Category Archives: Main

4 Items to Boost Your Real Estate Newsletter Appeal

Real estate is a busy and highly competitive field. Agents need to be on their toes to secure a new listing or close the deal for eager clients. While strategies range from SEO content to postcard for real estate marketing ideas, your efforts should be able to reach both current and potential buyers and sellers. Using a well-done newsletter can help spark conversation, generate leads, and boost your online traffic. Here are some top items to include in your newsletter.

Local Market Analysis

You want to establish your name as a local, knowledgeable agent. What better way to do this and include local market insights in your newsletter. You can mention the average lending rates, the employment trends, or new businesses that will be coming your way. Include a video in your e-newsletter to double your click-through rate.

Highlight a Suburb

Spend a section focusing on the local real estate from a community standpoint. Highlight the amenities of new property developments and give readers an image of what life would be like if they chose to move in. There are plenty of online sites where you can find out median property prices, performance rates for the local schools, and the basic demographics of the community.

Spotlight Happy Clients

In today’s digital age, many people look to reviews with the same faith that is put in a personal referral. Having happy clients write about their experiences and allowing you to share their photos and comments can offer additional proof that your services are well worth the investment.

Show Interesting Properties

Give clients and readers of your newsletter an idea of the property types you work with. Include pictures of the million-dollar listing or highlight the old warehouse that you recently got the listing for. Give the reader confidence that you know how to handle their property.

A newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with former and potential clients. With good content and embedded links, it is also a good way to drive traffic to your website.

Why Go To a Christian School?

Your kids are the most important part of your life. You want to make sure that you provide them with the best education possible. This is one of the biggest reasons why many parents are looking for a Christian middle school in Florida. What are some of the benefits that you will enjoy when you send your kids to a religious-based institution?

An Education that Is Based Around Values

Too often, schools simply focus on communicating the information in textbooks to children instead of explaining to them why this material is important. At a Christian middle school, teachers take a different approach. They try to place all of their lessons in context, helping to explain to children why this information is important.

Of course, the most important context is God. All lessons are centered around His glory, which is one of the major benefits of sending children to a Christian middle school. When kids know why the material is important, they are more likely to pay attention, absorb, and remember the material.

A Personalized Education Tailored To Each Student

At a Christian middle school, the classes are much smaller. This means that teachers are not nearly as overworked as they are in public school. Because the classes are smaller, teachers get to know each student. This allows them to tailor their lessons to meet the needs of each student.

Your child is special. Your child is unique, He or she might not learn in the same manner as the student sitting next to him or her. While this fact might be overlooked in the large classes of a public school, this is not going to happen in a Christian middle school. Because the classes are smaller, your child will get to know his or her teacher. He or she will feel more comfortable asking for help in the event that he or she needs it.

Invest in a Christian Education for Your Child

All of the lessons kids learn in school should be based on God. That is exactly what your children will get when they attend a Christian middle school. They will see Christian values in action every day, allowing them to see just how they can live their life while giving glory to Jesus Christ. Consider the benefits that a Christian education can provide to your child. Set him or her up for success in the world down the road.

Why Dishonesty Bonds Are Important for Small Businesses

A dishonesty bond is a type of fidelity bond that can protect your company from the dishonest acts of your employees. No employer wants to think that their employees are dishonest, but it does sometimes happen and without some form of protection, the consequences of an employee’s dishonest actions can severely impact a small business.

What a Dishonesty Bond Does

An employee dishonesty bond protects your business against the fraudulent actions of employees, such as theft, burglary, forgery, fraudulent use of cash, credit cards or computers, and money order fraud. If a bonded employee causes financial damage to your company through a covered dishonest act, the bond acts as an insurance policy that will reimburse you for damages. The amount of the bond you purchased is the maximum amount you can collect on your claim.

When a Dishonesty Bond is Useful

Most employees who are bonded are employees who directly handle cash or other finances for the business. This is because the bond provides protection for losses due to employee theft. In addition to protecting your company from theft, bonding your employees can provide protection for customers, because it helps ensure that should an employee steal a customer’s money, there will be funds available to reimburse the customer for their loss.

Why Bonding is Important for Small Businesses

Business insurance for theft of company property usually does not cover theft by employees. Small businesses may not have the cash reserves on hand to be able to recover from large losses due to employee theft or fraud. Dishonesty bonds can provide a safety net that ensures that small businesses are not forced into bankruptcy due to dishonest acts committed by employees.

Without the protection provided by bonding, the only recourse for a small business owner may be to sue the employee for damages. Lawsuits cost money, take time to resolve and there is no guarantee of recovery. Even if you win your case, the employee may not have sufficient assets to reimburse you for your losses.

Additionally, the protection provided to customers should they suffer losses at the hands of your employees may shield you from substantial lawsuits. It also provides your customers with added peace of mind that their assets are safe in your company’s hands.

While no business likes to think that its own employees may commit dishonest acts, it is critical for small businesses to protect themselves and their customers from the possibility. Employee dishonesty bonds can provide that needed protection.

Customer Service Jobs You Can Do From Home

There are a lot of reasons why someone may want to work from home and we’re fortunate to live in a time where that is an option. A variety of roles are now available to capable people who wouldn’t have been able to perform them in the past due to distance from employment opportunities, family obligations, disability, or other factors.

The internet has made it possible for people to work from home at an unprecedented rate. With a few pieces of equipment, a good internet connection, and strong communication skills, the work-from-home life can be a reality for careers that used to be tied to an office building.

Here are five customer service jobs that you can do from your home office, kitchen table, or even the couch!

Call Center Agent

When we think of call centers, we often think of row upon row of beige cubicles in a beige office building. Thankfully that is no longer the case. With modern call-forwarding and intranet systems, these days it’s possible for physical call centers to be retired without a decrease in customer service.

With a computer, high-speed internet, and a personal headset, you can perform all of the duties of a customer service representative from home. That means you can process sales and answer questions from your couch instead of a cubicle.

Online Chat Agent

Similar to the Call Center Agent, an Online Chat Agent can do their job from home with a computer and good internet connection. Live chat has grown increasingly popular in recent years as people find chatting more convenient than talking on the phone.

Many fashion retailers have started to compartmentalize their online chat, letting customers select experts on sizing, style, or logistics to answer questions. This lets their Chat Agents become masters in their distinct area, and allows them to provide the highest-quality customer service.

Customer Care Specialist

You may be wondering what differentiates a Call Center Agent or Online Chat Agent from a Customer Care Specialist.

Call and Chat Agents usually help potential customers answer questions, or guide them through the sales process.

A Customer Care Specialist works to support existing customers. For eCommerce companies, repeat customers can represent as much as 50% of sales! So keeping those existing customers happy is vital.

Even though the purpose is different, the logistics are very similar to those of a Call Center Agent. Many companies, from eCommerce startups to large national retail chains, hire remote Customer Care Specialists so they can provide excellent service without paying for a large call center space.

Social Media Manager

At first glance, social media may not seem like a customer service job, but it is. When customers have a question or a complaint, they increasingly turn to social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and especially Twitter for help long before they contact the business directly. If a user’s comments or questions are being ignored, their network may know about it.

A good social media manager will respond to these questions ASAP and help the customer to find the help they need. Transparency is very important to customers, so engaging online is a great way to provide support as well as build loyalty to the brand.

Technical Support

If you’re more computer minded, technical support may be the job for you. These positions can range from solving simple “how do I…” questions to debugging software and installing patches remotely.

Technical support is required across nearly all industries, from computer software to eCommerce sites, to warehouses and distributors. For a work-from-home position, you’ll want to be prepared to provide support for software, apps, eCommerce, and other online services.

In-Office Customer Service Jobs

Not everyone wants to work from home. Some people like the distinction between home and the office. It helps them to keep their work at work, which is harder than ever in our always-connected world.

If that’s you, look for a customer service job that provides office space. UA Brands, for example, is often looking to hire for customer service representative jobs in Fort Lauderdale, FL. These jobs allow for a rewarding career, outside of the house.

A career in customer service can help you to become an expert problem solver and world-class communicator. Whether you work from home or in an office, these jobs provide transferable skills that will come in handy, wherever your career takes you!

 

 

Ryan McAweeney On Why Effective Marketing Is Indispensable For All Businesses

Most people will believe that a considerably large number of revolutionary commercial products have come our way especially in the last two decades and this has changed the world for good. However, Ryan McAweeney, a leading marketing executive hailing from California apparently holds a slightly different opinion.

For, according to Ryan, we have missed on as many (if not more) revolutionary products as the ones we have gained. And the products that never quite made it didn’t do so for one simple reason—they had been marketed poorly!

Ryan, founder and chief marketer of the San-Diego based Vertical Digital, a leading marketing company in the California region, is commonly accepted as one of the best marketing executives in the nation. And his views and opinions have especially started to come to the fore since Ryan began delivering lectures on public forums on the subjects of advertising, business, and marketing.

Primarily, Ryan’s appearances on public forums were prompted by the flak the advertising industry recently received from many different quarters. While strongly voicing his opposition to a number of unethical practices that many unscrupulous advertisers engage in, Ryan still made it clear that this should not be used to debunk the advertising industry as a whole.

It is during these addresses that Ryan McAweeny emphasized the immense importance of effective marketing campaigns when it comes to selling a product. According to Ryan, no matter how good or even revolutionary a product is, a lot of creative thinking requires to be invested when it comes to designing an effective marketing campaign for that product.

Talking on the subject, he says that every passing year he sees a huge number of good products fall flat on their face simply due to the fact they were marketed poorly and in an inefficient manner.

And this happens, maintains Ryan, since many companies and product developers see advertising as a ‘cost’, and not as an ‘investment’. As such, they are reluctant to spend ‘too much’ on advertising and thus a very large portion of the funds for a product goes toward developing the product.

And he expresses astonishment at the fact that the biased notion ‘as long as a product is good, it will sell’ is actually so deep that even many large companies try to penny-pinch when it comes to the marketing side of a product.

And yet, Ryan argues, how can a company hold its own if it cannot ensure quick cash flow once a product is released on the market for sale? Uninterrupted cash flow is vital for any company—small or large—for repeated investments in product research and development. Even companies like Google rely heavily on quick cash flow for further investments. And if such is the case with giants like Google, Ryan asks, how much more crucial a quick cash flow would be for smaller companies?

Also, in support of his argument, he mentions the immensely innovative, ingenious, and holistic approach Apple has taken towards marketing their campaigns—and in establishing itself as a brand as a whole. Without those campaigns and the large amounts of funds spent on them, we would have been living in a world without iPhones or Macs, Ryan states emphatically enough.

In fact, McAweeney’s passion in working as a developer of marketing campaigns is evidenced from the fact that in recent times, he has partly sidestepped from his duties as the owner of Vertical Direct and is currently running a consulting firm that chiefly helps small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs develop their initial advertising campaigns. This way, Ryan says, he can work hands-on with his clients and develop effective marketing strategies from scratch which is his real passion after all.

 

 

Top Reasons You Should Use Your Credit Card 

If you go to any financial expert for advice, he’ll tell you to keep away from using credit cards. Well, they would justify it with reasons, and each of them would be correct. It is so because a lot of credit card users use the credit cards irresponsibly. It could put them in a situation of debt.

So, why are we motivating you to use credit cards? It is because credit cards have incredible benefits associated with it. So, herein, we’ll discuss some reasons explaining why you should be using a credit card. Based on these reasons, it will be easier for you to understand the role and the importance of having a credit card.

Cashbacks 

Aren’t cashback the best? You can get cashback on making purchases with your credit card. However, to avail of the cashback benefit on the credit cards, you’ll have to meet their set annual or quarterly spending caps.

In general, the best credit cards of this type will undoubtedly be the ones that charge you a minimal interest and yearly fee in exchange for a high rate of rewards. Hannah, an accounting expert, offering online homework help with TFTH, says that she has the Fidelity credit card, with which she bags 2% of the value of the purchases as rewards on each of her spending. The Fidelity card is undoubtedly a good alternative for cash back, but the downside is that you will have to deposit the money in your Fidelity investment account only.

Bonuses

For these cards, you have to spend a particular amount in the initial few days of opening an account. Some cards lure applicants with miles or bonus points, which can be used for merchandise, gift cards, travel, or statement credits. Katie, who is a math tutor with TAE and offers online do my homework service by TAE says, that she used her earned good bonus points on her card. So, she exchanged them for an Amazon gift card of 50 dollars. The debit cards never really offer an initial bonus to the customer. Moreover, the chance of earning a reward on the debit cards is almost negligible.

Reward Points

There are umpteen available reward options available for you. You can use a co-branded credit card in association with an NPO like AARP, a clothing store, or some hotel chain. It will allow you to utilize your day-to-day spending to earn more valuable rewards every day. The perfect way to avail of the best reward points card is by opting for the one that is more closely related to your pattern of spending. If you make a mistake here and try to alter your spending habits to avail of the benefits of the card, it just wouldn’t be as productive as you would have hoped it to be.

So, if you are already spending at a particular hotel or prefer a specific brand of shopping, why shouldn’t you get a card that only encourages your current pattern of spending. It will improve your chances of getting perks, discounts, and rewards by multi-fold. Hanna, who offers an English essay writing service with EssayWriter4U, says that since she is a regular shopper, she opted for a credit card, which brought her more shopping-based rewards.

Frequent Flyer Miles

As part of this scheme, for every dollar spent, the credit card holder earns a mile. In some lower-card alternatives, you might avail a mile for every 2 dollars spent on the purchases. However, these cards wouldn’t charge you a yearly fee. But, how useful this card proves to depend on how you choose to utilize it mostly.

So, be careful in choosing the airline ticket that you buy with your miles or points. A lot of frequent flyer credit cards become hugely valuable via their introductory bonuses that are mileage-based. In most cases, these bonuses would be large enough to make up for the 50% to 100% of your award fight. Sonya, an associate, working with TrumpLearning, shares her experience saying that her earned flyer miles helped her sponsor a fully-paid one-way ticket to Amsterdam.

Grace period

When shopping from a credit card, you lose the money only at the end of the month when you pay the credit card bill. It can be beneficial. Do you know how? Firstly, though minuscule, this time value for your money is undoubtedly helpful in saving you some money. When the final payment is delayed, it makes the overall purchase a tad bit less expensive than otherwise.

Additionally, the cash will stay in your account for a more substantial amount of time. So, if you utilize your checking account, which is interest-bearing, you’ll earn a certain amount of money as interest during this period. Over time this will accumulate to one meaningful amount. Secondly, when you regularly make your payments via credit cards, it is easier for you to keep a close check on your account balances.

How To Avoid Chargeback Fraud

Fraud is something that you hope to never deal with when running a business. But if you do business enough, you’re bound to run into it at some point. If you know what it is and how it happens, you can structure your business so that you can reduce the risk of it happening to you. Consider a few ways to avoid chargeback fraud and other problems.

1. Invoice Customers

One of the best ways to avoid fraud is to use a secure invoice program, like PayPal. You can use the service to create an invoice with your company information and the charges for your customer. Then, you can email it directly to your customer to have them pay it. They can pay using a credit card, but PayPal has some protections for merchants so that you can get help with fraud.

2. Use Ethoca

Ethoca is an online service for eCommerce businesses where you can get help to fight fraud and eliminate chargebacks. You don’t have to have a large business to be at risk for fraudulent activity, and you need to protect yourself before it happens. While you may think you can fight fraud on your own, it will get tiring. Companies like Ethoca can help you fight fraud, and you can improve the experience for your genuine customers.

3. Don’t Accept Credit Cards

If you don’t want to deal with a service but want to avoid chargebacks, you may want to look for other payment options. Credit cards make it easy for the consumer to make claims about unauthorized purchases. If you want to avoid the issue completely, you can decide not to accept credit cards. Now, there is some risk to any payment option, and not taking credit cards may cost you some business. But it can be a short term solution until you find a way to fight fraud over the long term.

4. Set Up Strong Payment Policies

You can also avoid chargebacks by having payment policies that refuse refunds and exchanges. The policies you have will depend on what products or services you sell, so choose wisely. Not offering refunds can reduce the chances of chargeback fraud, especially if you make the policy clear to your customers. You’ll also make things easier on yourself because you won’t have to deal with restocking inventory that comes back.

Running a business from home can be a great, flexible way to make money. But if you don’t have the right protections in place, you could end up with chargebacks. Consider these options so that you can avoid the hassle.

How Partnering With an SEO Reseller Will Help Your Marketing Business

The marketing world is ever-changing; especially marketing in the digital age. Everything is online and in the palm of your hands. As a marketing business, you want to take advantage of that and do as much as you can for your clients. Adding too much to your portfolio can make some services suffer. You can’t try to do it all. Here is how partnering with an SEO reseller will help your marketing business.

You Don’t Have to Do It All

Keeping up on the latest trends and algorithms can be overwhelming and you and your company may not have the time to really research everything you need to know. Outsourcing to an SEO reseller will allow you to focus on the projects you have without needing to worry about having to do additional research and understanding the complex digital world that is SEO.

Add to Your Services

Being able to add more services to your business is always a good thing unless by adding it you sacrifice quality. Having a reseller doing your SEO allows you to offer SEO services for your clients. The partnership means that they are the experts that can make sure they are providing top-quality work that makes your business look good. 

Saves You Money

Partnering with an SEO reseller is a smart option to provide SEO services without having to pay to hire more employees to do it. You can hire an entire team by outsourcing. As a team, they will have a lot of different expertise that can benefit your business instead of just hiring one or two employees. 

As a marketing business, you want to provide as many quality services as possible. The best way to do that is to hire an SEO reseller who can provide extensive SEO services while staying on top of the research, so you don’t have to. 

ADHD Parenting Tips

Dоеѕ уоur ADHD child have a habit оf cutting уоu off іn mid-sentence? Do you fіnd іt dіffісult to саrrу a соnvеrѕаtіоn оn the рhоnе or with уоur ѕроuѕе because оf соnѕtаnt interruptions? Intеrruрtіng is a соmmоn bеhаvіоr аmоng kids with ADHD bесаuѕе they have a hard time keeping thеіr іmрulѕеѕ іn сhесk and censoring whаt thеу ѕау. But just bесаuѕе this bеhаvіоr оссurѕ naturally, іt doesn’t mean thаt it’s rіght, nоr dоеѕ іt bесоmе аnу lеѕѕ annoying! Hеrе аrе some ADHD parenting tірѕ оn dеаlіng wіth kіdѕ whо interrupt.

Contact a professional

Contacting ADHD Doctors for Children can give you access to specialized knowledge that can be more tailored to the needs of your child.

Teach іmрulѕе соntrоl

Work wіth your child’s thеrаріѕt оr teacher аnd соmе uр wіth wауѕ to hеlр thеm manage urgеѕ аnd impulses. Dоіng ѕо will nоt оnlу рrеvеnt уоur сhіld frоm іntеrruрtіng conversations, but іt wіll avoid other рrоblеmѕ caused bу impulsivity. Onе tесhnіԛuе thаt wоrkѕ on young kіdѕ іѕ tо uѕе a tіmеr and make a gаmе оf іt. Have a соnvеrѕаtіоn аnd thеn tеll your сhіld thаt he or she саn’t ѕреаk untіl the timer gоеѕ оff.

It’ѕ rude to іntеrruрt

Chіldrеn wіth ADHD should bе оld еnоugh tо undеrѕtаnd that іt’ѕ rudе to іntеrruрt two реорlе talking. Remind уоur сhіld аbоut thіѕ, and еxрlаіn that соnvеrѕаtіоnѕ іnvоlvе a ѕреаkеr аnd a lіѕtеnеr. Two реорlе саnnоt speak аt thе same tіmе – оthеrwіѕе, no one wоuld bе undеrѕtооd. Emрhаѕіzе thаt іt’ѕ important tо lіѕtеn tо whаt оthеr реорlе ѕау bеfоrе brіngіng уоur own thoughts іntо thе соnvеrѕаtіоn.

Ignore your сhіld

Discourage your child’s реnсhаnt for interrupting уоu simply bу ignoring him or hеr. If уоur сhіld tries tо dіѕruрt уоu mіd-соnvеrѕаtіоn, thе mоѕt еffесtіvе thіng уоu саn dо at thе mоmеnt is tо lооk уоur child іn thе еуе аnd calmly ѕау, “Don’t іntеrruрt untіl I’m done tаlkіng.” Thіѕ should stop the bеhаvіоr іmmеdіаtеlу. Another way to go аbоut it іѕ tо ѕіmрlу turn and wаlk аwау, оr resume уоur соnvеrѕаtіоn аftеr tеllіng your сhіld tо wаіt. Practice this consistently аnd уоur сhіld wіll bе lеѕѕ lіkеlу tо іntеrruрt your next conversation. Later оn, еxрlаіn tо уоur сhіld whу he or she wаѕ іgnоrеd аt thаt mоmеnt.

Be a rоlе model

Chіldrеn still lеаrn bеѕt by imitating thеіr parents, аnd one of thе bеѕt wауѕ tо сhаngе уоur child’s bаd habits іѕ tо аvоіd thеm уоurѕеlf. Show thаt you lіѕtеn thоughtfullу tо оthеrѕ during соnvеrѕаtіоnѕ. Mаkе ѕurе уоu dо nоt interrupt уоur сhіld or оthеrѕ, аnd ароlоgіzе when уоu dо.

What You Need to Know About Kratom

While CBD-based products are increasingly common these days, many people also seek other options for stress and pain relief. From alternate cannabinoids to entirely different substances, those options are easy to find if you know what you’re looking for. One, in particular, kratom, has had people curious in recent years. If you’ve ever wondered “what is kratom?”, here’s some starting info to work with.

Kratom’s Origins

Formally known as Mitragyna speciosa, the kratom tree is a relative to coffee trees that grows natively in Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Kratom has long been used in traditional medicine; the leaves are commonly chewed raw or brewed into tea, usually with sweeteners added due to its bitter taste. The functions attributed to it range from fighting fatigue during manual work and use as a local anesthesiac to a sedating recreational substance shared with guests. In its native nations, it still sees use in these ways.

Effects of Taking Kratom

Kratom contains several active chemicals that make it hard to fit into a single category such as sedative, stimulant or opiate, especially since the dosage taken affects just what kind of reaction occurs. A number of these chemicals are known to react to opioid receptors, though, which corresponds to some of kratom’s observed effects. Many users cite it as helping with chronic pain, anxiety and depression similarly to how CBD is used. Some even suggest using it to treat opioid withdrawal and addiction.

Is Kratom Right for Me?

Studies are inconclusive on how beneficial or harmful kratom is, largely because of a lack of data, and the DEA and other authorities disagree on their stance towards it. The benefits cited are mostly anecdotal, but so are many of the dangerous side effects, which include nausea, constipation, hallucinations and seizures.

If you’re considering trying kratom, it’s worth it to read up on what others suggest and keep your own limits in mind, especially if you’re choosing kratom because of a bad reaction to cannabis. Additionally, the fact that effects vary greatly based on dosage means you should be careful with how much you take.