Philanthropist Lois Pope

by Web Master on April 16, 2013

Lois Pope is a well-respected and admired humanitarian and philanthropist. The wife of the late National Enquirer founder Generoso Pope, Jr., she has devoted much of her life in improving the lives of many less fortunate individuals. She oversees two charitable groups- Leaders in Furthering Education (LIFE) and The Lois Pope Life Foundation, Inc. She is a staunch advocate of education, veteran support and medical research.

Mrs. Pope is a native of Philadelphia, PA. She went to the Chestnut Hill College, which bestowed her an Honorary Doctor of Laws. She also received an Honorary Doctor of Letter from the Rabbinical College of America. She is also an awardee of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Pope is a trustee of the University of Miami.

Support to Veterans

One of the most active philanthropists in the United States since the ‘90s, Mrs. Pope has been a staunch supporter of veteran welfare. She believes that disabled war veterans should be honored for their contributions to US democracy. In 1998, she partnered with DAV National Adjutant Arthur Wilson and then Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown in constructing the Disabled Veterans’ LIFE Memorial Foundation. This monument is considered as a fitting tribute to al the veterans who risked their lives for the sake of the country. As of 2011, Mrs. Pope and her LIFE Foundation have contributed nearly 10% to the total cost of the Memorial, amounting to nearly $8.6 million.

Medical Research

The Lois Pope Center is another manifestation of the generosity of Mrs. Pope. The said center was the beneficiary of a $10 million endowment from Mrs. Pope given in 1996. It is a state-of-the-art facility that houses the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis of the University of Miami. The facility conducts research and treatment on paralysis and neurologic disorders like stroke, brain trauma and neurodegenerative diseases.

Mrs. Pope also established a LIFE International Achievement Award named after her to recognize scientists and other specialists who have made noteworthy contributions to the field of medical research. The award was institutionalized in 1999. It comes with a $100,000 incentive. More than $1.7 million has been given to deserving scientists since the inception of the award.

Education

She has also been very generous when it comes to supporting scholars especially those who are financially challenged yet very much capable of performing well in school. She supports the Unsung Hero Scholarships, which amount to $25,000 medical scholarships given every year to financially-challenged but academically deserving students of the City College of New York.

Mrs. Pope is responsible for sending more than 15,000 children in Florida to summer camp through her capacity as president of LIFE. These are children who come from poor families as well as those with special needs.

Other Works

Mrs. Pope’s humanitarian efforts also include support to the Red Cross of Israel. She has supported the Magen David Adom of Israel Red Cross, donating five ambulances in the process. She also made a $.25 million donation through the LIFE Foundation for the Lois Pope Pet Mobile project that led to the increase in the adoptions of dogs and cats in the Palm Beach County.

To learn more about Lois Pope check out this site: http://loispope.wordpress.com/.

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The Best Website for Your Start-Up Business

by Web Master on April 15, 2013

When starting your first year in business, you need to be prepared to work harder than you have ever worked before. Even though you have a business strategy in place, the first year always serves as that “trial and error” phase. Having an exceptionally good website to launch you into the market will help make you more successful during this crucial stage. But as website companies are common and all over the internet, finding one that meets all of your needs without breaking the bank is of prime importance

When engaging in a Google search for website providers, you will have dozen to search through. One of the best ways you can narrow down this overwhelming list is to axe companies that don’t share client reviews. A simple online search may uncover yodle customer reviews and reveal a website developer that helps business owners grow their brands and rake in more revenue. Customer reviews are important to pay attention to as they stand as concrete evidence that backs the company’s claim to make people successful.

What to look for in a good website

A website is like a puzzle: it must have all the pieces in place in order for it to reveal a completed image of your business. It can have a polished, professional look, but if it doesn’t have a clear map people will leave your site for something more favorable. Having all the main accoutrements of a good website is crucial. Following are features you must demand:

  • Professional custom design
  • Clear map
  • Quick load time
  • Good content
  • Social media interaction

When you contact website companies that already demonstrate that they have given their clients added success, be sure to ask about these features.

Having the look

Do not showcase your business as a shout out to 1999. Some companies will try to save a buck by buying a cheap themed template. This will make you look outdated and ignorant in the world of modernity. There are a number of companies out there that build modern, custom-looking websites for very little cost.

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Go with the flow

Having a website that is easy to navigate is a given. By examining what makes a website fail, you can avoid these popular mistakes others have made. Take note of these things and make sure your website developer will not replicate them. One of the biggest fail stamps comes from websites with poor navigation. Make sure you see examples of their work, and note that their sites are easy to navigate.

Feeling the need for speed

Make sure your website loads quickly. Some website developers will offer hosting solutions. In the event yours does not, ask what solutions their clients tend to use to offer fast load times.

Content is king

Bill Gates was right when he said this. Ask your website company if they have a department that provides blogging and SEO services. You want content that not only brands you and informs customers, it should also help optimize you in the search engines.

Get your likes

Social media marketing is huge. Ask the website company if they have a marketing department to help establish you on Twitter and get your business on Facebook. The more “likes” you get, the more people will see your promotions and deals.

Shop around

Try narrowing your final results down to three website companies, and interview each one according to the points made in this article. Your reputation will be in their hands, and that is nothing to take lightly.

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The Valence Group

by Web Master on April 8, 2013

The Valence Group is an investment bank that specializes in merger and acquisition advisory to companies and investment groups that are in the chemicals, materials and related fields. The firm has offices in New York, London and Shanghai. It is backed by professionals who specialize in investment banking, strategic consulting and senior management within the sectors of chemicals and materials. Its website, www.valancegroup.com, offers a very comprehensive look at the work of the company. The website is very professional-looking and user-friendly, things that one can naturally expect from a highly esteemed company like the Valence Group.

About the Firm

The website’s section on the company provides an in-depth look at the Valance Group and what it does. According to the website, the Valance Group stands out among other investment banks with its specialization on the chemicals and materials sectors. Unlike other investment bankers, those working at the Valance Group are very familiar with issues in the chemicals and materials industries like environmental contractual provisions, sector regulation, carve-out issues and supply arrangements. The website also highlights the collective years of experience of the founders and senior members of the firm.  It also explains the strengths of the company officials and members in assisting the firm’s clients involved in the chemicals, materials and related industries. It also bares that the Valance Group has worked on more than 200 closed transactions on chemicals and related merger and acquisitions with a combined value of more than $80 billion.

Services

The website also discusses the various services that the Valance Group provides to its clients. Being backed by chemical m&a specialists, the Valance Group can advise on various issues such as environmental liabilities, operational carve-outs, supply agreements, off-take agreements, site operating agreements, regulatory constraints, intellectual property and non-competes. It also lists down the chemical sub-sectors that the personnel of the Valence Group has experience in transacting with, such as acetyls, composites, construction chemicals and materials, inks, polycarbonate, plastics fabrication, adhesive resins, lab chemicals, agrochemicals, enzymes, mining chemicals, rubber chemicals, emulsions, electronic chemicals and lube additives, among others.

Transactions

The website also has a listing of the transactions that the Valence Group has entered in previous years. The transactions are classified according to different categories- M&A buy-side, M&A sell-side, and other chemical advisory engagements. This way, users will have an easier time in finding transactions made by the Valence Group saving them time and effort. The listing of transactions also serves as a listing of the clients that have been satisfactorily served by the Valance Group.

News

The website not only serves to introduce the Valance Group and its services and previous transactions, but also to provide news on mergers and acquisitions on the chemicals and materials sectors. It has a chemical M&A news section that has links to recent news concerning the said sectors. The website also has a section that shares the company’s views on issues affecting the chemicals and materials sectors, as well as downloadable newsletter.

The Valence Group is a highly respected global organization, and it is not surprising that its website is very comprehensive, professionally made and user-friendly.

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Technology Group International

by Web Master on April 8, 2013

Technology Group International or simply TGI is considered as the leading manufacturer and distributor of software solutions to small market manufacturers and distributors. This company founded in Ohio in the ‘90s has made a name for itself with its business management software solution called Enterprise 21.  The said enterprise resource planning (ERP) software allows companies to conduct the best practices, streamline their operations, enhance their profitability and improve their operational efficiency. The website of TGI is a comprehensive portal for small and medium sized enterprises wanting to improve their operations by using the Enterprise 21 software.

The website of TGI focuses mainly on the Enterprise 21 that any review of the TGI website will not be complete without mentioning the software. The Enterprise 21 is a single-source solution for various manufacturing environments. It offers various functionality like product configuration, inventory management, component substitution and bill of materials. Aside from its manufacturing functionality, Enterprise 21 can help small and medium enterprises in managing their wholesale distribution. Enterprise 21 brings numerous benefits to enterprises such as improved service, reduced costs and increased data processing efficacy.

Such is the impact and importance of Enterprise 21 on the success of TGI that it is highlighted on the main page of the TGI website. Upon reaching the home page of the TGI website, users will be greeted by a flash presentation that stresses the manufacturing and distribution capabilities of the ERP software. Users can click on the flash presentation to learn more about the features of the Enterprise 21. For example, clicking on the manufacturing section leads the Internet visitor to a short explanation on the manufacturing capabilities of the software.

The website also gives a rundown of the various functionality of the Enterprise 21. For example, the manufacturing side of the software has functionality like multiple units of measure, inventory replenishment, quality control, order management, warehouse management and financial management, among others. These functionality are discussed further in their respective pages.

The website essentially gives a very comprehensive look at the Enterprise 21, with many of its pages dedicated to explaining the features and benefits of the software. This is not surprising given the fact that the company owes much of its fortune to the development of the said software which runs on Windows, Linux and Unix.

To further illustrate the impact of Enterprise 21 on businesses, the website presents various case studies of companies that have benefited from the use of the said software. The case studies of TGI clients show how these companies were able to achieve a return on investment with the reduced labor and overhead costs and other intangible benefits with the utilization of the Enterprise 21.

Business owners who are contemplating on trying the Enterprise 21 can request for an online demo by clicking on the link found on the homepage. Alongside this tool are other useful links like a Ask a Question field that enables curious business owners to drop a question or two about the products of TGI particularly the Enterprise 21.

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The Benefits of Radio Advertising

by Web Master on March 25, 2013

Despite the emergence of online advertising, many companies still recognize the benefits of advertising on the radio. Along with television, radio is classified as broadcast media that remains relevant in spite of the popularity of the Internet. There are many reasons why companies continue to advertise on radio. Perhaps the most compelling motivation for companies spending on radio advertising is the fact that radio is mobile. It can thus be tapped to reach out to people who are driving or at work and thus don’t have a lot of time to watch television or surf the Internet. Likewise, radio has retained its relevancy in the Age of the Internet as many radio stations now stream their programming online.

In preparing a radio campaign, businesses must have a clear understanding of the audience they would like to reach out to. Information on the target audience based on demographics like age, gender and household income is then shared with the sales representative of the radio station. Based on this information, the sales rep will determine the best time of the day to air the advertisement so that the business will be able to reach their target audience.

Businesses can also look for sponsorships of weather reports, news and other types of radio programming. With sponsorships, businesses can increase their mileage as they get additional mention or announcements during reports or on-air commentaries.

Companies that are interested in advertising on the radio should seek the services of a radio advertising and marketing firm like Radio Active Media. It is a reputable radio advertising agency that creates engaging and memorable radio campaigns that enable companies to maximize their investments on radio campaigns.

Radio advertisements should be entertaining and engaging for the target audience to remember it. With the number of ads that people hear over the radio, only those creative ads are more likely to be retained in the minds of the listeners. With the help of reputable radio advertising firms like Radio Active Media, businesses can come up with entertaining and even humorous radio spots that can grab the attention of listeners.

Radio Active Media has been in the industry for a good number of years. Its significant experience in the field of radio advertising has given it the credibility among companies and radio stations alike. Its roster of clients includes firms that are in the fields of insurance, health, business to business, finance, travel and online services. It has a track record of creating advertisements that not only grab the attention of listeners but also stick in the minds of the target audience. These advertisements will result to greater mileage and brand awareness on the part of the client.

Radio Active Media can also coordinate on-air endorsements or live reads for its clients. The firm has established relationships with some of the most popular and trusted hosts in the radio industry like Howard Stern. When hosts like Stern read an on-air testimonial, listeners are more likely to trust the advertisement given the trust and loyalty he has built with his audience.

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American Trainco: A Reputable Maintenance Training firm

by Web Master on March 15, 2013

American Trainco is a training organization that focuses on training people looking to become maintenance professionals. They have been providing short training courses to companies since 1991. According to their website they are unbiased and unaffiliated with any company, therefore they are in the best position to give quality training.

They have the most experienced trainers who have trained more people than any other training organization in the last 10 years. They have more than 60 experienced instructors from different fields of maintenance training. They boast of having had trained employees of more than 40,000 companies both private companies and government agencies.

The courses range from, understanding and troubleshooting hydraulics, UPS systems for first responders to electrical troubleshooting and preventive maintenance. Building maintenance training is one of the core areas that America Trainco forces on and they offer both public and in-house training. You may request Trainco to come to your facility and train from there, or send your employees to one of their seminars.

Whichever option you choose, Trainco offers to provide very practical training. For this king of training, the student cannot afford to go for anything that stops at the theory. Hands on training is very important for skills like plumbing, electrical maintenance and testing and maintenance of hydraulic systems. The training courses fall under 3 major training areas, electrical, plant management and mechanical and industrial maintenance.

Trainco offers very flexible packages that allow companies and organizations to get the training in smaller packages that they can afford. For example, if the onsite training is to take two days, the organization can pay for one day training, and then wait until they can pay the second part. The instructors will come and do the training for the part you have paid for.

These flexible packages have proved to be very convenient for most small organizations with a very tight budget. For that reason, Trainco is number one organization when it comes to short training courses like this. Trainco visits more than 150 major cities and do on more than each year to train employees from different organizations across America.

They also do on-site coaching on more than 20, 000 facilities and have been doing it for the last 2 decades. They have earned the reputation of having quality and specialized training across America especially when it comes to building maintenance training. This Training is highly recommended for any firm seeking a flexible coaching package and especially for a considerably few number of employees. Big firms with a small number of employees could also take advantage of the packages, if they have had a small number of employees.

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Artenity Review: Value of VDI monitoring in Modern Organizations

by Web Master on March 1, 2013

More organizations have been adopting thin clients in place of the traditional PC. The thin clients come with a number of benefits that have forced many organizations to consider adopting this type of architecture.

Some of the advantages of using VDI or thin client are; to save power – thin clients typically use a small fraction of power and can save the organization a lot of money, they enhance security because the system is updated from one central location and monitoring can be done more closely.

Since the thin clients act as display and input units, a user can log onto the system from anywhere. Remote users and employees can log in to the system and update data from wherever they are working from, using tablets, laptops or thin clients. This means the users can stay connected with the servers in real time when they are working.

Aternity is a company that focuses on the VDI monitoring. According to its website, virtualization was the biggest impact trend in 2012. This means that as more people continue to adopt it into the future, it will be one of the main factors that determine how companies deploy their IT infrastructure and may redefine the internal functions of the organization.

Aternity does more than VDI monitoring. They are professionals in helping organizations enhance their user experience. They have been honored by the Boston business Journal for creating helping organizations create a positive work environment that enhances efficiency and retains employees.

Thin client assessment is part of their objective of enhancing user experience. They do mobile, Citrix cloud and VDI monitoring. When organizations adopt this architecture, they need to change their thinking and how the users work with the system. To get the most of this architecture, assessment on usage of the system and its effects on performance must be done.

Artenity helps organizations, with existing infrastructure and those trying to deploy thin clients, to asses the performance by identifying the metrics that affect overall performance. This metrics may be computer hardware resources, software or user experience amongst other factors. To ensure the right assessment is done the right procedure must be followed to determine which metrics make have the most significant impact.

Citrix is one of the thin clients infrastructure that the help organization to asses. Their assessment is mainly done from the end user vantage point. According to Aternity, this is the best way to make the right and accurate assessment of the end user experience. Their Aternity Frontline Intelligence Platform can help identify problems like why some end users are having performance issues while others are not. It is also important for organization to know the difference in performance between Citrix and traditional desktop network architecture.

If mobile is part of your organizations infrastructure, Aternity can help you track performance for Android and IOS platforms as well as webapps like xenapp. Overall the company has a track record in helping organizations improve user experience and improve performance.

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Zoho CRM: The Best Hosted Customer Relationship Management Software

by Web Master on February 20, 2013

Do you want to track your sales? Or maybe you need to know what leads are bringing in the sales and which leads are costing you more than the others to obtain? The answer to these questions is a Customer Relationship Management Software. If you get a good CRM you can track leads, sales and streamline your customer service department and thereby improve your business. Zoho is a CRM that has excellent features that can help you achieve all these and more.

One of the unique features that Zoho CRM has is the ability to capture data from any website through web forms. Well, most CRM applications have this feature, but probably none is as advanced and thoughtfully designed like Zoho’s.  The web form captures information entered by your website visitors through a simple HTML form, then captures the data and sends it to the CRM user it was intended for.

The form can control spam through a mandatory input field that specifies domain and prevents the spam mail from getting into the CRMs lead generation process. Controlling spam improves productivity and allows users to focus on key tasks.

In order to be successful in your business, whether an online or a brick and mortar one, you need to have the right leads and follow them up to ensure you realize the sales targets.  As much as prospects and leads are important to your business, having the wrong lead will take you on a wide goose chase that will not result in a sale. Having targeted leads will increase the number of sales made over the effort and resources put into it.

The Zoho CRM allows you to track records. Records up to 6 months old can be retrieved and analyzed for the purpose of optimizing the sales process. You can follow up on deals using the pulse feature and pursue your cold prospects. Using this feature, you can analyze the inactive records and determine where the problem is with the sales process. This is possible due to the highly detailed records that are stored in the CRM.

Another important feature available on Zoho CRM is the sales forecasting capability. The software can help a sales manager do a sales forecast by analyzing data from different sales departments and determining what is to be expected at a specific time of the year.

Zoho CRM has the advantage of being a hosted Customer Relationship Management Software. A hosted CRM has several advantages. It is easy to maintain and does not require the organization to hire expertise to maintain the software since it is maintained by the hosting company. This also makes deployment easy and instantaneous, as soon as the business organization signs up for the service, they can begin to use it.

The platform also has integrated mobile CRM capabilities. A user only needs to login to the system from any location that has an internet connection and feed data into the system. This can be very useful for remote workers who need to exchange data as they continue working in the field.

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How to make Money while Unemployed

by Web Master on February 14, 2013

The economy is tough, and people are getting laid off and furloughed left and right. If you work in education you may have already become one of the many statistics struggling to make some extra income. You may want to investigate some columns such as the Fisher Investments Forbes piece to better determine if investing is within grasp of your present sphere of abilities. After researching your options and the current market, you may decide to take a more conservative approach and wait until life picks itself back up for you. But in the meantime there are ways you can make a lucrative living while working from home.

Web development
Every business, be it new or well established in its industry, needs a website. And like owning a mobile phone, websites need to be upgraded every few years in order to keep up with technology and communication advancements.
If you are fairly tech savvy you may want to consider the option of starting your own web development business from home. Due to the ease of the Word Press platform, and the countless free Word Press tutorial videos on YouTube, learning to make a custom, professional websites is easy as long as you have time to invest in learning the initial process.

Why WordPress?
A website is only as good as the number of people who find it. You can have a fancy custom website packed with the greatest features, but if nobody can find you, your fancy website is meaningless. There are two main ways of increasing your online visibility: paying Google thousands of dollars to appear on the first page, or taking some free steps to start building the ranking of your own organic placement.
The great thing about WordPress is that its platform is already indexed within the search engines to get instant SEO (search engine optimization). If you were to pay Google directly you could instantly appear on the first page of the search engine, but as soon as you stop paying them you vanish altogether into thin air. By building your own organic placement you are stockpiling equity in your placement and, though you may falter a few spots below one month and climb up a few the next, you will never disappear.  Ask any risk management professional and they will tell you that unless you have millions to spare, doing it the organic method is the way to go. This is why WordPress is so advantageous. In fact, Google’s very own Matt Cutts gives tips to small business owners and deems WordPress “made to do SEO well”.

Content
Back in 1996 Bill Gates coined the popular phrase “content is king”, and while much has changed since then, what is really royal about content lies within the science that launches it through the web. Of course you need to provide your clients with well written, original and catchy content. However, you also need to learn how to link build, use Google AdWords, and tie all of this together into a great social media strategy platform. Once again, there are oodles of free online tutorials that teach eager web developers how to do this.

Invest the time
When you begin this process it may seem overwhelming, but just remember that time will be your main investment in the beginning. Once you have learned the ins and outs and you have successfully built a few sites, your next step if to learn how to market yourself, and just like the tutorials on WordPress and Google AdWords, there is free help in that department.

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Three Awesome Freelance Gigs That You Can Do On Your Own Time

by Web Master on January 23, 2013

If you’re not making enough money at your current job, there are great ways to make some money on the side without losing too much of your free time. Before you quit your job to find something better paying, consider some freelancing options that you may already have the skills to complete. Freelancing is a great way to make money at your own pace and on your own time, and chances are you already are qualified enough to land some great freelancing gigs. Finding freelancing gigs is as easy as searching around for some jobs online, so get started immediately to start making some extra money. Check out these popular freelance opportunities that you may already possess the skills to do, and get on the track to earning some extra cash!

Graphic Design

If you have any kind of graphic design skills, you’ll no doubt be able to find freelance work designing cool stuff like printed flyers. There are tons of graphic design freelance jobs available that allow you to work remotely and on your own time, it’s just about finding them. You by no means need to be a professional to find great graphic design freelance gigs, you just need to possess some simple skills on programs like Photoshop and InDesign to market yourself as a freelance graphic designer. And like other freelance jobs, graphic design is really only limited to the amount of work you can do. If you’re a quick worker, you can make a lot of money doing graphic design freelance work, so search around and find a freelance job today.
 
Writing
 
If you’ve got free time and looking for extra money, freelance writing jobs are readily available and a great choice. You definitely don’t need to be a professional writer to be successful at writing freelance articles, and you can do it at your own pace. You’ll typically be paid per article, so the more you can write the more money you’ll make. Make sure you write good articles though, because if the provider rejects what you wrote, you likely won’t be paid at all. If you’ve got some technical knowledge, apply that knowledge to your freelance work; writing technical articles pays very well and there is always work available. You’re more likely to land some freelance writing gigs if you have some work of your own to show, so if you have a blog make sure you send it over along with your application. There’s endless demand for content, so get on the freelance writing bandwagon and start earning extra money between paychecks.
 
Translating
 
If you know another language and are a quick typist, you are perfect for freelance translating gigs. You could be transcribing videos in other languages, or even different web articles. Translating gigs do require that you type quickly and without any errors though, especially if what you are translating is a video. If you took a not-so-common language in college and are looking for freelance work, you’ll be in high demand.

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