had been tough for the insured and he let the maintenance of the security alarm lapse and as the ARC had not been paid for 6 months they stopped monitoring the site.

Vandals broke in and set fire to the factory. It was a furniture company and they incurred losses of over £750,000.

The case went to the High Court, the judge had nothing but sympathy for the Directors of the Company and he took 'no pleasure' in ruling that as it was a condition of the combined insurance policy that alarm was to be monitored by an external firm, the Insurers did not have to meet the claim.

There are often conditions attached to the insurance policies we take out which relate directly to the risk. We need to make sure our cars have valid MOTs in order not to invalidate the policy. We are required to notify the insurance company if we get a speeding fine but, to my mind oddly, you do not have to tell them if you decide to do the Speed Awareness Course rather than pay the fine.

I have just come across a case, now in front of the insurance Ombudsman, where an insurance company voided the policy and returned all the premiums because the policy holder had unwittingly exceed the value of the 'valuables' within their contents insurance. They had insured the contents of their house for £60,000 but there was a clause stating that the value of the valuables should not exceed 66% of this.

They had to rush their daughter to hospital, and while they were out the thieves struck taking goods and damaging the property to the value of £70,000. When assessing the claim the loss adjusters calculated that the value if the valuables in the house exceeded £40,000. Normally claims would be 'averaged' to reflect the under insurance, but the insurance company in this case argued that the under insurance voided the policy. As I said this case is in front of the ombudsman as I write.

Back to case in hand where a fire insurance claim was dismissed as a security alarm and monitoring were allowed to lapse. Clients of ours run a hotel and there is someone on reception all the time so if the fire alarm is activated there was always someone on duty to respond. We came round to the time when the annual contract with the ARC [monitoring station] needed to be renewed. The Hotel Manger wanted to cancel it as it was considered an unnecessary expense. I said I agreed but asked him to check with his insurers to make sure they had no objections. The Insurers confirmed; monitoring was a condition of the policy.

Often with in the insurance policy there is a clause that the fire alarm is maintained in accordance with British Standards. It would be interesting to know whether a similar claim has been dismissed as the Fire Alarm has not been adequately maintained.

Core Agency Values - What Are They and Why Are They Important?

Let's begin with the question; why are agency values important? Agency values are important because they will likely determine the success or failure of your agency. Now that gets my attention.

Whenever the success or failure of a business venture rests on one concept, it warrants the time and effort to understand what's behind the question; what focus or concept do we believe will best produce the result we desire. So, one might ask; just exactly what are some agency values.

To begin, Values are what drives effort and effort is what produces results, good or bad. Effort in the wrong places seldom produces the right results. So there are really two things here that are important-Effort and Direction. While both are important, Effort comes first-you gotta have some before you can direct it. Today we are only talking about Effort, Direction is for another day.

An example of how values drive Effort is often and most visibly played out in sales. A lot of sales activity (Effort) often produces more sales but possibly not the right sales (Direction). Now here is the exciting part-You can really, control your effort by choosing the right Values and matching the talent of new hire to those Values. The key here is to understand that people work to satisfy their values, not yours and don't try to put into someone something that is not already there. All that boils down to looking for and hiring people who have values that match the agency needs.

So now it is beginning to get clear. Why do we want to know your agency values? Answer; so you can hire people with values similar to those of our agency. Now what are some agency Values of importance?

1. Theoretical Values- those who value knowledge and continuous learning or intellectual growth.
2. Traditional Values- those who value the tradition inherent in social structure, rules, regulations and principals.
3. Utilitarian Values- those who value achievement, results, and rewards for their investments of time, resources and energy.
4. Individualistic Values- those who value personal recognition, freedom and control over their future and the future of others.
5. Social Values- those who act to enhance the well-being of others.
6. Aesthetic Values- those who pursue a balance in their lives, who are creative, self-expressive and have a love for beauty and nature.

And here is the real important stuff, after 40 years of research and working with agencies, of all sizes, we know the values most likely to produce success in any situation.

Should Your Insurance Company Offer Cyber Protection?

Cyber security has become a growing concern for U.S. companies over the past couple of years, and for good reason. Information breaches have not only become increasingly common, but also much larger. Nothing illustrates the state of modern web security quite as well as the most recent breach, which saw hackers target the IRS by exploiting faulty security to compromise over 100,000 taxpayer records.

Similar breaches have also affected much smaller companies, and it's common to see a forward-thinking insurance company racing to adapt. Here is what you need to know to determine if, first, you're actually in need of cyber insurance and, second, what you should look for in a policy.

Are You At Risk?

If you work with customer information of any kind, then the answer is likely yes. The term to look out for here is Personally Identifiable Information, or PII. It's not a technical term, but rather a legal term that carries some teeth if you have to deal with it.

At its root, PII is any piece of collected information that could potentially allow a third party to identify a business's individual clients. Given how good the Internet is at leveraging even tiny hints to track down a person, that definition is awfully broad. Full names, email addresses, site nicknames, and (sometimes) even web cookies can all qualify as PII.

If you're storing anything that falls under the PII umbrella, you're at risk of a breach. Breaches are enormously costly, both for affected customers and for the company responsible for the loss. Companies in the healthcare and retail industries are obviously at an increased risk, but when it comes down to it, any business that makes a habit of collecting information should ask their insurance company about cyber policies.

What Your Cyber Policy Needs

You'll need to look for a few things in any cyber insurance policy. As you may expect, a good policy should cover the financial damages directly caused by a breach. However, cyber attacks can cause financial damage in a wide variety of ways. In particular, make sure that your company is protected against:

- Losses caused by lost time and productivity. A major hack can cause company gears to grind to a halt. Find an insurance company that guarantees coverage for the revenue lost during this period.
- Indemnification caused by a third party. Few modern companies handle their data on their own. Outsourced IT support or other companies can fall victim to a breach that affects your customers.
- Loss of Reputation. Breached companies, even those that have done their due diligence, almost always take a PR hit in the wake of an attack. A good policy offers some cushioning against the customer losses that generally ensue.

Finally, also try your best to work with an insurance company that has an educational component. Some plans will also come with training to avoid a breach. As nice as protection is, it's safe to say that it's best left unused. Installing a set of best practices can help keep you from having to rely on a safety net in the first place.

Insurance Quotes in a Digital Age

Insurance is great. Yes, it can be a hassle to find. Sorting out the pricing and policies can be complicated. So what if the whole thing could be made as easy as pushing a button? The great news is that it almost has.

What Makes it Frustrating

Making the monthly payment on a premium can be frustrating, but it's easy. Once you file a claim, you realize how much that monthly payment was worth it. Finding the right policy, on the other hand, can be a challenge. There are policies for your home, condo, apartment, motorcycle, car, and health. Also, there are many different companies. Getting insurance quotes from each carrier can take much more time than you have available. Once people find coverage, they rarely re-evaluate it to see if it is still the best option available.

Technological Evolutions

Luckily, the Internet has revolutionized insurance quotes. Trained agents can help you identify what your priorities are and which policy best meets your individual needs. Filling out a simple form online can generate quotes from several major carriers at once. Many agencies are also now able to incorporate smaller, more specialized carriers into their networks as well. The ability to organize and sort through so much information so quickly has made getting insurance quotes almost push-button simple.

Working Closely with an Agent

Getting a variety of insurance quotes is just the first step. The most affordable policy may not be the one that best meets your needs. Understanding the often complex policy language can be a daunting task. At this point, it is essential to get a trained agent involved. Like many service professionals today, agents are highly trained and strictly regulated. They are a personal part of their clients' lives because they are helping to protect the most valuable aspects of a client's life: their health, home, and family. You should be able to work closely with an agent who knows you and understands your priorities.

Your agent can sit down with you and evaluate each of the quotes individually. Together, you can structure a comprehensive package that addresses your coverage needs and financial commitments. The package may consist of the best policies from several carriers or a single umbrella. The use of digital technology allows for highly personalized packages of coverage. With access to so many quotes and coverage options at your fingertips, what you decide to do is up to you.

Obviously finding a safe level of coverage is not something you want to put off until you need it. The task of obtaining insurance quotes and sorting through coverage packages used to prevent people from shopping for insurance. New technology and highly trained agents have simplified the process. Highly personalized packages can provide better coverage and save you money. If you haven't looked at your insurance lately, now is a great time.

Do Childcare Facilities Need Employment Practices Liability Insurance?

Protection for You

You've got a state-of-the-art child daycare built around a warm, clean and safe atmosphere. The teachers are handpicked professionals that give kids undivided attention, stimulation and fun learning. Children are happy. Staff is fulfilled. Parents are proud. What could go wrong?

Unfortunately, a lot of things - that your general business liability insurance does not cover.

Childcare Claim Examples that Really Occurred!

• Third Party Liability: After a Montessori School stated they could not admit a child due to licensed limited capacity, the parents sued for racial discrimination. The parents insisted that the school had a non-admission policy for African American children and mentioned the fact that the student body did not contain even one African American. Defense and Settlement costs totaled: $67,000.

• Internet / Email Liability: An administrative assistant for a childcare facility sent an email to all employees instead of her intended single recipient. The email contained an embarrassing inappropriate joke. The center's director instructed the employee to send a subsequent apology email to everyone. Just 2 months later, an employee that was laid off due to company downsizing, sued because of a hostile work environment and cited the inappropriate email as proof of an atmosphere that did not respect her religious principles. The facility was discomfited and uninterested in having this lawsuit revealed to the parents.

• Retaliation: An Indian childcare employee objected to the racial insults directed at him by some of his fellow workers. As a result, the owner assigned him to another room where there was less of a staff presence. The new situation warranted less work-time and therefore his hours were reduced. The slighted employee sued the childcare center for discrimination and retaliation for relating the discrimination. Defense and Settlement costs totaled: $125,000.

• Wage and Hour: A Non-Exempt head teacher was covertly tracking hours as she worked the overtime that was requested of her. As a salaried worker, this teacher never mentioned any grievance about the additional workload. When the owner was served a wage-and-hour lawsuit by the teacher, he was caught by surprise. Although there was no way to discern if the teacher's calculations regarding her work hours were precise, the center was guided by their lawyer to settle for the presented amount rather than take the risk of other present and past employees joining the lawsuit.

Employment Practices Liability Insurance

Employee-related claims come at a steep price. Protect your childcare center from a lawsuit with an EPLI plan that's tailored to you.

EPLI

An EPLI policy protects you against lawsuit claims made by current, past and possible employers, as well as visitors. It's coverage for a wide range of suits that stem from:

1. Wrongful termination

2. Discrimination

3. Sexual harassment

4. Service refusal

5. Other employee claims

What Is Executive Pension Plan?

As the name implies, an executive pension plan is a tax-efficient savings plan designed especially for executives, senior executives, key employees and directors of a company. It is one of the best forms of pension schemes that enable the executives to get a tax-free income after retirement.

How does this work?

Executive Pension Plan is regulated by the Pensions Regulator. In most cases the employer pays into the plan, in others, both the employer and the employee pay in the plan. Thus a tax-efficient fund is designed for the employee. This is used to provide tax-free cash and a pension income to the executive after his retirement. Executive pension plans are similar to any other pension schemes in which they function as money purchase occupational pension schemes.

Normally, Executive Pension Plans (EPPs) are designed by the company directors for their personal benefit. But it can be utilized by their favoured key employees with the same levels of income that this investment can offer. In such cases, the pension fund is held up under a trust in which the trustees are responsible for the day-to-day administration activities like ensuring if the payment contributions and the payout benefits are maintained regularly. Under this scheme, each employee can have the liberty to retire early or to work past the company's retirement date.

Benefits:

The executive pension plan has huge benefits for the employers when it comes to recruiting potential employees. Employers can attract and motivate the employees and reward them with EPP schemes based on their performance. Showering performance incentives for your employees can be a good idea. But still offering them a long term benefit, something which they could count on even after their active working years allows them to understand that they are your important business assets.

Another benefit of executive pension plan is that certain schemes are eligible for a top up. With an increase in the life expectancy of the applicant, topping up the plan can help in building a larger fund that guarantees a high level of income post retirement.

Moreover, the employees feel comfortable as most of the schemes do not require their regular contribution. Their company will contribute a particular sum of money that goes into their executive pension plan which will mature at the time of their retirement. This is the extra benefit from executive pension schemes that are more advantageous than other forms of plans. With this plan in hand, each employee is guaranteed of tax-free returns for the rest of their life. It also forms part of their main income source which they can depend on at all times.

When it comes to the retirement date, each employee can choose their own year of retirement. They can either choose to retire early or to work past the company's set date of retirement. Whatever the choice is, the employee will still be able to enjoy a worry-free income for the rest of his life. All these advantages attract a large number of executives to sign up for a pension plan that guarantees long time tax-free income.

Insurance for the Gum Industry? There's Coverage Every Chomp of the Way!

"I chew gum because it distracts me from eating and helps curb my appetite."

Those that think chewing gum can be used as an aid to dieting or to maintain proper food consumption, may have another thing coming to them. According to studies, the gains, made by the associated reduction of hunger, is mitigated by the resulting ingestion of less nutritious foods than non gum-chewers. Results of research in fact show that gum chewers are more prone to eat junk food, such as potato chips and candy. The junk food preference may well be the after-effects of the common gum mint flavor that causes fruit and vegetable to taste bitter.

Desperately need that stick of gum? Check out these suggestions to curb food cravings and relieve life's stress; they may just be the perfect substitute!

To reduce food cravings:

• Drink more water
• Exercise
• Don't skip breakfast
• Eat wholesome, protein-rich small meals, frequently, instead of three large daily meals
• Satisfy yourself with tea

To relieve life's stress:

• Eat wholesome foods and don't skip breakfast
• Enjoy a hot glass of chamomile or green tea
• Take a brisk walk
• Exercise
• Refresh yourself with a drink of water
• Catch a brief catnap
• Use relaxing breathing techniques

Who created gum in the first place?

Incredible as it seems, the concept of gum dates back at least to the time of the Greek Empire when people would chew on resin from the mastic tree, named specifically because of the chomping that it provided for humans. Back then, the activity served dually as a tooth-cleaning exercise and a breath freshener. Later, The New England colonists learned the art of spruce resin gum chewing from the Native Americans that they encountered.

Like many innovations, contemporary chewing gum is a product of a business manufacturing gaffe.

In 1869, the exiled previous Mexican president, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, lived in Staten Island. Hearing the rumors about latex derived from a tree in Yucatan that might be rubber's counterpart, he decided to try his luck in the venture despite any potential risks or liability losses that the undertaking might have. After purchasing a massive amount, he hired the inventor, Thomas Adams, to process it. Unfortunately, there was no insurance coverage policy that protected either de Santa Anna or Adams. Not only did the assignment fail, it left poor Adams with a surplus of 'useless' material.

Then, Adams detected some notable qualities in the substance. In its dried form, the latex was insoluble in water; in addition, it was fairly plastic. Placing it in his mouth, Adams discovered a chewable pleasure, likened to the paraffin matter sold in drug stores of the times.

In 1871, the 'failed' inventor patented his gum, ultimately adding flavors that forwarded his brand. Adam's gum became a genuine sensation when the Wrigley Company expanded the popularity with advertising.

Despite the success that developed until today, you can bet your bottom dollar that Wrigley's currently has the necessary general liability, business insurance and commercial auto insurance that protect their booming enterprise from lawsuits, claims, and so on.

Compare Term Plans, Buy the Bes

You are working so hard to meet the needs and desires of your family. You have high hopes for their future. All your efforts are sincerely driven so that they lead a good life and occupy respectable positions in the family. But as we all know about the uncertainty of life in this mortal world, things don't seem that bright once we are not there with them. They would miss our care, our guidance and of course the money that we bring in to sustain them. There comes the role of life insurance, specifically term insurance. Term plans are designed with the intension to replace your income and make your loss to your family easier to some extent. A fixed sum is agreed to be paid by the insurer at the commencement of the plan, which is in fact a considerable amount of money and proportionately very huge compared to the premium paid.

Why compare term plans? This question is very important. The answer is not just difference in premium or different claim settlement ratios of companies. But different companies provide various other features that add to the basic term plan. Be it monthly income or extra coverage for some critical diseases, some companies hire a specialist team to provide claim assistance to the nominee etc. Thus, when purchasing a term plan one must be aware of the different features or riders (added benefits) provided by the insurer. Each person has a different type of requirement. Thus, one must be clear which company provides those features in their term plans that suit their requirements best. Thus, comparing term plans before just buying is a wise thing to do and all experts recommend it.

Now another question comes, how to compare? This is a very relevant question because nowadays you find insurance companies in every nook and corner. LIC is no more the sole player selling life insurance. With so many companies offering term plans with different features, it is havoc to even dare to think of comparing. These agents would do anything in their capacity to make you believe that only their company's plan is the best. So, you don't get the right information. We cannot expect you to study websites of all the insurance companies and chart out the best plan for yourself.

That problem is now addressed to a great extent by the rising capacity these insurance web aggregators are assuming in the insurance space. They intend to provide unbiased comparison in a very consumer friendly way. Thus, it is a good initiative taken by IRDA to promote Insurance Web Aggregators that provide healthy comparison in the best interest of the consumer.

Unemployment Insurance - The Controllable Tax

While often overlooked, unemployment insurance (UI) tax is a unique and interesting business obligation, because it is the tax over which a company has significant control. The ability to control both the size of the base exposed to taxation as well as the tax rate itself means planning opportunities exist here that are not found in other forms of taxation.

Consider that:

It may be altogether avoidable, depending on your state, business structure and appropriate use of independent contractors, and
It is highly responsive to behaviors and actions that you can control, monitor and measure.
Unlike a sales or income tax, unemployment insurance does not directly tax revenue or profitability. Rather, it is similar to an ad valorem tax in that it is a type of tax on productive capacity. But unlike an ad valorem tax, a company has control over the base on which that tax is levied. UI is based on a measure of payroll and smart job structuring and hiring decisions allow a company to maximize revenue with a certain sized workforce while minimizing payroll exposed to taxation.

Unlike other taxes, unemployment insurance tax rate is experience rated. This means that, in most states, a company's rate is based largely on its previous success in defending UI claims. Because of this experience rating aspect of UI, implementing effective changes today benefits not only the current quarter, but the years to come.

Companies that operate with UI consequences in mind can realize benefits beyond a lower tax rate. Often they see improvements in HR and communication processes in addition to becoming more efficient due to some standardization. In implementing changes, proactivity is the key and the human resources department is where most of the work must be done - especially in the areas of position announcement, selection, communication and retention.

It was mentioned that in the appropriate use of independent contractors can help a company avoid unemployment taxation altogether. But "appropriate" must be understood in light of UI laws in the state(s) where it does business. Each state's law regarding independent contractors must be understood or the company could face contractors being reclassified as employees.

However, if properly managed, unemployment insurance can be reduced until it's a relatively small business obligation. But to accomplish this, companies must implement change with an in-depth understanding of their state's UI laws, policy and practices. Thus, company's should consider consulting with experts in each new state where they are doing business, rather than learn state specific legislation as mistakes are made.

Unemployment Insurance - Purpose and Summary

Unemployment insurance (UI) is a form of insurance that American society has with itself. Its purpose to create a savings pool from which qualified workers can draw if they are out of work under certain circumstances. By receiving an income during periods of unemployment, recipients can afford basic necessities until they can again be productively employed. Considering how dependent the American economy is on consumer spending, the inability of people to engage each other economically can have drastic and eventually far-reaching consequences.

The UI social safety net differs somewhat from other welfare type programs in that it is not based on economic need, but upon past employment history and the circumstances surrounding the worker's separation from their previous employment. People that have been in the workforce for longer periods of time are generally able to receive benefits for more weeks. Since UI is a form of replacement income, the dollar value of benefits a person can receive is tied to the wages they received while working.

Viewed from one perspective, UI functions as a type of government mandated savings plan for workers, by requiring liable companies to "hold back" revenue that could otherwise be distributed to them. Viewed from another perspective, unemployment insurance is a type of tax on the economic prosperity that the workers create. Either way the cost of UI to business is determined largely by the amount of potential future benefits workers might receive and the taxing policies adopted by those in charge of each state's UI program.

Funding for unemployment insurance comes from two sources - separate state and federal UI taxes. Liable companies pay a UI tax to their state government, creating a trust fund for the payment of future benefits. These same companies pay a federal unemployment tax to the IRS each year. Annually, each state receives a grant of these federal taxes to fund the employees and UI services that their UI agency provides.

This dual funding mechanism mirrors the dual approach to administration that operates UI programs across the nation. Since the federal taxes pay for UI employees and services, the federal government sets out broad program requirements that the states must operate within as well as operating goals and targets that they must meet. For example, states must operate in such as way that a certain percentage of submitted UI claims are adjudicated and paid within 21 days. Since state UI taxes pay for benefits, state agencies decide tax provisions that fund the benefits as well as rules that allow or deny individual UI claims.

This structure, both for funding and operating the UI program, allows for a healthy tension to exist between the large and diverse stakeholder populations that can be impacted by the UI program.

Buying Financial Insurance in Canada

If you're a Canadian and have been in the workforce for a decade or more, then you know that your income purchases less today than the first year of your working career. Inflation is a part of our society and while our government continues to devalue our money by printing more and more of it, inflation will undoubtedly continue. This is not only a Canadian concern though. All around the world people are feeling the effects of inflation due to excessive money printing; but more on that another time. The long-and-short-of-it all is this: YOUR MONEY WILL continue to BUY LESS as the years go by.

A quick 100-year calculation using the Bank of Canada (BoC) inflation calculator showed the cost of a fixed "basket" of consumer purchases in 1915 was $100.00. At the end of 2015 that cost was $2,083.61. More recently, over the last 10 years prices have gone up 18.01%. Has your income gone up by the same or greater?

The answer is probably, No.

Whether you're a six-figure earner or you make 30k a year, your "money" is losing buying power. There are a lot of ways that you can protect your money from devaluation but we'll discuss two common options people take.

One option is the stock market; put a lump of your savings into a portfolio and see what happens. Sounds like gambling to me. But if you're prepared to leave your finances up to other factors (and people) other than your own due diligence, then putting your money into stocks may be a good fit for you under the following two conditions:

You have the stomach for volatility and,
Your primary objective is to see a substantial return in a short period of time... hopefully.
Another option, and this tends to be the easiest and most selected, is to open a bank savings account. No hassle involved; just open the account, decide how much you want to save and how often, put it on auto-pilot and watch your savings grow.

Really?

In today's economy, bank savings accounts are not a viable savings vehicle. Most of the interest rates offered are earning below inflation rates. The sad reality is many savers make a future withdrawal only to realize that thy have lost money on an after-inflation basis.

So, what do you do if you're not a savvy investor?

Buy financial insurance.

We have insurance for almost every aspect of our lives yet insurance is something many of us hopes we never need to use.

Buying financial insurance in Canada, or anywhere else for that matter, is putting your money into a vehicle that is protected long-term from the ups and downs of the volatile economy.

Buying financial insurance preserves your buying power and provides a hedge against inflation.

The global economy is changing but the only economy that should matter to you is yours.

Physician Reimbursement Fraud: Are You A Victim?

Have you ever been sedated by general anesthesia and wonder what really occurs? A patient came into the office to receive a routine tooth extraction and to have a tooth capped. After the patient was sedated, the surgery began. The extraction went as planned and we began to proceed to cap the damaged tooth. As the surgeon examined the broken tooth, he discovered capping would not be beneficial; but to file it down. I felt as this was an act of generosity; he saved the tooth and the patient did not have to file such a large claim to the insurance company. When the case was completed the surgeon filled out the proper paper work, filed it with administration and informed the patient that the extraction and capping of the tooth went exceptionally well. While leading the patient out of the office I glanced at the super bill and under the column of procedures, the CPT code for capping a tooth was marked as if that procedure took place. As I approached the surgeon about this, I suspected it to be a mistake. How would you feel if a surgeon replied with," they (the patient) will never know, it comes out of the insurance companies' pocket."

The previous account is an example of reimbursement fraud. There are accounts of physicians committing fraud, and yet, the small number of dishonest surgeons is rarely detected. Reimbursement fraud is a scheme used by employees/employers to claim a higher payout when an action or motive did not take place (Wynia, Cummins, VanGeest, & Wilson 2000). This action is against the law, and physician penalties entail: paying high fines, subject to imprisonment, and possibly termination of the practice. Misleading CPT codes are the most efficient way of reimbursement fraud in the medical field. CPT codes are a five digit number that describes medical treatment procedures and aid in billing. Physicians can easily alter cost amounts by changing one number in the CPT code. By acting on this, the physician has not only betrayed the patient, but has committed a crime, and costs insurances companies thousands of dollars.

Reimbursement fraud can be stopped in numerous ways. As a patient, after a procedure demand detailed receipts of what charges have been applied. This receipt will include all procedures that took place, co-payments collected if needed and CPT codes. The CPT codes will not make sense, but as a patient you do have the right to research what the code may interpret. Another way to protect yourself is to inquire about scheduling a conference with the staff that was present during the procedure. In doing so, you as the patient, are reinforcing your questions or concerns with an eyewitness. If you or someone you know may suspect reimbursement fraud please call 1-800-318-2596 (Palmer, 2013).

Proper Information Aids You in Making Smart Decisions

Life gives you many alternatives. The most important decision you have to make is to choose among those alternatives. This task becomes even more complex when there are a large number of alternatives. It is a known fact that you are able to take good decisions when you have decent subject knowledge. With proper knowledge you are at a higher perspective. You are able to compare the options and go for the one which weighs highest amongst its competitors.

When we talk about buying insurance policies, you would find that there are so many companies selling nearly similar products. Thus, here you would have to scrutinize carefully which company or product gives you the best deal. Having proper knowledge about the company liquidity, claims settlement ratios and their services would make your comparison better and would aid you to take the best possible decision. Analyze your needs and decide how much insurance you need. Calculate the premium charged by various companies for your type of insurance requirement. You would be surprised to know that there is significant difference in the premiums charged by companies. Newer companies generally charge lower premium to win the competition in their favour. Here you have to decide whether you would trust a new company for lower premium. Calculate your risk hunch. These days most of this information is available online. Online sources give adequate and mostly unbiased information to aid your research for taking the optimum decision. Surely, you would like to get good value for the hard earned money spent by you. It hurts when you know later that you could by a better product for the price spent by you. Thus, do thorough research prior to buying an insurance product.

When you have your valuable assets insured you get a peace that is unmatched. To attain that peace do a little research and get a plan that best fulfills your needs and ambitions. You can concentrate better on your core duties when you have arranged to safeguard your assets. Proper comparison weeds out weak insurance policies from the market and companies are forced to upgrade their offerings.

Online portals provide a good base to compare the plans of various companies and let the customer buy the best. They are able to take well informed decisions. This openness forces insurance companies to withdraw their bad products and bring out modified plans with competitive features. With healthy comparison you can chose plans that suit your needs and requirements best. As it is a well understood fact that every individual has different needs and expectations from insurance. Thus, be well informed. As earlier said there are many people in the market who would cheat you and induce you into buying a weak insurance plan. By comparing plans online people save significant amounts of money and avail plans with good coverage. When you purchase plans online everything is documented and recorded. Thus, the propensity to cheat reduces significantly.

Comparison always promotes quality. When the customer is well informed the companies are driven to constantly improve their offerings. It ensures better service. You get the maximum value for the money spent by you. You get to know your insurance requirements by online research.

How to Find the Best Insurance Agency

When you need coverage, you should look to your insurance agency to find the right policy. You might not be aware of some of the policies available to you. While you might think your traditional insurance will cover everything, you might be surprised to find out where traditional homeowner's, rental, medical, and car coverage fall short.

Different Types of Coverage

If you should determine that you need any of these supplemental options, you should check with your insurance agency to find out whether they offer the coverage in question. Not all underwriters offer these policies. You may have to get these supplemental offerings from other agents.

If you have a dog, then you might want to purchase a dog bite or "pet liability" plan. While you might think that your four-legged friend would never harm anyone, there is always a chance that it could happen. According to the Insurance Information Institute, half of all incidents happen on the owner's property. While homeowner's liability may cover the medical costs, there can be complications, such as when incidents happen away from home. Having a specific dog bite policy will handle any unforeseen problems.

Those who live in coastal areas will want to get flood insurance. This protects your belongings from damage due to floods. What most homeowners don't realize is that traditional homeowner's plans do not cover this damage. That is why it is important to purchase these policies separately.

Burial coverage gives your surviving family members money to pay the cost of your funeral and burial. The cost is nominal, totaling only a few dollars a week or month. This policy is not often sold through a traditional insurance agency. You will either have to go to a broker or purchase from a funeral home.

Personal electronic equipment policies give you more protection than the standard homeowner's plan. A traditional plan does not cover damage caused by installation errors. These programs offer repair or replacement of electronics such as computers, stereos, and televisions.

If you have valuable items like jewelry or high-end electronics, then you want to have supplemental coverage. While your homeowners plan does cover some items in the event of fire or theft, it does not cover everything.

Some businesses offer their full-time employees short-term disability. However, if your company is not one of those groups, you should look into having short-term disability added. Medical plans will help to cover bills from doctors and hospitals, but it will not help to cover normal monthly bills that can pile up if you have to miss work. While not all short-term disability programs are the same, it is something you should check into to ensure that you don't fall behind on your bills.

You need to research and understand the different types of coverage available to you. If you are unsure, an insurance agency can assist you in finding the information you require.

How To Get The Best Insurance Quotes

What things should you keep in mind when looking for a way to make payments to your current insurer without any hassle? What does the insurance cover? Can you go for the online insurance option? Read on for the answers to these commonly asked questions.

Most people tend to pay their insurance company whatever amount they demand in order to avoid the hassle. But is it compulsory for you to get car insurance quotes from a local company? No, you are not bound to do so, especially if you have access to the Internet. Almost, everything costs you loss if you buy it online, isn't it? So, why can't you get insurance quotes online? Of course, you can.

How to get quotes?

There is no doubt that the web has brought a revolution in the world of car insurance. Nowadays, getting insurance quotes from the comfort of your home is a piece of cake. There are so many insurance providers online that their quotes have become quite competitive.

So, how can you get quotes online? Well, it is simple. All you need to do is go to an insurance site offering quotes online upon request. Once you have chosen a site, you can enter your details and the hit Enter. You will get a quote instantly or after a few hours in your email. As an alternative, you can try out an insurance aggregator website, which will submit your entered information to a number of online insurers. You will get a lot of quotes in seconds in your desired order.

Once you have got the cheapest quote, you can complete your transaction by phone or through the website of the company that offered the quote.

Choose a responsive provider

Most people have to deal with dishonest insurers since they don't have the information they need. With the advent of online insurance companies, it has become a lot easier to get cheap insurance. If you have no idea where to go and what to do, you may want to try out an insurance quote aggregator site. What do you need to keep in mind during your research? The first and foremost thing is that you should not go with a company offering the lowest quotes and low quality service. The insurer should be ready to answer your questions when you call them. Moreover, they should respond to your emails and calls promptly.

Lastly, it is very important to keep in mind that you should go with only an insurance provider who is popular and trust worthy. What does this mean? How can you find out if an insurance provider is trusty worthy? You can easily weed good providers out of bad ones. You just need to go to insurance provider review sites and then read reviews on several providers. At the end, you should choose one that has lots of positive reviews.

So, if you are looking for cheap insurance quotes, you can use the two methods explained above. Since there are so many insurance providers online, it looks like the days of conventional, local brokers have been numbered. With the passage of time, online insurance quote providers will run circles around local providers.

Tips for Saving Money on Insurance Premiums

For those who are looking to save some money in the new year, it may be beneficial to research some ways to reduce the costs of car insurance premiums. There are a variety of ways to pay less money each month. The following are some ideas to consider implementing in order to reduce monthly spending:

Liability Coverage on Older Vehicles

For anyone who has older vehicles, carrying only liability insurance is one way to reduce premiums. This is especially helpful for those who have older vehicles in addition to their vehicles used for primary transportation. Removing the collision and comprehensive pay can be a good way to reduce spending, particularly if the value of the vehicle is low. It could be that the cost of insuring the vehicle is higher than the replacement value.

One main consideration with this idea is whether or not there are payments due on the car. For anyone who is still financing, the agency may not allow a drop in coverage until it is paid in full. Also, if there is no way to replace the vehicle in the event of a crash, full coverage may be needed until funds are in place to do so.

Inquire About Safe Driver Discounts

Many agencies will offer discounts to those who have a clean driving record. These discounts are typically provided to those who have no tickets or accidents on their driving record in a specified timeframe. In addition, drivers should not have made any claims for comprehensive repairs, such as broken windshields.

Ask About Discounts for Good Grades

For those with children of driving age, a good report card can prove to be beneficial with regard to insurance costs. Discounts are often provided to kids who maintain a certain grade point average. The amount of the discount will vary from agency to agency. Also, the insurance agent will likely ask for proof of grade point average from time to time, so be prepared to provide that information on a regular basis.

Do Not Drive As Often

For those who are at a point in which they are not driving as often as they used to, agencies may provide a discount for doing so. If driving less is not an option, there still may be options to attain this discount. This can be done through carpooling or traveling using public transportation. This not only accomplishes the goal of spending less, but it will also save money in fuel costs, maintenance, and repairs on a vehicle. For those interested in this type of discount, the agency may require a device to be placed in the car to track mileage. Alternatively, the insurer may request a manual report of mileage on a regular basis.

Saving money is often a priority for many families, and saving on insurance premiums is an ideal place to start. Check with different insurers to see if additional discounts are offered that are different from the current agencies. It may be worthwhile to change providers to take advantage of these cost-saving measures.

Achieving Success - Find the Best Product to Market on the Internet

Finding the best product can only be possible providing you are targeting a specific Niche in which you must preferably specialise. Your profitable niche is anything you're good at and the possibilities are endless. Finding the best product may even take you weeks or months because you need to have a product that not only is in high demand, but also one that actually delivers. As an Affiliate Marketer there are several platforms you may want to use in obtaining the right product and for the purpose of this demonstration, let's go with ClickBank.

ClickBank is one of the largest digital sales platforms on the internet with over 300,000 products and 150,000 affiliate marketers. It's also one of the best places to list and even create your own product because you have so many affiliates waiting to promote your product. If you do not have a ClickBank account then simply visit ClickBank(.)com and open a free account as an affiliate, not a vendor just yet because you need to familiarize yourself with ClickBank first.

Inside the marketplace when you want to select a product to promote you can even check on the percentage commission offered which can be as high as 85%. You will notice that there is a search that will indicate "Gravity" and every product's gravity is also included on the marketplace drop down search page. Now a product with a gravity above 100 is an exceptionally good product to promote because it is high in demand. But there's a downside to that coin where the competition is equally fierce and you will face a lot of competition when driving traffic.

A high gravity means the product sells good and a lot of copies have been sold. A Low Gravity, below 100 means less competition in actually promoting the product, and normally offers a much better commission percentage. Promoting high gravity products will require quite some expertise.

There is only one way to truly be able to offer your audience a solution to a problem that actually works, and that is to personally purchase the product you are interested in promoting and testing it properly. Even contact the particular product support after purchasing when you get stuck because the only way you will be able to verify authenticity is to set up and test the product and system to its full potential.

That is why successful affiliate marketers are constantly testing different systems, programs, methods and tactics. It is what enables them to create useful and interesting content that converts to sales.

How to Instill Trust in Your Customers Using Internet Marketing

Trust is another building block of your internet empire, actually trust is more like a cornerstone than a building block really. The only way that you could even remotely achieve gaining the trust of your audience is by providing useful and interesting content. Kind of like those bite size promotions you sometimes see in the supermarket, and then the craving inspires you to purchase the whole product. Internet marketing is pretty much the same and if the "Taste" you provide lands up in the rubbish bin (so to speak), then a sale will sadly be completely out of the question.

The only way that you will be able to provide the needed inspiring information is to have extended knowledge of the latest trends and solutions to problems within your niche. Give your audience some samples they can test of your method, tactic, system, program or even blog or website. It is crucial that you share something valuable that could preferably offer a solution to a known problem.

Engage your audience and offer advice to questions asked and ideas shared. Not only will this be more likely to turn a visitor into a buyer, but it will also be very effective in exposing you as a professional. Instilling trust in your audience has absolutely No Place for a sales pitch, which is like a sip of cold coffee in the morning!

No, you want to show your audience how to do something or how to accomplish something they have been struggling with. It's like setting a potential buyer at ease because after they see the successful results of what it is you are sharing, they will most certainly want to know more of what you know. The ability to instil trust in your audience comes with experience and in most cases a lot of failed attempts at several results. Failure is what adds exquisite taste to success, because nothing you do online is in vain.

If you want to instill trust then you must sacrifice the needed time and effort to learn as much as you can and become a professional within your niche. That is one of the main reasons why it takes time to successfully make money online, and a willingness to learn is your best weapon.

Give your audience reason to trust you and they will even follow you and share your content because if it's helpful to them, they will want everyone to know about it.

5 Digital Marketing Tips to Help You Succeed in 2016

Online marketing has a number of aspects, and you can improve all of the aspects should you follow a few easy tips. Given below are 5 tips you may want to follow in order to help you succeed in the world of digital marketing in 2016.

1. Answer Your Calls

First of all, let's start with something easy. The most important thing is that you must answer your phone. But if you fail to answer a call for some reason, just make certain you follow up as soon as possible. According to statistics, half of consumers like to do business with companies that tend to call them back as soon as possible. Therefore, you may lose a lot of potential customers if you fail to answer your business calls in a timely fashion.

2. Boost Advertising Results

Another important thing is that you must have a powerful SEO strategy for your online marketing campaign. If you don't have any in place, it's the time to do it now. What SEO does is help your product get found in search engine results. Aside from this, SEO also helps you with many other methods of advertising. Combining SEO with advertising, you may get twice as many visitors on your site.

3. Place Bids On Your Own Business Names

It's a good idea to bid on the name of your business as it will get you more space on major search engines. As a result, your brand will get more recognition and more customers will tend to click on your site link.

According to a study, the appearance of branded ads on the same results page in a search engine as organic links raised the number of clicks by 31%. Aside from this, it's common for competitors to place bids on the names of other business names. So if you find your competitors doing the same thing, you should take the right action.

4. Improve your online Reputation

Nowadays, online reputation carries a lot more significance than you can imagine. As a matter of fact, according to answers given by 90% consumers in a survey, positive online reviews helped them make the purchase decisions. Therefore, you may want to improve your online reputation through follow-up surveys and regular monitoring of the sites where you get reviews. Also, it is very important for you to respond to the reviews.

5. Use in-app ads

Do you know that most consumers spend up to 3 hours per day on their mobile phones? Another interesting fact is that about 86% of that time is spent on their favorite apps. What this means is that you must reach out to your customers with in-app mobile ads or you may risk losing a lot of consumers.

In-app ads make use of geofencing technology for displaying the ads to the target consumers as soon as they get in a certain radius. Seeing the ads, they may get in touch with you to know more about what you offer. Hope this will help.

Using Personal Experience to Enhance Your Marketing Content

Personal experience is the best way to enhance your marketing content which will ultimately be responsible for your sales. Personal experience is only obtained through constant testing and reviewing of products, methods and tactics. The tactic of constant testing will require a lot of patience because you cannot base your content on false facts. You have to go the distance and interact with the particular site support, which will only broaden your knowledge.

Knowledge and Content are the King and Queen of online sales, it has been for many years and will continue to infinity. Knowledge allows you to provide original, useful and relevant content which will prove to your reader that you are professional. When you have sufficient knowledge in your niche, you will be able to offer useful content without having to attempt a desperate sale. There are only two ways that should concentrate on your online sales. This will be by means of your own website and/or your own email list within your niche.

Personal experience may even result in you creating your own products, writing your own eBooks and publishing your own articles. Remember that you can easily create your own product by writing an eBook and selling that eBook online. Personal experience is always complemented by a willingness to learn, and a determination to succeed.

Personal experience only adds authentication to the fact that "instant riches" is not even an option, and therefore shouldn't even be a thought. It will take time to gather sufficient knowledge, it may take months and even years. That is why there is no such thing as overnight riches with making money online, because it's a precise science that favors precision and preparation. It is not all that easy to generate sales online, but it most certainly will be worth it.

Using your experience to enhance your marketing content must start with offering what professionals call a "Lead Magnet". This can be in the form of an eBook, which contains both links to your personal websites and landing pages. When your content is helpful, relevant and informative your visitor will want more of your content.

Use your personal experience to demonstrate to your reader how to perform a certain step and/or task. This must preferably be a task or step proven to be a common need within your niche. When your advice turns out to fulfill a need, you will have gained not only a returning visitor but also a new subscriber.

Website Ideas for Beginners

First you will need a trusted website hosting platform like GoDaddy. Not only are they proven and trusted, they also offer the most affordable options to getting your own website and domain out there. For that you just have to visit godaddy(.)com to get a domain with a website and an outlook email address for that specific website. Not going to discuss price, that's not the purpose of my article, but you will be blown away. Your Domain and website will be live for 12 months. But don't go select your domain and start on your website just yet. There are several finer details you need to attend to, starting with choosing your domain name.

Selecting Your Domain Name

It is important to use the keywords you wish to rank for in Google right there in your domain name. If you're not sure then use the Google Trends tool to search for trending keywords and keyword phrases. When your keyword and/or keyword phrases are present in your domain name then visitors will be more likely to land on your website when they search your niche. For this demonstration, let's use an Internet Marketing Sub-Niche like Affiliate Marketing. A good domain will then be to the liking of "theaffiliatemarketer(.)com" or even "marketingaffiliateincome(.)com". Try having at least one of your keywords in your domain name.

Selecting Your Website Title

Inside your website builder, be sure to load an appropriate tile for your website. Much like your domain selection, you must also try to target as many keyword or keyword phrases as you can. Keywords and keyword phrases are the core of any website's success, when you get the keywords wrong is when you have thousands of visitors with zero sales because they're not interested in your offer. Same goes for your Home Page content where your keywords and/or keyword phrases should appear no less than 28 times on your Home Page within the content.

Loading General Graphics

You always want to load images as large as you can from inside your website builder, this way you will have much better resolution when you crop or shrink the images. Don't overdo with images and/or banners because it slows down your website's load time. Remember that your website must open within six seconds or less. Focus more on offering useful content that kind of funnels into a sale, rather than trying directly with a flood of sales pitches.

Give your visitor reason to stay on your website, that way your visitor will be more likely to convert to a buyer.

6 Reasons You Should Have A Digital Marketing Strategy

If you are just starting out as a digital marketer, you may be finding it hard to know where to get started. As a matter of fact, most beginners think that it has to be a big lengthy report, but it doesn't have to be. You can just create a summary of the lengthy report. While having a digital marketing strategy in place is a great idea, most marketers underestimate its importance, and many firms don't have a good marketing plan at all. If you think digital marketing is not for you, you may want to read the 10 good reasons that will change your mind. Read on to know more.

1) You Have No Direction

It's common that companies with no digital strategy usually don't have clearly defined strategic goals in order to get new customers or build stronger relationships with the customers they already have. If you don't have any goals to achieve, chances are that you won't have enough resources to achieve them. And all this means you won't get the success you desire.

2) Online market share

If you don't do enough research, you might underestimate customer demand for services offered on the web. Probably, the more important thing is that you will not be able to have a good idea of your online market share.

As a matter of fact, the dynamics will be a bit different to conventional channels with various customer behavior, propositions, profiles, and options for important marketing communications. For more on this, you may want to read up on web marketplace methodologies.

3) Old and New competitors

What you need to do is spend enough resource for digital marketing. Not doing so will result in your competitors running circles around you. The thing is that you should not be using just any ad-hoc approach. Instead, your strategies have to be clearly defined. This is the only way you can achieve success.

4) Online value proposition

You must have a great online value proposition. What does this mean? In layman's terms, you may want to have a value proposition defined clearly, which will help you make your service more prominent and spur on your old and new customers to stay loyal.

5) Know Your Customer Well

Do you know your customers well? What this means is that you should find out what your customers like and dislike about your product or services. You can do it in many ways, but the easiest way is to use different types of user feedback tools for the identification of your weak points and then find a way to address them.

6) Digital marketing and budget

A common problem is that enough funds are not reserved for the planning and implantation of online marketing. And this is one of the most common reasons that businesses get left behind in the race. So, you may want to have enough budget reserved for your online marketing strategy implementation.

So, these are 6 solid reasons that you should have a great digital marketing strategy for your business success.

How Do You Create an Effective Squeeze Page or a Landing Page and What Are the Differences?

Landing pages or lead capture pages are used in all expanses of the sales industry, by both salesmen and marketers. These tiny one-page magnets are designed to do one thing, and one thing only. To sell your products or service to draw potential prospects into submitting their contact details so that they may learn more about your offer and you can develop a list to contact them again. A well-developed landing page is the golden key to the beginning of your email list.

You can find landing pages in all aspects of business from Fortune 500 companies, marketing departments, all the way to your local service-based family run business. Many times they will offer a free PDF information guide, consultation or software program. Usually the offer is simple and might contain only a few snippets of text, maybe a video or other form of presentation and then a big, bold, unmistakable "contact form" to gather your name email and possibly more information if you're interested.

Most sales companies and Internet marketing professionals that spend money on advertising will drive their traffic to a well-designed landing page because it leaves them with a tangible asset in the form of a mailing list. It's important to have the information on your landing page custom tailored in order to gather the precise information that you need from your prospect, beyond just a name and email address.

When Should You Employ a Landing Page?

If you are using money on direct marketing or advertising in the form of solo ads, newsletter ads, banner ads, PPC ads, pop-ups, newspapers, business cards and more. A well-designed landing page will help you draw the most response out of your campaigns by giving your prospects and easy and predictable course of action.

Also if you're looking to collect more than just a name and email from your prospects than a well-designed landing page is what you are really looking for. One caution: you might not try to build a landing page by yourself unless you have some sort of HTML design experience or the ability to use a template design from a software program. Sometimes it's best to hire a professional to develop your lead capture page or landing page design, this will ensure you get the maximum return on your investment.

Important point: a well-designed lead capture page can help you convert nearly 5% of your traffic into prospects which would mean out of every 100 visitors you might get five leads in your email capture list. This estimate is conservative, with the right offer and the right design your landing page could do much better. That's why it might be profitable to learn how lead capture pages work in a funnel system.

How Does a Squeeze Page Differ and What Is It?

Basically squeeze pages will only ask for an email and sometimes a name in exchange for something that will do be delivered by email like a special report, a 10 day email course or maybe a special discount. If the email and name is all you require in a squeeze page is likely the best option for you. It's important to note that simpler is always better and unless you're trying to generate leads to fit into a very complex niche market that requires detailed information. And going one step further with the simplicity of a squeeze page you might have noticed that many big-name marketers are now only asking for their users best email address and nothing more on squeeze pages which greatly simplifies their lead generation but this approach doesn't always work for all applications.

Because in today's market so much data that is being required from prospects, marketers have been moving away from the simplicity of a squeeze page. They are moving into the realm of a lead capture page or landing page. The goal is to get high quality, prequalified prospects on the phone to discuss their offer in more detail so a detailed landing page or lead capture page is the only way to accomplish this, a squeeze page just won't get the job done.

So When Should You Employ a Squeeze Page?

It needs to match your intended prospects. For example if you're offering a free PDF report that requires nothing more than an email to send it to, then that's what you should ask for. Just their email. Contacts get suspicious and lose trust quickly if you start asking for information they really don't need to provide or has little bearing on the offer for its delivery.

Important Point: whenever you can reduce friction in your marketing funnel it is going to help you to generate more prospects. If all you need is the email address from your prospects to facilitate the delivery of your offer then that's all you should ask for. Look at it this way. A squeeze page that is asking for a prospects name AND email is asking for twice as much information as the squeeze page that's only asking for an email. Yep it's only one more question but when you think about it, this is the way you start to understand why simpler is better when it comes to a squeeze page.

Digital Marketing Solutions That Are A Few Steps Ahead Of Today's Times

The decade and a half has completely changed the way companies invest their marketing dollars. Most online marketing companies invest a small percentage in traditional media outlets to sell their products to their targeted customers and markets. But the largest slice of the marketing budget pie is invested in powerful and customized digital marketing solutions. Marketers want to communicate directly with their consumers by following them online and establishing contact with them more directly through websites, apps, social media, and the likes.

Customized Solutions Based Predictive Consumer Behavior

It is imperative for marketers to decipher how potential buyers are behaving, where they can be found and what devices they are currently using. Success in marketing in today's digital world comes from understanding consumer behavior and psychology. By using the right digital marketing solutions, they can create more impactful marketing strategies by interpreting consumer behavior accurately.

Online marketing in today's digital marketing landscape involves creating and utilizing a whole gamut of software systems and apps. With the support of the best global IT service providers, with unrivaled experience in iOS apps development expertise and ability to create strategies based on your specific marketing needs can help you achieve your immediate and long term marketing goals.

The Right Formula For Digital Marketing Success

Thoughtful designing of websites is essential to give more teeth to your marketing strategies. Engage the services of a web development company in India that has the ability to combine inventiveness with seamless user experience. A finely balanced combination of creativity, instinct and understanding customer behavior can help in developing and launching a highly successful online media campaign.

It has become imperative for modern marketers to follow and engage with consumers online. The new experts understand the digital landscape better and has the expertise and experience to develop, track, and optimize online campaigns that can help consumers find what they are looking for.

The website development and maintenance firm offers turnkey solutions in all areas of internet marketing to ensure that your visitors transits into customers in the quickest turnabout time in the digital media cycle. Some new faces of digital marketing have a great track record in the area of custom software development for maximizing output of marketing efforts with minimum input.

Brands looking to use the new age digital medium can use the services to reach out to their target audience in an effective and cost efficient manner. Here, all efforts are focused on achieving high quality results in the internet marketing arena.

How To Capture And Keep The Attention Of Your Existing Clients

Modern consumers are fickle. They are constantly in search of the best deals. They also have limited attention spans and extraordinarily high expectations. This is because the web has made it possible for the average buyer to identify the lowest prices and the services and products with the best value within a very limited amount of time. Following are several reasons why high-quality and personable content may be the very best way to capture and keep the attention of your targeted audience.

There are several forms of content that you can use to maintain constant contact with your customer base. Countless social media platforms are available and can be used to update customers are price changes, special discounts, new products and more. While these are viable mediums for maintaining a friendly, trustworthy and personable image, they aren't really structured for giving people the most value for their time.

This is largely due to the fact that social media platforms are structured for micro-posts. A few short phrases may not be sufficient for giving people the information they need. These same posts can be used to include links to larger content, but when people are searching on the go, outbound links are unlikely to be used.

Email transmissions, however, can be used to transmit entire newsletters that people can view, save and reread as they see fit. These are opt-in campaigns for people who want more info on the services or products you supply as well as other industry-specific information that may affect individual buying habits. There are countless benefits that you can gain by opting to build use these tools to build your customer base and deepen your customer relationships.

Foremost among these is the ability to set yourself apart from the competition. Whereas social media posts are between you and the rest of the listening world, these transmissions are a bit more private in nature. This gives you a fairly sheltered platform in which you can try out new marketing tactics without the fear of having your closest competitors immediately follow suit.

There are a number of questions that people will need to have answered before they will be ready to finalize their purchasing decisions. With the right email marketing plan, you can group your message recipients according to the stage of the purchasing process that they are in. This way, you can streamline your messages individually for those who have never bought from you before and for those who need a little encouragement to buy from you again.

Why You Need A Strong Online Presence

Do you know how much time your customers actually spend online? A Google search will prove that 97% of consumers search for products and businesses online. If your customers are online, then you should be, too.

Having an online presence means much more than just having a website with your company name, address, and phone number. We are in a digital age and more people search online for products and services than ever before. Very few people spend their time searching through a phone book anymore.

By delaying the creation of your potential marketing platform online you're basically saying that you don't need any more customers or leads for your business.

Visibility

Eventually you will want to have a mobile-friendly website, but there are also other ways you can improve your visibility and online presence.

* Improve your search engine results and rankings.

* Create great content.

Both of these will portray you as an expert in your field.

Ease of accessibility

When you increase your visibility online you make it easier for people to find you. People who may never have found you any other way. If you live in the United States and you want to expand your business into Canada it's much easier to make yourself available to a Canadian online than to visit the country, or even move there. Being visible online REMOVES THE LIMITS of your growth potential.

Show them what you've got

Being online allows you to show people what products and/or services you provide. But that's not all. It also gives you the opportunity to show them what you know and what others think of you through customer testimonials.

If you purchase an item on eBay, are you more attracted to the sellers who are capable of providing you additional information about the product you're purchasing? Do you check the sellers feedback rating before you buy? We are accustomed to looking for authenticity. We want to make sure we're buying "the real thing" from a "trusting" source.

Trust

It is my opinion that trust is the most important aspect to building your online presence. Trust builds relationships, and with a relationship comes loyalty. A loyal customer can be a lifetime customer. When you have lifetime customers you don't have to constantly be on the search for new ones.

Pay special attention to what you put online. Is it nice? Is it appropriate? Will it attract people to you, or turn them away? If someone happened upon your Facebook page would they be comfortable with what they see there? Would they want to start a relationship with you?

Is it worth it?

It takes a lot of effort to create an online portfolio. Is it worth it?

Only you can make that decision. What you put into it is what you'll get out of it. You might end up with 12 new customers a year, but you could also end up with 300 new customers a year.

The end result starts with you.

Contact me to find out what changed in my life in the past few years that has made it possible for me to SUCCESSFULLY build a business online. After trying and failing for many years one thing made all the difference.

Make Money Online - You Don't Need To Be Smart To Financially Change Your Life Now

Make Money Online-The Problem With The Working Poor

Today, despite strong labor marketplaces with record low unemployment rates, you will find countless people in America who work but remain poor. In 1998, the newest data available, nine million people in America labored sometime throughout the entire year but fell underneath the official poverty level. Of those nine million, 2 million labored full time and year-round. The amount of the significant poor have continued to be stubbornly constant during the last 10 years, despite huge alterations in the labor market. Within this chapter, I am likely to discuss the issues the significant poor as well as their families face.

Prior to doing so, however, allow me to discuss why we ought to worry about the poor. First, most of the significant poor (56%), reside in families with children. Second, the working poverty will probably be a lot more common compared to official count of 9 million people in America which I just reported. The estimate of 9 million counts as anybody whose family earnings fall underneath the government's official poverty level, which in 1999 is $16,700 for any group of four and $13,880 for any group of three.

Make Money Online-More Problems With The Working Poor

However, many people claim that the state poverty level is not high enough. When John Schwartz and Thomas Volgy make use of an alternative way of measuring poverty, for instance, they estimate that six million people labored full- time but fell below self-sufficiency.

Since these employees supported other family members, 18 million full-time year-round employees as well as their loved-ones were impacted by working poverty. Once they examined the entire quantity of employees (not only individuals who labored full-some time and year-round), the amount of employees as well as their family people who have been poor based on their meaning of poverty designated $ 30 million.

Research conducted recently of baby seniors (individuals between your age range of 23 and 37) found that one-third fell into working poverty throughout 10 years (from 1985 to 1995) examined. Given recent alterations in welfare programs, the amount of individuals working but remaining poor are required to keep growing.

Make Money Online-How can you escape being in debt and retire wealthy and happy?

To escape debt and retire wealthy you must consider starting your own home business.However, if you want tot succeed you will have to consult an expert who can give you great advice, so you can start on the right path to a lucrative future for the rest of your life.

Six Reasons on Why You Should Invest in Online Marketing

Online marketing is a powerful medium to enhance your business online. It sets your company apart from others in the internet and gives it a unique presence, through which it can effectively reach out to its target audience and generate desired sales figures. Given the fact that it has such a huge impact on business growth, investing in it is worth the money spent as you can see good ROI within a couple of months.

Here is a look at the top six reasons for investing in Internet marketing:

Give Your Business A Strong Online Presence - Having a website is not enough and people can never find it unless it is optimized. There are so many optimization techniques, which can be implemented only by people who are experts in online marketing. These include on-site and off-page techniques through which your site's online presence is strengthened and it gains quality traffic and sales leads. If you do not implement SEO, your online business is definitely missing a big opportunity to capture its audience.

Cost Effective - If you were to spend money on radio, television and print advertising, the expense would be so enormous that only a large-scale company can undertake it. With online marketing, you need just a very small amount to advertise your brand, but can enjoy the power of reaching out to millions of people worldwide. Your marketing overheads are cut down drastically by implementing online marketing techniques.

Give Input to Improve Business - Online marketing generates information about your customer's likes and preferences, how much they liked a particular discount offer or sale, what their buying cycle is, which products did not do so well etc. This information can be used to improve your business, make better marketing strategies, improvise products, give more attractive sale offers etc.

Best Way To Reach Customers - Today, people are not reading the newspapers or magazines as much as they are surfing online for news, entertainment, interaction and research. The Internet is by far the place where people hang out, meet others, find information, search for products or services. It is the place where your customers are, hence reaching out to them through the Internet using powerful online marketing and search engine optimization techniques helps catch interested visitors and turn them into customers for your business.

Make a Powerful Impact on Audience - You can target audience in a stronger way through Internet marketing and gain desired results. It allows you to implement strategies according to behavior, age groups, demographics, language, etc, thus attracting attention to your brand from those who are most likely to be interested in its products or services. This effectively brings in quality sales leads and drives up sales figures.

Highly Interactive - You can read customer comments on your blog, forum and social media posts thus can respond to them, which is a very powerful means of getting to know their likes, preferences and what they feel about your products or services.

How to Build a Marketing Funnel, Data Tracking Is Essential!

So you've decided to build a marketing funnel. You've mapped out a goal and the various processes along the way to funnel new prospects to that goal. Now the most essential step you need in the development of your funnel is tracking the data to determine how well your funnel is functioning.

A word of caution. It's important to remember that every bit of new content you add and every new stage built on your funnel you're generating more data. Even though it's all relevant to your sales process in one way or another it's easy to get bogged down in the data and metrics tracked instead of focusing on a few key performance indicators. And that is what will give you the best information you need to make necessary improvements.

Seven essential data tracking resource points:

1. The amount of resource traffic - the Entry Rate refers to the number of resources that are currently in your funnel. Track this rate and see how changes in your marketing strategy impacts it, you'll see positive increases in the number of resources you are able to generate.

2. Your conversion rate - if you're just going to choose a few tracking resources, this would probably be the most important tracking resource to include. Basically, this resource tracks the number of prospects entering your funnel at any point and then the number that are converted into customers. As you make adjustments to your marketing strategy, you will see this number improve or decrease letting you know if you're on the right track for not.

3. Sources of entry - as you monitor the traffic sources from which people are entering your funnel you can have ideas and how to expand the reach of your marketing campaigns. For instance if you see a large percentage of your prospects coming from a single post you did on a blog, then you know that you need to generate more posts building on the information in the original.

4. Time spent in funnel sections - in a perfect funnel your marketing would be so compelling that prospects would jump in at the top and flow to the bottom without restriction in one day. But that's rarely the case, so it's important to know are they are getting stuck in one of your stages. Then you'll know that you need to either add more content, change a page or address some questions that are unique to this area of the final.

5. Possible leaks - along with amount of time spent in a funnel, if you see a large number leaking out of your funnel at a particular point then you will know that you aren't doing enough to answer their questions or desires. You'll know that you need to add more content to build on their needs so they can move ahead.

6. Tracking engagement rates - if you are engaging prospects with calls to action on multiple posts or landing pages you need to know which are sending the most converted customers through your funnel. This will give you the ability to know which one is sending the most converted customers through the funnel. Then you will have the ability to replicate your success with future posts or content.

7. Conversion rate - your conversion rate (or "close rate") is the number of opportunities that turn into eventual sales. If your conversion rate is lower than you expect, look at some of the other resources you are tracking for ideas on how to improve the success rate of your marketing funnel.

These days there are many different tools on the market to help you track the data on your sites, for most marketers Google analytics is probably the most comprehensive, easy to implement and it's free. You can use this funnel tracking tool until you determine that you need something more advanced, at which time you can move to a different paid type sales analytic program for tracking or to a complete marketing automation program.

It's important to understand that creating a sales and marketing funnel is no easy task. It's not a project you're going to complete in an afternoon or even a day. And setting up a resource tracking system is essential for a functioning marketing funnel.