My 2¢ Worth

his weekend marks the unofficial end of summer here in the United States as Monday is the Labor Day holiday, By tradition, Labor Day has always marked the end of summer.

abor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

he first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

n 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Feature Article

Avoiding Common Legal Mistakes

by: Nyall Bakk Advertising WorldWide

If you own your own small business chances are you know very little about the laws and regulations that you encounter on a day to day basis. Understanding the legal issues that concerns small businesses it is vital to your business~ success. The small business association suggests that all small business owners take a few legal courses to understand the legal issues you may come up against. However many small businesses ignore this advice and suffer consequences that could have been avoided.

There are many web sites that offer legal advice for the small business owner. Here are just a few situations that may arise where you should know your legal rights. In all these situations you may find it necessary to contact an experienced corporate attorney.

Contracts or service agreements are a must for any small business. It is difficult to uphold a verbal agreement in court and therefore a well written service agreement can protect you and your business. The service agreement should clearly define all policies and agreements. It should provide protection for your company and its interests.

Start by listing the "scope" of the service. For instance, cleaning a home would take 2-hours. In those 2-hours, list "what" service and "how" long it will take. Include anything that may be a special request. Excluding a portion of the service could be a costly mistake. Drafting a contract takes time, but it is necessary.

Employment Termination To keep overhead costs down, a major percentage of small businesses begins with a low number of employees. Staff members come and go, as business growth changes. It makes no sense to keep staff on the payroll if the business can't support the wages.

Sometimes employees will threaten with "Unlawful Discharge" suits. It is important that each member knows they are an "at will employee," which means they can be terminated at any time, or for any legitimate reason.

If you need some additional help many small businesses choose to hire independent contractors. Hiring independent contractors can seem like a simple choice since you're not responsible for reporting their earnings to the IRS.

Use extreme caution assigning tasks to the company's IC's. Some projects can change the status of an IC to an Employee in the IRS's eyes. If you're uncertain as to what jobs classify as IC or Non IC status, visit your local state website or www.sba.gov for more information.

If you own a small business with someone else you need to know about the legal definitions of your partnership. If you're a sole proprietor this means you own the business yourself and can be held legally responsible for anything to do with your business.

Start a business as a L.L.C. (Limited Liability Corporation) instead. This will eliminate the risk of loosing personal funds due to allegations in a lawsuit.

Intellectual Property Issues Even low-tech companies have intellectual proper issues that directly affect the long-term success of the business. Pay close attention to confidentiality and invention assignment agreements, registered trademarks, and copyright notices. Protect the company's trade secrets adequately.

Record Keeping Improper record keeping can cause serious problems. Accurate accounting records are essential if the IRS is the least bit suspicious about the company's financial records. Invest in a bookkeeper or an accounting program to make it easier to keep account of your daily transactions. Also, organize files to be readily accessible in case of an IRS audit.

If you can't afford to hire an accountant there are many bookkeeping software packages that can make things easier on you. Be sure to keep all of your paper documents as well since they may be necessary should you be audited.

Do your research and compare fees. The long term relationship you build with your corporate attorney will have its value. All businesses should make an investment in a "good" corporate attorney.

Choose an attorney that you're comfortable with and can afford. It is important to build a relationship with your attorney so that in times of need he or she will better understand your situation.

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Nyall Bakk knows how to drive quality targeted traffic to your site. To learn how to effectively promote your own internet business, visit his website Advertising WorldWide. If you are looking for a better ROI on your advertising, visit his website Advertising WorldWide

Adding Audio to Your Site

You can add sound to your site that will be compatible with both Internet Explorer and Netscape as well. Add the following code to the HTML of your web page where you would like the control panel to display.

Change the text indicated in red to your sound file.

<embed src="yourfile.mid" autostart="true" loop="false" hidden="false">
<noembed>
<bgsound src="yourfile.mid" loop="1">
</noembed>

The "autostart" determines whether or not the music will play when the page loads. "True" specifies that the music will start on load and "False" specifies that music will not start on load.

The "loop" determines how the music should be played. "False" specifies that the music should not loop and will play it through one time. "True" specifies that the music should loop and play continuously. I highly recommend that you leave this set on false.

The "hidden" specifies whether or not the music's control panel should be displayed. "True" specifies that the control panel should be hidden. "False" specifies that the control panel should be displayed. This will enable your visitors to stop the music if they prefer. Once again, I highly recommend that you leave this set on false.

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for your web site, free. *

Second Article

Using Contextual Marketing

by: Tina Valiedi Search Engine Marketing

When ever someone mentions the term Search Engine Marketing (SEM) two words automatically come to mind - Volume and Exposure. These are things that all businesses need to create an ongoing stream of income.

Search Engine Marketing enables your business to reach thousands of potential customers for a lot less than traditional print media and direct mail marketing. Very good news for the smaller business owner whose marketing budget is much less than the bigger corporations.

The basics ideas behind SEM are simple. You need to build a site and the optimize the content around specific keywords that will be called should people use these words to search on search engines. The more effective your ability to optimize your content, the higher your placing in any search engine results. The internet advertises your products 24/7 but you can be waiting weeks or even months for search engines to index your site and of course there are no guarantees your site will show in any event.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Engine Marketing eliminates the long indexing wait and secures your placement in the top positions. You simply bid on topic keywords. The higher the bid... the higher your placement in the results. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad link. Your site appears in the results within minutes (not weeks or months) once your ad campaign starts.

With PPC you are able to build your opt-in list fast, test out marketing campaigns, and reach potential customers with greater efficiency. But you need to remain ahead of your competitors so you can be paying up to $5 or more per click.

Both SEM and PPC have commonalities. They both drive targeted visitors to your site and there is a learning period where you can pay little money to test the system and then build up your bids as you learn which keywords are more effective. Ongoing tweaking is very important.

Contextual marketing, the latest way to market online shows the same effectiveness as SEM and PPC but without all the hassles. Not only does it produce volume and exposure, it~s also fast and easy to use.

Contextual marketing has huge potential because it takes the best component of PPC and SEM but maintains a simplicity of use.

People who click on your site have pre-qualified themselves because they looked up the keywords you had optimized. This will make it far easier to transform them from an enquiry into a potential sale. This translates into increased sales conversion rate and an increase in your profits.

If you're looking for a good cost effective way to reach new customers, contextual marketing maybe an excellent option for you. Try it and compare it. You might find yourself surprised at the results.

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Tina Valiedi is the Executive of Marketing for MPStrategies Firm,a company whose breakthrough service unleashes the power of the internet to drive hidden potential clients to your site. Find out how at: www.mpstrategiesfirm.com

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