Once it used to be enough to just have a Web site for your business, but to really compete online today your Web site has to stand out amongst the competition. One important way of achieving this is through the power of written content, or copy writing. Effective content doesn’t just mean a well written website, though that is a chief factor in distinguishing yourself from your competitors, it also means using content to promote your business to increase exposure to potential customers. This article looks at the different ways content can work to promote and improve your business online.Having the right conversation with your customerIf you have a website, ask yourself if it is having the right conversation with people who visit your site. Does it tell them about your service? Does it entice them to find out more? Does it sound informative and friendly? Web content works best when it acts like your top salesperson. Your customer has visited your site which means there is interest in what you have to offer, but your content now needs to work to convince the customer to choose you over the competition. Well written content pre-empts customers’ questions and objections and provides them with the answers and reassurance that your product or service is the right match for them.Establishing your business as an authority in your fieldHaving articles published on your website about your field of expertise establishes you as an authority in your field. When customers visit your site and can find information not only about the services you offer, but also about your views on the industry you are part of, it builds credibility into your brand. If you are offering a business services such as consultancy, you may want to consider having some aspect of “free content” on your website. This allows customers to see a sample of the advice that you might offer them as well as establishing your brand as one that remains at the forefront of current developments within your field. A website with a blog or up to date articles about the service offered will stand out as more authoritative than a website with dated content that hasn’t been changed since launch.Promoting your businessHaving good content written about your business is only part of the process in improving your business’s presence online; a large factor is promoting that content so that people can find out more about your website and service. By having articles about your business published on other websites and blogs is an affordable way of advertising your service and increasing the number of potential customers who read about your business. By submitting articles to blogs which appeal to your target market is a strategic way of reaching new customers and is much more affordable than mass market offline advertising. More people are using the Internet to research products and business services and by having articles promoting your brand for people to find when they do their research, you are one step ahead of you’re the competitors who are not using content in this way.
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Public Relations for the Department of Weights and Measures
Often important government agencies have a very tough time doing public relations and they get little respect from the public for all they do in a much needed service in our society and civilization. Lets take the Department of Weights and Measures, what kinds of Public Relations or community goodwill programs could you possibly do for the Department of Weights and Measures?Well believe it or not there are many things you could do for instance you could have them join a neighborhood mobile watch patrol and become the eyes and ears for the local police departments as they drive around all day in their normal course of activities. Let us look at this scenario for a moment shall we?DEPARTMENT OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: These people do every thing from going to gas stations to measure that the pump does not cheat you, to visiting grocery stores and making sure that your produce scales work properly. Therefore they tend to be around the town on a non-consistent, non-scheduled, surprise visit basis. Making it unpredictable when and where they will be. Thus helping the nature of finding violators and keeping people honest.Can you begin to see how you can take a not so popular government agency and make it news worthy? Such a program in this case study costs nothing to participate and yet provide goodwill and positive community relations. Please consider all this in 2006.
5 Fun and Unique Ways to Share Wine With Friends and Loved Ones
No beverage can stir up the senses, curiosity and imagination as wine. Unlike beer or many distilled spirits, a particular wine will smell and taste different every year it’s released. That’s because wine is mostly an expression of soil, weather, place — what the French refer to as terroir. It’s a reflection of what happened during a particular growing season, as well as the decisions the vineyard manager and winemaker made that year.All these factors can make tasting wine a very exciting and rewarding experience, especially in a group setting. It’s always interesting to hear others’ opinions on a wine: what they smelled, what they tasted, what they felt.If you’ve always wanted to host a wine tasting in your home — or maybe are just interested in finding ways to learn more about wine — then read on. Below are six creative ways to learn more about (and enjoy!) this magical beverage with friends and loved ones.Basic Wine TastingA basic wine tasting can be a unique and fun way to entertain guests. However, they are more enjoyable and rewarding when you limit the size of the group to no more than about 12 guests. Once you get much bigger than this it’s difficult to manage this format.Keep it simple by deciding on a theme (say, Australian Shiraz, Red wines from the Rhone region of France, or whatever suits you). Set a price floor and a ceiling and have each guest bring one or two bottles that fit the theme.Make sure to first number each bottle. That will help those taking notes keep track of what they’re tasting. Pour only one wine at a time and give your guests a chance to fully appreciate each one. Before moving on to the next one, try to create some discussion about the wine and even consider handing out scoring sheets (or at least pen and paper). This will allow everyone to record their impressions, along with each wine’s region, grape varietals, price and so on. Move to the next bottle only when everyone has had a chance to appreciate and discuss the previous one.Blind Wine TastingThis type of tasting follows the same steps as the basic tasting described above, except that the identity of each wine is not revealed until after everyone has tasted and evaluated all the wines. To do this right, you’ll have to open each bottle first and also fully remove the foil cap (to prevent it from revealing its identity). Then, put each bottle inside a brown paper bag and tie it at the end with a heavy-duty rubber band.When you’re ready to start tasting, take the wines to the dinner table and number each bag clearly with a marker. Follow each step in the basic wine tasting description above — but again, don’t reveal the identity of any wine until ALL wines have been evaluated.I find this to be the most intriguing and most challenging format — but also the most fun! It’s amazing how much our prejudices and preconceptions (including the look of a bottle’s label bottle or the price paid) have on our evaluation and perception of a wine. Blind tasting is the only truly objective way to judge.Wine PartyAgain, the formats above work very well with groups of 4 – 12 people. Once your group gets much larger, a basic tasting becomes too difficult to manage. So what can you do if you’d like to have a wine tasting but have too many guests to make it work? Simple: Have a “wine party.”The best wine parties are the kind where you keep things casual and laid back, yet still ask your guests to follow certain rules. For example, you could set a theme such as “wines from Spain,” and have every individual bring a wine from that country (each couple should bring 2 wines; better to have too much than not enough!). As with the other tastings, set a floor and a ceiling: $15 to $30, for example.For those that won’t know how to pick a good selection in this price range, suggest they go to a merchant and let an experienced sales clerk know what the wine is for. With this kind of guidance (country or varietal, as well as a specific price range), most merchants will do a good job recommending a wine for the occasion.As the guests arrive, line up the bottles so that duplicate wines are together (invariably, there will be some duplicates. But that’s OK; more wine for everyone!). You can provide your guest with a tasting sheet if you’d like and use the scoring suggestions outlined earlier. If you’d like to keep it even more informal, skip the score sheet.”Around the World” Wine PartyAnother variation on this theme is to host an “Around the World” wine party. This is typically the way to go if you’re looking to host a party with 30 or more guests — and a terrific idea if you’re having a “house warming” party with a lot of guests (you’ll see why in a moment). Follow the same guidelines recommended here, but have your guests bring a wine from any country outside of the U.S.Then, set up different tables around your living area, each of them “hosting” a different country and its wines. Have a stack of wine scoring sheets and pens available on each table, and as an option, number the wines with Post-it-Notes for better tracking on the scoring sheets.If it’s a house warming party, set up a tasting area in each room. That way, your guests can check out every room in your new home.By opening up the theme to ANY wine from ANY country outside of the U.S., you lower your chances of having duplicate wines, which is the main reason I like to suggest this format when the guest list is large.Wine Tasting DinnerAnother variation of the traditional wine tasting discussed earlier is to have a 3-course (or 4- or 5-course) dinner and serve a different wine with each course.You can ask each guest to bring a specific type of wine to match each of your courses. For example, you can ask one couple to bring a Pinot Grigio to have as an aperitif, another couple to bring a Sauvignon Blanc to pair with the first course, another to bring a wine from Rioja to have with the main course, and lastly someone to bring a dessert wine to have with, of course, dessert.A nice touch would be to have a final cheese course (after dessert) and provide the cheeses and wine(s) yourself.Tasting wine with friends and family can be fun and educational. Fortunately, there’s really no right or wrong way to conduct one. So whatever you do, keep things lively and relaxed. Keep some structure to the event without getting too serious and you’ll be sure to create a memorable event for all your guests.