Taking Care Of Your Fountain Pen

It used to be that a pen was a beautiful thing to own; back before the advent of ballpoint pens, fountain pens were the rule of the day, and everyone not only knew how to take care of their fountain pens, but they also had a healthy adoration and respect for the fountain pen they owned. While there is certainly no "need" for you to own a fountain pen these days, there are still many people – either because they are collectors, or simply because they prefer to write with a truly grand writing instrument – who prefer to use fountain pens, and while you can get a great fountain pen for under one hundred dollars, this investment will do nothing for you if you do not know the proper way to take care of your pen.

The very first thing you need to make sure you know about your fountain pen is that you should store it upright (with the nib facing upward); if you store your pen with the nib (the writing portion) pointing down, the ink will have a tendency to coagulate – or clog – in the nib, which will make the pen rather useless.

A fountain pen writes far more smoothly – with far less strain on the hand and arm – than does a ballpoint pen, which is one of the main reasons many people derive such great pleasure from writing with a fountain pen; when you write with a fountain pen, however, make sure you remember that they write more smoothly, as pressing down too hard while writing with your fountain pen will ruin the nib.

And finally, it will be important that you periodically clean your fountain pen; generally speaking, you should rinse out your fountain pen after every two refills of ink – running cold water (not hot, as this can ruin the nib as well!) through the inside of the pen and allowing it to dry for a few hours before filling it with ink again.

Taking the proper approach to caring for your fountain pen will ensure that you will be able to write the way people used to be able to write – with a priceless instrument that required attention and care, and that paid the user back with hours of pleasurable writing!

Internet Marketing Advertising

by: Anthony Harris

Although there are all sorts of ads that you can use in Internet marketing, all of them basically follow the same rules for success. If it's your first time to create an online ad, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Keep it short.

Even if you've bought huge web space for your ad, it just wouldn't do for you to make use of all of it by cramming as much content in it as you can. If you want to make the right impression on your viewers then keep your advertisement brief. Keep it simple. The simplest statement often has the greatest impact and you should never ever forget that.

Now, there are many ways to keep your ad short and simple. Review the text you've included in your ad. Have you beaten around the bush in any way? If so, remedy that and go straight in the point. Readers will appreciate your ad more if you don't waste their time going around in circles. Being creative with words is good and sometimes necessary but remember not to overdo it. Check the words you've used: are there any that would benefit from a substitute?

Check your grammar.

No customer finds a badly written Internet marketing ad favorable. An Internet marketing ad that's filled with grammatical and punctuation errors leads to a highly negative impression on the company. It makes customers think that the people behind the ad are unprofessional and quite frankly, stupid. You definitely don't want that to happen with you so double and triple check your Internet marketing ad before having it distributed and displayed to all corners of the Internet.

Also, typographical errors are inexcusable: customers are not that forgiving of grammatical errors so even if it's a genuine typographical error on your part, customers are unlikely to believe it's so.

Use keywords.

Internet marketing ads are also ranked by search engines. They are indexed by search engine spiders, too, and that's why you still need to use the appropriate keywords for the appropriate number of times in your Internet marketing ad.

Avoid keyword stuffing. An Internet marketing ad with just a few keywords in it is infinitely better than an Internet marketing ad that's bogged down by keywords to the point of incoherence. The temptation to use keywords as often as possible is great, yes, but don't let yourself succumb to it. If you do, things might backfire and although you've got excellent search engine results for them, customers could turn their backs on you because they just don't like how you've designed your ad. In that case, search engine optimization didn't work so well for you, did it?

Pay attention to when and where your Internet marketing ads are being displayed.

Most advertising websites let you have a say on where and when your ads will be displayed and you should definitely exercise that right. There was one instance that a website promoting services for children's amusement and recreation had ads with adult content on their homepage. Later on, it turned out that the website and the advertiser had no idea about what was happening and it all led back to the advertisement company both of them were dealing with. Although neither had intended such a thing to happen, the damage had been done.

These are of course just simple tips to guide you when creating your first Internet marketing ad. The rest you're sure to learn through experience. Good luck!

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Hiring Hard-Working Employees

One of the biggest things about running a business will be hiring people who will help your business to run well; after all, when you hire people, you are essentially putting the reputation and the wellbeing of your business in their hands, and while it is impossible to monitor your employees at all times (and while no one in their right mind would even want to do this!), it is possible to ensure that the employees you have will represent your business well, as long as you know how to hire hard-working employees.

These days, too many businesses fail to realize that the struggles of the economy make it easier for them to find truly talented employees, and the first step to finding such employees is getting the word out so that people know you have a job opening available; when you make sure as many people as possible know about your job opening, you will ensure the greatest number of "great candidates" applying for the job.

The first thing you will want to do is narrow down the prospective employees based on resumes, of course, but you should also make sure you are willing to interview all the employees you are on the fence about; after all, it is better to take some extra time and make sure you are getting an excellent employee than to make a quick decision and wind up with someone you wish you had not hired.

And have a clear picture of how your interviews will be structured before you bring interviewees in for their interviews, and know what you are looking for - as far as answers go - from the people you are interviewing; in this way, you will be able to guarantee that you are getting the most out of the interview process, instead of putting yourself in a position where you are "flying blind" as you try to select a new employee.

As you follow these tips, you will be able to ensure that the people you are hiring will be hard workers, and will help your business continue to grow - and these things will pay off in a big way as their time with you lengthens!

Using Customer Referrals to Grow Your Business

Building a customer base for your small business is very difficult. Regardless of the methods that are used, it is hard for them to gather a lot of new clients. One method can be an array of different marketing techniques. Another one would be cold calling your target client. Potential customer's homes can also be mailed to directly if you like. Many businesses have untapped resources though. The potential of referrals from their current customers is often something that they fail to take advantage of.

Customer referrals, if used in the correct manner, can become the backbone for your business development plan. The best advertisement for your business is your current customers who are pleased. You can drastically grow the amount of new customers your business generates if you are able to start getting referrals through you current customer base. An efficient method to do this can often be the difficult part to figure out.

You can efficiently generate current customer referrals in a few different ways if you think of them. One of the best ways is to offer a bonus or special offer to any new customer that is generated as the result of a referral. This can be done on both ends of the referral. One example would be to offer a buy one get one free coupon to the current customer and the same offer to the referred customer you signed up. The added costs is really the only realistic draw back to this type of technique.

Weighting the cost of new customers is something that must be done to compare. How much time did you spend gathering this new customer? How much money to you spend on the marketing developed? Marketing and time are both high cost methods for you to spend on. Offering a referral bonus often ends up being equal to the amount of money you spend on these other methods. Do not forget that this referral bonus is mean to bring in a new customer, but also makes your current customer base more pleased with you.

Tips For Getting Started With Online Investing

Regardless of whether you are a seasoned investor who is wanting to do something new by investing online, or are a brand-new investor getting started in the stock market for the first time, you are likely to start your online investing in the same place - and in order to get the most out of your online investing experience, there are a few things that will be important for you to know.

There will be a lot to wade through when it comes to choices for online investing firms, and before you will be able to make a decision as far as who you will go with, you will need to compare all of these - taking a look at the commission they charge, the tools they offer, and the experiences their customers have had; typically, you will have more in the way of investing tools and expert advice from a service that charges a higher commission, but there are actually some highly rated sites but have low commissions, so take the time to look around and find the fit is right for you!

Once you have picked out a brokerage firm that you will feel comfortable using, you will then need to fill out a basic application on their website; this application will pretty much just require your personal information, and should be a fairly easy process to go through.

Once you've taken these steps, it will be time for you to figure out how much you want to start out with for your first wave of investing; every brokerage will have a different minimum that you must invest, but of course, your best bet would probably be to start out with a little bit more than what this minimum is, while also making sure that you are using an amount you feel comfortable risking.

And finally, the final step will be taking the time to do some research and study before you begin investing; this is the most important step of all when it comes to investing, as you are unlikely to achieve success with your investments if you have not done your research, so take the time to research, and then start investing well and enjoying the results!

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Successful Copywriting: The Face Of Your Business

If you work for a large business, you surely have people within the business who are in charge of all the copywriting the business needs. But for those who run a small business (or, for those who have ever considered running a small business), it might seem like you can do the copywriting all on your own. While this might be true for you, of course, many people who do their own copywriting would be better off hiring out!

Any writing that is intended to promote a business or product is considered copywriting, which would include everything from websites to print ads to billboards. Although it might seem like the only thing you need in order to copywrite well is an understanding of the message you want to convey, this is not necessarily true! In fact, this can be absolutely wrong, as many who copywrite for a living have a full understanding of the exact words and phrasing they need to use in order to grab the attention of readers.

Anyone who is thinking about hiring a copywriter full time should make sure the copywriter has experience, and that they can prove their abilities. In order for them to prove their abilities, you should have them write a couple sample bits of copy, and you should give these sample bits to test readers so you can gauge their reaction.

You may want to hire a freelance copywriter instead of a full-time writer if your needs are less extensive, as this is less of a commitment. One of the benefits of working with a freelance copywriter is the fact that you can assess their success as the projects progress, and can replace them at any point if it becomes necessary.

Make sure you study the craft of writing successful copy if you decide that you want to continue doing your own copywriting. After all, it might seem like writing something that is both competent and error-free puts you in fine shape. But if you can write something that will grab the attention of anyone who reads it, you will be in much better shape.

Make sure you are giving the copywriting for your company the attention it deserves, as the copywriting for your company is the first face of your business most people will ever see.

Tips For Dealing With A Customer Who Has Not Paid You On eBay

Using eBay can be a great way to make some extra money, or even just to unload some of your old, unwanted stuff. But in addition to being great for selling your items, eBay can sometimes be not-so-great for getting paid for the items you "sold." After all, unlike a regular store - where you are paid first, and then you give the customer the item - you have to wait for a person to pay you after they win the bid; and sometimes, this can leave you waiting for a while!

Customers on eBay have four days to pay, which is important to keep in mind if you are dealing with a customer who has not paid you for an item of yours they won. Although four days can seem like ages when you are waiting for the money, eBay will not accept your complaint unless at least four full days have passed from the end of the auction. If four full days pass without a payment, however, eBay starts to take it very seriously, doing what they can to help resolve the issue.

The first thing you need to do is contact the buyer directly and see if you can work things out with them if they have not paid you. If they are uncooperative or - perhaps even more frustrating - unresponsive, you then need to take things to the next step, which is filing the complaint with the Resolution Center at eBay.

The buyer will again have four days to pay after you file a complaint with the Resolution Center (and will also, of course, be notified of the complaint). Although they are allowed to contact you and try to work out an extension or another arrangement during this time, you are not required to oblige. The item will go down as an unpaid item if it has gone another four days without any payment from the buyer.

This means that you can resell the item (or you can give a Second Chance Offer to one of the bidders who lost), and it means the buyer will have an "unpaid item" on their account. And keep in mind: you can look at people's accounts when they are bidding, and if you run into a bidder with an "unpaid item" on their account, you can block them to keep this from happening to you!