You hear this often in advertising, especially for exercise equipment.  There is something to this principle at least as far as working is concerned.  Beginning your workday with a plan could mean you finish early and with less effort. 

Use that noggin to make your work more structured.  Perhaps you’ve been in the situation before where you have several deadlines looming and a desk full of work that still needs to be done.  You want to pull your hair out but don’t relish being bald.  What you want more is a system to keep this from happening every month. 

One solution is to work smarter.  One tool you have is a calendar.  It can be a desk calendar, virtual calendar or a day planner.  Log all of your due dates for work in the calendar.  Virtual calendars give the added benefit of alarms and pop-up reminders to keep you on track.  For those who travel, PDAs and planners keep you aware of looming deadlines, meetings and paydays. 

Examine your week at a glance.  With one or two deadlines, plan the projects you will work on each day accordingly.  To avoid boredom, divide your time into blocks.  Timeboxing is a technique that works this way.  During each block of time, work on a different task.  Keep adding blocks throughout your week until that task is finished.  At the end of the day, you’ll find that you completed work on several projects and spent less time evaluating what to do.

Limit the amount of work you take on at any one time.  It’s nice to be able to accommodate your clients but let’s be realistic.  There are only so many hours in the day and all of them can’t be spent working.  You are allowed to have a life. 

To that end, don’t stack the deck against you.  Give yourself the time you need to finish a project.  Some will be short and require less time than others.  Don’t work yourself into a corner but handle only what you can successfully cope with.  As your skills and speed improve, you can add a few more projects.

Take a break to refresh.  All work and no play as they say…  Schedule in time for socialization.  A person who is well-rounded enjoys their work.  Work is not their entire life but a small part.  Even if you own your own business, taking a breather lets you unwind from the pressure and jump back in with fresh ideas and more energy. 

End each day with a tentative plan for tomorrow.  We all know that life happens, but without a plan, work doesn’t happen.  Give yourself and your clients your best by planning ahead and making the best use of your time each day to work, laugh and live.

Hotel Traffic Builders

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Hotel & Resort Internet Marketing & Website Development by Hotel Traffic Builders

Stress can kill you.  Most people think this is stretching the truth a bit, but it is not.  Stress causes unhealthy changes in your body.  Manage stress before it gets out of hand with these three simple techniques.

Stress is our response to outside forces exerted on us.  It sounds like a lesson in physics class.  If someone makes us angry, how we handle it affects our entire life.  Some people hold it in which puts pressure on their mind.  Others let the anger dissipate in order to keep it from affecting their lives.  You want to be the latter. 

Have you ever noticed that you get headaches when dealing with certain situations?  How about that stomach-ache that comes on when your boss walks in the room?  Learning to manage these stressful situations makes all the difference to your body and your health. 

Technique #1 – Take a time out.  No, we are not talking about sitting in the corner facing the wall.  Time out means distancing yourself from the situation in order to get a fresh perspective.  People have many different ways to take a time out and you can choose a few that work with your schedule and lifestyle.

Go for a walk.  If you work from home, going for a walk can break up the work of the day.  Getting fresh air and sunlight, as well as exercise, increases the oxygen flow to the brain.  Working an exercise session into your day on a regular basis is the perfect time to sweat out all your problems and increase the feel-good endorphins in your system.  A body in good shape can combat physical changes due to stress.   In fact exercise reduces stress levels.

Technique #2 – Communicate with others.  Some stressful situations are caused by what we perceive to be the truth.  We do it all the time.  Interpreting a look or a gesture without verbal confirmation leads to trouble.  If you think your boss is unhappy with you, go and ask him.  He may be having a bad day which has nothing to do with you, but you are getting a stomach-ache because of a faulty assumption.

When you are offended or have a problem, talk it out with the appropriate person.  Clearing the air goes a long way to clearing the mind of toxic thoughts and the body from harmful effects of those toxic thoughts.  Also communicate positive words to others to create a sense of well-being for yourself.

Technique #3 – Spend time doing something for yourself.  Every person needs to have time to pursue their own interests.  Maybe you like to sew, read or paint.  Whatever your passion, it is an important part of who you are and it is important for maintaining your sanity.  When the pressure gets to be too much, making yourself the number one priority can soothe your soul.

Stress is manageable with a few techniques.  Before you head towards the deep end, keep stress under control:  communicate, incorporate “me” time, and keep your body healthy.

Hotel Traffic Builders

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Does it always seem like you are under the gun to get things done?  Time seems to get away from you and you don’t know why.  Maybe what you need is a way to effectively manage your time.

Time management is an age-old problem.  Remember Wimpy in the old Popeye cartoons?  He’d pay on Tuesday for a hamburger today.  Why not pay now?  Procrastination is the enemy of all who try to manage their time.  If you have been bitten by the procrastination bug, it’s time to take an antidote.

Time management issues can be dealt with in three stages:  planning, tracking and assessing.  Just like with other issues in life, the best way to handle them is head on, before the problem gets to be too big for us to even want to look at it.

1.  Planning – Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.  We’ve all heard it and it’s true for the most part.  You have to have somewhere to start or you’ll spend half of your day deciding what to do.  Planning begins with the end – deadlines.  Know how much time you have for each task you have to accomplish.  Within that timeline, you can break down the larger goal into more manageable pieces. 

This method is less of a drain on your resources and your brain.  Use a planning tool like a calendar.  The calendar, preferably a computerized one, needs to have the capability of looking at a several views:  daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.  Use the calendar to map out work and personal tasks so that nothing gets overlooked. 

2.  Tracking – How are you using your time?  Use tracking software to monitor how much time is spent on business projects and how much is devoted to each project.  Tracking lets you see where time is being lost.  Maybe it takes too long to do the research for a project or the final organization of it. 

If your desk is unorganized, you could be losing what amounts to hours just trying to find what you need.  Time tracking software allows you to create categories for the way that you spend your time so you can easily follow.  If you don’t want to make that investment, create a time tracking spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel to prioritize tasks each day and track the time you work on them.

3.  Assessing – So, where did the time go?  Are you spending more time on minimum priority projects and less time on high priority ones, or is it vice versa?  Take a look at where you are developing black holes of lost time.  On your logs, choose a place for comments about what exactly you did during the time spent on each category during the day.  If writing up a proposal is supposed to take two hours but it is taking you four, what is being missed? 

It is easy for time to escape us.  For a business, time is money that you are losing.  Re-evaluate how you spend your time and tighten up on projects that are taking too long.

Hotel Traffic Builders

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Identity theft has cost companies and victims hundreds of thousands of dollars.  For major companies the cost could be in the millions.  One way that identities can be stolen is through the use of spyware.

Spyware are programs that can come bundled with other programs but operate on your computer out of view.  The user has no idea that the spyware was downloaded with their program.  In many cases, even if the naughty program is uninstalled, the spyware can remain. 

Spyware programs corrupt data and damage the operating of your computer system.  Computer applications begin to run slower or not at all.  When you get online, you may find that the spyware program has hijacked your browser.  This means that no matter where you try to go on the Internet, you are redirected to a certain site and nowhere else.

The purpose of spyware programs is up for debate.  Some sites want to record data on the people that use their program.  Their intention may be for statistical purposes but they have gone about it the wrong way.  If their users knew, they may not agree to this intrusion even for the best of intentions.  Hence, they resort to spyware.

Some spyware programs can steal your personal information by mimicking security pages and asking you to pay for and download fraudulent anti-spyware programs.  When your computer is opened up to a spyware program, your information can be transmitted to a third party who can steal your identity.  Keylogging is a technique used by spyware programs to track every keystroke you make to see where you go, and to gather any personal and financial information. 

Identity thieves have gone hi-tech and they are using your innocent web surfing against you.  Spyware can be disguised as toolbars, anti-spyware or add-ins for other programs.  When we click on the program, we don’t notice that other items are also listed to be downloaded as well.  Just because those programs are listed doesn’t mean they are needed for your application to run. 

Some sites like Kazaa are bundled with adware.  Adware in and of itself is not necessarily bad.  It is a way for companies to offer their program downloads for free by selling ads.  But, some of those ads could hide or be connected with sites that harbor spyware. 

Carefully read everything about downloads you are about to introduce onto your computer.  Use a high security pop-up blocker so that any site that involves a download will first ask you and will mention that the site wants to download other controls.  Install known and reviewed anti-spyware on your computer.  Any rogue program will then be flagged, and so will dangerous websites. 

Identity theft is a serious problem and no one wants to be a victim.  Be careful what you download or what sites you visit on the Internet so you don’t leave yourself open to spyware and subsequent identity theft.

Hotel Traffic Builders

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Hotel & Resort Internet Marketing & Website Development by Hotel Traffic Builders

It has been said that employees that are appreciated work better.  What separates these businesses from others?  It could be that they are motivated to do their best on their job.

Motivation can spur us on to do a number of things.  Kids are motivated by the big man in the red suit to be good all year in anticipation of his Christmas Eve visit.  Teens are motivated to do well in the driver’s education class by the possibility of getting to drive a car.  Many are motivated to get a job by the fact that they get a paycheck.

On the job, lack of motivation can lower the productivity of your employees.  Issues with co-workers, morale, or working conditions can outweigh the need to get a job done in the most efficient way or timeframe.  How can you change this scenario if it exists within your company?

One idea is to offer incentives.  Before you have a coronary, incentives don’t always mean money.  You might have to spend some money, but what you offer to your employees to show your appreciation could be worth more than a little extra in their paycheck.

Incentive #1 – Institute a company fitness program.  It doesn’t cost much.  The American Heart Association has a program called Start! At Work that is geared towards getting employees off their chairs and onto their feet.  Getting out in the fresh air does a lot to change a mood.  Don’t count their walking time as a break or their lunch.  Offer a walk break separate from that in the name of good health. 

Incentive #2 – Offer employee recognition.  If an employee has been working at or above standard or going the extra mile with their work, let them and the entire office know.  A monthly recognition program goes a long way towards showing your employees that you appreciate all that they do. 

Incentive #3 – Hold monthly meetings.  Meetings are for more than talking about the status of projects in the office.  Set aside time for employees to openly talk about concerns that they have.  You may have to set rules for these meetings such as confidentiality of everything said.  If you have several departments in your company, the meetings can be a departmental exercise to keep it small and private.

Incentive #4 – Be flexible with employees.  We all have issues that come up at one time or another.  For example, if an employee needs to come in an hour later due to a childcare issue, instead of reprimanding them for it, offer another schedule that they can work with.  You might find that these conditions allow for more to get done during the day when some are in the office early and some later in the day.

It is the little things that mean so much.  Employees that feel their work is commended and their efforts appreciated will go above and beyond to get the work done for their employer.

Hotel Traffic Builders

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Book: Conquer E-Mail Overload with Better Habits, Etiquette and Outlook 2003
Where to buy: www.amazon.com
The book “Conquer E-Mail Overload with Better Habits, Etiquette and Outlook 2003” was written by Peggy Duncan.

Peggy Duncan is a personal productivity expert who teaches people how to work smarter and use their time more efficiently. She is a speaker, trainer, consultant and author of many books on time management.

Her book “Conquer E-Mail Overload with Better Habits, Etiquette and Outlook 2003” features strategies and lots of useful tips on how to manage your overflowing email inbox. It teaches you how to use Outlook efficiently and gives tips and strategies for managing email, contacts, appointments, calendar and other tasks. The step-by-step instruction manual includes lots of snapshots of how the screen should look like at each stage for easy learning.

In her book, Peggy Duncan answers the most frequently asked questions from her seminars and relates them to the reader. She also offers lots of practical and useful information for every user of Outlook.

If you are looking to get on top of your e-mail, this book offers highly practical advice and you will refer to it time and again as you battle email overload.

Hotel Traffic Builders

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Marketing writing is quite possibly one of the most profitable types of writing.  Profitable because a good marketing letter, advertisement or email will bring in prospects, customers, and sales, it it’s done correctly.

Here’s how to deliver great marketing writing.

Step One.  Know your audience.  This means not only understanding their demographics like their age and geographic location but also their psychographics - who they are as people.  Where do they shop?  What types of cars do they drive and why?  What are their hobbies, habits, and hopes?  What are their dreams and more importantly what are their problems? 

Step Two.  Determine what your audience’s problem is and then solve it.  How does your product or service solve their problems, make their lives easier? 

Step Three.  Talk to your audience as if it were one person.  This is important.  We buy from people we like and we like people who talk to us as individuals.   Think about it, are you more likely to buy from someone who defines you as a group or labels you or someone who sees you as an individual and is there to fill your individual needs. 

One common approach is to create a fictional person who represents your audience and then write the marketing copy directly to them.  Yes, your fictional person is based on an understanding of your audience as a whole but they don’t know that.  The person reading your marketing copy will feel as if you’re speaking just to them. 

Step Four.  Make sure your writing is easy to understand.  This means skipping the jargon and colloquiums that may not be understood by your audience.  Speak in simple sentences and don’t be afraid to break a few grammar rules, conversational writing often does. 

Step Five.  Reach out to your prospects and touch their emotions.  These don’t have to be positive emotions either.  Quite often we’re frustrated, angry, bored, and a whole host of other negative emotions.  If that’s how your prospect is feeling by all means let them know you understand and have what they need to make it better. 

Finally, give your prospects something to do – a call to action.  They won’t likely take any action unless you ask them to.  Whether you want them to forward to a friend, visit a website or buy now it’s important to ask. 

Writing marketing copy begins with understanding your audience and appealing to them as an individual.  Speak to them about your product or service in terms they understand, relate to and care about.  Taking the time to follow these steps will help you create the kind of marketing copy, and profits you desire.

Hotel Traffic Builders

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Hotel & Resort Internet Marketing & Website Development by Hotel Traffic Builders

The way to stay on top in business is to keep your eyes peeled for changes in the market that can increase your revenue.  Any business that wants to utilize all of the avenues available to them to grow their company will get into search engine marketing, or SEM.  It is not only important to have a marketing plan but also to review it and make changes as needed.

What is search engine marketing?  It is the use of search engines to bring more traffic and hopefully more sales to your website.  This is a valuable marketing arena for those with website businesses and companies that want to expand into Internet marketing to reach a new base of clients.  Search engine marketing brings more attention to your site and your products through targeted strategies.

Companies, large and small, are getting involved in search engine marketing.  Whether they employ an outside SEM agency or an in-house group, the goal is to come up with initiatives that work to increase company sales.  Smaller companies may create the SEM initiatives themselves while larger companies can afford to hire out to experts.  You can run the SEM initiatives yourself but the learning curve might be steep.

First, learn the basics of search engine marketing.  It has many components.  Search engine optimization, or SEO is still viable and important as a tool in search engine marketing.  Search engine optimization uses keywords to try and predict which will attract customers.  The trick is to use popular keywords and phrases that a searcher would use.

Search engine marketing also uses advertising tools.  A popular tool is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.  Companies can use affiliate marketing to create ads that will appear on other websites.  Also, they can join profitable affiliate programs to bring in extra revenue.  Paid ads on search engines fall into this category as well.

A search engine marketing initiative takes into account all of these advertising tools.  The search consultant (who may be you) blends them into a strategy for the company.  The SEM initiatives are constantly monitored for effectiveness using analytics programs.  Pay-per-click advertising components will yield faster results than SEO campaigns.

It is a fact of life that what works today may not work tomorrow.  This goes for business also.  That is why SEM initiatives are subject to change.  Why would you change them?  Well, you could be still making profits but maybe they are leveling off.  Or, worse, your sales are falling off.

Constantly re-evaluating your position in the market is crucial to your growth level.  If your pay-per-click ad drops off, you may need to change your keywords.  In an effort to reach more people, optimize your website with enticing content that utilizes the more profitable keywords. 

Everything in your SEM initiative doesn’t have to change.  But, parts of your marketing strategy could be holding you back. 

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It is easier than you would think for your computer to get infected with spyware.  It could be as simple as downloading a program with spyware attached.  From there, the scenario gets worse.  To protect your information and your computer system, check out some popular anti-spyware programs that can help you out.

Before choosing an anti-spyware program, investigate what they are all about.  Some can be downloaded for free from the Internet but have limited functions on your computer.  Once you buy the full paid version, you are extended more features to keep your computer safe from viruses, malware and spyware.  It may give you more peace of mind to buy a full version outright so you can keep your computer safe from the beginning.  Here are some examples:

1.  CA Anti-Virus Plus Anti-Spyware 2008 – this program protects your computer from viruses and spyware.  Installation is quick and easy.  You can scan certain areas of your computer or do a full scan of everything.  Alerts let you know when your computer is threatened and threats are reported and dealt with according to your specifications.  The program scans email attachments as well.  Find out more at http://shop.ca.com. 
 
2.  STOPzilla – This anti-spyware program is less than ten dollars for a yearly membership.  It removes spyware and adware.  STOPzilla blocks pop-ups and warns of potentially dangerous sites so they can be avoided.  The download comes with excellent customer support if you have any problems.  Even Trojans don’t have a chance of getting through.  Go to www.stopzilla.com for more information. 

3.  AVG Anti-Spyware – A free version can be downloaded from the site that will alert you of spyware.  It has limited features unless you buy the full version online.  Their anti-spyware programs get rid of viruses, spyware and Trojans with the highest security around.  Go to www.avg.com for more details.

4.  Trend Micro Anti-spyware – This anti-spyware program can be set up to automatically run on a schedule to protect your computer.  Any viruses, spyware, and other nasty bugs are found and then you delete them from your system.  You are also alerted to dangerous websites in your search results online.  It offers yearly subscriptions and more products at http://us.trendmicro.com. 

5.  SpySweeper anti-spyware software by Webroot – This anti-spyware program is rated high among programs of its type.  It protects your computer from malware, spyware and other threats all in real time.  It is compatible with Microsoft Vista.  Look up its features at www.webroot.com. 

6.  Spyware Doctor – This program keeps your computer healthy and devoid of dangerous spyware, malware, Trojans, viruses and dangerous websites.  Designed for Vista users, the anti-spyware program offers free customer support and a free trial before you buy.  Find it at www.pctools.com. 

Anti-spyware protects your computer and your sensitive information from prying eyes.  Invest in an antispyware program today.

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We are not talking about that molded meat in a can.  But, if you don’t comply with this act you will have your marketing efforts canned.  Read further to find out what the CAN SPAM Act is all about and how it affects you.

The CAN SPAM Act was put into place in 2003 when it was signed into law by President George W. Bush.  The act regulates the spammers.  We all know who they are.  They are the ones who send unsolicited emails to your inbox.

Some of the spam is more than just annoying.  There is a lot of grossly pornographic material represented here.  Spammers use your email to dump unwanted advertisements on your doorstep.  If one gets your email address, they all seem to get it and the influx of dirty mail begins. 

The CAN SPAM Act was supposed to regulate this with the help of the Federal Trade Commission.  With the help of the FTC those who use deceptive subject lines to get you to open their mail can be prosecuted.  Also, many of these emails are just another way to get you to view pornography that would be deleted outright if the subject line alluded to what was really inside. 

Email recipients don’t have to give you permission to send them emails.  This is one drawback.  But, at the end of your email, you need to have an Unsubscribe link so that the recipient can stop your email advertisements if they choose.  Ignoring their requests will result in prosecution as well.

Some illegal offenses include:

* Using email addresses on websites to send spam
* Sending pornographic material
* Illegally gaining access to email addresses
* Sending out emails that link to fraudulent sites to recipients

Many are skeptical of the efficacy of the CAN SPAM Act.  Email servers beefed up their security measures to keep customers happy.  With self-cleaning bulk mail folders, email security settings and other measures, most of the unwanted email is avoided. 

Using the highest security on your email filter means that no one who is not in your address book will get an email through unless they fill out a short questionnaire.  Most spammers won’t take the time to do that.  Even with the questionnaire, the email is not allowed unless you agree to it.

Still, there are spammers who use other site’s mailing lists to send their horrible emails.  Don’t be fooled.  The CAN SPAM Act will be enforced if you fail to comply.  The act covers all business emails that are used to solicit purchase of a product or service. 

It is up to the FTC and the State Attorney General to prosecute for these offenses.  A spammer can be charged up to $250 per offensive email, up to $2 million.  For your part, report spam to your email provider in an effort to catch these offenders.

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