The Wax Blog

Beth Hodgson writes so often for the Wax blog we often forget she works for other clients as well, with her problogging service Writesourcing. If you’re looking for great, unique content for your blog or site, give Beth a shout on Twitter!

We’ve discussed the issue of plagiarism before, on a couple of occasions. (See our post on ‘Avoiding Online Plagiarism‘ last April) But really, the overall realm of original content is the gift that keeps on giving. A major topic of discussion around the Writesourcing water cooler (our virtual one, of course) is if there are other ways to define ‘original content’ that looks beyond the obvious theft, sourcing quoted material and the like. Well, fortunately, a client forced us to explore that further. (more…)

Marketing your business on the road by exhibiting at professional trade shows is an excellent opportunity to make new contacts, sell products and increase exposure. However, without the proper planning and preparation, the results can be dismally disappointing. Time and money can be wasted by poor visual displays and unprepared, unfriendly staffing. Successful businesses know that advance planning and attention to detail can reap huge rewards that may translate into years of new customer and client relationships. By taking full advantage of trade show exposure, a business can increase its sales and services and thereby raise its profits.

Once the protocol has been worked out successfully, it can be repeated at show after show with the same positive expectations. The following steps suggest how any business can maximize the trade show experience: (more…)

Ever wondered why a DVD rental stocks lesser known titles when it can just stock the hottest ones of the season and get away with a fairly high profit margin, since hardly anybody walking into the store would want to walk out with the former? However, what about the customer who comes in and asks “Dude! Where’s my Car?”. He is either demented – looking for his car in a DVD rental store, or he knows what he wants and is specifically looking for a forgettable movie. Imagine not being able to serve, say, 50 such customers a month, and you’ve just lost out on not just some valuable rental but also 50 customers who would knock the doors of other rental shops in the vicinity. This “long tail” of hundreds of lesser known DVD titles thus becomes essential. This is exactly what applies to SEO/SEM keywords. The term, coined by the editor of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson in his article in 2004, refers to those keywords that do not result in much traffic for the website, but have a much higher rate of conversion. (more…)

Like a lot of little girls, I was absolutely horse crazy starting at about the age of 6. I took horseback riding lessons, I loved burying my face in the nape of their neck and I even didn’t mind mucking out the stalls.  My father was a doctor and so we had some means -  I begged him for a horse. He promised me when I turned 16, he would buy me a horse. That’s the danger of a promise. People might remember that you made it. (more…)

Guest blogger Ethan S. weighs in from across the pond on finding the right inspiration for your business.

Lots of people want to make money. This makes sense. When jobs are scarce the best way to find work is to create it. These days, especially in light of the internet, becoming an entrepreneur is not as difficult as many people think. When creating a business though, the most important thing you can do is establish a niche and goals within that niche (i.e., create an identity). The actual acquisition of money can really only be a secondary concern. So what does it look like to construct healthy and attainable goals, and a solid business identity? (more…)

There are about as many interviewing techniques as there are people who conduct interviews. Everyone is different, so that provides opportunities for us to learn from one another. I hope to offer a few ideas of my own for your consideration. Some of these ideas might seem a bit odd. That’s okay, because it’s the odd stuff that gets us thinking, and if it works to our benefit, then it quickly becomes perfectly normal.

So, let’s look at what some might consider odd interviewing techniques. As odd as they may seem, they can help us make a nice match between our enterprise and the candidates who make themselves available to fill positions we have to offer. Better yet, perhaps these techniques will help you find someone who can make their own position within your firm, even if you don’t have an opening.

Does that seem odd? Yes? Okay, then let’s discuss that as our first of many interviewing techniques. (more…)