1. Start Clean – Be sure to completely clear snow and ice from all windows, lights, hood and roof for maximum visibility and to avoid having ice and snow fly off your vehicle. Law enforcement officials are on the lookout for “peephole drivers.”
2. Light it Up – Before starting out, turn on your lights to increase your visibility to other motorists.
3. Slow it Down – Remember, posted speed limits are for dry pavement. Decrease speed on icy, snow-covered roads and allow extra distance between you and other vehicles.
4. Look Ahead – Watch the traffic well ahead for extra reaction time. Always drive defensively and give yourself a cushion of time to deal with wintery conditions.
5. Stay Away – Stay well back of maintenance vehicles and snowplows – at least 200 feet (it’s the law) – and don’t pass on the right. Use extreme caution when passing in a passing lane.
6. Pick a Lane – Avoid abrupt lane changes. There may be a snow ridge between lanes. Also, the passing lane may be in worse shape than the driving lane.
7. Take a Brake – Brake early and gently to avoid skidding. It takes more time and distance to stop in adverse conditions. If your wheels start to lock up, ease off the brake. Do not pump anti-lock brakes.
8. Watch for Signs – Watch for signs alerting you to slippery bridge decks and other areas prone to becoming slick, even when the rest of the pavement is in good condition.
9. Stay in Control – Don’t use cruise control or overdrive in wintery conditions. Even a slight depression of your brakes to deactivate can cause loss of control on hidden slippery patches
10. Avoid Assumptions – Do not assume your vehicle can handle all conditions. Even four-wheel and front-wheel drive vehicles encounter trouble on winter roads. The false sense of security these vehicles offer can leave you less prepared to deal with emergency situations.

Stephen Warnica
Office: 905-632-5768
Cell: 905-317-1875
Email: swarnica@youngsinsurance.ca

Back in 2006, Milton was a sleepy little town with beautiful family homes to 53,000 people. That was just before the builders came and changed the town beyond recognition. Mostly for the benefits of us all.

They built new, bigger and nicer houses. Then they built roads around them. And new schools for all the new kids on the block. Milton has become the fastest growing community in Canada.

Realtors are really happy for Miltonians as their home value steadily grows year by year. Approaching year 2015 Milton is growing fast. Over 100,000 residents, mostly commuters are busy searching internet for your business services.

Miltonians love to support local businesses. But can they find you? If not, don’t stress about it. Because you have us, fellow business owners, just like you.

We meet every other Wednesday on Derry and Thompson, where we exchange referrals, new business ideas and marketing tips. We are all waiting for you. Join us next time.

NBBN Milton Business Networking and Mastermind Group’s next scheduled meeting is Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 9:30am-11:am, join us for a free visit!

We meet every other Wednesday at the office of VERICO Designer Mortgages, 9037 Derry Rd. in Milton (corner of Thompson and Derry Rd), Tel: (905) 878-5053

David Petrvalsky

Brand Labels, Domed Decals, Stickers and Magnets
info@pddecal.com
416.317.6705

“Attaining financial literacy is often one small step at a time, but each experience adds to our knowledge, skills, and confidence with day-to-day money decisions,” says Tony Garcia, president and CEO at Foresters™, an international financial services provider known for its commitment to enhance family well-being. “Those skills are fundamental to the well-being of families – and of course, children do learn quickly by example.”

Since the average lifestyle today must deal with an increasing number of financial decisions at an ever-younger age, it is an eye-opener when Canadians admit to significant money challenges from reading financial statements, to managing credit cards, to planning for retirement.

Did you know, for instance, that 38 per cent of households say they do not follow a budget, according to an ABC Life Literacy survey conducted by Ipsos Reid1? This number won’t improve if children in those homes grow up to do the same.

“Parents are exacting on some things, like arranging for life insurance to replace lost income in the event of their death, but they may miss those little opportunities, like involving children in adding and subtracting household money,” Garcia continues. “The key to raising money-smart kids is to involve them in some of the day-to-day money decisions.”

Foresters, which provides its members with access to competitive scholarships and emergency assistance grants2, and is also known for building playgrounds and providing funding and volunteer opportunities for organizations like Ronald McDonald House Charities®, has posted some valuable tips (at foresters.com) for guiding children towards healthy financial habits, including:

• Talk to young kids about the family grocery budget in the supermarket
• Link their allowance to household chores so it shows the connection between money and work
• Explain to teens the difference between needs and trendy ‘must-haves’
• Ask for a contribution to their expenses (like cell phone bills and sports) if your teen has a part-time job
• Demonstrate caution with a first credit card, explaining how interest is charged and the consequences of not paying the monthly balance
• Show young adults how to manage their cash flow and stick to a monthly budget
• Clearly define the repayment terms and conditions if you make them a loan.

The post Teach Kids Early About Money Responsibilities appeared first on DesignerMortgages.ca

photo credit: Hobbies on a Budget via photopin cc

When the phone rang my heart stopped. I knew it was not going to be good news. The roads were closed AGAIN! The trade show was less than a week away and our client was frantic. “You just have to get the shipment there on time,” they pleaded. Now some people might think, “Nothing you can do about the weather. It’s out of your control.” The truth is there is plenty you can do to make sure this doesn’t happen to you.

How can you avoid Logistics Stress?

• Give your logistics company ample lead time; They are looking out for your best interest and will determine the most efficient and cost effective way to ship your freight, taking into account all the indicated parameters
• Do not assume you know the correct transit times. Check the transit times, with your logistics company.   Ask them when they will need to pick up the freight in order to have it there on time.
• Allow extra time for the unexpected, during busy times, holidays etc. Consider the weather especially in Winter – a snowstorm could really hold things up. “The Fraser Pass” in B.C. has often closed due to Avalanches. (some may even say its infamous for that)
• Consider sending your Trade Show Freight to a designated advance warehouse.
• Coordinate your return shipment at the same time as you arrange delivery to the show. After the show ensure someone is there to oversee the outbound shipment from the show.

You have your booth! You rented space. Lots of promotional material on hand. You have trained staff. Don’t let a logistics problem impact your Trade Show Results.

Every day I remind people …Winter is Here, Plan Ahead! Safety First! Even if it is sunny outside your window your shipment may need to travel through snowstorms, ice storms, white out conditions, detours from road closures and even avalanches in BC.

It’s not just about getting it there, but getting it there safely, on time, and at a reasonable cost. We recognize that our customers’ inability to meet any one of these three stipulated requirements could very well impact on their anticipated trade show results.

We embrace this challenge in the hope that our service will improve your relationships with your clients as well as your bottom line.

Carol D’Alessandro is VP, Business Development of Logistics Associates   Carol draws on more than 20 years of business experience to bring clients an unparalleled level of service. By employing a “hands on” approach through all facets of the logistics process, Carol helps deliver tailor-made solutions that satisfy even the most challenging of customer needs.Logistics Associatesare Specialists in transporting trade show booths and other freight to and from the Trade Show venues. Get it there and back without stress. Logistics Associates offers Integrated shipping solutions air, ground or ocean for Trade Shows, Exhibitions, Concerts/Stage Shows, Conventions and Conferences. If you have a logistics question, call Carol at 905-861-9600 or visit http://www.logisticsassoc.com

photo credit: bruckerrlb via photopin cc

We meet every other Wednesday at the office of VERICO Designer Mortgages, 9037 Derry Rd. in Milton (corner of Thompson and Derry Rd), Tel: (905) 878-5053

NBBN Milton Business Networking and Mastermind group invites you to join us for a free visit to learn why Nalumi Better Business Networking really is the BETTER choice for business networking in the 21st century.

• In addition to regular meetings, we offer education, via a Mastermind format of our meetings and via online video and audio tutorials from iBizAcademy, available to full members 24/7.
• NBBN also stands for online marketing. Each group has its own blog-based web site and members are able to post articles, videos and images to the group’s blog to promote their own web sites (Google loves these back-links).
• And finally, the 3rd thing that sets NBBN apart from a bunch of BNI-copiers is profit-sharing. Get a $100 “thank-you” from NBBN when you bring a new member to the group.

Give me a call if you have any questions about how NBBN brings 3X the value of any business networking group.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

President, Membership and Franchising
Nalumi Better Business Networking Inc.
905-844-4247
please follow NBBN on Linkedin

Another question, have any of those places actually given you a referral bonus for driving business to them? Likely not.

This is where Lyoness changes things! When you refer a friend to the program, Lyoness will benefit you with a “friendship” (referral) bonus each time they shop within the network!

When your friends, family or business clients fill up their gas tanks at Petro Canada, go grocery shopping at the Loblaws chains, see a movie at Cineplex you will get paid!

Get 8% Benefit on NBBN Membership

NBBN has recently signed up as a Lyoness merchant and we now provide a total of 8% member benefit (including 2% cash-back). If you haven’t heard of Lyoness, it’s a new loyalty program in Canada that is 10 years old in Europe with 3.5 million members world-wide. Find out more about NBBN benefit to Lyoness members.

www.lyoness.net/ca

3 Minute Sizzle Video

Each search engine uses its own complex algorithm that takes into account dozens, or perhaps even hundreds of factors. Ever since we all started using search engines to find stuff online web site developers have been trying to figure out bits and pieces of the SEO puzzle. That on-going process is what search engine optimization is all about.

Every once in a while someone manages to reverse engineer Google to find a secret or two of what makes it work. When they find these golden nuggets, web designers and developers try to exploit the new SEO knowledge to ‘trick’ Google into giving their web sites top rankings.

If you could implement a few of these secrets on your web site that would translate into higher traffic to your site — free traffic at that — that can then be turned into new business — more clients or more customers.

When you do a web search on Google, and other search engines, they tend to display 10 organic listings by default, and most of us only bother to look down the first page. Most of us are satisfied by the results we get from page #1 of search results, but that also means that if your site is ranked at page 5 it will get significantly less traffic — if any at all.

In fact, the number of people who click through the listings diminishes rapidly as we move down the page. Google statistics show that 42% of searchers click the #1 listing on any given keyword search, 12% click on #2, only 8.5% on #3 and 6% on #4. This clearly illustrates the need to be on top of page one!

Search engine optimization consists of two sets of tactics: on-page optimization and off-page optimization.

What is on-page search engine optimization?

The purpose of on-page SEO is to make a web page as attractive to the search engines as possible. Nobody outside of Google knows for sure which factors are important at any one time, since these things are Google’s trade secrets, but some elements of a web page seem to count more than others:

For example, all the following elements should be present and should include the page’s focus keyword:

• The title of the web page.
• The URL of the page.
• The page’s primary headline (as indicated in the HTML by the H1 tag).
• The page’s META description.

The length of time your domain name has been registered for appears to matter, too.

In addition, the way the page content has been written seems to count more nowadays than it has in the past. For example, try to use words that are related to your page’s main focus keyword phrase. This is called latent semantic analysis.

For a keyword phrase that has little competition — few other web pages trying to get ranked for it — good on-page SEO can often be all you need to get a good results. However, in the real world most of the keywords we want to build pages around, and get traffic for, do have lots of competition.

That’s when off-page SEO becomes so very important.

What is off-page search engine optimization?

To understand how this works we have to go back to see what made it all happen for Sergey Brin and Larry Page who started Google in March 1996.

Their breakthrough was to realize that if web page ‘A’ on one site had a link on it to web page ‘B’ on another site, that link could be taken as a vote of confidence. So the more links that a page had pointing to it from other web sites, the more of an authority that page could be assumed to have.

These backlinks are still one of the main factors that drive off-page search engine optimization: generally speaking, the more backlinks you can get, the higher your pages will be ranked by Google and other search engines. For example, you can explore links to my own site by visiting this page.

Building backlinks to your pages is a relatively simple process, albeit somewhat time consuming. The trick is to find other so-called authority web sites that allow you to create links to you own site. One way to start building quality backlinks to your site is to do a Google search for one of your own keywords and see which sites are displayed in the so-called “organic” search results, and then visit those sites.

If the sites are blogs, you can regularly comment on their blog posts — make sure you say something constructive — while linking your business or name to your own web site.

You can read more on Search Engine Optimization on my blog, or call me for a free SEO assessment of your own web site. You can also download Google’s own Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

Originally published on iBizAcademy.com as Search Engine Optimization – A Quick Guide for Web Site Owners

Total cost is about $300 ($251.65 for Ontario plates + about $10 for internet domain name + about $50 for custom vinyl lettering). The best part is, this mini ad will work 24/7 for many years, and the more you drive your vehicle the harder it will work for you.

This guerrilla marketing tactic consists of 3 components:

1. Register a custom license plate that somehow relates to your business. In this example, I’ve registered an Ontario license plate that reads NALUMI, which is the 1st part of the name of my Nalumi Better Business Networking Inc. business. This guerrilla marketing tactic works best if your whole company name can fit on an 8-character maximum allowed in Ontario (other jurisdictions may have different limitations), for example, if your business name is Miralco or Impeco, you should be fine.
2. Only register your custom license plate if you can also register a matching .COM or other domain name. In case your business name is longer than 8 characters, for example Daniel Durst State Farm Insurance, you could use DDINSURE and register a .CA (Canadian) domain name. Once you pick a domain name, if it’s not your main domain, set up your new domain to simply forward to your main web site, so in this example Daniel would set up DDINSURE.ca to forward to his DanielDurst.com web site.
3. If you were able to register a custom plate and found a matching domain name, the final touch is to add the letters WWW. to the left of your custom car plate and then .COM to the right (if the .COM is taken, you can try a .CA or .BIZ, but ideally you should try to find an available .COM). Simply ask any local signage company to cut these letters for you from reflective vinyl. If your vehicle colour is dark (e.g. red, blue, green, etc.) use white vinyl, if your car’s colour is white or light-coloured, use dark blue (for Ontario plates) or simply match the colour of the letters on your licence plate.

Feel free to use this PDF file to cut letters for an Ontario plate. If your own plates use a different font, or size, please forward a template to me and I will add the file to this blog post, or provide a link to a file in the comment section below.

Recently I received this email from Linkedin announcing that my profile is in the top 1% most viewed in 2012.

I have been using Linkedin for business for several years, and have found a simple-to-follow formula that I teach to my one-on-one mentoring clients, and also to students who attend my live workshops.

One of the ways to succeed in generating new businesses using Linkedin is to create a winning profile page.

First, start by adding your current position(s). If you’re self-employed don’t use the title of CEO or President, but use a more descriptive phrase, such as “Social Media Marketing Consultant at iBizAcademy.” If your business is incorporated, and you are the president, then describe what you do, for example “President, in charge of Membership and Franchising.”

If you’re an entrepreneur, you likely have several businesses, so list them all as your current positions.

One word of advice: when you’re describing a position use relevant keywords you want to be found for. Do some keyword research using this free tool from Google. Once you receive a number of recommendations don’t change the description of a position. This is because you will have to approach all your contacts to re-confirm their recommendation.

Once you have your current positions listed approach all your most recent clients and ask them for a recommendation.

I can teach you, too, on how to use this social media outlet from lead generation to closing more deals.

1. If you’re on a limited budget, you can start with my self-study audio CD and mp3, Linkedin: Social Networking for Professionals.
2. Next step would be to attend one of my Linkedin to the Max! workshops.
3. Please contact me if you’d like to arrange for one-on-one training sessions with me.

March 18, 2015
Boris Mahovac, small business marketing coach

April 1, 2015
Carol D’Alessandro, logistics

April 15, 2015
Charmaine Idzerda, mortgage broker

April 29, 2015
David Petrvalsky, online marketing