Business Related Articles, Information and Commentary

For people looking to promote a product, service or site on the internet, one of the simplest and least expensive ways to market is through article marketing. As the name suggests, article marketing involves writing an article that promotes whatever it is that you are trying to sell or generate an interest. Unlike other marketing methods, articles require little more outside of the writing and research time.

The phrase “BUM Marketing” is synonymous for article marketing, but adds a truth to the otherwise vague technique. The term accurately describes exactly what the marketing is doing — he or she is “bumming” marketing exposure through article writing. Since there is no physical outlay of cash to the process, it makes sense for it to have taken on such a term. But what happens once the article has been written? How can marketers cast a net wide enough to reach as broad an audience as possible?

Depending on how much time you have, you typically have two options with article marketing. The first is promoting the article yourself through blogs, free advertising, free ezines (such as this one), as well as a host of others. The second is to use an article-posting software like the one promoted at the end of this article. The benefits of using software is that the program becomes the “marketing” side of article marketing. The reason for this is that the program will submit the article to hundreds of places.

The biggest drawback with mass submissions is that it can backfire rather quickly. Most people who have struggled through article marketing understand that the key to a successful article campaign is to have their articles indexed by the big search engines (thereby resulting in free, natural search rankings). However, all of the big engines search the internet regularly and if they find multiple submissions of the same article, they may flag it as the equivalent of SPAM… and all of the work invested in posting the article would have been for nothing.

To avoid this, most submitter programs tackle this problem by switching up paragraphs or substituting words. The best programs like the noted below will actually have the author re-write part or all of the article. Understandably, it is much easier to rewrite an article than to write three completely different articles. When you consider that a typical article will have roughly six paragraphs, these three versions result in 729 unique articles, meaning your article will have to reach the 730th version before any duplication is ever picked up by the search engines. With seven paragraphs, there will be 2,187 unique versions. However, the message itself remains the same, so reader of version 1 will walk away with the same message as a reader of version 576.

If you are looking to increase your exposure through article marketing, look into an article submitter program. Keep in mind that some will cost as much as $200 or more per month, but that the price does not have a linear relationship with quality. The program quoted here runs a lot less on a monthly basis and consistently reaches more than 1,000 directories while maintaining the integrity of the article.

What can be more disheartening than opening a gift and finding it to be something you will NEVER use? That has happened to us all at some time or another. You have several options. You can smile and pretend to like it, knowing that later you will either discard it, throw it in a closet never to be seen again, or give it to someone else and hope it never gets back to the person who gave it to you in the first place. You can tell the person that you don’t like it and want to exchange it for something else, but then you risk hurting the feelings of someone you dearly love. This is where the idea of giving gift cards comes in. Imagine being able to give your loved ones whatever they want. With a gift card, that becomes possible.

With the unbelievably high price of gasoline, gas gift cards build an superior gift idea. Everybody can apply them (adopting of course, that they can drive!) and they’re really accessible to immediately at the pump. This is an particularly great idea for teenagers, because frequently if you just give them a Visa or MasterCard gift card, they may prodigally spend it on unneeded items. A gas gift card will guarantee that it will be applied for needed transportation. These gift cards can also be recharged and used over and over again. There’s a phone number on the back of the card. When you first acquire the gift card, compose that number consume. If the card is always lost or stolen, you can call that number and acquire a replacement. Do not you wish that you could substitute lost or stolen cash that well?

Weddings are an ideal time to give a gift card. How many of you received three toasters and four dozen glasses for your wedding? Giving a gift card will ensure that the couple will get something they truly need and want. If you need a creative idea for giving a wedding gift card, try buying a wedding gift cardholder. You certainly will not be the only one bringing gift cards as a present. With a gift cardholder, they can keep all the cards together in one place. Some resemble birdcages or decorative boxes with a slit in the top. You can find them anywhere that wedding supplies are sold. Try to go with a style and color that matches the bride’s theme. If you aren’t sure, go with white, it is always a classic. This even works as a gift for an engagement party as well.

If you own your own business, gift cards are a great way to bring more exposure to your business. They are easy to buy and can be preloaded at set amounts, or you can have the customer choose the amount they wish to set. If the card never gets used, it is pure profit for your company.

Don’t think that gift cards are just the easy way out. They show the recipient that you took the time and thought to select a particular store or restaurant that you know they love. But they also allow the gift recipient to choose something that would truly enjoy. Who wouldn’t prefer that over something they will never use?

If you are considering getting a line of credit, it is important to remember that there are three kinds of lines of credit and the way in which they may be paid off differs. Weighing your options will help you get the line of credit that best suits your needs.

If you take out a signature line of credit, most likely your payments will be calculated according to a percentage of what you owe at present. The most common percentage rate is about two or two and a half percent or what you owe.

Let’s use an example to illustrate this point. Think about the fact that you spent $1000 buying a new TV the last month. When the bill comes, you are given two different options: make the minimum payment or any amount greater than the minimum payment.

Minimum payments have been calculated based upon the percent of whatever the new balance is. As was mentioned with the $1000 TV, 2% of your outstanding balance would be $20. This would be the minimum payment. Most of the payment will go towards paying the interest which is charged every month. If you make the minimum payment, it often can take you many years, to get your debt paid off.

This explains why the recommendation was given that you should pay more than the minimum payment.

If you make a payment of $200 that first month, your outstanding balance of $1000 is reduced to $800. The amount of interest you pay every month is contingent upon the outstanding balance. A good rule of thumb then emerges that you should pay as much of the principal down a month without completely sacrificing your lifestyle. This reduces the amount of interest you have to pay when buying things.

A different way of paying off your debt that some lines of credit offer is referred to as an interest only option. This is calculated depending on the amount you owe, the interest rate agreed upon, and the length of time in the billing cycle.

It is important to carefully weigh your options so as to be able to pay your monthly invoices without problems.

While watching the Nanny Diaries I came across this little nugget of knowledge: The biggest problem for any anthropologist studying a particular sociological model is that being exposed to this segmented group of people eventually leads to a total assimilation with them and the only way to stop this process is to immediately remove yourself from that environment.

It’s not about your will, it’s not about your desire - it’s about the environment!

Here is a little story for you.

Before I moved to America I was a successful businessman, pulling down a decent income, wearing cashmere coats, eating in fine restaurants, driving nice cars. I’d never done any manual labor.

At some point our economy collapses, I loose everything and decide to come to America to start over.

I had no money, didn’t know a soul, and took a job in construction because nothing else was open to me.

My environment changed drastically: from business-development to hanging vinyl siding, from a nice coat to Carhart overall, from a good food to McDonald’s, from sedans to pickup trucks, from my friends with college degrees, clean clothing and intact teeth to a bunch of stinky beat-up dentally-challenged rednecks.

At first it felt awkward and in some sense entertaining, but then I started noticing that my entire system of values started to change: good food would mean Burger King instead of McDonald’s, good clothing would mean Carhart instead of Wal-Mart, good car would mean an old pickup truck with a few hundreds miles on it that you can haul a pile of tools in instead of new shiny sedan (how are you going to put an air compressor in there?)

It didn’t even bother me to wear bandanas in public and to admit that I only made $10 an hour!

Everyday life has a way of numbing you to the point where you don’t see that there’s anything wrong.

Before I knew it I became a construction worker from some Jerkwater, USA and I actually spent a few years doing construction before I found enough strength to pull myself out of this situation and to come back to being an entrepreneur with clean clothes and clean car.

I don’t eat fast food anymore and I don’t get exited when I see a De Walt On Sale! sign.

If I had told those guys I used to work with my plans to become a successful Internet marketer or my dream of owning my own home-based business, how do you think they would have reacted? Seriously, I would have sounded crazy.

Was it easy getting back on my feet? Nope.

Do I regret any of the hard work I put in? Not one drop of it.

Remember what Scarlet said: Being exposed to a segmented group of people eventually leads to a total assimilation with them and the only way to stop this process is to immediately remove yourself from that environment.

What defines your environment?

During your educational career, you racked up quite a bit of student debt. Now that your college days are behind you, the debt has begun to hit home. Your student loans are taking a large chunk out of your monthly budget. It may be the right time to consolidate your student loans.

Some benefits of doing the latter include making just one monthly payment on your overall debt. This will be much easier for you due to your fast-paced lifestyle. It is much easier to make one payment on time that to keep track of several different payments and the dates they are due. Thus consolidating your debt will make budgeting your money a much less daunting task.

Another great advantage to consolidating debt from student loans is to secure a fixed, low interest rate for the debt. Many student loans have rates that can fluctuate over time.

Students can consolidate debt from loans once through a private company to secure a reasonable rate. Typically, the student does not incur fees or charges to consolidate student loans, because the companies make money from the government. This fact can make this task easier and available for nearly everyone.

By locking into a fixed, lower interest rate you stand to save money. For instance, the amount of money you are required to pay each month should be reduced. If you are currently experiencing economic difficulties, this will help you to establish a reasonable budget. If you are able to pay more than the minimum monthly payment, your student debt will be eliminated even quicker. Suppose you are able to lower your monthly minimum payment from $150 to $125. If you keep paying the same amount each month, $150, the extra $25 will go straight to the loan’s principal. You will thus save considerably on interest and be debt free in much less time.

Some of the other advantages to consolidating your student debt include not only monetary savings, but also the ability to resolve you debt quicker and easier due to a fixed, lower interest rate.

You will also be left with one monthly payment instead of the several you are currently making. Generally, you can also consolidate your student loans without having to pay a dime.

Such consolidation loans are generally available to everyone. If you are currently having trouble making your monthly payments or would just like to be debt free, make the wise choice to consolidate all of your student loans into one, thus locking in an excellent rate.