Great Gifts for Guys Who Have Everything

If you know someone who has everything then you'll know how hard it is to shop for them. In fact I have a few brothers who have everything. For that reason I decided to compile a list of some great gifts for guys who have everything. Each of these gifts are guaranteed not to be owned by your recipient. We know that because we went on a man hunt trying to find unique and original gift ideas. When we came up with this gift ideas we wanted to pick out products that we knew would be loved by all of those guys out there. The gifts we managed to come up with are as follows.

#3 Personalized Rubik Cube

If you know a guy who likes Rubik cubes then you've got a great gift suggestion. The personalized Rubik cube allows you to customize each side of the cube. You can display up to a total of six different pictures on each side. When we first saw this gift idea we immediately knew that it would make a great gift suggestion. Since you don't actually see one of these that often. We think this would make a great gift for all of those family guys out there. On top of that Rubik cube won't cost you that much. You were able to find this gift for only $29.

#2 Pocket Sized Guitar Hero

If you know a man who loves guitar hero then they're going to love this gift. It's the only gift that allows you to get your fix of guitar hero. The pocket sized guitar hero includes ten playable songs. Which is just enough to get you through the day. When we first saw this gift we thought it was one of the more creative gifts out there. After all there are dozens of people who love guitar hero. If the guy you're shopping for is one of them then I would recommend buying this gift. It's the perfect stocking stuffer. On top of that the gift is also extremely cheap. With a price tag of only $9 it's the cheapest gift idea on this list.

#1 Simpson's Ultimate Episode Guide

For our last gift idea we came up with a great gift for all those Simpson fans out there. Since we know that some guys can be immature even into their 40's. We thought that our last gift idea would be great for those Simpson fanatics who want to know as much as possible about the city of Springfield. The book we found covers seasons 1-20 and only cost around $80.

Top Reasons You Should Use Giveaways As Part Of Your Trade Show Exhibit Strategy

When it comes to utilizing giveaways as part of an overall trade show exhibit strategy, there are two very distinctive schools of thought. Some organizations firmly believe that the handouts at trade show booths seem wasteful and useless and have dismissed them as the marketing convention equivalent of a wedding favor. However, other business leaders have determined that these items deliver more than just a passing "freebie" thrill to visitors of their trade show displays and continuously add to the mentality that they are a classic for a reason.

At some point during the strategizing process, you will also find yourself faced with the decision of whether to handout or not to handout. If you're leaning toward eliminating these giveaways in favor of investing your available finances in other convention resources, read on. There are three very compelling reasons why you may not want to ignore the promotional potency of the exhibit.

Trade Show Exhibit Success Requires Visitors

It's no secret that, ultimately, the overall success achieved when setting up trade show booths is directly proportional to the number of guests that visit the stands throughout the show. The more people that can be effectively enticed and compelled into checking out your displays, the more likely your team is to generate leads and close business. While pre-event marketing and advertising as well as state-of-the-art displays may lead you to believe that you've effectively stacked the odds in your business' favor for drawing in a crowd, it's important to remember that your competition has probably done all the same preliminary legwork. Come event day, you may find you need a simple but effective differentiator that helps your organization stand out from the competitive crowd. Enter the giveaway. Offering crowd-pleasing gadgets and other items can truly make the difference between passersby stopping in for a closer look or walking by your stand altogether.

Handouts: Effective Well Beyond The Initial Consumer Encounter

In addition to helping your business initially connect with the wandering masses at the next promotional function, these giveaways also deliver some undeniable fringe benefits as well. Strategically emblazoned with your company's motto and logo, a handout offers potential consumers brand recognition reinforcement beyond your trade show booths and other collateral handouts. Whether they've purchased from you in the past or have never heard of your company before the event, the giveaway will help them mentally connect your brand with your services and wares even after the convention has concluded.

Finally, not only do handouts help keep your brand fresh in the minds of visitors to your trade show displays, it also holds the potential to deliver portable promotional punch to everyone your booth guest comes in contact with. Pens, mugs, executive notebooks, flash drives and the like all have a tendency to make their way around the office. Each time a colleague of your visitor borrows a pen, your company name and logo will appear, offering the ultimate ROI for your team: a potentially endless marketing cycle.

Top Ten Ways to Market Your Network Marketing Business Online

Are you trying to market your network marketing business online? Or would you like to do it but you don't know what the best ways are? I have been doing it for three years and have tried everything. Here are the top ten ways I have found to be successful in marketing your network marketing business online.

Write Articles- writing articles not only increases your links and search engine visibility but also establishes you as an expert. You want to make sure to write articles and submit them to directories but also to newsletters, and to specific websites. Find websites which focus on your target market and write articles specifically for these websites.

Blog- start your own blog and write a new post at least once a week. Make your posts interesting and useful to your readers. Write guest posts for other blogs as well to increase your expertise and linkage. Invite your readers to comment on your blog and take to heart what they say. Include video on your blog. Comment on other blogs with interesting and relevant comments and include a link back to your blog.

Social Networking- choose one social networking site to begin with and set a goal to meet and connect with as many people as possible. Focus on building relationships and on offering value to others. Avoid spamming and trying to make a sale. Social networking does not offer an immediate payback but the long-term results are well worth it.

Squidoo- This website offers a combination of blogging and social networking and is great for link building. Create a few business oriented lenses and a few lenses based on your hobbies, famous people or other interesting topics. Keep them updated and promote them on your blog and other websites. You will be amazed how much traffic you will get from Squidoo.

Free Ecourse- offer people the chance to opt-in to receive a series of free emails all about a related topic. It can be business oriented or not. Include some business promotion in your emails without being too pushy or sales oriented.

Forums and Message Boards- Visit two or three of these regularly and offer value and start interesting conversations. Build relationships with the regular visitors and include a catchy signature file at the end of all of your posts. Focus on the knowledge that you can share with others.

Niche marketing- choose two or three specific niches within the larger category of network marketing and focus on marketing and building relationships with these people. Create one or more websites targeting these people. Offer value to them on these websites and have a specific plan on how you will reach them as well as what you will offer to them once you have made contact.

Online Parties- these can be great for making sales and additional contacts. You can reserve a room for a short period time for an inexpensive fee and you never know who will show up. It is also important to promote the party yourself for maximum success.

Branding you- make the focus of all of your internet marketing you and not your company and products. Everyone has the same products and the same company but there is only one you. Why are you unique? Find your unique talents that you can use and offer to others and emphasize on those.

Contests and Drawings- everyone loves free and you can create quite the buzz by offering a free contest or drawing. Know ahead of time exactly what the rules will be and stick to them. Make sure to choose a winner and to publicize the winner. Follow up with the rest of the entrants and offer them your products and opportunity.

Networking Through Business Lunches or Trade Shows

Although the Internet has been a boon to networking over the past decade or so, there is something to be said for a face-to-face networking over business lunches or trade shows. Adding a personal touch that might be missing from cold emails and Twitter, a lunch with a colleague can be an invaluable tool for you to use for everything from job leads to getting advice about a venture or idea. Trade shows offer the chance to speak with peers in your field. They know that you are interested in finding a place of employment.

People are more apt to share more personal details, and are definitely better able to read you as a person when sitting across from you at a business lunch, or spending a little time with you at a trade show. The chance to understand a person's inflections, and gauge their sense of humor (or lack thereof), their personal foibles and idiosyncrasies or how much you might even want to engage with them outside the business milieu can only be had in a face-to-face encounter.

There are certain protocols involved when you are considering networking through business lunches or trade shows. Some are common courtesy: such as not interrupting a vendor while he's currently dealing with a peer or customer. Wait for your opportunity to introduce yourself with a firm handshake and a business card, and get to know the person a little bit before you dive right into a lunch invitation. You might find that after a little personal interaction that you are no longer interested in getting to know someone better, or it might cement in your mind that this is someone to get on your side. Be interested in their products or sales pitch (it's a hard, sometimes thankless job working a trade show), and ask pertinent questions.

Know that once you've proffered a lunch invitation to a potential networking connection, he or she may not want to talk business. Trade shows often carry with them grueling schedules, and lunch may be one of your new contact's only break in the day.

You might consider making initial contact through the trade show venue, then following up with a lunch invitation. Be sure to let your contact know the agenda of lunch; don't lull them into thinking a personal relationship or friendship is on the table when you're really looking for a networking or job opportunity. Be sure to propose a firm date and time, with the offer of alternatives available. When you are networking through business lunches or trade shows do not invite anyone other than the main person (i.e., don't show up with coworkers, or your girlfriend). Be prompt, be appropriately dressed, be courteous, and thank your invitee for their time. Once you have had lunch, remember, it is up to you to pick up the check, even if they insist. You certainly wouldn't be impressed if you were invited to lunch and were expected to either pay or go halves; neither will they.

7 Ways to Market Your Business Online

Marketing. Does that single word cause you to want to scream or run away? Well, it doesn't need to cause that kind of reaction. Although every business, large or small, needs to market themselves on a regular basis, there is no need to be afraid of it. You really just need to do what is comfortable for you. One thing you can do is market your business online, and it is easier than you think. Here are seven of the most popular online marketing ideas:

1. Have a professionally-designed web site

If you have the skills and time needed to create your own professional site, by all means do it. If not, hiring a professional will be money well spent. It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, either. Just keep it simple to educate others about what products or services you offer.

2. Online networking

This is a great way to meet those in your target market, especially if you don't enjoy networking in person. Two sites I can suggest that do not cost anything to join are:

o Ryze Business Networking, http://ryze.com/

o LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/

3. Submit articles online

If you enjoy writing, a great way to drive more traffic to your web site is by submitting articles online. Find publications that your target market reads, and submit your articles there. Some sites offer directories of articles that others can use in e-zines or blogs. Submit to as many sites as possible, and don't forget to include a short bio at the end. Reference your contact information, including a link back to your web site.

4. E-zines

E-zines help you keep in touch with clients, customers and colleagues. This is also another opportunity to send more traffic to your site.

5. Blogs

Blogging is becoming much more popular these days. Blogs are less formal than e-zines, allowing you to become more up close and personal, while still promoting your business.

6. Message Boards

Although this also falls under the category of online networking, posting to message boards is a great way to showcase your expertise. Offer a solution to a problem someone has posted about, or offer a helpful tip. The more you come across as being an expert in your field, the more you will build your credibility.

7. Advertise in online publications

This option is not the least expensive way to get your business noticed, but can help if you know your target audience. There are plenty of sources for finding lists of publications that allow advertising.

As you can see, marketing your business online is fairly easy to do. Hopefully these suggestions will get you started in finding more business, and getting the word out there about you and your business.

Shopping Online For The Holidays - Don't Get Ripped Off

We are quickly approaching that time of the year where the Internet pays off in spades - the holidays. Here's a primer on protecting yourself while buying online.

Avoiding the Malls

I hate going to the malls during the holidays. They are packed with people, elbows are flying and I inevitably get in line behind the person who needs a price check or lost their checkbook. Thankfully, the Internet has largely solved this problem.

Millions of people now do most or all of their holiday shopping online. Frankly, it is hard to imagine how many brick and mortar stores stay in business. While shopping from your desk is great, you need to keep in mind the following legal cautions.

Don't Buy Off An Email

In a few weeks, you are going to get bombarded by emails from businesses. Unfortunately, there is no way to be sure the email messages are actually from the business in question. Phishing scam artists have become masters at kicking out email messages that look extremely authentic. If you get an email message and want to visit a site, do not click the link in the email message. Instead, type the site domain name directly into a browser or find it through a search engine. Doing so will get you to the real site, not a fake.

Credit Cards

Most people have multiple credit cards and use them willy nilly. When shopping online, try to limit all of your charges to one credit card that doesn't have a massive credit line on it. Also, print out all receipts. If a scam artist gets a hold of your credit card information, this should limit the damage. When you receive the credit card statement, make sure to check the charges against your receipts. If you find unauthorized charges, report them immediately.

Delivery Times

Sites selling products online have to comply with "prompt delivery" rules. To this end, sites are encouraged, but not required to tell you how long it will take to deliver products. In addition, they absolutely must deliver within 30 days unless stated otherwise on the site. When ordering gifts, make sure you note how long it is going to take to receive the item. If you are going out of town, make sure you keep the departure date in mind before you leave.

The Internet is a godsend when it comes to avoiding the stress of holiday shopping. Just keep an eye on those credit card statements!

Textile Trading - The Online Approach

Introduction

The Banyan Tree is an Asian symbol of a market, a perfect place for buyers and sellers to meet and trade in the shade. In the early days, traders in the textile community exchanged goods and barter systems emerged. The progression to forming communities across villages and townships eventually led to the birth of marketplaces and trade centers.

The Banyan Tree Theory is the foundation of Business Process Studies across the Online Trading space. It is about creating efficiency, across communities, regions and industries.

The World is flat! Today's World uses high-end technology and communications to bring people closer. Economies are more transparent and the way we do business is changed. With Global economies using synchronized supply chains, instant communication techniques, it is imperative to maintain pace. The flattening and convergence of businesses tools, translates into business functions taken to the Internet.

Imagine if you could go to a textile market where thousands of companies from around the world are selling and buying virtually. Now also imagine this anytime of the day and any day of the week! This is what online trade can do for a global business.

Companies go to great lengths to develop new markets, may it be a new region, a new end-use, or plain simple market expansion. The options available to companies in the business of Fibers Intermediate, Fibers and Yarns were limited. The Internet has proven to be a very powerful medium for market development.

Moving Beyond Paper
The procurement of goods and services is a source of frustration and costly inefficiency in many organizations. Procurement operations are plagued by inefficient product selection and sourcing. They are time-consuming manual ordering processes and involve expensive inventories.

Organizations' purchasing cycles and approval times are lengthy, and they lack the data and resources required to perform procurement in a more cost-effective and strategic manner. Internal process inefficiencies frequently prevent employees from acquiring the goods and services they actually need.

The procurement process within many organizations has continued to rely on inefficient manual, paper-based processes. The traditional procurement method involves high cost in both time and resources associated with processing a typical purchase order, particularly when each step has to be processed manually.

The Conventional Model
The fundamental inefficiencies in organization's procurement systems can only be addressed by streamlining relationships that already exist. There is a strong need to create meaningful collaboration between companies that already work together.

The emergence of the Internet as a means of fast and inexpensive communication, augmented by open standards and exchange protocols, has seen an explosive growth in B2B Textile Portals. Marketplaces like YNFX and Just-Style are designed to allow purchasing to be executed on commodities basis.

Online Trading Approach
For the promise of e-Procurement to be realized, the barriers must be low, both in terms of cost and the disruption to the day-to-day running of the business. Achieving the full potential of online trading, requires a move towards a neutral model that integrates procurement and fulfillment into a single environment for buyers, suppliers and interested third parties.

An effective online textile marketplace should fundamentally provide organizations with a comprehensive and collaborative trading environment - where all participants can trade effectively and economically in a neutral, mutually beneficial environment.

Online Trading connects organizations to a common infrastructure that provides the complete range of services necessary to facilitate commercial relationships and execute commercial transactions.

Today's advanced Internet-based architecture means that no software is installed on-client end. Buyers and suppliers plug in to a solution that allows fast and efficient roll out to all users in an organization, regardless of their location. Buyers and suppliers can trade effectively and economically in a neutral, mutually beneficial environment.