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What are the things you can learn by conducting effective market research?

Know your customers – Market research will help you better understand your customers in a number of ways including demographic information such as their age, gender and geographic spread. The better you know your customer the easier it is to target your marketing and fine tune your product or service.

Know your target market – Who exactly are your existing customers and where do they live? Does your service or product appeal to specific age group? Who are your potential customers and where do they live?

Know your competition – Market Research will help you measure your service compared to others. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your organization and are you improving in the right areas?

Products and services – Do you have the products or services that people want? Do you represent value for money? How do your services and products compare to those of your competitors? If you have a product can you deliver, do you deliver, should you deliver?

Ease of doing business – Do your customers find it easy to deal with you and when they visit your store and/or website do they find what they want? Is there adequate advice and assistance on hand? Do you make it easy for your customers to buy? Are your employees properly trained, helpful, knowledgeable and available?

Marketing – Is your marketing reaching the right people and is the marketing message clear and effective. What marketing channels are available to you, which ones should you focus on and which, if any, should you drop?

Do people correctly understand your marketing message? Does your marketing properly embody your brand? Do you use the right promotion channels? Are you reaching your target audience?

With the power of the Internet it is now very easy to conduct market research using one of the many online survey software sites that make conducting surveys and collating good market research intelligence quick, easy and extremely cost effective.

In a competitive world with the need for businesses to be more streamlined and productive a company can often find itself with a workforce working under pressure resulting in low moral and high staff turnover. Organizations that have a highly motivated workforce can benefit enormously and having a workforce that is both productive and motivated should not be regarded as being mutually exclusive to one another.

Left unattended employers run the risk of alienating their employees, events can cause employee frustrations to boil over resulting in employers finding themselves on the back foot, faced with a problem that cannot be ignored.

Ideally employers would take time to understand the needs of their employees and learn from their experiences of working on the front line, but employers are often themselves tied up day to day fighting their own fires.

By automating much of the intelligence gathering process and providing the findings in a format that can be readily analysed online surveys provide employers with an efficient, effective and low cost method to help achieve a pleasant working environment, where staff satisfaction and productivity is high.

Unproductive & dissatisfied

There are a plethora of reasons why employees may become dissatisfied with their job that can result in them channelling their frustrations into demands for higher salaries and reduced hours. Managers who tackle problems thinking it is all about salary and hours, will often find later that they have been dealing with the symptoms and not the root cause.

It’s not just about the money

The following are the most common problems to achieving productivity, none of which are likely to be resolved by increasing salaries or reducing hours:-

• Insufficient training
• Out of touch management
• Working methods that are past their sell by date
• Lack of proper tools and equipment

Many studies have shown that salaries are rarely the number one priority of employees and providing an employer is paying market rate they would be fundamentally wrong to think that paying higher salaries is the answer to all employee problems.

Take the case of a single mother who is juggling a full time job with the need to look after a child. Out of frustration she may demand more money so that she feels that she is able to cope where a better solution, for both her and the company, may be more flexible working hours.

Communication is what it is all about

It is in the interests of all organizations to establish good communications. A company that makes communication between personnel and management difficult, or that takes the view that if personnel have a problem they will say something, can often delude themselves into thinking their workforce is content when it is not. It can take only one aggrieved employee with one small problem for an entire workforce to develop a destructive ‘them and us’ attitude.

Improving communication

It would be ideal if the employer could meet with each employee one on one but in practice this would only be viable for very small organizations.

Regular meetings between management and worker representatives are good in theory but they often become talking shops and can begin to lose their edge as the participants become familiar with one another and the forum runs the risk of being hijacked by the more extrovert personalities.

Suggestion boxes can have their value but they can be viewed as token efforts by management as they wait for personnel to highlight a problem.

Newsletters can provide a positive contribution but they only offer one way communication and their primary function is to inform and not discuss employee issues.

Maintaining the initiative

Conducting employee satisfaction surveys regularly you are able to ask each employee specific questions and presents a pro-active management initiative where the whole workforce can be consulted on various issues. Surveys are able to provide a level playing field between the quieter and more vocal employees.

Consultation should not be seen as a sign of weakness, a confident manager will often take counsel from others before making a decision. By retaining the initiative and conducting a survey the employer is able to tackle problems from a position of strength as opposed to waiting for problems to arise and develop out of proportion.

Leave a number of minor problems unresolved and it can lead to a situation where a small problem might just break the camel’s back and the mood of the employees change from positive to negative over night.

Easy and quick

For the majority of organizations online surveys represent a proactive and low cost solution. They are quick to design and for the majority of companies, where most of the personnel have desktop computers, they can be deploy through email direct to the individual.

If there are situations where individuals do not have personal access to a computer there are still options available to using the online survey solution such as through the use of a shared computer, operator input or, as a last resort, a hardcopy survey.

Job satisfaction

There are combined elements that will contribute towards an employee’s job satisfaction, including company ethics, working methodology, ethos and environment to having decisive and effective management. Job satisfaction brings benefits through improved motivation and productivity from a workforce that feels that they are treated as individuals and not a commodity item.

Educate and inform

An often overlooked benefit of online surveys is that they can be used to educate and pass on important information to the workforce, ensuring that the ‘message’ does not become corrupted as it is handed down by the phenomenon of Chinese whispers.

An online survey can explain to the employees a difficult situation and get valuable feedback as to the best solution. In this situation it is rare that the workforce would appear negative and more likely that they will feel informed and empowered that might in itself turn a potentially negative problem into a positive challenge that unites the workforce.

Exit surveys

Exit surveys are a method for management to confirm that when people leave the organisation they are leaving for valid reasons and not for reasons that if appreciated earlier could have been addressed and possibly resolved. Although identifying a problem may not prevent a person leaving it could solve an unappreciated issue that may, if left unchecked, result in other key personnel also leaving.

Analysing the results

After having consulted with the workforce using an online survey the survey results are available for instant analysis. Common and specific problems can be identified and the senior management informed who will then have the opportunity to address the issues that have been raised.

Summary

Used regularly online surveys represent a simple and productive method of taking the pulse of an organisation and an easy way to establish a two way communication channel between employer and employee with the results providing management with vital, accurate and significant information.

For a Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey:- Employee Satisfaction Survey Template

For a sample Employee Exit survey:- Employee Exit Survey Template

Small businesses can’t ignore the benefits of being on the web, especially during the downturn, but many are deterred from getting online by the cost of professional help or the time needed for self-build tutorials. Now, with the UK launch of 90 Second Website Builder, individuals and small companies can create a complete, custom designed website in no time at all.

This smart software allows you to drag and drop and so takes the complexity out of creating and uploading sites, so that even the most techno-unsavvy customers can get connected in record time, for an unbelievable cost of just £47.00.

MD Ken Smaile says: “Unlike most website packages, you don’t need to know anything about network protocols, programming language or imaging software to produce a professional looking site. Even if you’re an absolute beginner, with 90 Second Website Builder you can create a website that will promote your company – without taking costly time out from your corebusiness. Simply add your text, logo and images before
publishing to the internet takes just one click.”

Traditional HTML editors use dynamic page layout, which means that the first object placed on the page will then determine the position of all subsequent items. The website building softare allows users to simply point and click to pick up content and drag it onto the web page, giving complete control over the site’s look and layout.

But the package can do much more than that. Users can also add banners, navigation bars and ready-to-use javascripts, whilst doing e-commerce online is a snip with the software’s built in shopping cart system.

And it’s not just businesses trying to ride out the recession that will benefit from the 90 Second Website Builder: the
Twitter effect’ has created a new generation of new web builders designers looking for ways to practice their web wizardry.

An online members area includes step-by-step videos showing how with step by step instructions to setup your new website, also marketing help, including e-books on how to drive traffic to their new website, ideal for
anybody can get results in no time with minimum outlay.

Ken Smaile concludes: “Everyone from kids building their own social networking page to businesses whose success depends on a strong site will love our hands on approach with support. We also provide a great range of ready to go templates that let you get started straight away without needing any web skills or extra software.”

So if your looking to get your first website builder then you have found it in Website Builder

check out this fantastic blog submitter.http://tinyurl.com/mqhr9w I have never bothered with them before but so many benefits here

How to create a survey using Survey Galaxy

Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The truth is that writing surveys is easy but writing surveys that will be effective is a little bit more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you write more effective surveys.

1. What is the purpose of the survey?

There are many reasons for conducting questionnaires. By correctly phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in many ways and for a variety of reasons. When compiling a survey don’t lose sight of its purpose.

2. Give the survey a good title

The survey title is a golden opportunity to instantly summarise a survey’s objective and grab the attention of invited respondents. Respondents need to invest time in completing the survey so encourage them that the investment they make will be worthwhile.

3. Avoid making the survey any longer than it needs to be

Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Concentrate on the ‘need to know’ questions and minimise ‘nice to know’ information.

4. Use plain English, avoid jargon and acronyms, be consistent and ensure that the questions you ask will not result in ambiguous answers

Take care when wording a question. There is every chance that if respondents can interpret any question that is not clearly written differently to that intended by the survey’s publisher then any analysis of the survey results may be worthless or at the very least misleading.

5. Avoid having long questions

Where practical use short sentences. Long questions can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.

6. Ask one question at a time

Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like ‘Do you like football and athletics?’

7. Do not influence the answer

Avoid loading the question. ‘Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell tobacco to children be prosecuted?’ is likely to have no value.

8. Make sure that the answer format used allows the respondent to answer the question being asked

Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be less inclined to complete the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a “Don’t know”, “Can’t say” or similar response option.

9. While compiling your survey consider how you will analyse the results once the survey has been published

Appreciate that questions that allow for a free text open ended response is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider how answers can be grouped. For example “How long have you worked here?” – ‘less than 2 year’, ‘between 2 and 4 years’ and ‘more than 4′.

10. Ensure that the questionnaire flows

Group questions into clear categories as this will make it easier for the participants completing the survey.

11. Target your respondents

In some cases you will want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can’t control who responds to your survey consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents who don’t fit your target profile.

12. Provide a channel for your respondents to expand on their answers or make comments

Allowing respondents to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember though for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyze free text open ended responses.

13. If the survey you are conducting is to be confidential ensure that your pledge is upheld

If you have assured the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and the information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times and any contact information destroyed after the survey is complete.

14. Weigh up the benefits of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable

If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up specific complaints or match “pre” or “post” surveys. However in some cases allowing people to remain anonymous will allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.

15. Give careful consideration to the best response format

Being consistent with the format used for responses is good practice. When designing your survey keep in mind that when analyzing the data single selection radio buttons are easier to analyze than multiple selection check boxes. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.

16. Give the respondent an estimate as to how much time the survey will take to complete

Respondent drop out can increase if there is no end in sight to the survey questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so that the participants can choose the best time to complete the survey.

17. Advise the respondents of the survey end date

Encourage respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise respondents as to the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.

18. Trial the survey

Before publishing a live survey publish the survey as a trial to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.

19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey several times

Carefully check and then check again that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If practical get a colleague to check the survey before you publish, if no one else is available then take a break before checking again.

20. Remember to say thank you

To complete surveys respondents have to devote their time and should be thanked at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as entry into a prize draw or a reward.

For further information please visit Survey Galaxy

Finding out what your customers want you to stock, supply or service is one of the best ways to grow your small business.  You may find that you supply services that they don’t really want and DON’T supply services that they DO really want.

The first thing you need to think about before making a decision on Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization Outsourcing how many time would you like to dedicate to this activity.
For many bigger companies it makes much more sense to invite their own search engine promotion specialist, while others would choose to benefit from search engine management crew and hire an SEO and PPC company.

You should be aware that in today’s marketplace, a professional seo & ppc agency is a combination of website development specialist, copywriter, web designer, advertiser, business analyst and entrepreneur.

PPC and SEO are the combination of many techniques. To optimize your website for search engines and to run efficient, you have to learn at least the most common tactics and be aware of how to use them on practice.
Are you acquainted with finance to organize daily ppc budget, are you ready to spend your time understanding analytics and trends? Are you ready to spend your time learning? Do you actually have enough time for doing so or you better hire a company to do everything instead of you?
By outsourcing your SEO & PPC you will not only save your precious time, but will become more productive as a company, because at the time you will be occupied with your business process, your outsourced search engine marketing activity will be generating more traffic to your website, sales will be increased, and more profit will be generated.

So if you think PPC and SEO outsource is a good solution, there are many companies offering SEO and PPC management services. They may differ in experience, services they provide and of course in SEO and PPC pricing. What you should pay your attention to, when making a choice of the company is it’s own site. If a company does good search engine marketing for their own website in terms of rankings, reviews, site usability and of course client support, you can definitely trust them your business. In contrary, if a company is promising to get you to #1 in Google and their own website needs some serious work to be done, keep looking for some more professional partners.

You must have heard what seems to be an incredibly good deal for a lot of working mothers today. Instead of slaving away at a cubicle while their kids are at day care, some women have decided to take the reins of their career and start working at home. That’s right: we’re in the middle of a revolution where moms are now turning in a profit in their own homes, whether they’re blogging for money, managing an online business, or telecommuting to fulfill their office duties.

If you’re thinking about becoming a work at home mom but aren’t sure if it’s the right thing to do, then read on and find out why moms who work at home might actually have it much better than their office-chained peers:

1. Big savings on gas and commuting expenses: Sometimes, the most deadening part of the workday is the time you spend driving or commuting to the office. There’s the mad morning rush that seems virtually inescapable, the exhaustion of having to bear out the traffic, and the bleary trip back home that finds you practically collapsing on your doorstep. But when you work at home, you won’t have to endure these things anymore, nor will you worry about how much you’re spending for gas or how much money you’re throwing away for parking fees.

2. You can spend breaks with the young ‘uns: Moms who work in an office often wish that they could spend more time with their children, especially because they end up getting too tired at the end of each day. Weekends never seem to last long enough, either. When you choose to work at home, however, you get to see your kids more and spend more quality time with them. Take advantage of your breaks by playing with your tots, going out for a short walk with them, or fixing them a few sandwiches and a pitcher of juice. Not a lot of moms can be as lucky!

3. Saving on daycare One of the best things about being a work at home mom is the fact that you don’t have to rely on a day care center to make sure that your kids are taken care of while you’re working at your desk. Now that your kids are close by, you can check on them as needed to see whether or not they’re having a good, safe time with each other. If you’re headed towards a particularly busy day, you can ask for some help from a baby sitter or a relative who has some free time to spare. That way, you don’t have to shuttle to and from your kids and your tasks.

4. You get to explore your strengths, career-wise, and do what you love the best It’s always important to be doing what you love the best, and being a work at home mom gives you a chance to find out more about your strengths and what you’re passionate about. Some mothers find out that they love to make money blogging, while others find themselves enjoying the small business they just put up. Whatever you choose to work on, just be sure that you’re doing what you love, and that you like what you do.

While working at home isn’t for all mothers, the benefits of making such a move are worth considering, especially if your children are still at a very tender age and are in need of a lot of attention from you. But even if your kids are all grown up and won’t need to be kept an eye on, there’s no reason for you to keep yourself shackled to an office and to a job that you don’t like.

XSitePro 2 Easy SEO Website Builder

Building a website can leave you with many different feelings. Though it can be fun and exciting, it can also be a source of numerous headaches for those either inexperienced or new to creating websites. There are ways to avoid the hassles while you plan and build a website in a much easier way.

A great place to start is to review WYSIWYG website software like, Xsitepro 2, as these are easy to use. In other words, what ever you see on your screen and whatever changes you make will appear just that way when you upload the website. There are a few alternative programs and options.

A popular type of website builder allows you create your pages and then upload them. Or you can work on the pages, save them and then publish them later. This can also be done with non web based programs. These programs make creating a website easy since they do not require the user to write programming code. This is the best option for beginners.

These HTML editors use templates to give you the skeleton of a website, and then you “fill in the blanks” with your own information. By using templates you will have a great layout and something that is easy to work with. The time needed for designing a website can almost be eliminated with this method.

There are several things to consider when reviewing various templates. Would you remain on the website? Does it look professional? Do you like the way the patterns and colors blend. If you cannot answer “yes” to this, then it should not be considered a suitable template for use on your website.

After you have chosen the template, it is time to choose the colors if that is an option you have available. It would be advantageous to become familiar with a fair amount of code so that you are able to alter the colors on the background and text. These are fairly easy to spot and change.

Content is the next thing to consider. You will want decent content for your website. The first thing on content is to make sure that it is informative, concise and reflects not only your personality but also is designed for the audience that you are targeting with your website.

If you are unsure of the type of website or the type of content that you want to use consider searching the internet for similar websites. This will assist you in figuring out the best choice for you, out of all that is out there and on the internet. At a minimum you will be able to generate quite a few ideas.

Creating a professional looking website doesn’t have to be difficult, in fact it can be a rewarding experience.The first step to a great looking website is to employ a quaility website builder, step two would be spending time to learn the software inside and out.

This article describes the disadvantages of relying on freeware to block popups, in the wider context of adware and spyware protection.

A common definition for adware is that of any software which runs, displays or downloads ads on computers. Some adware are known as spyware due to their function, which consists of collecting then sharing some personal information about the users without their knowledge or consent. 

Adware popups have become a common irritation for most users and many are now looking for free ways to disable them. Google and MSN toolbars offer free popup blockers functionality and many users rely on them for protection. Only a minority of users know about the link between popups and spyware, and even fewer still, take the right steps to protect themselves. Most users only concentrate on blocking popups. Yet, in order to protect the users’ privacy, preserve the integrity of their computers, and make any computing experience a pleasant one, both removal and prevention are important. This contrasts with the false sense of security which can result from just relying on blocking popups. This is due to the fact that in reality, the most serious problem with popup ads is not that they are a permanent irritation, but rather that they are the symptom of spyware infection. This issue is clearly evidenced by the fact that many popups appear when computers are not even connected to the Internet.

Changing the browser settings is free and a step in the right direction

Blocking adware popups whilst browsing is easy enough. Changing the privacy settings so that popups can no longer appear on screen can be done as follows:

·      Select Control Panel in your computer 

·      Click on the Internet Options icon 

·      Click on the Privacy tab. 

·      There is a box next to “Turn on Pop Up Blocker”. 

·      Tick this box and you will block adware popups. 

Once the settings have been changed, users should adjust the privacy levels on their computer. Another option is to use the MSN or Google toolbar. Either toolbar can improve security when browsing the Internet. For more information, click on free popup blockers.

But, how about achieving complete protection? Are most users missing the bigger picture?

Unfortunately, most users simply focus on blocking popups then forget that their computer is probably infected with adware and spyware. The popup blockers offered by Google and MSN are clearly useful, yet only deal with one aspect of privacy and system integrity protection. For more information click on block spyware.

It is highly recommended at this point to think more broadly on how to protect the users privacy, and computer integrity from spyware and other adware. Users should, in addtion, run the latest version of their anti-virus software, then eliminate adware and spyware using appropriate tools. Often adware and spyware are downloaded without the users’ knowledge.

The most popular adware and spyware removal tools can both block and get rid of adware and spyware. The most popular adware and spyware removal programs are constantly being kept up to date as they rely on research teams to update the software in order to deal with the latest threats as they first occur. Using adware and spyware removal programs, which can also block popups, deals with the root causes of the problem rather than just the symptoms of adware and spyware attack. This method is clearly more effective than relying on free popup blocker software. For more information click on adware spyware removal.

Have you got a small business that you want to promote with your own website?

You may be asking yourself “How do I start my own website?”.  Well, for starters:  Strategic planning and long term vision will serve you best in your choice of domain names.  One of the best things you can do for your fledgling website is to bestow it with an appropriate, catchy, easy to remember domain name. Hopefully at this stage of the game you already know that Search Engine placement is critical to getting visitors to your website.  Among other factors, the domain name you choose will help you in getting to the “top of the charts”.

What if someone already owns the domain name you covet?  Can you still get it?  The answer is a qualified YES.  It’s possible, but there are conditions.  With some research and hard work you can get the domain name you want even if it is already spoken for.  There are other ways to get the domain name you want:

Hyphenated Names One strategy to consider if the domain name you want is already taken would be to hyphenate it, as in turning ricksantiqueshop.com into ricks-antique-shop.com.  Is hyphenating the best way to go?  Yes and no.  If you are dealing with an already well known name, generally the answer would be no, as most web surfers would usually just enter the non-hyphenated version in, and end up at your competitors’ website instead.  Not the desired result!  Word to the wise: keep the domain name as short as possible.  The longer the name, especially with dashes in between words, the more likely that potential visitors to your site will enter it incorrectly into their browsers, thus foiling the chances of them visiting your website and costing you customers!  So keep it short.  But if the name you have chosen is already taken and there is no chance of getting it from it’s owner, and the owner either has no website or a poorly designed one with little traffic, this can be a good strategy in purchasing a name.  But be careful:  the last thing you want is to cause internet domain name confusion because you have decided on a domain name registration that is so close to a major competitor’s name that you end up losing business to them.

Longer or Shorter?  You can purchase domain names up to 67 characters in length.  You could purchase a domain name like thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensome
andthensomemoreandmore.com which is 63 characters long, but why would you want to do that?  Who would want to type it into a browser?  My website is www.StartYourWebsiteToday.com    When choosing my domain name I wanted something that in a few words would tell the web surfer what to expect from my website.  Good name selection can be helpful also with search engine ranking.  You will want to definitely keep the name as short and sweet as possible, but at the same time let the visitor know what to expect when he surfs to your website.  Keep it as short as possible.

Brand Name or Generic  Should you give your website a descriptive generic name or do you want to use a brand name?  If your business is known by a brand name, and it is a well known name, of course it is the best possible strategy to try to register that domain name.  For instance, Nike.com is a well known brand name site, although there is nothing in the domain name to suggest that it is a site about shoes.  Still, Nike is such a well known brand name to the public that people automatically know what they will be shopping for when they get there.  If your brand name is well known, definitely try to obtain your brand name as a domain name.  But if your company is Nike or Coca Cola or Budweiser don’t discount the idea of buying the domain name shoes.com or soda.com or beer.com if they are available as well.  People often search the web using generic terms, more so even than brand names.  A person is more likely to search the internet with generic terms like shoes or footwear or sneakers than to search by a single brand name, even one as big as Nike.  Research your domain name as thoroughly as you can, including looking for generic keywords which could be a good fit as a potential domain name.  You can have as many domain names as you want pointing to a single website, so the more generic terms you can acquire that directly describe your business, the better.   A generic name if your business is new or not yet well known can get great results, if you can find a good one.  To start your search for your own unique domain name, here is a link to a domain name search engine.  Bottom line, the beginning phase of how to start your own website is choosing the right domain name.