8 Tactics School Districts Use to Prevent Parents From Winning Special Education Disputes!

Are you the parent of a child with autism or a learning disability receiving special education services? Are you new to the special education arena and would like to be educated on some tactics to look for? This article will be discussing 8 tactics used by some special education personnel, to prevent parents from being equal participants in their child’s education.

Tactic 1: Intimidation, bullying and lying! Some special education personnel try very hard to be intimidating, so that parents will not fight for services for their children! Intimidation could be loud voices, threats, condescending to the parent, or making the parent feel inadequate or uncomfortable!

Tactic 2: All of the above; but with a smile on their face! It absolutely gets me when a special education person opens their mouth and states something not truthful, when they are smiling! I wonder if they think that the lie will not be realized by the parent, due to their facial expressions

Tactic 3: Quoting laws that do not exist, to make it seem like they have more power than they do! As an educational advocate and parent I have seen this many times myself. Example: Mrs. Jones the law allows us to not give services to children if we run out of money (not true)! Or Mrs. Jones the law says that we can suspend your child for as long as we want to due to their behavior (not true)!

Tactic 4: I have heard from many parents that their special education personnel have actually changed educational records so that they could win a dispute with the parent! What I have seen is records added to a child’s file (that the parent did not know about) to document things that have happened. This is why it is critical that parents get copies of their child’s entire educational record (especially during a dispute) and keep it for future reference. If you end up in due process with your school district check all records that they are using to make sure that they match the records that you have!

Tactic 5: Refusing to identify, and accept disabilities in a child that make them eligible for special education services. Many parents must get independent evaluations (at their own expense) to prove that their child actually has a disability, and is eligible for special education services!

Tactic 6: Misinterpreting test data to show that the child does not need special education services! I have heard many special education personnel state that they do not believe low test scores and that the child does not need services because of their low test scores. This is untrue; whenever a standardized test shows that the child is below their age and grade appropriate peers in an area, the child should receive special education services so that they can make progress in their education.

Tactic 7: Use delay or deny tactics. A lot of special education personnel try and delay the parents request for special education and related services. They may ignore parents request for testing for eligibility, or just use any tactic available to delay the request! When delay no longer works many personnel just say no; which is of course is denial! Stand up to these tactics by documenting all requests in writing!

Tactic 8 (this happens to be my favorite): Exaggerate or make up discipline problems so that they can change the child’s label or placement! Some school districts want to put Emotionally Disordered or Behaviorally Disordered labels on children so that they can put them in alternative placements, and deny needed special education services.

Parents need to keep the focus on the child’s academic and educational needs, and not give in to school districts focus on behavior only. If a child is struggling academically it may show in their behavior!

By understanding these tactics you will be on your way to being an effective advocate for your child! They are depending on you!

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Home Based Business Ideas for Women Who Definitely Want to Make Money And Raise Families

You shouldn’t have to choose between going out to work and staying at home with your family. While making a living is important, so is being there to witness the major milestones in your children lives. Unfortunately with the state of the economy, many families are forced to become two-income families just to provide a comfortable live style for the family. Fortunately, the growing trends in home based businesses allows parents to spend more time at home while still providing a comfortable lifestyle for their families. The best home based business ideas for women, involves women creating a work schedule around their family life; having a home based business, means that you will never have to miss a milestone in your child’s life.

Home based online businesses allow the working women to maintain the dual role of a professional businesswoman and involved family woman. Working from home has several advantages, in addition to working your own hours, as an entrepreneur you make the managerial decisions regarding the direction of your business. Initially you might experience some anxiety or fears, but with the right planning and structuring your business could become a financial cornerstone for your family.

So WHAT IDEAS DO YOU HAVE for starting a business? I know you must have some ideas in mind or you wouldn’t be reading this article. So what are your ideas… How long have you had them…and have you written them down. If you haven’t written your ideas down, then that’s the 1st thing you need to do– even if it’s just a single idea write it down. Think about what it is you have written. Can you see yourself turning your ideas into a business. Maybe your idea is just a hobby you have, not sure if your idea could work, go online and Google your idea and see what comes up Are there businesses online with your idea…..If there are will it be easy enough for you to compete…if competition is stiff, maybe there’s a market that hasn’t been tapped into.

Another thing you might do is to think about who your target market would be and take an informal survey from a variety of people who would fit into your market. You could do this survey just about any place where there are people– in supermarkets, department stores, malls, laundry mats, bus or train depots, anywhere people who fit your target market would be found.

True, you could talk to friends and family, but strangers would be best. You could tell them that you were doing an informal survey and that you were thinking about selling a particular product or offering a particular service and you were wondering if they were to see what you were offering online, might it be something they would be interested in purchasing or taking advantage of.

The combination of your informal survey and online research should give enough information to determine how viable your idea is. If you find that your ideas possibly may not work, again search the internet; you are bound to come up with a few doable ideas for a home based business.

In setting up an online business, you don’t have to know a lot about computers, navigating the internet or maintaining a website in order to successfully run your business. There are online programs that will allow you to download the resources and tools you need automatically to set up your website, receive payment and assist customers with problems. Many of these programs are free of charge. Suggest you do your research to determine the ‘best fit’ for your business.

Home based business ideas for women can be fruitful when the business plan is well thought out and organized. In-home businesses have low start-up costs and requires a relatively small amount of time to become established. After the first few months of operation, your business’s profits will exceed the amount of money you paid out in start-up costs and the business will begin to pay for its self.

So if you’ve been on the fence thinking about ideas that you may have about setting up a business at home- Its TIME TO GET OFF THE FENCE and LET YOUR IDEAS BARE FRUIT! And while you’re at it…Think about all the benefits your family will be enjoying.

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Home Based Businesses – The Hot Buzz

Ever since web2 was introduced to the world of internet a large number of businesses have made loads of money and investors have made huge profits. The use of various aspects of web2 has also helped home based businesses around the world make a fair bit of dough. There is no doubt about the fact that home based businesses can flourish at a good pace if the owner makes use of the resources in the best possible manner.Online marketing and network marketing have become important parts of business and owning a website is an absolute must if you are looking to attract people to your business. Webdesigners and SEO experts have started working from home. These people take up projects from the internet and complete them according to the due dates. These freelancers further convert their simple services to businesses. They hire people to work from them and give away some amount of the money they earn keeping the profits with themselves.Every business needs manpower and once you start getting projects over the internet you can hire people who can do the job for you at cheaper rates. This allows you to get more customers to your business and focus on the advertising and marketing part of your business. Initially you may find it tough to attract people to your business but with a few good reviews and feedbacks over a certain period of time, you would find people being attracted to your website like a magnet.The best thing about home based business is that you need not make heavy investments. With a little research over the internet you can kick start with your money making stint. Once you find the right websites and the good forums where you can find projects related to your field, you can make more money than you thought you would.These websites not only help you get the projects, but also make sure that you get paid on time. However some websites require you to give away some percentage of your payment to the website, but the percentage is a small figure and people do not mind spending that much. Once your popularity on a particular website starts soaring, you can very well get projects that would fetch you more money. Home based business is the hot buzz in today’s era and with such fantastic lucrative offers, more and more people are looking to start with their own business.

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Becoming Business Mentors In The Home Based Business Industry

Are you considering becoming a business mentor within the home based business industry? Mentors and trainers are becoming more and more important for those that want to master how to make money with an online business. Taking on the responsibilities of a mentor is not something you should take lightly, or without proper planning.If you have been in the home based business industry for only a year I would question if you were ready for the demanding task ahead of you. It is critical to have experience in building a business to success. It is suggested not to consider becoming mentor with only of two years of business experience. Having more then two years, not only gives you experience but also allows you to compile a wide variety of data and modules that is tested and proven to assist others.Before becoming business mentors you need to be aware of what your roles will be. Having your roles outlined before you take on this new under taking will not only assist you in maintaining professionalism and accuracy with your clients, but will also allow your clients to have predictability. Thinking that mastering one technique will be enough to provide a solid foundation to teach others, is a sad and dangerous misconception. You need to have a wide variety of knowledge to handle any obstacles or challenges that may arise. You are not only taking on your business but you are managing others. This is not something you can take lightly, as people’s future will rely on our expertise.While many are building careers, and lucrative incomes by becoming a qualified mentor, you can not enter into this solely for the money. Having a real desire to help and assist others to reach their goals with their home based business is mandatory. If you are doing this solely for income and not for the intent of truly helping others, you will hurt yourself in the long run. In the home-based business industry many business mentors get referrals and high recommendations. Earning those recommendations can keep you in business. Doing this for the wrong reasons can slowly have you losing clients, and your income.You will be in high demand by the entrepreneurs you are training. It is suggested if you are just starting as an online business mentor not to take on a lot of students. It is important to have a training and support platform down, before you start mass training. Working with a small group before you start mentoring a larger group will help you to have an accurate system, and modules down that will help you and your students. Getting to know what their needs, requirements, to fully assist them in the business trends that you will be training.A business mentors job is rewarding, yet can be stressful. Proper planning, and having a system to help organize your trainees will eliminate much of the stress. The fact is you are no longer just concerned about your business, but will also be taken on their business success as well. While it can be stressful assisting in someone else success can be equally rewarding as your own.

Tips On Starting An Internet Home Based Business

Everything in the world is constantly changing and one of the biggest ways is how we start new businesses. For the longest time a brick and mortar was the only real choice. Along has come the Internet home based business and that has changed the way we do things. Most people do not have the money to open an offline business as the expenses can be very expensive. This is why more people are choosing an online business to start their business career. In this article we will take a deeper look at the Internet home based business and give you some very important tips you can use.More people than ever are online and the opportunities are virtually endless when you talk about starting your own business. It is not easy and it will take a lot of hard work. Many misconceptions abound about how easy it is to make money online with your own business. Here are some tips to follow to get you off to a very fast start.When you decide to start an Internet home based business choosing something you like to do or have a passion for is a very good thought. Many times people come online and have no passion for what they do and failure will usually be the result. By having something you like you will tend to stick with it a lot longer.Take your time to choose your business. No matter what your passion or choice maybe there can be many different variations of the business. By looking over each opportunity very carefully you can choose the one that fits your talents the best. Take your time and do not rush your decision with your new choice.An Internet home based business is something you must build at a steady pace. When people start an online business they must understand it takes time to build a customer base and profits. It can take up too two years before you really see the growth you may like. The key is to just keep plugging away and do not get discouraged.Do not be afraid to ask for help from others. Starting an online business is a tough proposition, but many people online can be found that will help you. The Internet is filled with plenty of help from individuals, businesses, and websites. Use every available option at your disposal to build your business.Starting your Internet home based business is going to take some time. It is not easy and for many it can be more than they have imagined. The rewards though can be very good for the people who are willing to do the work needed.Internet home based business is something that is growing at a very fast rate. With more and more jobs being eliminated going online is a logical choice. Starting your own online business will take some work, but the rewards can be worth it.

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Affordable Home Based Business Opportunities With Prospects

Take a look on the Internet and you will find plenty of affordable home based business opportunities. Many of us dream of working from home. After all those who run an online business can be their own boss and work when they choose to.So running a business from the comfort of your own home sounds pretty idyllic. But anyone who works from home in order to earn their living will tell you that home based business owners probably work twice as hard as anyone else. If you are trying to locate a legitimate way of making money online then begin by starting a small home based business.Small OpportunitiesMighty Oaks from little acorns grow. There is no point in investing huge amounts of money in an online business if the return is minimal. When we talk about starting up an affordable online business we should consider ideas that require little or no investment.Take an overall look at the area that you live in and consider supply and demand. Do residents in your locality need cleaners or gardeners? If you are an accomplished gardener or a cleaner then you could set up a website and advertise your services. You may not be physically working from home but your operating costs will be low so you should be able to maximise your profits.Businesses that Allow You to work within Your Own HomeEvery entrepreneur had to start somewhere and all of us have hidden talents that we never bring to the forefront. Maybe you make wonderful gift cards, handmade jewellery or cute hand-crafted goods.If that is the case then use your skills to make an income. Accomplished cooks could try their hand at baking and selling celebration cakes, hence you make money from working at home doing a job you enjoy.The Home Party Business Industry is BoomingIf you are a great host and you have the gift of the gab then you should try earning a living from home party plan systems. This is one of the many affordable home based business opportunities that can be profitable.A high percentage of firms that claim to have the ideal way of earning an income from home ask for a substantial start-up fee. Run a home party business and you may well have to purchase a party plan starter kit but that is usually relatively affordable.Are There Any Internet Business opportunities?Anyone who has access to the Internet and a few hours to spare has the potential to earn cash from home. Look online and you will see that many companies are advertising for customer service handlers, article writers and data entry workers.Listed above are a few ways of earning money from home and all of these ideas are affordable. The majority of people seek online work to boost their income and it is up to you to find a business opportunity that matches your skills and interests. There are many affordable home based business opportunities in this world and some of them will bring great personal and financial rewards.

Why You Want to Partner With A Small Business Coach-Advisor

According to The National Federation of Independent Business [NFIB] Education Foundation, over the lifetime of any small business, 30 percent will lose money, 30 percent will break even, and just fewer than 40 percent will be profitable. The Small Business Administration [SBA] reports that 50 percent of all small business fail after their first year, 33 percent fail after two years, and nearly 60 percent fail after four years. Reasons for failure cited by the SBA include: limited vision, over expansion, poor capital structure, over spending, lack of reserve funds or too little Free Cash Flow, failure to adjust to market changes, underestimating competition, poor business execution, poor business location, failure to establish company goals, poor market segmentation and strategy, poor knowledge of the competition, no management systems, over dependence on specific individuals, and/or focusing on the technical aspects more than the strategic aspects of the business, and an inadequate business plan.Developing and growing a small business enterprise, either from a new venture or as an existing one, is difficult in a bull market, where the economy is growing. The difficulty factor is there none the less. However, in a down economy, in a recession, where the risk of business failure is magnified several times, the difficulty factor is increased by a significant magnitude. Entrepreneurs and small business enterprises find themselves working in their business as opposed to working on their business. That is, when times are tough, the small business owner feels compelled to spend all his or her time on operations just trying to keep the boat afloat, while putting off where the boat may be going. It is particularly critical in a recessionary economic cycle to spend as much time as possible on the direction of your boat, as it is on operations. If the vision is lost or clouded, it won’t really matter how hard you try to keep things afloat, at some point you may well run aground because you were not watching where you were going. Having an extra pair of eyes to help stir your ship and keep you in the right direction is critical to not only maintaining your business, but helping you to grow it. And as the principal in your small business, this is where you want to position yourself; at the helm stirring your enterprise in the direction of your vision.Successful athletes typically hire a coach to help them achieve success. Certainly this is the case in professional golf. It is the case in the world of professional cycling. And it is the case in professional team sports, such as baseball. For the entrepreneur and small business enterprise, having a coach, advisor, on the sidelines as well as in the game, to provide critical objective guidance to help them attain their business objectives can be the difference in achieving real success. As a small business enterprise, you want to be in the category of a ‘small business growth’ company, positioned for IPO, acquisition, merger or growing into a medium-sized company. A Business Coach and Advisor will work with you to help avoid becoming an SBA or NFIB Education Foundation statistic on their list of small business failures. From time to time we all need outside guidance, counsel, mentoring and advice. A Business Coach/Advisor will actually help you to become a success story. The benefits of partnering with a Business Coach/Advisory far outweigh the costs. Five critical benefits of partnering with a Business Coach/Advisor include, but are not limited, to the following:1. Accountability. A Business Coach /Advisor will help you to maintain focus on driving your business forward, and helping you to work through the temptation to work in your business and not on your business. A good Business Coach/Advisor will insist on holding you accountable for achieving your goals and objectives, and work with you to delegate operation tasks that need to be performed by key personal, and guiding you towards providing the strategic vision your business needs to grow. Your Business Coach, acting in an Advisory capacity will work with you to develop or refine strategic short- and long term goals and then hold you accountable to achieve them. You want your coach to be tough, yet personable having the capacity to understand your business and where it is you want to take it. There job is to help you formulate that and to get you positioned to attain it.2. Formulating Strategic Goals, Ideas, Objectives. A Business Coach/Advisor will work with you to develop and refine your goals, ideas and objectives. A combination of coaching and advising is necessary here, and your Coach has the acquired expertise and experience to work through these with you and knows how to adapt them to your business.3. Contributing Business Growth Strategies. A good Business Coach/Advisory will have the ability to share and communicate their experience and expertise in developing business growth strategies. Remember, no one has all the answers. No one. Not a coach or a business executive. Sharing ideas are critical. Thinking out of the box is essential. So, when you’ve just “run out of ideas” on how to market and sell your products and services, your Coach will work with you, as a partner, to develop and then implement the business growth strategy or strategies that are specific to your company and market to meet your growth objectives. To be most effective, weekly communication with your Coach will keep you on track.4. Resources. When it is needed, your Business Coach/Advisor will provide referrals to contacts or resources for your business, such as expansion capital, legal and accounting services, social media marketing, technologies, and other resources that are relevant to helping you meet your goals and objectives. My view here is that it is incumbent on a business coach and advisory to have a teaming or partnering viewpoint, and it is essential for them to do so for the benefit of you, the small business owner.5. Objectivity. A Business Coach/Advisor provides you with the necessary objectivity to see your business as it really is. This is essential for an honest assessment of where your business is in its life cycle. When you get used to the same processes and procedures, tasks, basic routine, you lose the ability to see your business with the same objective clarity that you once did. Your Business Coach provides you with a double perspective; looking into your business from the customer perspective, and looking out at the customer from your perspective. And then provide you with feedback about what works, what doesn’t and what your options are. To be effective, weekly communication with your Coach will keep you on track.Partnering with a Business Coach/Advisor should be on a retainer basis for three to nine months, preferably six months. It will normally take a good Business Coach/Advisor two months, sixty days, at least to become fully knowledgeable about your business, its practices, your strengths, weakness, your vision, and your objectives. Then another month to begin working with you to arrive at your business objectives. While three months is the minimum time needed for a good Business Coach/Advisor to begin making a difference under a single retainer agreement, nine months is the maximum under a single retainer agreement, where six months is the optimal. During a six month retainer, a Business Coach/Advisor should be able to meet all goals and place in to practice the critical elements that a small business needs to attain strategic objectives. Typically, once a small business has partnered with a Business Coach/Advisor, they retain them continuously, or as needed.In today’s troubled economic climate, the use of a Business Coach/Advisor makes strong financial sense. While you might feel you can go it alone, the resulting cost may far outweigh what it would be had you partnered with a Business Coach/Advisor when needed. It’s sort of like the old TV commercial about changing your oil, you can either do it now at the cost of an oil change, or wait until your engine blows and pay the cost then. Waiting will certainly cost you infinitely more. If you are facing a limited vision, over expansion, poor capital structure, over spending, lack of reserve funds or too little Free Cash Flow, failure to adjust to market changes, underestimating competition, poor business execution, poor business location, failure to establish company goals, poor market segmentation and strategy, poor knowledge of the competition, no management systems, over dependence on specific individuals, focusing on the technical aspects more than the strategic aspects of the business, or simply need help in growing your business, then partnering with a Business Coach/Advisor makes good financial sense.

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4 Reasons You Need A Niche Market

Key #1: Focus
When we focus our business to serve a niche market we create a compact business strategy that knows the ‘ins and outs’ of our market’s needs. Our web page speaks to a select market from an expert point of view. Speaking from authority that respond to a familiar need with a focus is a powerful way to attract your niche market. It is called marketing by attraction, or pull marketing.

A niche market may include a million potential buyers, or ten million potential buyers. A small business web site would most likely be pleased with having 10 thousand potential buyers, and to get attention from a niche market of 10 thousand buyers we will need to focus.

You might be inclined to try and sell to a wider market than a specific niche. The broad approach is common and it most often fails because in trying to speak to everyone it speaks to no one. A broad message is lost on all aspects of your market when they have a specific problem to solve.

The majority of business web sites seem to have fallen for the false idea that a web site can sell to the world. The reality is that the web creates a one-to-one relationship. Our web sites need to be more specific to each aspect of our web market.

For instance, a web designer may develop a niche market for business owners that are new to the web. There is also a niche market for those business owners on their second or third web design and the changing needs of that niche. A niche exists for certain professions like a dentists or a realtor.

Of all the different kinds of businesses needing a web design it will be a specialist that can be found quickly and the business jargon speaks volumes to the client.

Key #2: Specialize
You will need your web site to speak about how you specialize in order to attract attention from an important niche that exists within your wider market. Your web site may sell picture frames but you specialize in wooden frames. This would be your primary market, but you can still sell other types of frames. The important thing is to capture your special niche market because it is obviously a big enough market for you to want to specialize in.

Creating a web page for a niche market is often referred to as building a landing page when you have more than one niche market to serve. When this happens then you pull one niche to a certain landing page and pull another niche to a different landing page. Keywords play a big part in which landing page is delivered.

Call them by name:
It helps if your web site can address your niche market by name. Something like “wooden picture frame lovers… ” should catch their attention and from there you can talk about the unique features of wooden picture frames.

Why does your business specialize in wooden picture frames and why do you love wood and like to work with wood? When you speak this way about why you truly appreciate wooden frames your web site is expressing your values as a knowledgeable business owner. Your niche market likes this and they identify with your business because they share the same values.

Key #3: Be of Service
As you build content for a niche market you help them to feel right at home. The jargon you use and the solutions you offer provide a unique experience for your niche market that otherwise have to guess if a web site really does offer a solution for their specific needs.

Your niche market becomes comfortable because you are serving their need to find trust, quality and respect for the values they share with you. This is an unspoken service because your web pages doesn’t say, “We are trying to make you feel comfortable and let you know that you belong here with us”, but this is what your market feels just the same.

When your web site provides insight and helpful information for choosing products and services you’re pulling your niche market in. Your market is not only made more comfortable they are educated in ways they never knew before. This is because their needs are unique to the special niche they are a part of. The market that loves wood probably wouldn’t know why a hardwood may suit some projects but not others. Members of your market may only want the appearance of wood and not care about its other qualities. There are so many things to talk about in providing good service.

Okay, you don’t sell wooden picture frames
Almost every business will have a lot to talk about that is informative for their niche market. As the market become more knowledgeable on the features and functions of a natural product (or your product) then you can educate them on being price wise so they don’t purchase the cheapest product and end up being dissatisfied.

Your service needs to extend beyond the price so your market can purchase in the price range and other considerations that is best for them. And this is true whether the final price is high or low. Good service provides all the important reasons for spending less or spending more so that the final purchase is without regret.

This is truly being of service and it is that old time value we loved about the local business owner that we could always trust to keep us safe while giving us their best information.

Key #4: Search Engine Placement
As you build quality content that covers all the bases in your niche market from beginning (curious) to end (sophisticated answers) you will also be completing your own page SEO. You used to pay big dollars to an SEO expert so the search engines would place your site high on the list for your search terms. Today, it is by providing the quality content that you also complete the SEO for your page.

Over the years Google has changed and the new requirements are that your web site needs quality and quantity when it comes to relevant web content. An SEO specialist cannot do this for you. They might be able to tweak your content slightly to perform better, but no one can support your market as well as you can.

These changes by Google fit perfectly for focusing on your niche market. In the process of providing insight and specialized knowledge for your niche market your web pages are sharing unique information of quality that search engines want. Search engines are in the business of listing the most relevant pages for a search. By giving your niche market the information that helps them the most you are also giving the search engines the pages they want to deliver. It is called symbiosis.

If you didn’t write content for a niche market you would be writing content to cover a broad market and then your business web site would read more like a department store than a specialty shop. But – and this is a BIG but – even a department store needs to have landing pages with a tight focus for a specific (niche) market.

Google will choose pages that provide a specific focus to match a keyword search. Those broad general market descriptions so many business web sites use to attract everyone in the world do not capture the interest of any particular market, and they do not attract the interest of search engines.

The common search terms used to attract traffic are not specific enough to capture the interest of a niche market. What really happens is that the common search terms act as the default. When there is nothing else to choose then common terms will have to do.

Your web site, written for a niche market you are familiar with, is far from common and a niche market will close in on your site with the keywords that identify their need for information.

The Benefits of Advertising Outdoors

There are many ways to market one’s product or service. One of the most powerful forms of advertising is advertising outdoors. In the UK, this is a booming market and because of this, outdoor advertising space can be hard to come by at times. However, once the space has been secured, any business will begin to see the benefits of this form of advertising.

Captive Market

With all of the cars on the road, the people who are driving those cars have no choice but to look out their windscreen at their surrounds. Part of those surroundings are the marketing campaigns utilising advertising outdoors. With the popularity of holiday ventures to rural areas as well as camper trailers, not to mention urban driving becoming more and more common, there are avenues for any marketing campaign that will get seen by thousands or hundreds of thousands of people a day. The advertisements outdoors make big statements and cannot be ignored, unlike other advertising mediums, such as a reader skipping advertising pages in a magazine.

Repetitive Exposure

On top of guaranteed views of an advertising campaign, there is a high level of repetitive exposure to the same advertisements. The typical commuter drives the same route five days a week so that means that any given outdoor advertisement will be viewed by that driver repeatedly during the week. Repetition in advertising is difficult to obtain in most mediums but while advertising outdoors, it is one of the most cited reasons for choosing this medium for advertising.

Gets to the Customer at the Right Time

With any marketing campaign, timing is everything. A bold advertisement is lost if there is a large amount of time, from the advertising impression, to the decision to make a purchase. Outdoor advertising minimises that time, sometimes dramatically. Advertising a product utilising an outdoor ad in front of the store where that product is sold is the most striking example of this. However, even having a product featured on the expressway will still leave an favourable advertising impression when a person stops at their local market before heading home after a long day at work.

Outdoor Advertising is Cost Effective

When looking at the cost per viewer, no other advertising medium is so cost effective. While an advertisement in a magazine may be a bit more targeted toward an audience, the cost per impression is dramatically higher than a high-quality and dynamic advertisement placed outside. Getting repeat exposure for the same product requires even more outlay of capital from a company’s marketing budget, yet with outdoor advertising campaigns, the same commuter will see the advertisement for weeks before beginning to truly ignore it.

The initial cost for an outdoor advertising campaign is fairly low as well, depending on the location and size of the advertisement. As with other marketing outlets, size and the variety of colours affects cost. However, compared to most other marketing mediums, the initial cost is most often lower and the monthly cost after the first month is more of a rental agreement and maintenance fee agreement, rather than a reoccurring fixed cost.

The Finer Points of Internet Auctions

WHAT IS A PENNY AUCTION?

Penny auctions have exploded in popularity with the massive growth of the internet. However, few people know the true origins of penny auctions.Beginnings actually stretch back to the Great Depression. Those were hard times for everyone, but even harder for farmers. Farmers struggled to bring in steady income because of droughts and crops not selling as well as they had previously. As a result, the banks would foreclose on the farmers who couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.

The banks weren’t satisfied with just repossessing the house, they wanted to raise as much capital as possible, so they resorted to selling off the possessions of the owners of the repossessed houses. There was not much the farmers could do about it so they began bidding ridiculously low prices, pennies, on the items while threatening others who dared to bid higher than a few pennies.

The auctions of today hardly resemble their tremulous beginnings. Being part of a penny auction today is exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It combines the selling format of auctioning with a little bit of chance factored in.Auctions are a game of strategy but also a game of luck.

The premise behind penny auctions is giving people the chance to win an item at a drastically reduced price.Auctions make that possible by spreading out the cost of the product among multiple bidders. In order for a person to take part in an auction, they must pay a set price for each bid. For example, if a person wanted to bid on a fifty dollar Amazon gift card then he would spend a dollar for each time a bid placed. If he ended up winning the gift card, then he would only have spent a few dollars for a fifty dollar gift card. Usually penny auctions sell bids in packages.

HOW PENNY AUCTIONS WORK!

The main foundation of penny auctions is the pay-per-bid format. It is the key that allows bidders to win items at the fraction of their retail value and allows the auction owners to keep their site profitable. Most y auction sites run on the same premise: people pay a set amount for each bid, whenever a person places a bid within the closing seconds of the auction time will be added, the last person left with a unique bid after the clocks runs out will win the item. There are a large variety of items that can be won, but they tend to be popular electronics or gift cards to popular stores.

There are two types of auctions: lowest unique bid auction and highest unique bid auction. Lowest unique auction sounds confusing but it is actually quite simple. A unique bid is when only one person has a bid at a certain price. Bids usually start at one penny, a bidder can then place a bid at two pennies. Until another bidder places a higher bid, the most recent bidder will be the lowest unique bid because that was the only bid at two cents and nobody bid higher. However, penny auctions generally don’t stop at one penny. It is not uncommon to find auctions that end up at a couple hundred dollars based on the popularity of the item being auctioned. However, the same principles apply for those auctions. Highest unique bid auctions follow the more traditional auction format such as eBay. The person with the highest bid at the end of the auction wins the item.

Auction site owners turn a profit by selling bids. Say twenty people are bidding on a ten dollar gift card at one dollar per bid, at the end of the auction if there were twenty bids placed in total then the site owner would have made twenty dollars with a ten dollar profit.Auctions do seem like a win-win situation:The site owner makes money while the bidder gets an item for dirt cheap. However, not everyone wins in penny auctions. The people who paid one dollar each bid but left with nothing to show for their investments will not be so happy.

HOW TO WIN!

Penny auction has a lot of chance mixed into it, but one can incorporate strategy that will help raise the chances of winning. Playing smart can make all the difference between gambling and auctioning.

The first crucial tip to winning penny auctions is to know how to manage your bids. Your goal should be to win as much as possible without spending a ton of money buying bids. Managing your bids means that you should already know how much you are willing to risk in order to win an item. The amount of capital you are willing to risk will determine how many bids you can use. Once you know how many bids you have to spend on an item, then you will be better able to manage how and when you place a bid. That will keep you from blowing away all of your bids in the first few seconds of the auction.

The next tip is to practice time management. When fighting in the trenches of penny auctions, you have two enemies: other bidders and time. Knowing when to bid is a must if you want to have success. Placing a bid when there is a lot of time left on the clock is never a good idea. You have to remember that the key to winning a penny auction is being the last one standing when the clock runs out and that each bid increases the amount of time left. It would be a good practice to wait until the last few minutes of the auction before you begin to bid.

The final tip for successful auctioning is to keep your emotions under control.Auctions have a lot of similarities to gambling, and just like gambling, your spending can get out of control. If you keep your emotions level, it will keep you from making rash decisions and blowing loads of cash. Keep your mind clear so that you can gage the behavior of the other bidders and outsmart them.

HOW TO AVOID SCAM SITES!

Penny auctions are a great addition to the web whether you want to win an item that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to afford or if you simply enjoy the thrill that comes with bidding in auctions. Unfortunately, scam sites have tarnished the reputation of the legitimate penny auction sites. However, there are ways that you can protect yourself from scamers and enjoy your auctioning without having to worry about losing your money due to dishonesty.

Checking the reputation of the auction site before you start spending your hard earned money is always a good idea. Chances are other people have tried the site before you and some of them have left reviews. The reviews are your way to gage whether a auction site is trustworthy or not. If a site is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, then that is a clear indication that you should steer your business elsewhere.

Another tool you can use to protect yourself is checking the Alexia ranks of the auction sites. Alexia rank will give a solid view of how much traffic the auction is getting. If you see a huge difference in the amount of traffic Alexia is projecting and the amount of active bidders on the site, then warning signals should be ringing in your head. Some auction sites have been known to set up robots that automatically bid on projects in order to keep the auction going and inflate the price. That is known as shill bidding. You can sniff out those sites by comparing the traffic the site should be getting to the amount of users using this site.

CONCLUSION!

New legislation may come out later down the road that will officially make penny auctions gambling, but until then, it is a fun, exciting auction that allows one to win the item they’ve always wanted but couldn’t afford.Auctions are also quite lucrative for the site owners because of the pay-per-bid strategy they’ve incorporated. Penny auctions had humble beginnings with farmers who just wanted to get back at the banks who kicked them out of their house. More recently, auctions have enjoyed an explosion in popularity with the rise of the internet.

There are two main formats fora auctions, lowest and highest unique auction, however they both run on the same premise where the last unique bid wins the item. Winning a penny auction will require a certain amount of mental tactic and a bit of luck. However, you can increase your odds of winning by practicing certain techniques such as managing your bids wisely, learning how to work with the time, and keeping a level head and your emotions under control. When you combine those three strategies to your bidding plan, you will find that you win a lot more often.

It is important that you do your due diligence to protect yourself when participating in auctions. Not every auction is run by honest and trustworthy people. There are people out there who just want to take your money. You can protect yourself by ensuring that you only bid on sites that already have a very positive reputation from real users.

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