Finance

Financial Advisor Marketing Skills

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When you are a financial advisor, one of your primary goals is to communicate information about all of the products and services that your company has to offer, everything from savings accounts, to stocks, to bonds and mutual funds. In order to communicate this information to prospective clients, you need to develop a marketing plan.

What marketing tools are available for a financial advisor? You can use print advertising, ads that you place in your local newspaper or in community magazines. For marketing, a financial advisor can develop a direct mail campaign. A financial advisor can do marketing using the internet: emailing, hosting an informational website, and even using a pay per click internet marketing campaign.

In addition, as a financial advisor you can market the products and services that you offer with microsites. You can think of a microsite as a supplemental web page, a smaller informative page dedicated to one product or service rather than your entire business. Retirement microsites provide you with the opportunity for marketing just one of the services that you offer as a financial advisor.

But how do you put together an effective financial advisor marketing campaign using any of those tools, separately or together? One thing you can do is to partner with Alphabaymediamarketing – Lead Generation for Financial Advisor. You may be wondering what retirement leads have to do with financial advisor marketing, let us explain.

Think about a time when you were looking for specific leads because you were going to begin offering a new mutual fund. At that time, you wanted to find leads for potential customers who would be most interested in the information on that product.

The same is true when you have any other product or service that you are beginning to market: you need to be sure that you are getting the right information to the right people at the right time. With a partnership with Alphabaymediamarketing – Lead Generation for Financial Advisor firms, you’ll get real-time leads, leads for those people in your area who are already looking for the products and services that you, as a financial advisor, have to offer. You’ll be able to contact them when you can be sure that they are receptive.

That’s the benefit of having qualified leads, you will be able to connect with people who are already interested. But you won’t only get those qualified, targeted real-time leads; you will also be able to take advantage of the experience that our company has with generating leads for financial products and services on the internet.

They will work with you to understand your marketing goals, both general and specific goals, goals for a particular product and goals for the growth of your business. They will work with you to optimize your website, and they’ll work with you to develop targeted financial advisor marketing campaigns.

They will help you to develop microsites to describe particular products and services. They’ll make sure that your marketing materials provide all of the information your prospective clients will need. They’ll also make sure that you have a way to gather information about the people who are visiting your sites, information about who they are, where they are from, and what retirement services they need.

Once you have that information, you will be able to determine which leads to follow up with when it comes time to market a new product or service. Once you have information about prospective clients, you will be able to work with your staff so that the person who is best suited to each product or service is the person who is making a connection with a prospective client, and that will make it more likely that your leads will convert and those individuals will become your clients.

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Granite Tile Countertops

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For years, the granite tile countertop has been an affordable alternative to true slab granite. It is less bulky to work with and also costs a great deal less. In fact, for the tiles you are looking at an average on the low side of about $5 a square foot. Here is what you should know however about using granite tile countertops:

While cheaper as an option, if you are not careful with installation the end look and appearance can look cheap as well. The tiles are placed right up against one another then epoxied together to create the look of an overall smooth slab of granite. Learning how to do this properly or paying a professional is a good idea to have a final look that is almost as attractive as the real thing.

The trick to making granite tile countertops look good is limiting the amount of seams you use. Don’t think tile as in the standard grout and mortar tile. These must be placed against each other and adhered with epoxy.

Modular Granite

The main thing to understand that modular granite is actually close to tile. At least it is closer to a tile form than a slab of granite. This is another popular choice for those who want to try to “Do-it-Yourself” just like using granite tile. For this type of material you can expect a rough estimate average of at least $25 a square foot. While quite a bit more than the granite tile option, it is also still a good bit cheaper than slab granite. Here are a few things to know about the modular option:

While you do not get modular granite in tiles or in slabs you generally get in a form commonly referred to as “mini-slabs.” The beauty of this option is that it often comes already ready for kitchen use in precut shapes.

Modular is not as easy to transport as tiles are but much easier than true slab granite. It also means that you can use modular for do it yourself installation as opposed to slab which you cannot. Also, unlike granite slabs which require sealant, these pieces generally come pretreated.

The bottom line is that modular granite is designed with kitchen use in mind. In fact, this is the reason it often comes in sections cut to fit a kitchen as a countertop or with a built-in backsplash. This is also commonly sold for those homeowners who are planning to do the installation themselves. You may even find your local hardware store offers installation classes or at least how-to books on the subject.

Slab Granite Counters

Slab granite is the most desirable option, so of course it also comes with the highest price tag. Many homeowners in Metro Detroit feel though that if you are going to bother with any type of granite countertops, you may as well make it the real thing. For a general idea of what you could expect as a low average for granite countertops cost based on slab, this is usually around $60 a square foot without the cost of installation. Here are a few key ideas to keep in mind when considering slab granite:

You will have to factor in the cost of professional installation for your granite countertop budget as well. Slab granite is never a project you can do yourself so before making a decision make sure you get estimates for installation. Search for a licensed and insured professional such as the L&E Marble and Granite company for Metro Detroit most affordable granite countertops.

Some installers will get you a better deal on the granite if you buy it through them. Always do a little shopping on your own so you have an estimate to compare to the dollar amount the installer quotes you.
Keep in mind there is generally a transport fee somewhere as well. Transporting the material is one of the hardest parts of working with slab granite. If you are pricing granite at a hardware store yourself find out how much it would be for delivery. If your installer offers to get you a better price on granite find out if there will be an extra transport fee on top of the materials cost.

Improving Your Home

While these numbers are rough estimates it should give you some idea of what you are looking at as far as difference in prices between the different types of materials. The bottom line is that installing granite countertops into your home will improve the look and feel of your kitchen. Not to mention adding these also to your kitchen increases the value of your home.

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Filing a Patent And Owning The Rights

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Filing a patent is our society’s way of making certain the first one to “act” on new marketable concepts get the credit. You have come up with a new product or a technological advance that fills a need and patent filing gives you the exclusive rights.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office aka USPTO strictly enforces the multitude of rules and regulations for the patent application process. The recommended choice to file your patent application is to attain the services of a patent attorney or an agency such as Invent Help, but there are submission services, and software that allow you to do it yourself.

That choice usually boils down to money, but making sure this is done correctly could be the best investment you can make. No matter which angle you take for filing patents, the process, paperwork, or timetables don’t change.

Here are the steps for patent filing:

Determine If Your Invention Is Patentable

The first step to filing a patent involves whether your invention is patentable. It must fit into one of three categories for types of patents: utility, design, or plant. Then it must also meet three prerequisites: novelty, non-obviousness, and utility. Everything is not patentable and you want to find out early in the process before investing time and resources. It is best to hire professionals do this for you as stated on Invent Help reviews.

Perform A Patent Search

The next step for the invention and filing a patent involves performing a patent search. You want to see if someone else has beaten you to the punch. It is a very good chance somebody has patented your idea already but we hope not and that we are completely unique. The USPTO patent search database where you just enter your search term for your invention and are supplied results with full text and images.

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Real Estate

Designing a Real Estate Website

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Are you a property agent or are you an entrepreneur running a real property business? If so, perhaps you know by now how important it is to establish an online presence in order to reach your market. Now, part of this task is to set up a website of your own. Here are useful ideas regarding building real estate website to advance your job or business.

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An effective online presence is a must these days, and so every new and established property agent or investor is out there building a website. Nevertheless, not everybody gets to succeed in this endeavour all because their websites never get found by prospect clients, fail to develop rapport and trust among online visitors, or miss the mark on what buyers and sellers want.

Building a real estate website is fast and easy

Step 1: you need to buy Web hosting service, which allows you to make your website accessible via the World Wide Web. You will need to scout for the Web host that provides great support at extremely affordable rates. Check out reviews and rankings on Web hosts online for guides.

Step 2: once you have purchased a Web hosting service, you will need a design template or program for creating your website. You can download several templates via the Internet for a small amount or for free. You may also hire a Web developer if you want a more carefully prepared design.

Step 3: manage your website by posting and updating all the necessary content – texts, images, and videos – to help make it an effective business portal.

As with all businesses in other sectors and industries, a real estate company needs to create and maintain a lead-generating website. This type of website allows the company to achieve high search engine rankings that drive quality traffic and convert visits to leads. Creating a lead-generating site entails establishing a dynamic online presence, using real estate search engine optimisation (SEO), applying custom designs and easy navigations usin high quality plugins as you can read from IMPress for IDX Broker Reviews, posting original and useful content, and presenting compelling marketing content on the site. All these will help enhance the business’ bottom line, drive consistent traffic towards the website, generate leads, sell your services, market your listings, maintain your contacts and keep visitors and search engines happy.

Health

Get Tested Every Six Months

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Sexually active adults should receive comprehensive examinations and STD screening every six months. If you engage in high-risk activities, your doctor may even suggest getting examined and tested every three months. Routine efforts in these areas will make it possible to identify issues with STDs before these problems spiral out of control and before they can be passed on to other partners. There are at-home STD tests as well.

Don’t Confuse A Lack Of Symptoms With Guaranteed Good Health

It’s important to note that not all STDs present with symptoms. Chlamydia can go unnoticed indefinitely and certain gonorrheal infections never manifest symptoms at all. If you have had unprotected sex, you need to get tested even if you do not have a fever, irregular discharge from your member, or noticeable lesions or sores.

Make Safe Sex Fun

There’s a huge myth that safe sex is somehow less enjoyable that high-risk sexual activities. This, however, is only true for those who lack imagination. If you are having a hard time getting a partner on board with you safe sex plans, take a trip to the adult store and check out the countless, pleasure products that exist to both heighten the user’s enjoyment and keep the body healthy and safe.

At the end of the day, however, prioritize your health above all things. Any person who is not willing to respect your wishes to practice safe sex may not be worth being with.

Health

Vegan Weight Loss For Beginners

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If you think that going vegetarian is already tough, then you can just imagine the great sacrifice of those who go vegan have to do every single day of their life and of course, the rewards that vegan weight loss diet gives a dedicated person. You see, vegans take “vegetarianism” to a totally different level. Not only are they confined to eating fruits and vegetables but they cannot touch anything that is a byproduct of animals. That includes, milk, eggs, all dairy products, and yes, even clothing or bags that use animal skin. If you are a new vegan, congratulations for choosing this healthier and more disciplined way of life. Below are some vegan weight loss tips for beginners that will surely help you in your journey. This will surely jumpstart your Vegan Weight Loss for Beginners learning curve.

Vegan Weight Loss Tips

The first thing that you must remember for vegan weight loss is pretty simple. You must totally eliminate meat from your diet. And no, that does not just include beef and pork. It includes chicken and fish as well. That is why you better get acquainted with alternative plant sources of protein such as the best vegan plant based meat because you need amino acids if you are to have healthy muscles. Some of your choices are soy, legumes, nuts and needs. They are lower in calories and do not have the fats that you will get along with your protein when you eat meat.

Another vegan weight loss tips for beginners is to avoid processed food. It always pays to eat them fresh. That means that you have to try to stay away from dried fruits. They may be made of apples, jack fruits and pineapples but remember, not only do they contain the natural sugars of the fruit but they are also laden with artificial sugar and preservatives for it to last in the shelf for years. Plus, because it is already processed, you can be sure that the vitamins of the fresh fruits no longer present once it is placed in those packages. Vegan Weight Loss for Beginners is always a healthy start for anybody who is serious to go through the entire diet regimen.

Another thing that you must avoid are eggs, cheese and other dairy products. We know these things as the calcium rich food but remember, they still come from animals and as a vegan, you can no longer have them. Of course, your body will still need calcium so that is why for those on a vegan weight loss diet, it is important to include almonds, greens, turnips, kale, spinach, broccoli and other calcium rich vegetables. If you avoid foods that are known to be crossed out from your original diet plan, then you can be assured that you are doing well on your commitment to stay away from meat altogether.

Vegan Weight Loss Conclusion

Looking at the list above, you may think that going vegan always includes a lot of restrictions. It says “do not eat this, do not eat that”. However, there is one thing that you can definitely eat a lot of – fruits and vegetables. You can actually go to an all vegetable buffet. And since vegetables generally have lower calories that meat, you can end up eating more without having to worry about additional weight and unwanted bulges. That is one of the good things about going vegan. And those are the tips for vegan weight loss for beginners.

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The Most Popular Types of Neon Signs

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For over 100 years, neon lighting has lit up big city streets with a colorful glow. Cool dude, Georges Claude, invented neon tube lighting in the early 1900s, showing off his work at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. It was a huge hit in France, but the United States didn’t catch on to the hip lighting style until 1923. Earle C. Anthony purchased a couple of signs for his Packard car dealership in Los Angeles, California. The style quickly became popular all across the U.S., characterizing popular resort towns like, you guessed it, LAS VEGAS.

Most people I know who have neon signs now like them for the nostalgic retro vibe. Most of men decorate their man cave walls with neon signs, and handful of bars and clubs that still sport neon signs.

So even though neon lighting hasn’t been insanely popular in the last forty years, signs are still being manufactured and sold – thank god. If you’re interested in learning more about neon signs, I put compiled a short list of the most popular neon sign categories. Check it out:

Beer/Alcohol

Obviously the most popular category because who doesn’t love beer and alcohol? I’ve seen this kind of neon sign most often in man caves and bars, but they look great in other places as well. There are a ton of different styles, so Budweiser connoisseur’s can get their favorite sign and plain old beer lovers can add to their simple decor with a foamy beer mug.

Restaurants/Businesses

In the heyday of neon signs (think 1950s), many restaurants and businesses displayed their names in bright neon lights. More people started driving longer distances in the 1950s, so businesses used the neon signs to attract customers. Pretty smart idea. Inside and outside these businesses customers would find additional neon lights that the business used to advertise their products and services, such as Coca-Cola. The Las Vegas strip is probably the most famous example of business neon signs – if you find a business that isn’t lit up on the street, then something is definitely wrong.

Sports

Where would America be without her sports? This category is another popular one among men; I’ve seen quite a few in my friends’ man caves and some sports bars. Most public places that have sports signs display uber-popular NFL and MLB teams. A quick browse of the internet proved what I already know – sports signs range all across the board: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, even swimming!

Motorcycle/Automotive

Car dealerships, gas stations, and automotive shops across the United States would advertise their business and services with neon signs. A lot of these signs came down, when cheaper lighting alternatives were invented, but you can find new and old signs from various dealers.

I’ve found that motorcycle neon signs are mostly in biker bars, which are a lot of fun. If you’re not particular about style there are simple motorcycle outlines, and there are more elaborate signs if you’re into that.

Big Rig neon signs are a real thing. I haven’t seen these in any particular places (other than the internet), but I imagine they would look cool in a truck stop diner.

Man Cave/Bar General

There are a few other bar/man  cave – type neon signs that don’t fit into their own category. Some popular signs I’ve seen in man caves are beer/alcohol, pool/billiard, and cars, but anything that reflects the interests of the owner is fair game – for instance, ladies’ men like women’s outlines and often use a pink neon sign to light up their spaces.

Bars are more likely to display their services and activities, such as pool, beer, and poker. Strip clubs are pretty similar, but they draw clientele in with large neon signs of half-naked women or a phrases like “Live Nudes” – works for me.

Popular Culture

Popular culture refers to movie, music, and other icons of the late 20th and early 21st century. Basically these signs take the form of titles/names, phrases or figure outlines (ie. guitar). I find these way more exciting than foamy beer mugs, but beer buffs may disagree with me.

If you’re like me, wishing there were more popular culture options, you can buy a customized neon sign from select manufacturers. Pretty cool, right? I think so.

Internet and Technology

What is the difference between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

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Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a form of paid search engine listing (see the figure above, on the top right section). SEM is an advertising program, in which you bid against your competitors to rent the advertising space. Depending on your industry and how competitive your market is, the cost can be as high as $50 per click! The more competitive your market is, the higher the advertising rate (lead acquisition cost).

On the other hand, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a form of online public relations and technical wizardry, where you are ranked as the most relevant site when potential customers search for a product or a service using related keywords. It is also called natural SEO or Organic SEO. Achieving better web placements in such a globally competitive market requires exceptional technology expertise, marketing knowledge and creative skills.

The SEO cost is fixed, so after the initial investment is set, all your traffic is free. The best part is that your traffic can grow exponentially (no limit) without having to pay for each click. Your customer base grows while your marketing budget remains the same. The key challenge for all companies is that SEO technology and marketing is very difficult to master and the internet websites keep growing and content keeps changing, so very few companies have the necessary expertise to rank your website higher and maintain its ranking.

Can a company guarantee first place ranking for all my keywords?

No company can guarantee first ranking for all your keywords. Google, MSN, and Yahoo spend tens of millions of dollars to develop and protect their ranking algorithms. A company that advertises such guarantees will face huge trouble with the search engines. Additionally search engines keep changing their algorithms every few months in order to protect against reverse engineering efforts. On the other hand, an expert SEO firm will have enough track record to show consistently higher ranking for their clients (for example top 10 results).

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What Is The Best Carpet Cleaning Method?

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What is the best carpet cleaning method? This is the question that many people ask when they begin researching carpet cleaners. At first glance, carpet cleaning may seem like a simple task. When people consider the idea of having their carpet cleaned, they generally envision two methods: Do it yourself, or hire a professional carpet cleaner.

Many consumers choose to hire a carpet cleaner because they feel they can get better results if they let a professional do the job, and they are correct in that assumption. Some people will call a few carpet cleaners and get the lowest price for carpet cleaning. That is their first mistake.

Like many other things in life, you get what you pay for with carpet cleaning. If you hire the cheapest carpet cleaner in town, there is a very good chance that he will simply go to the local big box hardware store and rent the same equipment that you can rent. While he will be doing the work for you, he won’t be doing it any better than you could have done it for half the price.

So what do you need to look for when you want to hire a local carpet cleaning company? The first thing you need to do is ask yourself a few questions about what you want.

  • Do you want your carpets cleaned as well as they can reasonably be cleaned? The answer to this is, of course, yes.
  • Do you want your carpets to be wet for several hours to several days? Most people will answer no to this question. This leads us to a new question: What is the best carpet cleaning method?

There are currently four primary carpet leaning methods that are used by professional carpet cleaners.

  • Hot water extraction cleaning, also known as steam cleaning. Ironically, this method uses neither hot water or steam, yet soaks your carpet and leaves it wet for days.
  • Dry carpet cleaning. This method uses a dry powder and a powerful pile lifting vacuum.
  • Encapsulation cleaning, also known as chemical cleaning. This method uses an encapsulation chemical that traps the soil, and also a powerful pile lifting vacuum.
  • Low moisture carpet cleaning, also known as bonnet cleaning. This process uses a small amount of moisture, dwell time, and agitation to thoroughly clean carpet without soaking it.

Out of the methods listed above, I recommend the low moisture carpet cleaning process as the best carpet cleaning method.

Auto

Why A Tonneau Cover

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There are manufacturers that sell a large selection of hard, retracting, fiberglass and folding tonneau covers, among others, so you will have a lot to choose from. However, there are advantages of one type over another.

Here are a few reasons why you need to consider a best Roll-Up tonneau cover:

You can have full bed access. The cover can be folded forward over the entire truck bed. What’s more, you can even haul around tall cargo and still have the lid closed! That’s not a possibility with other truck bed covers.

If you want part of the tonneau open, you can have that too. It’s very simple to open it up part of the way, reach in and grab something, and then fold it right back up. And accessing your cargo has never been easier!

You can also lock your cover up. It’s lockable and secure almost like a vault even. There’s no way a thief could ever get through it.

Installation is simple. There is no drilling involved. You can simply use the clamps for mounting, as no hole punching is required. Since folding tonneau covers are light, installation can be easy and quick.

They’re inexpensive, especially if you order online. Why? Many online retailers sell truck bed covers for affordable prices. You will also have more choices when using the internet.

They are clean, and easy to take care of. You won’t have to worry about your folding tonneau cover ever getting dirty or rusted. They are pretty easy to maintain, and can last for years.

Tonneaus can also save you a lot of money. Believe it or not, with your truck bed held down securely with a cover, you will use up less gas mileage and thus save a lot of money!