Ideas For Dealing With The Problem Of Traffic Congestion In New York City

Overview of the Problem

I was, first, exposed to the problem of traffic congestion in New York City by an astute MIT trained Economics Professor at Queens College (C.U.N.Y) - Dr. Michael Dohan. In his Price Theory & Distribution class (during my first Master's Program), he suggested many economical ideas to address the problem. As a matter of fact, he approached me to write a thesis on the N.Y.C. traffic congestion problem for my Master's program (concentration in Economics). (For the sake of disclosure, I chose another 'non-traditional' topic for my thesis.)

Later, I started an extensive research on the problem of traffic congestion in New York City (N.Y.C. traffic problem). N.Y.C. traffic problem's socioeconomic costs are exponentially growing each year. The socioeconomic costs will be expensive for everyone if we do not expeditiously and gingerly address New York City transportation challenges pointed out by the following quote - In New York City, the biggest infrastructure challenge is our transportation system. Our mass-transit system carries a third of America's commuters every day via commuter rail, subways and buses. We have 7 million trips a day and we are at capacity. There has not been an expansion of our system since the 1940s. Similarly, the streets and highways that service New York City have not grown and there is little possibility of expanding them (Wylde, 2007, para 2).

Causes of the Problem

Limited Resources

Presently, New York City has 'many irons in the fire.' In other words, it is subsidizing (at least requested by Forest City Ratner) the Atlantic Yard Projects to the tune of $200 million (Naparstek, 2005). According to the distinguished Harvard trained Queens College professor and World Trade Center consultant Dr. Martin D. Hanlon, the new World Trade Center will costs N.Y.C. over 10 billion dollars. Similarly, according to Wylde (2007), construction of the well advertised (by the local media) new subway line on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan is estimated to equal the cost of the construction of the new World Trade Center. These huge capital projects will take years to complete. If we learn anything from the Iraqi War/Project/Fiasco - the costs will be greater than the original calculations/estimates.

Short Term Thinking

During the flight from the urban centers to suburbia after World War II to the 1970s, New York City transportation system remained stagnant and/or reversed. Public policy implementation was geared toward suburbia's and Upstate New York's transportation systems. In the mid 80s to the present time, N.Y.C. population rebounded to the amount of over 8 million residents. N.Y.C remains the de facto capital of the world where millions of people visit the city via the regional airports. For example, La Guardia Airport (L.G.A.) annually processed 25 million passengers while John F. Kennedy Airport (J.F.K.) annually processed over 40 million passengers. Millions more commuters commuted to work in the financial hub of the world from the Tri-State areas and Pennsylvania. Despite the present circumstance of the influx of people, goods and services into N.Y.C as demonstrated in the preceding paragraph, N.Y.C is very slow to make visionary/long term improvements in its transportation system and infrastructure. For example, yellow cabs traffic can be greatly reduced if a train system similar to the MARTA's train system in Atlanta, Georgia links Manhattan to L.G.A.

Effect of the Problem

Economic Costs

Again, the socioeconomic costs will be expensive for everyone involved as pointed out by the following quote - "So today, as a result of the limitations of our transit system and our highways and roads, traffic congestion is among the biggest threats to our city's competitiveness and its ability to attract business and talent into New York. We are unsure where the tipping point is, but there will come a time when it is simply too inconvenient, too unreliable and too expensive to conduct business in our central business districts because the difficulty of moving goods and people" (Wylde, 2007, para 5).

Proposed Solutions

Recommended Solution

In my opinion, congestion pricing is the answer to the N.Y.C. traffic congestion problem as proposed by Professor Michael Dohan. According to the professor, congestion pricing is the pricing for the use of roads during certain peak time of the day. Going by Dr. Dohan's analysis, congestion pricing would be the most effective tool against traffic congestion. For example, London (a city similar to N.Y.C.), England and Stockholm, Sweden are very successful in their respective implementation of congestion pricing (Wylde, 2007).

Alternate Solutions

Naparstek (2005) recommended other solutions such as: improve subway service and facilities; create incentives to take transit; limit and manage parking space; design a great pedestrian environment; get bus rapid transit rolling (B.R.T.), and make N.Y.C. more bike-friendly. For example, N.Y.C. parking spaces are very cheap and abundant in comparison to parking spaces in London, England. Naparstek (2005) recommended N.Y.C. to make prices more expensive and reduce parking spaces. In turn, commuters will be more inclined to take cheaper public transportation rather than paying high parking fees. These solutions are answers to the N.Y.C. traffic problem. In other words, congestion pricing is only one piece of the N.Y.C. traffic puzzle.

Opposition to Recommended Solution

According to Schaller (2006), congestion pricing opponents decried it as punitive and additional taxation. Other opponents claimed that the congestion pricing experiment in London is unsuccessful because 62 percent of businesses in London reported a drop in customers since its implementation (Schaller, 2006). To the first claim, the present cost suffered due to the 'taxing' (pun intended) traffic congestion is more costly than congestion pricing. For example, the adage - "foregoing a college education is more expensive than obtaining a college education." To the second claim, London was suffering a severe recession at the time of the implementation of congestion pricing as per Schaller (2006).

Next Steps

In conclusion, congestion pricing is a solution your administration should seriously consider to implement. Other viable solutions were proposed in the above paragraphs. The alternate solutions should be considered. Howbeit, the priority should be placed on congestion pricing due to the limited resources of N.Y.C. Opponents of congestion pricing will continue to attack it from their 'anti-tax' platform. For the long term, you have to do what's necessary for the benefit of the socioeconomic vitality of our city.

Rent Control in New York City

Throughout this essay, I will expound on the background of Rent Control in New York City; the debate/controversy over it in New York City, including historical and present opposition to as well as historical and present support for it. In addition, I will discuss opposition and support for it in other U.S. cities; my opinion of the opposition as well as support for Rent Control.

What is Rent Control? It is a program administered by the New York City Office of Rent Administration, which is responsible for regulating rents in about 1.2 million privately owned rental units statewide under four laws: the Emergency Housing Rent Control Law, the Local Emergency Tenant Control Act, the Rent Stabilization Law, and the Emergency Tenants Protection Act (ETPA). The preceding four laws are the foundation of the rent regulation systems commonly known as "Rent Control" and rent stabilization (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006). However, the focus of this essay will be centered on New York City because of the limited scope of this paper.

Rent Control usually applies to residential buildings constructed before February 1947 in 55 municipalities (including New York City, Albany, Buffalo and various cities, towns, and villages in Albany, Erie, Nassau, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Westchester counties), that have not declared an end to the postwar rental housing emergency (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006). The rules are as follows: for an apartment to be rent controlled, the tenant (or his/her parents) must have been living in that apartment continuously since before July 1, 1971. If a rent controlled apartment should become vacant, it will either become rent stabilized, or, if it is in a building with fewer than six units, it is generally removed from regulation. In addition, an apartment in a one- or two-family house without commercial units must have a tenant in continuous occupancy since March 31, 1953 in order for it to be legally rent controlled. Once it is vacated after March 31, 1953, it is no longer subject to regulation. Previously controlled apartments are usually decontrolled on various other grounds (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006).

Rent Control restricts the right of an owner to evict tenants and limits the rent an owner may charge for an apartment. It also requires the owner to provide essential services and equipment. For example, the owner must provide and maintain all services furnished or required to be furnished on the base date of May 1, 1950 for rent controlled apartments outside of NYC, and March 1, 1943 for those within NYC. Moreover, modifications required and essential services may have been ordered thereafter, with an appropriate adjustment in rent. The essential services may include, but are not limited to: repairs; maintenance; the furnishing of light; heat; hot and cold water; elevator service; kitchen ; bath and laundry facilities and privileges; janitor service, and removal of refuse (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006).

The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), outside NYC, determines maximum allowable rates of rent increases under the aforementioned regulation. Periodically, owners may apply for these increases. On the other hand, the said regulation operates under the Maximum Base Rent (MBR) system in NYC. MBR allows a maximum base rent to be established for each apartment which is adjusted every two years to reflect changes in operating costs. Furthermore, owners who certify that they are providing essential services and have removed violations may raise rents by up to 7.5% each year until the MBR limit is reached (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006). In turn, tenants may challenge the increase on the grounds that the building has violations or the owner's expenses do not warrant an increase. They may do so by filing Challenge Re: Maximum Base Rent Order (DHCR Form RA-94 MBR). Owners may challenge Maximum Base Rent Orders by filing DHCR Form RA-94 MBR, also (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006).

"Rents may be increased in other ways: (1) if the owner increases services or substantially rehabilitates a building or installs a major capital improvement; (2) hardship; (3) increased labor costs; (4) in NYC, increased fuel costs (passalongs)" (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006). In turn, DHCR may decrease rents in certain cases: substantial, uncorrected code violations and reductions in services including facilities, space or equipment, or ancillary services (New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, 2006).

The preceding paragraphs depict the background and the law of rent controlled housing which contribute to the debate/controversy of it. The main argument of the opposition to the regulation is that it prevents developers from building new housing as illustrated in the following quote,

"It is hard to find any economist who supports rent restraints. Price controls, even if laboriously tweaked, inevitably produce inefficiencies, reduce supply and cause bad side-effects. Black markets and bribery thrive. Building maintenance is often ignored. Landlords and tenants find themselves in poisonous relationships, since they are linked by law rather than by voluntarily renewable contracts. Unscrupulous property owners go to dangerous lengths to evict tenants in order to get higher-paying replacements; as a result, tenant-protection laws have been enacted that make it almost impossible to evict even a scoundrel" (Economist.com, 2003, para 10).

In turn, the main argument of the support for the law is that it creates stability as illustrated by the following quote,

"Now, in principle I think rent control is great-- people shouldn't be driven out of their homes because the neighborhood gets richer and they don't. Landlords getting the profits from increased real estate values is a bit of a scam to begin with since they are benefitting [sic] from social progress in a neighborhood, not their own efforts" (Newman, 2003, para 1).

If we describe supporters of price control on the renting of residential housing as good and opponents of it as bad.... Do we call greedy, opportunistic and hypocritical flip floppers ("do as I say but don't do as I do" on Rent Control) - ugly? So is the case of Robert Nozick, author of the 1974 National Book Award winner: "Anarchy, State and Utopia" which solidified the Harvard philosophy professor's reputation as the intellectual hero of libertarians. Dr. Nozick preaches the supremacy of free markets being the key to a successful society and capitalism should be given a free hand to operate without external interference such as the economic interventionism of contemporary liberals (Tucker, 2003). However, like his conservative cousins (T.V. evangelists) - Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggart: preachers of the ugliness of sin - Dr. Nozick doesn't always practice what he preaches.... Then, again, he is a living testament to the adage: "there's no atheist in a foxhole because everyone prays to God when their life (self-interest) is on the line."

Case in point: Professor Nozick - an eminent anti-price control advocate successfully used price control laws on the renting of residential housing in Cambridge, Massachusetts against his landlord, the renowned classical scholar and author of "Love Story" - Eric Segal. Eric Segal was forced to settle the lawsuit, in order, to get Professor Nozick to move out of his condominium apartment (Tucker, 2003).

The above paragraphs illustrate the make-up of the debate/controversy of rent-control. Let's continue with the opposition to such control in New York City by starting with its historical roots. According to Economist.com (2003,) - an anti-price control advocate, the law on the renting of residential housing was one of many price controls brought in during the grim, panicky period between the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 and America's move to a full wartime economy in 1943. Like rubber, petroleum, coffee and shoes, housing was looked upon as a vital commodity that needed to be regulated for 'the good of the citizens' during a time of war. The Economist.com article (2003) mentioned above continued to lament that by 1947 all the price controls were phased out, except property-price regulations. Specifically, the website pointed out that most cities eventually scrapped the preceding market distortions except the capital of capitalism - New York City (Economist.com, 2003).

From its inception to its current form, the rent ordinance is vitriolically resisted by its opponents - mainly landlords and free market economists. For example, Swedish Economist Assar Lindbeck compared the effects of the ordinance on a city to a city destroyed by bombing. Walter Block, holder of the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Chair in Economics at Loyola University's Joseph A. Butt, S. J. College of Business Administration, offered an anecdote on his website, illustrating that it is worse than bombing (Block, 2002). (Seriously, I wondered if Dr. Block considers it to be more destructive on an urban center than the Nagasaki and Hiroshima's nuclear bombing or Washington, D.C. and New York City's 9/11 attacks)?

The main complaints against ceiling on rents in New York City seem to be centered on the following.... First, it is a government-mandated price control which is a law that places a maximum price (rent ceiling) on what landlords may charge tenants. In turn, rent ceiling causes shortages, diminution in the quality of the product, and queues, as in the case of other price ceilings (Block, 2002).

Second, it diverts new investment, which would otherwise have gone to rental housing, toward other profitable ventures. Thus, the diversion leads to housing deterioration, to fewer repairs and less maintenance. For example, price ceiling has destroyed entire sections of sound housing in New York's South Bronx whereas it has led to decay and abandonment throughout the entire five boroughs of the city (Block, 2002).

Third, it often benefits the wealthy and politically connected long term tenants instead of tenants who need it most - lower middle class and working class tenants. For example, multimillionaire Ed Koch currently resides in a rent-controlled apartment which he maintained while living in City Hall as the Mayor of New York City.

Let's take a look at the support for rent law in New York City by starting with its historical roots. The rent ceiling program in New York City, like most major cities in Western Europe and North America during World War I, was introduced to mitigate disruptive effects of the War and to prevent profiteering. Subsequently, in some cities, the programs were discontinued after the War while they lingered on in other cities. In World War II, rent freezes were imposed throughout the major cities of Western Europe and North America. Again, all North American cities were fully decontrolled by about 1950 with the exception of New York City (Arnott, 1997).

From its inception to its current form, the housing law is steadfastly supported by its supporters - mainly tenants, and liberal and socialist leaning organizations and politicians. For example, Rachel Treichler (an avid supporter) - the Green Party candidate for New York Attorney General in 2006 made it in New York City and affordable housing in general as one of her major planks in her campaign platform (Voterachel.org). Another example is Betsy Gotbaum - Public Advocate for the City of New York who vociferously campaigned against rent deregulation prior to the expiration of New York City said housing laws in 2003 (Pubadvocate.nyc.gov, 2003).

The main praises for laws or ordinances that set price controls on the renting of residential housing in New York City seem to be centered on the following.... First, it allows working class families and retirees to live in good neighborhoods in N.Y.C. For example, a minimum wage earner would have to work 154 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment at market rent. Second, New York City depends on the diverse work force for her economy; without Rent Control, working class families would have to relocate to other affordable cities. Third, it minimizes tough decisions by working class and retired tenants, such as choosing between rent and food or medication (Pubadvocate.nyc.gov, 2003).

In other cities, opponents and supporters of laws or ordinances that set price controls on the renting of residential housing voiced similar arguments. In Hoboken, New Jersey, its advocates are able to successfully maintain the status quo despite their community undergoing a major gentrification. In Santa Monica, California, its advocates were able to introduce rent control to the community while simultaneously electing pro-rent control City council members in 1979. In Baltimore, Maryland, its advocates developed a citywide housing organization after a pro-rent control law was struck down as unconstitutional by state courts. In San Francisco, California, its advocates eventually won a rent control law despite many hurdles engineered by opponents (Policylink.org, 2006). In Cambridge, Massachusetts, its opponent Jerry Calen of Narsil.org (2003) reported that the effort to re-impose rent control in Cambridge was defeated by slightly more than a 3 to 2 margin.

I personally unabashedly support laws or ordinances that set price controls on the renting of residential housing in New York City for all the reasons and arguments by its advocates reported depicted in this essay, despite being a homeowner. My opinion of the positions taken by its opponents is similar to my opinion of the positions taken by opponents of the Minimum Wage. For example, opponents like Dr. Nozick base their opinions in their own self-interest instead of the interest of the common good.

Another personal example of the housing ordinance is illustrated in the case of my former professor and an assistant department chair (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) who co-authored a textbook with another of my former professors (Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The textbook, like most economics textbooks, is highly critical of rent ceiling because of its relationship to the odiousness of price controls. Nonetheless, the professor maintains a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan along with his privately owned house in Upstate New York. Is my professor's case similar to Dr. Nozick's case? I think not ...although my answer is very biased. From my personal experience, my professor's ethics are impeccable and he is of an irreproachable character. He is one of my best former professors (along with the other mentioned professor). Continuing my disclosure, I earned an A in one of his honor classes because of his superb teaching skills. He, also, selected me to be on a college academic team that earned third place in a nationwide economics competition. OK, so what is my point? My point is rent ceiling like Minimum Wage has a gray area that is situated between the extremes of 'black' (opponents) and 'white' (supporters) - a gray area best illustrated by the following quote:

"Rent control has been presented to fifty years of economics students as an object lesson in bad policy. Over that period, however, the nature of rent control has changed from a rent freeze to rent regulation which allows each jurisdiction to choose its policy from an extensive menu of provisions. At the same time, economic theory has become more sophisticated and sensible while the standards for the empirical testing of theory have increased enormously. As a result, expert opinion on the effects of modern rent control policies has become increasingly agnostic" (Arnott, 1997).

The preceding quote represents the best way to end this essay as it pertains to the background and history of the debate of Rent Control.

Criteria for Selecting Offshore Web Development Company for Developing Responsive Web Application

There are several web development companies that offer lucrative prices when a prospective client visits their website. Many times the prices listed on the websites do not include hidden costs that most web development companies charge from the clients, once they hire them. From the clients' perspective, charges do not matter much as once they decide to outsource the web development project to an offshore company, they mentally prepare their minds to pay for the services that they would avail. However it might be quite disappointing for them to pay additional hidden costs which were not disclosed at the time of finalizing the deal. In such situations, most clients try to compromise with the service providers once and for the last time. At one part, the dissatisfaction of the client might affect the business of the organizations, while on other part clients lose their trusts in the web development companies, hence looking for various freelancing sites to hire individual web developers to work for them on freelancing basis.

To avoid above discussed embarrassing and unpleasing situations, clients must do some research work on their own before they finally outsource their project to any web development company to develop a responsive web application. Some points that clients must always consider while selecting the best offshore web development organizations are:

• Previous Work - Before outsourcing responsive web development project to any organization, clients must always go through the previously developed and hosted sites by the company. This would give the clients an idea of the quality and efficiency of site that the organization may develop. Many legitimate organizations provide links to their previous works on their official websites so that it becomes easier for the visitors to locate and assess the quality of service that the organizations deliver.

• Consumers' Reviews - Consumers' reviews are one of the major aspects while selecting the best web development organization. Since the consumers are the end users of the service providers, their judgments and assessment statements can be counted on. It is always a good practice to interact with the consumers via e-mails or any other communication medium in order to get the detailed information about the organizations and the quality of service that they provide.

• Website Uptime and Loading - When website is developed and is uploaded to be hosted on a web server to be made available publicly and accessed by everyone, the time it takes while getting downloaded on the clients computers reflects the quality and the size of the webpage that is developed by the organization. Moreover, the duration for which the site may become unavailable in case of any network failure or congestion reflects the efficiency of the web server and the hosting service provider. The longer the website takes to become available after the failure, the lesser efficient it is considered to be.

• Quality of After Sales Service - After sales service is one of the most important aspects while selecting an offshore web development organization. Since the website is delivered just once after its development, and it is only the after sales service that represents the promptness of the organization and the efficiency in their work, clients must choose the web development organizations wisely.

• Technically Skilled Staff - Since the website is to be developed and maintained by the outsourced organization, clients must always verify and crosscheck the technical abilities of the employees the organization has. The more technically skilled the staff of the organization is, the more efficient the developed website would be.

Business Buyout Agreements - Part II

This is the final article on business buyout agreements. In Part I we've covered the basic situations where it's prudent for business owners to create buyout agreements. We've discussed the major components of the buyout agreements, addressing the circumstances under which co-owners can compel each other to sell their interest in business, the right of first refusal and forced buyouts. The main question that still needs to be answered is how to calculate the appropriate price of business, and what will be the payment terms. We address this and other issues below.

Methods of valuation To prevent lengthy and foreseeable disputes over the appropriate value of the share, valuation method must be agreed upon.

Independent appraisal With this method, a third party neutral professional appraiser (preferably, a pre-selected one) determines the value of the company. The main advantage to this method is that it uses an objective and flexible standard which reflects the current value of the business, taking into account such difficult to value assets as company's goodwill, reputation and earnings potential. The main drawbacks are that it takes time and can get expensive.

Earnings capitalization With this method, you take company's gross revenue, subtract costs, and multiply this figure by a certain agreed-upon number (capitalization rate). The advantage of this method is that it is quick and relatively easy to calculate the value. The main drawback is that the final number may not represent the true value of the company. For example, the company may not show much profit, and yet have great real value, if you reinvested nearly all profit back into the healthy, growing company. To account for this, you may decide to multiply company's gross revenue, rather than pure profit.

Book value Book value is company's assets minus liabilities. The advantage of this method is its simplicity but the main drawback is that it does not account for earnings potential, especially if the company is new. To account for this drawback, you may decide to use a multiple of book value, where you multiply the book value by a certain agreed-upon number.

Other issues An effective buy-sell agreement should address the following issues:

- Should the agreement be guaranteed by pledging corporate assets, personal guarantees, loans, etc.?

- How to allocate shareholder loans?

- Should there be a covenant not to compete?

- Should the spouses of the shareholders sign the buy-sell agreement? What if they will not?

Performance Springs Are Widely Used For Competitions

What competitor would not want to show off their best abilities during a competition? Generally all individuals involved in any competitive sport which involves a trampoline prefer competition springs, so they provide the optimum level of performance. Equal performance opportunity, long-term durability, and increased bounce height are all reasons that professionals recommend competition springs.

Competitive activities and/or sports involving trampolines prefer competitive instead of recreational because they provide a fair performance opportunity. It is possible for recreational springs to over stretch during a competition because they are not designed to withstand the force that competition are produced to handle. Competition springs are produced with a thicker wire to resist force. They are also designed at longer lengths to combat over stretching. The performance provided by competition cannot be obtained with recreational springs.

Due to the design and material used to produce competition springs, they provide the highest possible bounce. The extensive length of the spring grants the jumper deeper penetration, which results in the jumper going higher in the air. Professionals recommend DR competition springs for jumpers who are most concerned with going higher in the air. These springs provide half the tension of a recreational trampoline spring, supporting deeper penetration.

Please note that competition springs are recommended for experienced jumpers only. Standard size for these types of springs is 10.25 inch.

Before you place the order for this, you need to make sure that you measured the length of the trampoline springs. The length includes the hook so when you are taking the measurement of the spring you need to make sure that you have included the full length including the hook. Replace over stretched or loose springs to make mat tense, in result to get the jump higher.

Trampoline springs can be separated into two main categories i.e. recreational and competition.

Recreational trampoline springs mainly used by families in their backyard and these springs comes in various sizes such as 10 inch, 9 inch, 8.25 inch, 8.5 inch, 8 inch, 7.5 inch, 7.25 inch, 7 inch, 6.5 inch, 6.25 inch, 5.5 inch, 4.375 inch, 4 inch and 3.3 inch.

Popular Performance Trampoline springs are Competition 10.25 inch GME and Competition 10.25 inch DR. These competitive types of springs usually made to be more bouncy especially for the Competition and events.

The main differences between recreation and competition are the quality of the material used, and the tension of the springs.

Healthcare Roadmap: Healthcare Strategy in a Post-Reform Environment

The concept of Wellness has been around for 25+ years, however most programs at the workplace fall short of full impact.

We will most likely agree that over the past five years, company profits have flattened, while healthcare costs have steadily risen.

Employers will need to find more innovative solutions to not only control costs, but instill employee accountability into their employee benefit plans.

According to the 2010 Towers Watson Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care Report, employer groups identified three concerns as the top challenges in maintaining affordable benefit coverage:

1. Employees' Poor Health habits, 2. Underuse of preventative services, and 3. High cost of catastrophic cases.

All three of the concerns listed above can be addresses and identified through properly designed wellness programs and certain incentive-based models, with a primary focus on outcome-based results.

Outcome-based results being the key word, it is important to first realize that a small number of claimants drive the largest percentage of claim dollars. Some of these "high claims" cannot be controlled, due to hereditary disease and/or uncontrollable injuries and illnesses, but a very large percentage of claim dollars can be controlled and often reversed.

Obesity and tobacco use are two of the major contributors to claim costs for just about any organization. These are also two of the more controllable drivers, and the proper implementation of robust wellness programs can begin to help control and contain costs in these areas.

The ultimate goal of a wellness program is to create and sustain a culture of heath within an organization. Once this culture has been realized, only then can healthcare costs begin to flatten or in many instances, actually begin to reverse.

With a large percentage of companies already having some form of a wellness program, the larger question becomes how to utilize and create systems that will actually accomplish the goal, and see a significant return on investment, which many wellness programs currently do not realize.

Before we discuss some of the parameters of successful programs, please note that according to The Harvard Business Review (Leonard L Berry, Ann M. Morabito, and William B. Baun, 2010), the ROI on comprehensive, well-run employee wellness programs can be as high as 6-1. If your business could purchase a product that generates a 6-1 ROI, you would most likely implement this product as quickly as possible.

For simplicity purposes, I will identify four levels to specifically designed to reduce trend.

Level One: Understanding, Supporting and Demonstrating the business value of workforce health. This is the beginning stage of building a healthy, productive workforce. By combining a set of employee incentives and activity-based results, strategies in this level are designed to implement a health insurance program that operates efficiently and lays the foundation for a High Performing Health Insurance program.

Level One Employee Responsibilities: 1. Mandatory biometric screenings and 2. Mandatory health risk assessments.

Level One Employer Responsibilities: 1. Formation of a Wellness Committee, 2. Achieve plan design adherence to high-performing results, 3. Demonstrate the organization's interest in employee well-being, and 4. Support employees' in managing their health and wealth.

Level Two: Establish business-focused goals to ensure that health investments deliver a health dividend - and begin to measure the program's success in producing targeted results. This is the second stage in building a healthy, productive workforce. By engaging employees' and promoting a culture of health, strategies in this level are designed to create a sense of shared responsibility and employee accountability for health and cost management.

Level Two Employee Responsibilities: 1. Health Promotion Programs, 2. Outcome-based results (first stage via rewards programs), 3. Voluntary preventative schedule, and 4. Use of information, resources and tools to support health promotion.

Level Two Employer Responsibilities: 1. Enhancement of Wellness Committee, 2. Changes in the work environment to encourage healthier behavior and support a culture of health, 3. Promote culture of shared responsibility and accountability, and 4. Create/Provide Health Resources Website.

Level Three: Designing programs that support transparency and create meaningful incentives for healthy behavior and choices. This is the first stage in outcome-based results. By establishing business-focused goals to ensure that health investments deliver a health dividend, strategies in this level are designed to rigorously measure the success of the program in producing targeted results.

Level Three Employee Responsibilities: 1. Care/Disease Management Programs, 2. Use of High-Performing providers, 3. Outcome-based results (second stage via rewards programs), 4. Use of Evidence-Based treatments, and 5. Health Advocacy/Coaching

Level Three Employer Responsibilities: 1. Further enhancement of the Wellness Committee, 2. Encouraging employees to assess their personal health risks, 3. Senior Management involvement/support, and 4. Disciplined execution.

Level Four: Designing programs that will drive the market towards better solutions that deliver more value for both employees and organizations. This is the second and final stage in outcome-based results. Strategies in this level are designed to align health benefit programs with rewards and business strategy, allowing businesses to create, achieve and maintain a competitive advantage.

Level Four Employee Responsibilities: 1. Mandatory Preventative Schedule, 2. Use of Centers of Excellence (E.g., Specialty Treatment Networks), and 3. Outcome based results (third stage via rewards program).

Level Four Employer Responsibilities: 1. Further enhancement of the Wellness Committee, 2. Further employee encouragement, 3. Further Senior Management involvement/support, and 4. Smoke free environment.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will position wellness at the forefront. Legislation will force companies to evaluate their policies and procedures in healthcare by virtue of the Medical Loss Ratios (MLR's). Make sure that the MLR's have a positive impact within your organization.

Why Do We Need The Best Weather Stations?

Hot and cold, wet and dry-we are living in a world where the weather is very unpredictable. Sometimes it is very hot in the morning but when the clock strikes at 12 noon, the sky starts to release raindrops. Global warming that is happening may cause this scenario, something that is not foreign to us anymore. We, humans, really do not have a control over the weather. All we can do is to have the best weather stations that can inform us with the weather for the day. For the benefit of everybody, allow me to enumerate some of the benefits of having great weather information.

I will enumerate three reasons why having the best weather station is very essential to the people. First, it supplies information. Weather Researchers are the people who worked hard just to know what the weather may be, what a tough job right? Just like what I have mentioned earlier, our weather is very unpredictable and dealing with them requires great skills and abilities. Moreover, these stations are the ones responsible for giving knowledge to the public of what the weather may be for the day. With just one mistake, the lives of a lot of people may be sacrificed especially when the information provided is in connection with the disastrous events that are about to come.

Second, weather stations help in starting the preparedness plan. Since they are the one who provides the information, hence they are also the one that help people prepare for whatever weather is about come. Fortuitous events are transpiring very often. Unexpected enemies that people cannot win over are attacking different countries. Yes, that is the sad truth. Through the help of these climate-information stations, people are able to get ready for the unexpected things that may happen, like typhoon, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, and the likes.

Third, it lessens the damages. If the people are well prepared and informed, they will be able to protect themselves whenever the catastrophe is about to begin. There is a big possibility that they will not be damaged too much when unexpected disaster occurs. Also, these stations sometimes provide information about what people may do whenever catastrophe happens.

A weather station is not just like any other normal stations. These are the ones that hold our security, our lives. In addition, having the best weather stations will be our defense against the unpredictable weather. They will be our shield against the unexpected foes. It is the answer to our fears of being eaten alive by natural calamities. I remember what George Gissing once said that for any man who is serene in his mind and body, nothing would affect so much. Not even a bad weather!

With right information given by the best weather stations, we can be able to defend against the giant and unbeatable weather! Be a model member of the society, be informed, and help these weather stations in fighting against the unavoidable elements of nature!

Why Haven't You Been Told About The AMAS Test?

With all the media talk about prostate surgery vs. taking drugs for prostate problems, you would think those are your only two options.

If information like this can save one more person from making a mistake with their prostate health, it will be worth taking the time to educate yourself on this important subject.

Are you aware that you can avoid surgery and drugs with proper testing in the first place?

Let's take a look at the facts when it comes to testing for prostate problems and look beyond the media headlines.

Better testing leads to more accurate information and a better diagnosis about the health of your prostate. And one of the keys is early detection with the RIGHT tests.

The most commonly MIS-used test is the PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen test.

Prostate-specific antigen - is a protein which is naturally produced by the prostate gland. Prostate tumors typically cause over-production of PSA, so when a blood test reveals an elevated level of the protein, it's a red flag that warns of possible problems.

Both cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH which is a swelling of the prostate, can increase PSA levels.

What doctors usually do next is to recommend a biopsy. This is the next step toward trouble. Prostate biopsies are painful procedures that can result in bleeding and infection which only worsens your problem - if you even have one.

And recent evidence shows that most of these biopsies are completely unnecessary.

In a 2003 study from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, researchers set out to determine if fluctuations in PSA levels would reveal a single PSA test result to be unreliable on its own.

The conclusions of this 4 year study revealed that an isolated PSA screening with an elevated level should be followed with an additional screening several weeks later before proceeding with further testing or a biopsy.

Because the problem with a single PSA test is that PSA levels normally fluctuate and having just one test leads to over diagnosis of prostate problems.

Here is where the AMAS test is significantly better.

A more sensible and dependable way to screen for prostate cancer is a blood test called the anti-malignin antibody screen (AMAS). Anti-malignan antibody levels become elevated when any cancer cells are present in the body.

Most importantly, these levels rise early in the development of cancer cells, which means that cancer can sometimes be detected several months before other clinical tests might find it.

With an accuracy rate of more than 95 percent, the AMAS test is much more reliable than the PSA test. And the best way to detect prostate problems is a SERIES of PSA tests (as the Sloan- Kettering Trial concluded), WITH the AMAS test.

This powerful combination of tests will allow you to avoid false alarms which lead to painful biopsies, drugs and unnecessary painful surgery.

The more you learn about these tests, the more you will feel compelled to implement them.

You can find out more about the AMAS test at http://www.amascancertest.com.

As you can see, these are important tests to take over a period of time which can save you from unnecessary surgery and drugs.

Take control of your own health by educating yourself about tests, treatments and nutrition so that you can become more healthy and stay healthier in the long run.

2004 © by Lee Cummings Leeman@LC-Nutrition.com

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Reasons Why President Obama Isn't Keeping His Campaign Promises

What about the many promises that Obama said he would do in his first term? Has anyone thought of why it is they are being ignored by the media? Why does the media put a promise on a lower pedestal than the promise maker?

Look, I know that sometimes promises are made simply because they just want to be elected. They outright lie to our faces knowing that most voters forget a majority of what they said, but that must stop because this country is falling apart little by little because of voters bad habits.

Think you know Obama? Think Again!

Think you can explain why his promises are not being fulfilled? It's a loaded answer!

Liberals and progressives have made so many excuses for his failures that they cannot be counted in one article but it only takes a few to prove his in- eligibility to make more promises to break!

Obama's promises are like water evaporating in the wind, after a while no one pays attention to what's past and moves on to the present which is just what the Media wants Americans to do. We move from promise to promise instead of fulfillment to fulfillment, it has become the political norm!

It only proves that to ignore an issue doesn't make it go away! Promises were made and are meant to be kept, and Obama nor Romney are exempt from their promises. An unfulfilled promise is not a promise at all, it's simply a lie wrapped in a pretty bow.

We the people have the most important Job of holding their feet to the fire of fulfillment no matter how long it takes to get it done. The problem has been that we haven't been doing our jobs as responsible voters in following up on the people we put in office, that must change in this election!

Just what were some of Obama's promises before and during his tenure as President? Here are a few of the important ones of note:

"If I sit down with the leader of Iran, I will send him a strong message that Israel is our friend, that we will assist in their security and that we don't find nuclear weapons acceptable... That's not going to be a propaganda coup for the president of Iran."

CNN/YouTube debate, July 23, 2007.

Now I ask you, do you think he kept that promise to support Israel? I think not because in his apology tour of the Middle east he completely ignored Israel and then just recently did it again at the UN!

"It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today."

Deeper in debt, more broke than under Bush, the Military weaker because of cuts to its budget, and Military will be cut again in January 2013 if we don't stop it. Yeah, our children are better off... right?

This is one promise that reeks of lies and cover-ups by the dozen. How can liberals believe that this is good for the future? Well they simply blame others for their screw-ups and then continue to do the same things that don't work again and again. But the real problem here is that it isn't limited to the Liberals, this anti-Americanism has also infected the right as well.

This is the big secret we all miss and the real reason we can't get anything accomplished in Washington. You see... BOTH parties are just as guilty for this mess! The Democrats were completely taken over by the progressives but the Republicans were infiltrated by them as well the only difference between them has been a greater and lesser amount of economic death to America!

The progressives have a dream, a nightmare really that ends with the fundamental change of Americas standing in the world, what they say is masked by coded words like "Spread the Wealth around" a purely Socialist viewpoint.

"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody".

And remember when he says 'Wealth' he's not talking about 'George Soros' style wealth but middle class wealth, wealth that supports real jobs and the American dream. This has been the dream of every despot throughout history, to utterly destroy America from within.

On health care Obama didn't ask the people what they needed he simply jammed it through congress and in some cases bypassed congress altogether. This health careless monster is nothing but a tax, in fact many hidden taxes are contained within its thousands of pages! But Obama said this:

"And so our goal on health care is, if we can get, instead of health care costs going up 6 percent a year, it's going up at the level of inflation, maybe just slightly above inflation, we've made huge progress. And by the way, that is the single most important thing we could do in terms of reducing our deficit. That's why we did it."

Nothing could be any more of a lie than this Obama-Carelessness, a purposeful waste of millions upon millions of dollars money and damaging consumer choices in their health care. The Liberal progressives blame others for the problems they caused and will blame other as they go along, that is simply a fact! Its history repeating itself, they did the same thing under President Wilson and all other progressive Presidents, it never changes!

But Obama says this about taxes; all the while knowing his health care bill would raise taxes on the middle class. Hurting those it is meant to save

"I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class."

"I can make a firm pledge, under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

Small businesses are about to be closed all over the country because of higher taxes on those who make this country great, they produce the jobs we need now, not the Government. His broken promises are hurting Americas future!

"The day I'm inaugurated, this country looks at itself differently and the world looks at America differently. If you believe that we've got to heal America and we've got to repair our standing in the world, then I think my supporters believe that I am a messenger who can deliver that message around the world in a way that no other candidate can do."

Really? How's that worked out? America is hated more now than when Bush invaded Iraq, the middle east is falling apart around Obama's foreign policies and America is more divided now than before 2008.

The Progressive race-baiting and class warfare will never stop, its their patented idea to keep American divided with infighting while they work hard to bring us low before a world that is increasingly becoming anti-American thanks to Obama's policies.

The truth behind the promise reveals more far about the promise maker than voters are willing to know. Americans must start holding promises up against a higher Moral standard. If 'We The People' are asleep at the wheel of understanding then our Republic is in grave danger!

It is time that all of us from whatever background, Rich, Poor, Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Centrist, Libertarians... we all must come together to save this country from those who are blind to the Constitutional law that undergird the American dream!

How To Write Articles In 4 Easy Steps

The most common way to get an idea across to a web visitor is by having him or her read an article. It's the most widely available form of communication that the web can offer, requires much less bandwidth than video and interactive web applications, and it's the easiest way to convert a potential lead to a buying customer. With all these things considered, it should be no surprise as to why articles are in high demand. Instead of paying someone to write one, it may be more cost efficient to learn how to write articles.

1. Brainstorm

The first step to making a successful article is to come up with ideas. This doesn't just include ideas about the topic that will be the main focus of the article, but also things such as the tone, potential audience, pacing and overall article length. Each one of these elements can make or break the article depending on how well they reach the article's readers.

2. Edit Before Starting

It's not uncommon to have a dozen different ideas that may seem like they would make for a good article. The problem with this is that too many ideas can make the overall thought become murky and make the article less effective than it could be. In other words, less can actually be more.

See which ideas would work within the article's flow, and edit out any that would dilute the article's main argument. Pruning the weaker branches of thought from an article will make the trunk, which is the main argument, sturdier and able to stand on its own.

3. Use Bullet Points Before Paragraphs

Sometimes article topics are complex. They require separating facts that are a prerequisite before being able to explain the main idea at hand so that the reader can understand. A way to get around having to rewrite a piece several times is to instead use bullet points in an outline.

One of the most common ways to make an article outline is to first place down broad ideas and follow them up with specific supporting bullets. Doing this can make it easy to develop paragraphs, expand on one single idea in a paragraph, and ensure that paragraphs have a consistent and understandable flow overall.

4. Keep It Short and Easy To Read

The most appealing articles are short, easy to read and have enough room for more. This means that the article should be limited to high school-level writing, which means that complex words and sentence constructs should be avoided to make it easy for the reader to read. This allows the article to best act as a hook for the reader. This hook then allows the person publishing the article to link more related content and increase the odds of that reader becoming a customer.

It may take a number of hours of practice to get article writing down to a science. The ideal way of how to write articles should only take twenty minutes or less per five hundred words. The time spent coming up with ideas and forming the rough outline of an article should be one-fourth or one-third the total amount spent writing. If taken to heart, the four aforementioned steps will help to create a short, concise and easy-to-understand article that will be the one that provides the most conversions and least number of bounces back to the previous page.

The Dynamics Of A Podcast

Do you know how to make a podcast? If not, then you should know that making a podcast is as simple as pie. To make a podcast, you will find that you don't need a lot of materials or technical know-how to produce your very first podcast. It's very simple and easy to do, and it's what I want to show you how to do in today's lesson.

Now honestly, to get started with your own podcast, you will need a microphone. This can either be inherently built into your computer or laptop, or you can go to a tech store and buy yourself a microphone. No matter what option you do, you will want to make sure that you have a recording medium in place that will allow you to record clearly for your podcast.

Now honestly, sometimes when you want to create a podcast, you don't even need a microphone. With some programs (like Camstudio), you can set it up to record the audio as it plays out on the computer. So if you have a text-to-speech program, you can use this text-to-speech program to create an MP3 file for you that you can upload to the podcast directories.

There are a lot of these "text-to-speech" programs out there so you will want to do your best to find the best one for you. If I was creating a podcast, I would go with the microphone route. That way people know that I am real, and that they can relate to me or ask me any question that they may have about my recording.

Now with some programs, after you have recorded your podcast, it will turn it into a large WAV audio file. This is an uncompressed, HUGE file that is high in quality, but much too large to continue to market it as a podcast. Because of this, you will want to find a program that can convert it into MP3 format (which is much smaller in comparison), and then upload it to the podcast directories.

Now MP3 files are compressed, but sometimes it gives you good output. While with some programs, the resulting MP3 audio file is low in quality, and makes it hard to hear what you are saying due to the static or noise that you hear... or the low voice that has occurred due to the compression of the large WAV file.

This is very important to know because if you stick with the WAV file, your marketing efforts will be incredibly slow. You could literally wait hours before your WAV file makes it onto the podcast directory that you're uploading for. So turn your podcast into an MP3 file so that it can be uploaded very simply and easily onto multiple podcast sites.

Podcasts are a great way to market your products or services online, and it's something that you will want to use in your business if you want to have the most success as possible. This is a social marketing strategy that you can use to get tons of people back to your website. So be sure to do them right away.

Good luck with using these tips to earn the kind of money that you're looking for using podcasts.

Enterprise CMS Delivers Social Intranets

Content management has an essential role to play in any project which involves social interactions. Though enterprise CMS does not have magic potions for business, there are a number social intranets which brings highly collaborative experiences that connect people to each other through documents and applications.

While enterprise social capabilities are a must, a practical intranet implementation should integrate enterprise CMS features such as web pages, documents, images, videos, etc. for blogs, groups and forums. This involves workflows, roles, permissions, personalization, revisions, and analytics.

Many companies are thinking of implementing social communication channels and technologies into the business. This can be complicated or a probably overwhelming idea. In order to dive into a deeper social perspective let us consider social technology fairly straightforward. Social intranet delivers a dynamic online enterprise social environment that empowers employees to create social communities and improve interactions. It enables organizations to build intranets integrated with powerful social capabilities. The integrated corporate social content management system allows endless possibilities for employees to collaborate and communicate better through website, portals, chat, notifications, intranets, online communities, groups, forums, social networks, ecommerce, directories, polls and surveys. The native content integration to enterprise CMS includes apps, workflows and messages. This provides organizations with a single content repository that includes documents and marketing collaterals which aims to improve customer engagement.

Enterprise CMS brings new social capabilities that include social groups to collaborate on targeted conversations on new projects, product ideas, etc. The integration of calendar feature on pages allows companies to focus on activities, deadlines and resources. Users can create specific projects for team members to communicate and monitor business processes. It allows users to add a To-do lists, calendar, news, RSS feeds and more. Enterprise CMS brings cloud integration, which can be hosted on a public or private cloud. Enterprise CMS comes with strategies and tools that enable companies to manage website, portal, intranet, mobile, ecommerce, learning, training, marketing and social collaboration on a single platform. It enhances user experience through its UI, and other attractive features such as document editing, search, and a powerful repository.

Enterprise CMS with compatible social intranets significantly improves communication in a collaborative environment. It will provide security, flexibility and control in the system as well as drastically cut down costs and improve brands in exciting ways. Enterprise social intranet leverages the right strategy, tools and technology to scale with the business requirements and improve the effectiveness at a much higher return on investment. Integration of social functionality such as document management, digital asset management, records management and event management combined with news streams, blogs, and contacts provide an engaging two-way communication in a real-time collaborative environment for enterprises.

Enterprise drupal revitalized with social intranets provides, flexibility and support for business processes. The bottoms-up approach has benefited employees when organizations have embraced the social software into their system. The huge popularity of Face book combined with the patronage of the workforce has prompted companies to start a dedicated face book site apart from employees forming their own Face book site for improving social communication. There are a number of business benefits for implementing social intranets for enterprises which includes:

Improve productivity Reduce costs Enhance internal communication Motivate employees and improve their morale Enhance online collaboration Improve customer satisfaction Improve employee engagement

Acrylic Paints are Different From Oil Painting

Acrylic paint comes in a tube, just like oil paint. However, since acrylic paint is water-based meaning it dissolves in water instead of oil-based meaning you need to dissolve it in oil or turpentine, it's much easier to clean up after. You can soak your brushes and clean your hands in plain tap water, instead of smelly and flammable chemicals.

Another advantage to acrylic paint is that it dries much faster than oil paint usually overnight. If you're working on a painting that needs to be done on time, that's important. Acrylic paint was developed as a water-based alternative to traditional oil paints.

Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted with water, the finished painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting.

Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer resin. Different from oil painting as watercolor is different from oil painting. There are techniques, which are available only to acrylic painters, and there are also restrictions, which are unique to acrylic painting.

Acrylic paints can achieve an oil-paint-like effect, and do so in much less time. Applied to look like oil paints, acrylics are somewhat limited due to the superior color range of oil paints, and the fact that acrylic dry to a shiny, smooth.

Acrylics paints are sometimes used in place of watercolors because acrylics dry closer to the desired color slightly darker, usually, while watercolors dry lighter and often unpredictably, especially for beginning artists.

Is Travel Insurance Really Worth It?

Whether planning travel for business or pleasure, there are many decisions to be made. Luxury or Economy? Direct route or stop over? Peak season or off season? It can be an expensive business, and it is natural to look for ways to cut some of the costs associated with travel. However, with all economy measures comes an element of risk: the cheaper hotel may be in an area it is difficult to get to, the early flight may mean you have to catch an expensive taxi to the airport because public transport options are more limited in the small hours. These are the small risks: the much larger financial risks are non-refundable deposits or emergency changes of plan due to family illness, weather events or natural disasters. These risks can be managed with prudent selection of a travel insurance policy.

Consider for example the large earthquake which struck Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011. As a result many travellers had their travel plans interrupted. The closure of Christchurch Airport impacted customers who were arriving or departing via Christchurch. Adequate travel insurance would cover reasonable additional travel and accommodation costs incurred as a result of travel delay caused by the closure of the airport, including costs associated with any missed connections. The cost to a traveller without travel insurance could potentially amount to several thousand dollars by the time you factor in changes to travel plans and actual loss of physical belongings. Add in any potential injuries and associated costs of health care, and the costs skyrocket further still.

Another factor when working out your personal risk/benefit ratio are your personal circumstances: if you are leaving an elderly parent at home or are travelling with young children your circumstances are somewhat different to a 23 year old backpacking solo. Say you're on cruising holiday in Fiji, when you receive news that a family member has had a serious accident. If you have an appropriate policy, your travel insurance will reimburse you for the costs associated with cancelling the rest of your trip and your extra expenses to get home quickly. Likewise, if your 6 year old falls off their bike the night before you leave and requires surgery to re-set a broken bone, travel insurance will cover the costs associated with cancelling beforehand.

A sensible course of action would be to discuss with your insurance broker which, if any, of your existing policies will cover you while travelling. Your expensive laptop may be covered by your household insurance even if you are away from home. Your credit card may have some travel insurance coverage for unexpected events like your travel company going bankrupt. Your airline may cover lost luggage. You will then be able to work out where the gaps in your coverage are and which contingencies you need to plan for when purchasing your travel insurance.

Ultimately, before deciding if travel insurance is really worth it you need to work out your personal comfort level with the risks associated with travel and a realistic assessment of your ability to meet the costs associated with unexpected events, keeping in mind that if these costs were to include medical evacuation or personal liability, they could be extensive.

Using Twitter to Generate Website Traffic: 4 Quality Tips That You Can Use Right Now

Twitter is user-friendly and this is why it is everyone's favourite social media spot. Twitter is a microblogging platform and what this means is that you are restricted to the number of characters you can put in your message. If you want to enjoy a massive stream of website traffic from Twitter, here are 4 quality tips that you can use.

Be Interesting

Your username and profile are the first things that people will see. If you profile page looks sleepy, people will pass and would not bother reading your tweets. You cannot afford to write a long bio on Twitter. So when you enter a few words about your occupation or interests, make every word count. Try to use a couple of keywords as well.

If you have uncovered low-competition keywords for your business, when people conduct searches on Google, your Twitter profile will definitely pop up in the organic listings.

Choose a Niche-Specific Username

Your username is crucial. Choose a username that works well with the niche that you are targeting. For example, if you are providing dog training services and you want to encourage website traffic, use keywords like DogtrainingMaster, Dogguru or Dogtrainer e.t.c. Your username will come up in searches if people are looking for pointers in this niche.

Don't Forget Your URL

It is amazing that over 80% of Twitter's population do not include their URL on their bio page. If you have taken a compelling username and created an interesting profile page, finish it off with a site that your viewers can see. You spoil your chances of not having an online reference point for your business on Twitter.

Tweet on the Regular

If you want to keep people interested in you, you have to tweet regularly. This only takes a few seconds since you are under a character limit, so you have no excuses. Tweet about useful stuff and do not try to blatantly sell to people. It is alright to post links to an article, video or fun stuff on your site on Twitter. If they check it out, other things on your site might tickle their fancy.

Keep in line with breaking news and trends in your specialty. By this you can build a reputation as the go-to-guy (or girl) on Twitter. This will get more people on your list and jump up your website traffic. The Internet offers great advertisement ideas if you know what you are looking for and Twitter is one of them.

Alternative Auctions and Marketplaces - Saving Money on Fees

Did you know there are many small marketplaces and auction sites out there which will allow you to sell for free? One of the major benefits of these smaller marketplaces is the huge reduction in fee expenses. In addition, they also provide another means of free marketing and advertising of your items for sale as well. They don't provide as much traffic, but sellers often times get to keep more of the profits.

So you may be asking how does one successfully sell items on smaller, virtually unheard sites? The answer lies in the features and design of the site, if the marketplace is designed properly. They use a concept called search engine optimization (SEO), which is integrated throughout their site. When a seller lists a single item, it automatically gets optimized through their programming and site structure so it gets effectively indexed into all of the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing. After a short time, your items are found at the top of the search rankings where hundreds of millions of people search on Google for keywords related to your item.

Many smaller marketplaces have little to no fees. Overall, there are typically no listing fees and the lower commission fees may increase your profit margin 10% or more on average, depending on where you are selling. This basically means more profit and more room to price your items more competitively. You could sell your items at the same prices as you would another major, more expensive marketplace and simply take in the extra profits when someone purchases your products.

There is great strategy you can use which might decrease your profit margin, but increase the volume and number of sales. To do this, you can simply decrease the prices of your items by the same amount of extra profit that you earn at an alternative marketplace. What happens is that people find your items in the online shopping search engines, but at much lower prices than at the major retailers and marketplaces. The end result is that people searching for the best deal will buy from you instead. In the end, you would still make the same profit margins as you would before, but the key is that you would be beating out all of the competition.

Don't forget that most, not all of these alternative marketplaces and auction sites, will allow you to build your own free web store and list unlimited items for sale for as long as you want without fees. It may take longer to sell, but there is great potential that you'll be much more successful. In addition, these are great resources to use if you don't have a website or hosting service, nor have the experience to set up your own ecommerce online business. You could simply set up your free shop and direct your normal customers there either through Pay-Per-Click advertising or other methods you would normally use for your online business.