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Strong business branding is extremely important, because it helps customers to clearly identify what you are about. It will differentiate you from your competitors and, by practicing what you preach, will create a desire within your customers to be associated with your business. They’ll want to ‘belong’ to your brand.Business branding is not just about portraying an image through clever marketing though. If you try to portray an image that isn’t true, then your customers will see through that. You really need to find out what you, as a business, are all about. Then consistently and clearly portray that brand, making sure that your staff, website and product or service do the same.What is your ‘brand’? What are your values? And what does your business stand for?Your customer service people, apart from your existing customers, are the most critical ambassadors of your brand. Therefore it is vital that they are extremely clear about what you represent as a business. For this reason, if you haven’t already, you will need to develop a Business Philosophy. These are thoughtfully planned Values and Vision statements that clearly enforce what you stand for, and why you exist as a business. Although the obvious answer would be ‘to make money’, some deeper reasons, depending on your business, could be; to make people feel great, to promote an adventurous life, to make life easier, to provide quality entertainment, to provide real business solutions, etc.Maintaining Brand ConsistencyOnce you have defined your brand, you must establish consistency of your key brand message throughout your website, in all customer interactions (phone and email) and within your product or service itself. Simply setting standards is not enough, you need to constantly evaluate the image that your business is portraying to the public, and ensure that it is in line with your business brand values.Allow staff to give you feedback about any inconstancies within your business and be sure to take their advice. If your brand stands for one thing and a customer sees another, you will be in danger of damaging your reputation. The best way to lead is by example. If your brand projects a friendly image that claims to care about people, but you treat your staff poorly, then your reputation (and sales) will suffer. Stay true to your brand.Understanding Cultural DifferencesAs more and more business move on to the Internet, we are fast becoming a global economy. Your customers could come from any walk of life and it’s important when building a brand that you think about cultural differences. Words and phrases that mean one thing in your country might not translate to the same meaning somewhere else. The things that you value and consider good, might be the complete opposite in another country. Your brand should be extremely clear, but broad enough for you to grow globally.

Why should my business have a responsive web design?Responsive web design has become the go-to solution for businesses who want a user friendly interface and higher customer retention. If your company has come this far without taking advantage of all the benefits it has to offer, you may have already begun to see lower visitor numbers and a disappointing conversion rate.As a responsible business owner, you’ll probably need convincing before paying to upgrade your web presence to one that includes responsive design. However, by opting in you’ll soon see a return on investment that will make it worthwhile. In a nutshell, responsive design is just better than what has gone before and in order to keep up with the competition, you’ll need it too.Responsive web design is crucial for the majority of businesses because it allows your users to achieve their goals quickly and smoothly. The important elements of your website can be pulled up on a smart phone and appear as a fully functional version of the original, complete with all the utility you’d offer to customers on a laptop or desktop computer. If you fail to provide a mobile-friendly experience like this for your visitors they won’t hang around, they’ll simply click away and complete the action or purchase on a rival site.Unhappy customers are not good for business and neither is going up against a major search engine. Google have recently confirmed what many insiders have suspected for some time – sites that are not optimised for multiple users will slip down their search rankings. Google bases their rankings on how useful a page is for the query a user has entered, plus the utility of the site – for example, can a user complete the action they would like to?Your page may be completely relevant to their search, but if visitors cannot access the content easily across a number of devices, your site may receive a less than positive review and be placed lower in the search results. If your company is reduced to a second or third page entry you’ll lose a considerable amount of traffic, as people naturally select links from the first page.Google have also pointed out that companies which have a single responsive website – rather than one standard and one mobile version – are far easier for their bots to discover, because there is just one URL.If your site is responsive and ready to service mobile customers, you can take advantage of many tools and helpful apps like the click-to-call button, this enables a web user to make a voice call to your company immediately. Potential customers can also read reviews about your business or even find you in a busy place using Google Maps, both keenly relevant to the needs of mobile users.Branding is one of the ways in which we build a relationship of trust with a customer and keep them coming back for more of the same. This is pertinent to responsive design for two reasons, firstly, people do not feel confident in a site they cannot easily navigate and second, in order to create a uniform brand you’ll need responsive design to produce a consistent web appearance; however your clients reach you.In today’s market there are only a handful of reasons why a company may choose to stick with static design on their web page. Those who do not rely in any significant way on web traffic to drive sales, or those who have few competitors, or those who have already looked into responsive design and found it was not right for them. For everyone else, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, responsive design is the only way forward for your website.Responsive web design featuresUntil recently web designers created different pages depending on where they would be viewed, a tablet for example has a different screen resolution to a laptop, and so the content would be optimised for viewing on that particular device.However, responsive web design has revolutionised the way in which users look at the internet, it has created an across the board experience allowing us to view pages on a PC, smart phone or notebook in exactly the same way. When they build a site, designers use the same coding on any number of resolutions, giving every device the same degree of functionality.Responsive web designers believe that their clients’ web pages should be accessible to every visitor, giving them an optimal experience, regardless of the device they using. This kind of intelligent response to a web user’s actions keeps your company relevant in an ever changing online market place; it boosts your e-commerce figures and makes visiting your site an enjoyable experience.In technical terms there are three key features of responsive web design, the secret ingredient is generally considered to be media queries. These are filters added on to the CSS or Cascading Style Sheets, affecting the look and feel of any individual page. CSS is a highly useful tool for web designers, but by tagging on a media queries adaption, the process of resizing, rendering and orienting a page becomes far easier.Another linchpin of responsive design is the flexible layout, this is based on a grid formation, ideal for formatting margins, positioning the key elements of a page and getting the spacing just right. This means a designer is not limited to a certain number of columns, they can choose as many or as few as is appropriate for the page. A flexible layout also removes the need to work out the layouts and text size based on pixels.Instead, designers use percentages which enable them to adopt a far more fluid approach to producing each page. Pixels work well in photographic images, but are a clumsy tool to use over a number of devices. One pixel may be expressed as three dots on a phone, but ten dots on a desktop, changing the quality of an image considerably between devices.The third component of responsive design involves the use of CSS or a dynamic resizing function to create flexible images, videos and other content. Text can flow relatively easily as the containing area resizes, but in order to spread this across more complex segments, web designers need to use different techniques. Dynamic resizing gives a web designer greater control over how a page behaves and enables them to add or remove components as needed.Taken a whole, these multiple technologies mean visitors can enjoy the feeling of familiarity, regardless of what device they happen to be using, or will be using in the future.When a mobile user changes from landscape to portrait mode, the intuitive design will ensure the page gets bigger or smaller. Furthermore, each element, be it an image, textbox or video will also resize itself to correspond with the different dimensions.If you have ever tried to access a website and discovered that it was almost impossible to navigate around without shrinking and enlarging the text or buttons, you’ll understand why responsive design is considered good practice for the majority of website owners.Responsive web design Vs Mobile web designUntil quite recently, mobile web design was considered far more relevant to modern consumers than it’s responsive counterpart, this approach sees designers using smart phones as a starting point and upgrading the technology progressively, through to notepads, desktop computers and beyond. This method meant that companies needed two websites, one for their mobile pages and one for PC users.In the early golden years of mobile web design, there were a number of reasons why experts thought that web applications should always be designed first for use on a mobile device. Most important of these was the prevalence of smart phones and the fact that their popularity was continuing to skyrocket. By creating a platform that favoured these millions of users, companies could promote their service or product to what was seen as the next generation of computing consumers.Secondly, mobile design was said to foster a cleaner concept without room for extraneous elements or unnecessary page clutter. In a screen the size of that on a mobile phone, there simply is not enough room to crowbar in extra buttons and widgets – instead, a design team had to focus on what was actually needed. By giving users a clear route to what they want, it was assumed that their experience would be better, faster, leave them more inclined to return or convert them into a paying customer.Mobile applications were thought to have far more utility than PC based software, what users expected from their laptop paled in comparison to the capabilities offered on smart phones. From a digital compass, to gyroscopic effects, touch screen inputs and voice control, designers hoped to build on these tools to produce modern web design that was not limited by the constraints of a PC.Although there are pros and cons for the adoption of a mobile site to run parallel to a main site, responsively designed pages are ideal for retailers who want a robust, homogenous website with plenty of utility for every user. A single site also simplifies marketing campaigns; there is only a need to manage one site and one SEO strategy. Therefore, a website which features responsive design can save companies time and money, but also provide a seamless, convenient way for customers to shop.Responsive web design statisticsWhen a team of designers build you a responsive website you know it will adapt intuitively to whatever device it is accessed from, but where is the evidence that proves this is a factor in commercial success?The content marketing company, Brand Point, found that over 90% of consumers buying decisions are affected by visual elements. In other words, if people land on your site and like the look of the place, they are more likely to stay and buy.Screen resolutions are changing all the time as new devices reach the market, web developers Spyderweb found that in 2010 there were just 97 unique screen resolution sizes, but by 2013 that figure had leapt to 232. The only way of tackling this increase is to have a responsive website that is optimised for every customer, whatever device they favour.Customers are driven away by high wait times and pages that take too long to appear; even way back in 2009, 47% of people expected a load time of just two seconds on a webpage. In a study carried out by cloud service providers, Akamai, it was also found that 40% of web users clicked away if they had not gained access to a page within 3 seconds. That is a pretty slim window of opportunity, and it’s fair to assume that people’s expectations have increased since this study was compiled.Although external factors like a lack of Wi-Fi or 4G can also affect wait times, the importance of speed for business sites cannot be underestimated. Wed designers can write code for your responsive site that makes it selectively load the elements needed, or even bring in graphics at a later stage.Design matters because it can have a huge impact on the number of new visitors to your pages, these are people who have reached you through typing in a specific search criteria and decided to click on the link to your site. Web designers, Domain7, have reported that in the case of their client Regent College, there was a leap of 99% in unique visitors after a revamp of their responsive web design.If your mobile pages leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth of your visitors, they are far less likely to view your entire organisation favourably, and they’ll tell their friends. Industry experts at the Search Engine Journal discovered that 57% of people would never recommend a company that had poorly designed pages, strengthening the case for a consistent web strategy that performs the way your customers want it to – wherever they happen to be.

As a product manager, you want your product to be a success. You do your best to understand what your customers will want, you work with your developers to create the right product development definition, and you train your sales teams to go sell it. However, there’s one more thing that you need to be doing. That’s launching your product. You don’t want to just launch it, you want to stage a grand product launch. Now just exactly how are we going to go about doing that?Promote Your Launch Extensively And CreativelyA product launch that nobody knows about is not going to do you any good. What this means for you is that you are going to have to create a calendar that you can use in order to make sure that you are reaching out to the right people at the right time. Knowing how to do this correctly is something that can go on your product manager resume.Your first contacts need to be with the journalists who cover your market segment. Additionally, most publications have a person who is their “calendar editor” who is in charge of what goes into each issue. You’re going to want to reach out to both of these groups about a month before your launch happens.Now that we live in the 21st Century, there is a new type of journalist that can help to make your product launch a grand one: bloggers. Because this type of writer works on a more flexible schedule, you can reach out to them a bit later in the process.Introduce Intrigue Into Your LaunchEveryone likes a mystery. What this means for you is that you are going to want to use your product launch to tease people’s curiosity. This means that when you are talking about your product launch, you are going to want to use words like “free” and “mystery” in order to get their attention.In order to generate some buzz about your product launch, you are going to want to consider offering some sort of free gift to a limited number of your first customers. Alternatively, you could schedule a mystery guest to attend a product launch celebration. Everyone likes to meet and hang out with someone who is famous even if they are only famous in your product’s niche.When you are doing a product launch, you’ll create product collateral. Don’t make boring collateral! Instead, take the time and hire the talent that you’ll need in order to make your product’s collateral as intriguing and distinctive as possible.Hold A Soft LaunchHaving done all of the work that a product launch requires, when the big day approaches often times we can only step back and keep our fingers crossed. However, it turns out that there is one more thing that we can do that will boost our chances of having a successful product launch: hold a soft launch.When you are holding a soft launch for your product, you invite friends, partners, members of the press, and even family members to a run-through that happens a night or two before the big event. This is a great opportunity to practice everything that will need to be done during the real product launch.At the soft launch, the company’s employees who are helping you with the launch will get a chance to get on-the-job training regarding what they are supposed to be doing (and not doing!). Any glitches in your plans or things that you’ve overlooked will quickly become apparent.What All Of This Means For YouMore often than not, a product manager’s career is determined by how successful our product is. The more success that a product has, the farther in the organization we can go. Since a successful product starts with a successful product launch, we’d better get good at staging a grand product launch. Doing this well should be a part of every product manager job description.In order to do a product launch the right way, we first need to start things off by promoting the launch. This can involve working with people who are willing to write about our launch at least a month before the launch. Next we need to find ways to introduce some intrigue into the launch so that we can get people interested in what we are doing. Finally, since the launch is so important, we need to hold a soft launch in order to work all of the bugs out.The good news about launching a product is that it can be easy to do this correctly. However, in order to make sure that we get the biggest bang for our buck, we need to make sure that we know what we are doing. Follow these three tips and your next product launch will be a grand event indeed.

An investment property is becoming a more popular choice for those seeking to create a revenue stream and also achieve capital growth through the investment property value increasing over time.This can also be part of a strategic financial plan and should be considered by investors as part of a diversified portfolio. When considering an investment purchase you should also source the best investment loan structure for you. With any investment your investment loan can make a difference to your return. If you are negatively geared through an investment loan the cost to you of that investment loan can effectively be reduced.If you purchase wisely, once there has been capital growth in the investment property over time there is the option of using this built up equity to move into another investment property, take out another investment loan and thereby continue to further increase your investment portfolio.Aside from the traditional belief that tax advantages are the key driver for taking out an investment home loan there are many other factors to consider when purchasing an investment property.Below are some key points for your reference, by using these points as a guide in conjunction with a detailed discussion with your accountant or financial planner you will be in a better position to ensure your investment purchase and investment loan is a financially sound decision for the long term.In relation to property enquiry therefore, you should consider:* What is the infrastructure like in the area? Are there enough schools, hospitals, shopping centres, doctors and dentists, freeways or main roads?* What has the historical capital growth been in the area over the last two decades?* Is the local council planning to increase housing density or add a new road to increase traffic flow?* If you are purchasing in a new subdivision, are there more new land blocks and house and land packages planned nearby. New developments can impact on the value of your home as purchasers often prefer a new home to one that might be 2 or 3 years old in the same area.* What length of time will the investment be held? And will this tie in with planned infrastructure development which will in turn accelerate capital growth?There has been recent press to suggest that investment and home property values in Sydney have a potential capital growth of 18% over the next 3 years so buying off the plan as an investor may be an attractive option in the current market. If you find a good property development, suitable for investment, which has a completion date in say 2010 – 2011 then you can exchange contracts with either a 10% cash deposit or a deposit bond (as a guide the cost of a deposit bond of around $86500 for say settlement September 2011 will cost you approximately $9000- $9500 (significantly less than the interest you would pay over the period if you borrow $86,500 at current interest rates of 9% p.a). The general feeling is that direct investment into property as opposed to into managed property funds is a better way to go – you are in control of your investment and avoid the high management fees so often charged by share and property investment funds.Do some research on the internet to see which areas have the greatest potential for capital gains – remember if you are looking for an investment property you should invest with your head not your heart. An investment property needs to be well located to transport and other facilities so that those renting can easily access these services.When considering which investment loan would suit you best take the following into account:1. Does the investment loan allow you to split it into a number of investment loan accounts. This is a good feature to have in an investment loan because you are positioning yourself for the future – if you use the investment property at a later date to gear into another investment purchase then you can split the account so that the investment loan portion relating to the new purchase is clearly identified. This allows you, and your accountant, to easily track the costs associated with the new purchase.2. If you use your home property (with an existing home loan) as security for the investment loan then it is imperative that you do not mix any home loan debt with your investment loan borrowings. The ATO in Australia requires you to apportion any additional repayments to a loan where the borrowings are “mixed”. You want to apply any additional repayments to your home loan before your investment loan. You are paying your home loan off in after tax dollars – whereas you can deduct the interest you are paying on your investment loan against the income form the investment property.3. Does the investment loan allow you to capitalise interest? It is always a good idea to include a capitalising feature as a part of your investment loan to protect you against any unexpected costs in relation to the property. It also means that instead of subsidising the investment costs and interest shortfall on your investment loan you can capitalise these and make additional repayments to your non-deductible home loan debt.4. If you have sufficient equity in your home then you may be better to consider a 100% + costs investment loan for the investment acquisition and use any savings you intended for the investment purchase to pay down your home loan debt.If you consider all these points your investment loan will be working in your favour at all times.

Traditional schooling options are limited for students that are unable to take time from work to enter full time education. For this reason many accredited colleges offer online education in many areas. Students can gain an education in health care administration online and train for several different careers. All levels of education can be completed through online specific study. The delivery system of health care is learned as students explore the many facets that go into supporting the business. Career goals will ultimately determine what educational level is needed. Lower-level and entry-level positions are available for students that successfully complete an associate’s or bachelor’s degree program. Upper-level managerial and executive positions are available to students that continue education past undergraduate study at the master’s and doctoral level.Another factor that will determine what type and level of education is required is the concentration. Many students enter online training and gain their desired career. Concentrations in the field allow students to learn how to focus in on one area of the industry. These areas most commonly include:Health ManagementHealth Services AdministrationHospital Unit CoordinatorEvery educational concentration under health care administration has the same goal of teaching students how to work as a leader inside the field. Students can expect to examine medical terminology, medical coding, business, social economy, nutrition, global health, and much more. Inside these different concentrations students may learn how to transcribe a doctor’s report, manage an insurance claim, and maintain the financial aspect of the business. All areas prepare students for the professional workplace.Health care administration programs with a general focus explore the management and business side of the industry. Take into consideration the general education requirement of a bachelor’s degree for an entry-level position. Coursework centers on teaching students how to efficiently organize and maintain the services offered inside the field. Marketing, medical group management, administration law, and personnel management are all course topics that prepare students for many careers inside the field. Advanced training is widely available online at the master’s and doctoral level. Leadership is taught in regards to quantitative analysis, health care legislation, strategic management, and ethical environment of business. Online studies prepare students to organize the policies and methods used to administer care inside health facilities. The work completed in a program prepares students to transition into the field with ease.The skills to properly manage the health care industry and its employees are learned in an online health care administration degree program. Students interested in this professional industry should explore the accredited online options and become an administrator for the health care industry. Fully accredited programs can provide students with the best quality education available. Agencies like the Distance Education and Training Council (http://www.detc.org) can fully accredited qualifying educational programs. You can start by enrolling in the accredited career training program of your choice.DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.Copyright 2010 – All rights reserved by PETAP.org.

Several forces are coming together which will expand the home health care industry in Connecticut.Governor Malloy is expanding the MFP ( Money Follows the Person) program. This is a federal reform program that aims to reduce the number of patients on Medicaid in expensive institutional healthcare settings. It focuses on moving people out of long-term care facilities and placing them back into their homes where most elderly people prefer to reside. The Connecticut legislature has approved new regulations for the home health care industry that will allow nurses to delegate medication administration to home health aides that are working with patients in their homes. All of these changes are designed to benefit the elderly and to improve quality of life and expand the elderly population that can reside at home with assistance. These are all positive things for health challenged individuals, providing the proper community support is available. This was not the case when the state decided that mental health patients belonged in the community and not in chronic care facilities. Community support was grossly inadequate in the 1980s when the state deinstitutionalized patients from psychiatric hospitals, producing disastrous results for many communities and individuals. Hopefully this most recent plan to transition people into the community has taken into account the need for expanded home health care services.A second shift in the state’s public health policy that has started to effect the home health care industry is in the area of informed risk. Informed risk is basically a policy stating that a person who may not be deemed safe to stay at home is allowed to remain at home as long as patient and family acknowledge that the patient is at greater risk of injury at home as opposed to a facility. It is an honoring of the patient’s wishes as opposed to what the agency may feel is the best plan of care for the individual. Up until recently if a person was deemed unsafe in their home environment the home care agency would not support the person remaining at home. In other words they would refuse to provide services. Now the state is promoting keeping people at risk in their homes, providing that they are mentally sound, and they have acknowledged the fact that they are assuming greater risk by staying at home.Even with good agency oversight it is inevitable that these shifts regarding informed risk and allowing non nurses to give medications will lead to an increase in injuries, accidental overdoses, misuse of medications as well as negligence and/or abuse. Agency staff will need to carefully document risk assessment and delegation of duties. Careful monitoring and good case management will help minimize errors and limit abuse and neglect in this population however the home care industry is certain to have an increase in liability hence the possibility of increasing nursing malpractice claims.With the first wave of baby boomers starting to retire, the number of senior citizens in Connecticut continues to expand. The need for experienced home health care experts will continue to grow as well.

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