Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Employee Motivation Tips

Contrary to popular belief, most motivation techniques are easy, effective and affordable. Most managers get confused between employee benefits and employee motivation. The fact is that employee benefits are remuneration for their services. You give your employees a pay hike when they have surpassed the deadlines or when you believe that they deserve it.

Although a bonus influences performance positively, it is usually not enough to motivate your employees. Employee motivation emphasizes giving recognition to your employees. Many managers fail to appreciate the skills of their employees simply because they are paid for their skills. However, this can have an adverse effect on employee performance. Unfortunately, most managers have a word with their employees only when something goes wrong. For high level work teams, positive reinforcement is crucial.

Share Good Rapport

It is imperative for you as a manager to share good rapport with your staff. Small gestures like remembering their birthdays, sending them a birthday card and organizing a small party occasionally, goes a long way in building good relationships with employees. If you are planning to send a personalized, hand written card, make sure that the message is short, sincere and meaningful.

Many organizations send e-cards to their employees on their birthdays. E-cards are a smart way of saying ‘You Care' and have other added advantages such as date reminders and auto-send options. When an employee gets attention, recognition, and appreciation from management, they works harder for the organization, thereby boosting team performance. You can also plan a small get-together for special occasions such as Christmas and New Year that will give you an opportunity to shed your professional armor and have fun with your employees.

Remember, when you take the time to appreciate your employees, they will work harder for your business.

Product Sourcing Tips For E-Merchants

If you have a startup business, and are selling a product, then the realities of product sourcing can easily become a setback. Product sourcing does not have to be difficult, though. If you want your e-store to become a profitable investment, then you need to be creative with your sourcing methods.

• Smart searching: Avoid general terms while sourcing online. Googling ‘wholesale widgets' brings good results, but it is very difficult to identify a good vendor. You can qualify your searches by using terms like ‘distributor', ‘designer' and ‘manufacturer' instead of using the generic ‘widgets'. You could even use individual product names and models.
• Consulting traditional business directories: Many wholesalers don't have an online presence, so you can find them in traditional directories like the white or yellow pages.
• Trade publications: You can subscribe to a trade magazine - they are packed with advertisements of manufacturers and distributors. Offline business is usually conducted this way.
• Trade fairs: Attending a trade fair can pay off enormously. They provide lots of opportunities for sourcing and networking. You will also be able to establish contacts with suppliers and negotiate prices.
• Expert advice: A personal approach in the offline world can yield excellent results - people love to talk about their successful business ventures.
• Contact the manufacturer: You can identify supplier and distributor via the telephone.
• Check product packaging: If you are not able to find any information about the manufacturer, then you may have to buy the product.

By being creative in your product sourcing, you'll be able to find a suitable vendor for your business.

How To Find Link Partners

The search engine puzzle is never-ending! I'm always looking for ways to make my website come up higher in the search engine results. One of the best ways to do this is by finding link partners.

It's always better to find link partners with pages that are indexed by the search engines and also to have a page rank. You can ask your link partners for inbound links from their ranked pages, which are indexed - both partners then gain from this exchange.

There are two major ways to use your links. The first one is to improve your search engine rankings. You can improve your ranking by reciprocal link exchanges, viral techniques and triangular link techniques to get your links onto sites. The second option is to purchase links on other sites or exchange links to benefit from web traffic.

You should always avoid bad linking neighbors, also known as link farms. In general, if a site contains generated content, many links per page or a massive useless link directory then they are probably a ‘bad neighborhood'. Partnering with such sites can get you de-indexed or penalized.

Exchanging Links

Exchanging links with other webmasters can increase your page rank and also make your site an asset. You can sell the site, or sell links from your ranked pages, thus generating revenue. If you have a high page rank with little traffic then you can barter it with other sites that have lot of traffic, thus enabling them to switch over to receiving more natural search engine traffics.

The real purpose of a link directory is to provide a real and useful resource to your site visitors. If you create links keeping this in mind, it will help your search engine rankings.

If you have lot of traffic and a low page rank, you can raise your Alexa rating to get high page rank links. You can do this by communicating with other webmasters with a link exchange offer. This way you can gain a high page rank.