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The nature of the reward, which is a sign of mutual appreciation, is to inspire individuals to unlock their potential and prove it in a self-fulfilling way. Diverse are the ways and means of his gratitude to his colleagues to express. In the civilized world, to appreciate each other by promoting common properties. Especially in the business world, the recognition of professional qualifications of the individual contributions is an obligation toadopt recognize the professional involvement of employees or the society stakeholders through the gifts that various forms. The last hope of corporate gifts is that they are improved to maximize overall business growth through inspiration and motivation of staff capable of and strive to the best of what they do.

Good corporate gifts are things that do not buy the employees in general for themselves. These are the types of gifts that are sincerely appreciated.In fact, corporate gifts should be, if at all possible to give personalized, because gives a generic type of gift a message to employees that it is nothing really special about the company. People normally prefer stuff with their name on it, not just the name of the company. Thoughtful gifts for employees express appreciation for the work done. For example, a carefully planned book could be personalized, if a sign on it. Another recommended corporate gift idea forReading is a subscription for a magazine that covers the hobby of a particular employee.

If as a business gift baskets are the gift idea may be personalization, conducted a well-designed theme. For example, a worker who enjoys the backpack can take pleasure in a water bottle, compass, nylon rain gear, bird identification book, or mixed lane. Each employee would be given a gift basket company, which is his or her hobbies and personal relatedInterests.

In an organization people can so stressed out and starved of time they need a deserved break, where they can relax. An appropriate business gift idea would be with spa packages for the employees. It is not only a unique and wonderful Corporate Gift for the employee but also benefits because the employer when employees look after a break with a massage during lunch tapers, for example, will make them more productive.

ForCompany that has a large number of employees, gift catalogs, from which employees choose their gifts, is an innovative solution. The advantage of a catalog is that people are always something they want to find, can. There is no reason to worry unduly, and it is relatively easy to perform.

Normally it is difficult for a company to give out to cash as a gift. However, a close alternative to such would be gift certificates. Gift vouchers from restaurants, shops,Spas, golf courses and gyms are an excellent corporate gift ideas. An annual membership to a museum or zoo could be done by employees who will appreciate the children. Another of the stamp are tickets to a sporting event, especially if the employee is a big fan of a ball team or tickets for cultural events, if the employee is not an art fan.

Human resources are important components of ensuring success in a business. Dynamic and innovative approaches to the care of human abilities, talents neededand further development. Corporate gifts create a sense of belonging and to build a positive corporate culture environment. The choice of appropriate corporate governance gift idea is of utmost importance, as they often bring about complex gains for the company in the future.

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Sucking a dick in my cubical doesn’t make me a corporate whore, nor does fucking in the downstairs bathroom.  It is the bought and paid for soul that the Mortgage business tries to get me to sell that would make me a corporate whore, and I have yet to enter into negotiations.  How much is my life worth?  More importantly how much is my soul worth?

I think its worth at least the things money can’t buy… Like a chiseled body on top of mine (actually I could probably purchase this), a perfectly cooked Filet Minot and a side of good conversation that includes heartfelt laughter and not just me pretending to care to get to the end of the date, a drive in movie, a perfect wave I don’t have to get beat up for riding, a harassment free ex-husband, and/or some education to get me far, far away doing what makes me happy.  Mostly getting me away from this corporate hell spin cycle that will inevitably continue without much change for all of eternity.  Maybe I sold my soul in a past life, and that’s why the last office came with phones without the “mute” button and instead a 24 hour harrassing, high maintence Executive that is the biggest douche bag you’ve ever met as my director.

I cashed in this job I mention.  I got more than what I thought I would.  Experience of how to deal with pushy jerks and prepare for a wierd combat of deception being thrown on me like what you also get from the pent-up monkeys at the zoo.  

I’ve been proactive and decided to go a new route.  I have decided to sign on with Dream Pleasure Tours promoting and living.  I’ll be blogging about this new adventure of sexual liberation, while maintaining my spiritual beliefs that I’ve found for myself.  Thank goodness I’ve found something that is a nice balance and a little more solid in the realm of honesty…  So I think so far.

This one is for Kathy:

Must see: http://xkcd.com/

From Reuters, a comment from China Labor Watch:

“The case of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, shows that corporate codes of conduct and factory auditing are not enough by themselves to strengthen workers’ rights if corporations are unwilling to pay the real price it costs to produce a product according to the standards in their codes.”

Acting ethically costs real money. It limits the return on investment. It complicates dealings with suppliers, competitors and often the government.

Doing the right thing is never cheap. The wrong thing can make you enormous sums of money in a world where this kind of behavior has no down side.

jp

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Are you looking for a clear definition of corporate culture? You need the right place!

I have developed a definition of corporate culture after nearly 20 years of cooperation with organizations and especially from the perspective of an anthropologist as well as a strategy consultant with an MBA in Finance.

The easiest way is to think of corporate culture that there is an energy field that determines how people act and think and see the worldaround them. I often compare culture to electricity. Culture is powerful and invisible and its implications are far reaching. Culture is an energy force that through thinking, behavior and identity is woven of people within the group.

Corporate culture is created naturally and automatically. Every time people come together with a common goal is creating the culture. This group of people could be a family, neighborhood, project team or company. Culture is created automaticallyfrom the combined thoughts, energies and attitudes of people in the group.

I've been involved with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in start-up companies. You want to work on the corporate culture once the company is profitable or "in the black." It's much harder to change the corporate culture when they want incurred when an active corporate culture they create from the beginning.

The CompanyCulture determines the energy sector of a company dress code, work environment, hours, rules for getting ahead and forward, is considered as the business world, is what value is estimated, and much more.

Any company or organization has many corporate cultures. For example, the marketing department and the technical department have very different corporate cultures, both from the entire organizational culture influences. Manytimes these two sub-cultures collide.

Culture is reflected in the visible and invisible ways. Some expressions of corporate culture are easily observed. You can see the dress code, work environment, benefits, and the titles in a company. This is the surface layer of the culture. These are just some of the most visible manifestations of culture.

Surface layer of Corporate Culture: Visible Expressions

Dress Code · · work · benefits · Perks · discussions ·Work / Life Balance · Title & Job Descriptions · organizational structure · Relationships

The far more powerful aspects of corporate culture are invisible. The cultural core of beliefs, values, norms, paradigms, worldviews, moods, internal conversations together, and private conversations of people who are part of the group. This is the basis for all actions and decisions in a team, department or organization.

Core layer of corporateCulture: Invisible Manifestations

· Values · private conversations (with self or confidants) · visible · rules Attitudes · faith · worldviews · moods and emotions · Unconscious Interpretations · standards · paradigms · assumptions

Business leaders often assume that their companies have the vision, values and strategic priorities for the culture of their company synonymous. Unfortunately, too often, the vision, values and strategic priorities, just wordshang on a plaque on the wall.

Corporate culture is really the container for the vision, mission and values. It is not synonymous with them. In a thriving profitable company, the employees were the values that embody vision and the strategic priorities of the company.

What leads to this embodiment (or lack of embodiment) is the corporate culture energy field that psyche of the people, bodies, conversations and actions penetrate.
Companies must have a good definition ofCorporate culture to change before they begin to understand how the corporate culture.

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Over these past few years I know what it has been like to be on the top of your faith and I know what it is like to almost lose it. I know the arguments for both accepting and rejecting faith in Christ. I know how true Christianity and false Christianity look like and have experienced both sides of the proverbial coin.

And one major problem has allowed me to examine why I truly believe in Christ: hypocrisy.  This one major problem that has spread throughout the body of Christ is why I have wondered why I believe in Christ in the first place. This one major problem has made me wonder is it worth fellowshipping with those who call themselves Christians. And this one major problem has almost destroyed my faith, my ministry, and my life.

Jerks—I can’t stand them. If anyone is honest with himself or herself they would probably say the same thing. I mean, who says that they love jerks? I mean anyone with half a brain would probably say, “I can’t stand jerks.” I mean that’s just me, but who knows these days. But it seems like the epidemic of “jerk-itis” is on the flippin’ rise. I see girls that are in love with macho jerks; I see people in government that are elitist jerks; I see corporate executives that are greedy and are ravenous jerks; I see jerks, jerks, and more jerks.

But the one place I have seen more jerks in my life than any other place unfortunately is not in the clubs, Washington, D.C. , or on Wall Street—nope, the place I have seen my fair share of jerks is in the church. Now it is one thing for some atheist to write this statement; but this is coming from someone who is a passionate believer in Christ, who loves Christ and His church, and was a former “jerk.”

You see, when I first became a Christian I was brought up more with the mentality of being a legalist jerk than being a compassionate servant. For me it was all about being right and wrong and it was about who could be the most holy and dress in the best suit. It was about politics and about CCM (hating it, then liking it, then having to hear it is the “devil’s music,” then finally liking it). It was about going to that “Christian college,” and abstinence and about dating is bad and courtship is good. In the end it was about me, myself, and I. I didn’t even grasp the picture of what authentic Christianity looked like until recently in life. All I was seeing previously was hypocrisy, fundamentalism, legalism, and everything that the Lord hates but the things that permeate the Church.

Jerks are everywhere man and they come in all shapes and sizes. They are nonbelievers but they are believers as well. I am not saying that the things above like CCM, abstinence, and courtship are bad things. But having the attitude that because I like or practice those things makes me better than you is “jerkish.” What we need to do to eradicate the “jerk-itis” syndrome that is going around the church today is replace everything “we hate” with the royal law as James puts it: to love God and to love others. If we would become a band of believers that were known more for who we love than for what we hate—the world wouldn’t have to see us as bold-face bigots or hatemongers; we could be seen as revolutionaries, as compassionate servants of the kingdom desiring life change in every individual life.

I have been there and done that when it comes to being a “jerk,” and now I abandon it for something authentic—a true servant of Christ. Laying aside any fundamentalism, or legalism, or judgmentalism, or homophobia, or hypocrisy, or anything that would hinder me from opening up the truth of the gospel with others—I serve God with all my heart and love God and love others.

Here’s a “short test” to see if you pass or fail the “jerk test”:

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10)

So if you praise God yet curse men, you pass the “jerk test” with flying colors, and if you don’t, well then you fail. If we were honest with ourselves, I would say we all have passed and have been there, done that. Let’s resolve never to commit the act that James has spoken of, but let us always do the following:

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.” (James 2:8)

[this is from a series of articles entitled: “Why I Hate…”]

I got a nasty comment on one of my posts the other day by a Kevin P Ward, who is apparently the director of something called the Aspen Science Center. You can read the post for yourself as it is distasteful. So like most people, I wanted to know why he said what he said and looked him up on the internet.

The goals of the center seem noble; educating both children and adults on the sciences. Having been a technologist  for 30 years I believe this is one of the most important responsibilities in our nation today. The Science Center have had some pretty good speakers who appear to be experts on their subjects. I also found that Mr. Ward gained some notoriety during the 2008 election when he called for a science debate between the presidential candidates. He was quoted in the Aspen Times as saying President Bush “has legitimized scientific ignorance in the public arena” in emphasizing the importance of his own vision of science.

Accusing the president of dismissing global warming as “just another theory”, Ward said ” So’s gravity. I invite him to walk off the roof of a 3 story building”.  Last I looked, it was called Newton’s Law of Gravity. Whatever the eventual truth, AGW is still only a theory. Mr Ward was both wrong and condescending. And there, you see lies the rub. Too many people in the earth sciences either have either forgotten the the importance of  accuracy and fact or simply don’t care. They are also often very rude to those who differ with their theory.

Forty years ago, my father, a rocket scientist, served as acting director of ARPA (now DARPA). Even then, he was deeply concerned with the new field known as earth sciences. He pointed out that even in the mid to late 1960’s, some of the instrumentation available was so sensitive that in many cases the presence of certain elements and compounds was statistically meaningless. X parts per million or even parts per billion can have very little meaning in most cases. He would liken detection levels of some equipment to finding a grain of sand in a dumptruck.

The determinant, he said was the application. The same principles and technology that can, as an example, sniff plastic explosives and nuclear materials and the carbon in a core sample can be misapplied and the data manipulated either inaccurately or improperly. The tool must be used properly and the facts verified. And as Disraeli once raged  “lies, damned lies, and statistics”. The misuse and misapplication of the data has been a common issue at the Environmental Protection Agency and here in California for many years. When making decisions on science, the data must be sacrosanct. The problem seems to be far too common when it comes to earth sciences. The cost/benefit discussion, as well as a number of more fundamental issues, have in many cases been lost in the statistics.

And now we find perhaps the greatest scandal of all is based upon scientists playing fast and loose with the facts. I do not know the truth of anthropogenic global warming, but at the very least that the data has been corrupted, and one of the fundamental principles of scientific research has been violated. That they may have then manipulated and falsified that data is cause for the most serious of criminal charges.

Make no mistake about it. Trillions of dollars are at stake. The Cap & Trade bill in this country has already been damned by some of the leading climatologists as ineffectual. This is as much about money and power as it is about the environment.  In 2 weeks representatives of most every country on the planet will meet in Copenhagen on Global Warming, and the countrywith the most at stake is the United States. And now the data on which all of the decisions will be based has been irrevocably tainted.

A couple of years ago I read Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. I was amazed that virtually everything in it was anecdotal. The charts and graphs were subjective. In a book on an issue of science, it did not present a clear, logical case. This has been a running theme in the global warming debate. The science is rickety, fast and loose. The worms are squirming out of the can.

We rely on scientists to do their jobs scientifically. Unfortunately, it seems we are dealing with educated morons such as Mr. Ward. I believe Alex Trebek would agree this is the ultimate game of Jeopardy.

Adam the Craftsman, formerly of Albion Swords, via Facebook:

“It was originally called Black Friday because the people that led anti-consumerism rallies thought of it as a black day. Only in the last few years has the retail market taken it as their own. I like the original meaning more…”

Thank you Adam! We the people should reclaim Black Friday from our Corporate overlords. Rather than be consumer victims, we should be proud of our accomplishments and spend time reflecting on them, or on quality family time. People should not be expected to rush out and compete in a life-or-death consumer market, the day after a major Holiday.

Traffic is bad enough on any commuting day of the week, without forcing people into a consuming frenzy!

This just released study ( report in PDF form) from McKinsey & Co. was undertaken for international corporations known as The 2030 Water Resources Group. It consists of:  The Barilla Group, The Coca-Cola Company, The International Finance Corporation, McKinsey & Company, Nestlé S.A., New Holland Agriculture, SABMiller, Standard Chartered Bank, and Syngenta AG.

The conclusions the study draws are not surprising to those who have even a passing interest in the subject. Global demand for water has long since exceeded supply. The report shows that over a billion people don’t have access to clean water; most of them in impoverished countries.

What is shocking is the accelerating rate at which we are consuming the water we have left. According to this report in just 20 years the demand for water will be 40 percent higher than reliable, accessible supplies, and more than 50 percent higher in the most rapidly developing countries.

Since the report was undertaken in corporate interests, it should not be surprising that the looming shortage is framed in it’s impact on economics first:

If these “business-as-usual” trends are insufficient to close the water gap, the result in many cases could be that fossil reserves are depleted, water reserved for environmental needs is drained, or—more simply—some of the demand will go unmet, so that the associated economic or social benefits will simply not occur

with the secondary emphasis placed on humans.

And while it is a dry slog to read through, you will notice that same secondary emphasis on human needs and human consumption in  nearly every instance. (see India Resources protests against Coca Cola) And likewise, when rights to water are discussed, it is always within a legal, corporate orientation. In the dozen or so references to the word “right” as it pertains to water, there is not one instance of  Human Rights mentioned in the report.

At a later news conference, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the chairman of Nestle helpfully questioned whether the idea of water as a “human right” is useful way to frame the conversation. He seems to think that humans have a right to “about 25 liters a day”.

One article on business and economics summarized the problem neatly:

The challenge: Getting beyond the nostrum that water is a “human right” so that water, which is obviously a scarce resource, can be priced in a way that drives conservation.

I will grant that the report takes stock of a number of measures to improve efficiency of use and protection of the resource. But for whose benefit? It may be that the coming water wars may not be between countries, but between corporations and those mere humans struggling to survive.

Further reading: Seeking Alpha T. Boone Pickens Invests in Water, Should You?

My boss has invited me to take up the challenge of arranging our department Christmas party, when I say invited I mean ordered, I don’t get a choice – those of you that know me will realise this is about as clever as asking Myra Hindley to baby-sit. This is a ridiculously bad idea for two key reasons, firstly I don’t really like Christmas and secondly I don’t really like the majority of the witless dribbling unwashed masses I am forced to interact with at work, a recipe for festive related disaster me thinks.
The princely sum of £20 per head is available for me to blow on this soirée so an evening at the Ritz is out, incidentally the term ‘per head’ is on the conversational ban list here as it is seen as being derogatory to minorities who were born without heads and also latterly victims of Al Qaeda like that scouse bloke Ken, anyway as usual I digress.
So, I have decided to come at this from a multi faith ethnically diverse and non exclusive approach which for those of you who do not work in directorate three of the thought police (ethnic festival management) means I am going to make it as un Christmassy as humanly possible. Not for the benefit of the PLO sleeper agent in our architecture team although he will be pleased but more because its my party and I don’t like Christmas.
In Bygone years Christmas in an office environment used to be a time of long pub lunches paid for by grateful management, time to bond as a team, to buy each other presents and if your luck is in or you have a spare fiver a ten minute knee trembler in the stationary cupboard with Janet the bike from accounts, all before going home to get ready for the big gratis evening dinner dance, partners welcome.
Christmas isn’t even called Christmas anymore, the ‘Festive period’ is no longer about peace and good will to all men (sexist statement) nor is it about management making that extra effort to make staff feel appreciated and included. It’s all about making sure your dates don’t slip, projects still march inexorably forward and people who know what they are doing are on call over the holidays to assist our offshore friends. As for the knee trembler with Janet well, the stationary cupboard has been rearrnaged into a windowless office with 8 desks crammed into it and even if it wasn’t Janet and her Yule tide duties are now being carried out by someone called Ranjeet in India, at least the post it note ordering part is anyway.
All in all celebrating Corporate Christmas is crap (alliteration mega streak!) its more about making sure work isn’t effected and minority groups aren’t in some way offended, not that any of the ‘minority’ individuals I work with care, the cynical amongst us might say its our paranoid directorate three friends keeping themselves in work and I would have to agree.
All that said at least my boss will be pleased that his year and probably slightly suspicious as I have for once decided to tow the company line, embrace our mission statement and ethos and pull in the same direction as management – in other words I have arranged for our department Christmas to be at our local curry house! Pint of Kingfisher anyone?

It’s starting already!  Once you begin to hear Elvis singing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” it’s all over.  we are officially full on into the Holiday season.  And I guess I’m just about as ready as I’ll ever get.  Only this year I’m contributing a couple birds of my own to the feast.  Going to see how pheasant tastes after my Dad smokes it.  The first couple pieces of breast meat look good!  Hope it was worth getting up so early in the morning and trekking through the trees and forrest.  At least it was fun getting them!

So I’ve given some thought to what I want this whole thing to be about.  It’s always easier to write about things you know and can get excited about.  I started to realize what my focus should be when I was un-boxing some MacBooks at work.  I’ve always wanted to take a class on the Mac OS and how the hardware works.  I’ve taken Microsoft Certification classes in the past and have the general gist of how things operate there.  I think getting to know the Mac better would benefit my career and give me an opportunity to separate myself from the huge heard or Windows users in the corporate world.  (Plus it’s a real rush carrying a Mac through the halls of Travelers and getting the envious and curious looks from passerby.)  If I can get a head start on the technical aspect, and maybe even present it here in a manner that everybody can understand, I can create something here that would be of interest to all.  After all, I was doing this getting published thing so I would have at least a few followers and not just to feel like I’m talking to myself.  Right?

Well, got to get some sleep in preparation for tomorrows big festivities.  With a projected 16 people at the dinner table, I might need the energy to escape the chaos!  I might even take tomorrow off from posting if it gets too crazy.  I know; I’ve only been at this for 2 days and I already want time off?  Prob won’t happen though…should get some good material tomorrow….Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Summer Heat in the Street - New York City, 2001

Photographic art and photo shoots are now available and the click of your key!

I’m surprised it’s taken this long before there was a serious backlash against open-plan offices:

Organisational psychologist Dr Darryl Cross said workers were reporting major gripes with the open-plan layout and warned big corporations of a lack of productivity, the Herald Sun reports.

“People can’t feel free, open and relaxed. If they have to watch who is around and watch their calls then clearly they are not going to feel good,” Dr Cross said.

He said the open-plan office was born because it was cheap – not to benefit workers – and there was no doubt the system led to low morale.

“When you have a distraction it takes you 50 per cent more time to get back to it,” he said. “They can’t work in such an environment.”

Obviously it’s been a long while since I’ve been in an open-plan environment – barristers’ chambers are individual offices with doors you can shut if you need to concentrate on something, and most of my time is spent at court anyway – but I remember the outright opposition to such schemes at previous workplaces. One had to bribe staff with extra leave if they would just shut up and agree…

Does anyone – apart from the people in management who have their own offices – like this scheme? Have you grown used to yours, or does it still rankle at your soul every day you arrive at your desk?

I love business and commerce! It’s what I studied for my undergraduate degree and it’s in my blood and I love working with people to help them achieve their dreams.

I am also passionate about social justice. I absolutely love helping people because I know what it’s like to grow up or to live in a third world environment and I know what it is like to grow up in need.

God has given us so much in North America – we are an absolutely resource-blessed nation; because of that, I believe we are charged with the responsibility to bless others.

I want to challenge you business folks out there: Incorporate giving into your corporation!

What do I mean by this?

I know yearly, most federal governments provide tax credits for corporations that donate gifts and charity – but that is not what I am talking about. I am actually asking you to take a look at your company and ask yourself: can my company do something to help other people? Can I give back what I have gained financially?

• If you own a restaurant, can you provide cheap or free meals to the homeless?
• If you own a business, can you employ the homeless or working poor so that you can help them out of their situation?
• Do you encourage your employees to seek further education? Do you provide free education or free seminars for your employees?
• Does your company encourage your employees to go and help at the local homeless shelters?
• The list goes on and on and on…

For a more global approach: Do you give away free products to third world countries? (I am not talking about dumping products where they shouldn’t be going!)

TOMS Shoes is an amazing story of an entrepreneur who decided to create a business around the idea of social justice: for every pair of shoes sold by TOMS, a pair of shoes is donated to the poor in America or around the world. This is an entrepreneur who looked at a business model and said “I don’t have to make X amount of dollars – I can do this to help people!”

Some photographers that I follow on the blogosphere also do something similar by giving away their time and their talent to document what is going on around the world. Kenny Kim recently went with a team of photographers to Tanzania to document the relief and developmental work that Thirst Relief does in the area.

I recently challenged the students who are becoming engineers in my home church to use their studies for an eternal purpose. I challenged them to create bio-sand water filters that cost less than the current ones being made around the world. Currently it costs an average of $100 to make a bio-sand water filter… can we make them for $50? $40? $30?

Whatever you do for your work, ask yourself if you can incorporate giving into your corporation?

Today more than ever, consumers are overwhelmed with choices, and distractions. The cost of attracting users to your website continues to increase and keeping them engaged is more important than ever.

Engagement doesn’t end with an individual browser reading content or clicking on an ad. Rather, engagement is an ongoing process that results in loyal customers who come back again and again, becoming more vested in your web site.

How can you make sure you’re engaging and keeping customers?

In order to create a loyal following, there are some basic principles you need to consider. From first impressions to life-long membership, put yourself in the shoes of your browsers and make their experience a valuable one.

• Reduce Clutter. How many times have you visited a website only to be overwhelmed and confused? What is this site about you may have asked yourself. Or perhaps you found yourself asking, ‘Where is the information I’m looking for?

Don’t ask your browsers or potential customers to figure this out. Make your site clutter free and create a                      visual priority that emphasizes the information, resources, or actions your browsers want. By reducing                        obstacles you build trust among new web site visitors and allow for simple decision making – which                            benefits everyone.

• Make Navigation Intuitive. There are many ways to navigate a web page but intuition rules the day. Don’t try to get fancy with your navigation or overuse java script. Basic navigation that follows current convention is the best way to lead individuals through your web site to the information they’re looking for.

• Make The Initial Site Interaction Relevant. When a browser reaches your web site, you have less than seven seconds to get them engaged. Making your initial site interaction relevant to what individuals are looking for is essential for keeping them interacting long term.

If you are promoting your web site with Google Adwords, or any pay per click advertising for that matter, be                sure to create customer landing pages that are truly relevant to the individual who clicks-through your ad.                  Once you’ve established relevancy, you can move them deeper into your content, tools, and resources.

• Ensure That Your Content Is Up-to-date. Web site content that isn’t up to date does not serve your audience and browsers are likely to move on. One way to ensure that information is timely is by providing a feed of relevant news or information. If including static text on your web pages, try not to include specific dates. However, if you must publish dates, be sure to update this information on a regular basis.

• Start An Interaction With Your Users. Each time a browser views your web page, you have an opportunity to interact with them. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. One great way to interact is to offer something of value at no cost. This can be a white paper, access to an exclusive list, or simply a 30 day free trial. Be sure to capture an individual’s valid email address and include them on your mailing list. An auto-responder is best if you wish to engage these individuals on an ongoing basis.

• Provide Plenty Of Support. Don’t hesitate to offer support right from your home page. Prominently display your 800 number, support email address, and additional information for your prospects and customers such as mailing address. This information is viewed favorably by search engines and also creates a sense of legitimacy. Contact information builds trust among prospects and elicits interest in your company.

• Make Sharing Easy. Once you’ve made your web site easy to use, don’t hesitate to offer browsers the ability to share your web site with others. This can be in the form of a simple widget that allows users to bookmark your page, subscribe to an Rss feed, or submit your content to popular news sites like Digg.com.

Individuals are much more likely to visit a web site based on a friend’s recommendation versus some other type of marketing initiative. Leverage the power of viral marketing with easy sharing tools.

Your web site can be your greatest asset. Unfortunately, many marketers and website owners are so focused on increasing traffic that they lose site of the audience that’s already visiting their web pages but are simply not converting.

Don’t make the same mistake. Improve the quality of you site through relevant content that is up-to-date and easy to find. Once you’ve engaged users, encourage them to share. Doing so will make your site perform better, increase conversions, and deliver value for all involved.

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info@razicommunications.com

Razi Communications is an Identity Company offering full-service public relations, advertising, marketing and Internet-based programs. We work with clients to help them discover their strengths and the things that make them unique and then help communicate those strengths into effective marketing campaigns. We bring your story to life in language that inspires and motivates utilizing traditional and new media.