February 14, 2010
The advantages and disadvantages of 0845 numbers
0845 numbers are purchased phone numbers that are “pointed” at your landline. They are popular with many businesses but before you rush out and buy one for your own business you should carefully weigh up the pro’s and con’s.
There are plenty of benefits for a business using an 0845 number. For a start they will follow any diverts that you set up on your landline, allowing you to be constantly in touch with customers calling you, and your operator can route the calls to call centres around the UK to minimise the likelihood of customers getting an engaged tone.
The numbers are non-geographical and so allow you to market yourself nationally, and they can also be taken with you if you move premises, which means that you won’t need to pay out on getting new stationary printed.
0845 numbers can be used for call-financed services. The owner of the number can receive income from calls received that can be used to finance their service, or even make a profit. The numbers support call queuing so ‘per minute’ revenue can be generated, which can allow anyone with high call volumes to generate substantial revenues.
Charges to callers for using 0845 numbers are set by individual phone companies and they can vary greatly, especially when the call originates from a UK mobile or a non-UK number.
The cost of calling an 0845 number is sometimes cheaper for your customers than calling a geographic 01 or 02 number, but because 0845 numbers are not generally included in call plans it usually means your customers may pay more to make the calls.
The cons of having such a number is the potential high cost to the customer, especially if they are made to queue whilst you make money from them. The public don’t like using 0845 numbers and many go to websites that are dedicated to offering the (non advertised) geographical number as an alternative. The public have become increasingly aware of the ‘per minute’ revenue sharing with non-geographic numbers because of media reports and look less favourably on companies that use them. This is especially so if the line is being used customer support or complaints.
An example of a company using an 0845 number is Omnio who sell KVM switches. The number is prominently displayed on their website pages and it works for them. Why not see if it can work for you too?
Filed under Beyond Random Ramblings by Arjuna
February 1, 2010
8 Steps on the Road to Wealth
Everybody wants to be wealthy, but few people really commit themselves to doing what it takes to achieve their dream. The road to wealth is a simple one, but takes determination, capital and commitment – if you’re willing to take the steps to get there, you can make your dreams of wealth a reality:
Savings. A commitment to building up your savings is the foundation of any financial plan. The conventional wisdom says to pay yourself first – even if it’s just 5 percent of your income, take it off the top before you do anything else. There are always other things to use your money for, and if you don’t make savings your top priority, you’re unlikely to save at all.
Investing in the stock market. You don’t need to be a millionaire to invest in stocks. Take a little time to learn about trading stocks, set up a simple trading plan, and spread out your risk – put some of your money higher risk stock, some in more stable, lower risk stocks. Building a portfolio should be a cornerstone of financial planning.
Investing in property. Putting some of your money into real estate will provide consistent cash flow, particularly if you own income property like an apartment building or rental homes. You don’t have to make huge investments in property, just carefully chosen ones.
Investing in business. Whether it’s your own business or someone else’s, putting money into a business is good for the economy and good for your portfolio. Network marketing is a great place to start if your looking for a solid long term business option, names such as avon, amway, pyxism and mary kay cosmetics come to mind as reputable network marketing companies.
Tax Minimization. This is where a good accountant comes in – they can help you figure out ways to lower your tax burden by setting limited liability partnerships or helping you incorporate, private annuities, deferments and other strategies. The less you pay in taxes, the more you have to invest.
Asset protection. Some of this overlaps with tax minimization, with limited partnerships, insurance policies and other strategies helping you avoid paying too many taxes while keeping your money safe. As you acquire more and more money, you’ll want good advice from an accountant or investment counselor – you may even want to invest in off-shore interests for the tax breaks.
Retirement funding. Make sure that you’re prepared for the future by having a solid strategy for your retirement funds. You can invest in a single fun and just let it grow for the next 30 years, or break your investments up into a collection of different funds. Either way, you may make the decisions about how to invest yourself or seek advice from a professional, who can help you choose stable funds for long-term growth.
Creating wealth is more an art than a science, and there’s no one way to achieve your goals. It takes creativity, hard work, a certain amount of luck and a commitment to your financial plan. The biggest mistake people make as they earn more money is to spend more, too – manage your money with savings and investments, and acquire annuities that will assure you have a comfortable life in your golden years.
Filed under Beyond Random Ramblings by Arjuna
December 11, 2009
Why hire a website designer?
For many internet business holders, the start is financially tough. Many begin with tiny money and as a consequence have to do just about all the work for themselves. Creating a product, creating the technique for marketing, creating the website itself and doing the all of the tasks concerned in selling their new business.
To begin with it may well be feasible to build your own site, using templates and other helpful material. However as the business starts to grow, it is most likely that a straightforward DIY site will no longer work to support the growing business.
Does this sound like something which has happened to you? Probabilities are, that you are one of the many who started from scratch and have most likely become used to doing it all yourself, and possible loathe to part with any money for something that you think you can accomplish for your own business. Nevertheless, there is way more to employing a pro designer than just completing a job that you haven’t any need to tackle.
When you employ a website designer to do the task for you, you are actually doing way more than merely handing over the task to someone else. In fact, by spending some money, you can allow the designer shoulder the responsibility of the project and you won’t have to consider the small irritations that always crop up when you’re part way thru the task. What it suggests for you is that you can target more significant things, for example systems to grow your business.
In addition, good designers are experienced executives so the result is likely to be far better than if you had tackled it yourself. By selecting to outsource your site design projects to a professional, you will not need to be troubled when any issues crop up as you can always get the designer to sort it out for you. Also, they’re going to be ready to identify any issues awfully easily and fix it much more quickly than you are sure to.
All in all, hiring a pro website designer is the best thing you can do for your internet business. The benefits are enormous, just ensure that any designer you hire knows not only the easy way to build a great site, but knows how to incorporate good Search Engine Optimization practices into the site too.
For more help with SEO services including search engine friendly site design either from nothing or as a redesign.
Good Search Engine Optimisation will get you a lot of qualified targeted customers to your internet site.
Filed under Beyond Random Ramblings by Arjuna