Archive for November 4th, 2008

Give Worthwhile Gifts For Employee Recognition

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Employee recognition is relatively cheap, yet it has a extremely high payoff in terms of morale, reduction in staff turnover, and most importantly customer satisfaction. We would say part of the difficulty is that when you work with employees for a lengthy time, it’s difficult to find imaginative ways to recognize them.

Employee recognition is a tool that reinforces and rewards employees for positive actions, and encourages them to continue these behaviors in the future. You are able to reinforce the actions and behaviors you wish to see repeated. Employee recognition isn’t hard to do – it is an obvious thing to do. Despite the unquestioned benefits arising from employee recognition, one of the mysteries of the workplace is that recognition invariably is done badly, if done at all. Which employee wouldn’t like to be honored for his continuous service in a company? Employee recognition is a proven management tool that can be used to dramatically improve workplace satisfaction and loyalty. Even a small gift can lift employee’s motivation noticeably.

Some employee recognition ideas include: days off with pay, gift cards to a local store, or a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant. Some of the things that employees don’t really appreciate are the things that companies like to hand out most and include things like logo merchandise (pens, notepads) and apparel (shirts, jackets) unless they are highly desirable and of the highest quality. You might also consider some more personal gifts such as tickets to a favorite sports team, movie theatre, or drama.

Internet Marketing with Affiliate Landmines

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Today, majority of the websites in the internet are extensions of a company or industry’s operating arms. Internet marketing, web marketing, online marketing and internet advertising are just few of the applications that connects the World Wide Web in optimizing the popularity and advertising effectiveness of certain industries and businesses as in product demands and service necessities. Internet has introduced limitless options on which these products and services can affect or reach a wider range of clients or consumers. One of these options is optimizing profits by using affiliate landmines.

The use of internet in marketing products have combines the creative and technical aspects of business operations. With the use of comprehensive strategies, the internet has managed to synergize majority of the commonly used business models, making them more effective and systematic in achieving business goals. With the use of website functions and appearance, these companies are enabled to reach out to their target market base by presenting an accessible and more appealing media and design of advertisement, which will convince people of their product’s necessity to everyday living. Later on, the popularity gained out of internet-based business operations will be translated into sales and revenues.

Many types on business-client/consumer interactions can be facilitated with the use of internet. With millions of people surfing the net daily, internet-based companies and internet extensions of various businesses can effectively send their message, product and service across millions of internet surfers. The conversion of these surfers or website readers into customers and clients would depend on the impact of the content and the subliminal messages that were presented in the company’s website. The potential of every reader to become future customers is promising, which is why many of the companies are building up their very own empire, this time at the realms of World Wide Web.

In internet marketing there are several business models that are used. E-commerce sells goods directly to the consumers, online publishing for online advertisements, lead-based websites for gaining sales leads through the company’s website visitors and the affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, business rewards are gained from one or more affiliates. This means that for each visitor or customer brought by a previous customer, a corresponding reward will be given. It basically works like a referral system, extending the advertising and sales leg of the company to the actually client’s themselves. In return, the people who have referred people to the service or product of the website that he is patronizing are rewarded with purchasing discounts, packages or reward checks. This system of internet marketing is the very core of working with affiliate landmines. 

An affiliate landmine is basically a link that allows you to take part on a website’s marketing campaign. What you do is place an affiliate link and set the timing where you can offer product premiums among the website’s customers. As a consumer, you can easily determine the time when the customer’s buying resistance is low and what kind or product deals are appealing to them. The idea is you being an auxiliary sales person. So even as a consumer, you can benefit from the monetary gains of working with affiliate marketing modes.

Bruno Auger

Diamond Prices Soften in September

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

The global polished diamond markets were a relative oasis of calm and tranquility amid a roiling sea of turmoil in the world’s financial markets during September. Global stock and commodities prices rose and fell like a yo-yo, but diamond prices remained relatively stable, with only a slight downward drift during the month.

During September, polished diamond prices were down 0.5 percent (one-half of one percent) from the average polished prices during August 2008. On a year-over-year basis, average prices for polished diamonds were 14.0 percent higher in September 2008 versus the same month a year ago. The year-over-year diamond price increase represents a modest deceleration which has been occurring for the past few months.

What kept the diamond trading markets insulated and stabilized from the tumultuous activity in the other commodity and stock markets? It is still a closed market, where traders remain relatively calm, even under the most adverse circumstances. Diamond traders are different from other commodities traders: they have a personal attachment to their product, often a result of family heritage. They understand the market and the product. They have a sense of responsibility to maintain an orderly market, even if demand and supply are out of balance.

But, we hasten to note, the orderly diamond trading markets won’t always be insulated from the foibles of the global financial markets, especially if diamonds and diamond funds begin trading on those financial markets. In our opinion, diamond prices would have been whipsawed up and down during the month, just like other commodities and stocks, if they had been traded on global financial markets.

While polished diamond prices appear to have held more or less stable, September was a challenging month for polished diamond dealers. Trading activity slowed, especially among stones in the three-to-five carat range. Dealers did not want to drop their prices for these larger stones. However, rather than take lower prices, most dealers chose to hold onto their larger, better quality stones; they anticipate that in a year or so, prices will firm up.

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