Month: October 2024

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Restaurant Table Credit Card Readers – Good or Bad?

Select restaurants around the nation are testing table-based credit card readers that allow customers to pay for there meal at the table. The news scare in the past year regarding waitresses and waiters stealing customer’s credit card information led to the transformation of a new industry involving products that protect consumer’s credit card information.

The restaurants that are participating in the credit card reader beta launch were reluctant at first to participate because they feared diners would feel rushed. Fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s allow customers to pay at the counter with their credit card. Table side payment is different from counter-side payment because diners are actually sitting down and being served by an employee that works mainly on tips. Waitertalk.com, an online forum for waiters and waitresses to vent on topics such as ‘bad tipping customers’ and ‘unruly management’ have formed a discussion forum against these so called ‘table-side credit card readers’. Waiters and waitresses believe the credit card readers will be a deterrent to leaving appropriate tips, especially in casual fast food restaurants such as the Ground Round, that typically attract middle-class customers that are not experienced in tipping and eating at non-chain restaurants. Some waiters believe the credit card readers will be the main focus of the dining experience and the machines will not allow them to upsel to the customer because the customer will be thinking about the bill more than the actual dining experience.

In Europe, it is normal to pay at the table; however, the culture of Europe allows table-side payment to be acceptable. Will table-side payment be the new norm for paying at restaurants or will American’s not accept this because it is more of insurance than a convenience? What do you think? Shouldn’t you trust your waiter? The skimming scams at restaurants that made headline news were part of an isolated incident. However, credit card skimming happens everyday at restaurants and other direct consumer oriented small businesses. These incidents are usually not reported because the victim will not realize he has been scammed until months after the incident. The occurrences of restaurant credit card skimming happened at the same restaurant over a period of a year and claimed many victims who traced their credit card deductions to a restaurant employee.

The only difference between these tableside machines and the restaurant employee processing the transaction is – the restaurant employee will never leave his or her fingerprints on your plastic. You simply slide your credit card through the machine and a printer in the waiter’s area prints your receipt. All you have to do is sign and leave a tip. How convenient is this? You don’t have to wait an extra 4 minutes to have the waiter swipe your card and return with your card and the receipt. Is this convenience or privacy of your most sacred information? Should you trust the person who is serving your food? Most waiters and waitresses put up with a lot from customers to earn below minimum wage.

The manufacturers are betting restaurants will purchase these new Verifone credit card readers. The readers can go for several hundred dollars each. Restaurants benefit because the payment process turns tables quicker, which helps the restaurant earn more money per table and the waiter earns more as his ‘rentals’ are turning quickly.

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Travel Nursing Companies – Get the Pay and Benefits You Deserve

Travel nursing companies are a great resource for travel nurses. When you are looking at travel nursing jobs, be sure to speak with several agencies before choosing one to work with.

Some important items to consider are:

  • Benefits–You will want to consider which benefits are important to you and make sure the travel nursing companies you interview have them available. First day health insurance, free housing, travel reimbursement, CEU’s, and license reimbursement are some of the most popular. Choose an agency that has the benefits that you need.
  • Travel Nurse Recruiter–Speak with the recruiter, interview them. Make sure they understand what you hope to get from your job and career. Do they listen to your questions and provide good answers? Your health care recruiter will be an important part of your assignments. They are the go between for you and the hospitals.
  • Where would you like to travel?–Not all travel nurse agencies have contracts everywhere. It can be nice to have a small personal agency, just be sure they have contracts where you want to travel to. If you want to travel throughout the U.S. or internationally, you may need a larger agency to fit your needs.
  • Career Advancement–Many nurses are concerned having so many jobs will look unprofessional on their resume. Quite the opposite is true. It looks excellent on your resume. It shows flexibility and knowledge of different systems and ways of doing things. Travel nurses are up to date on the latest in the nursing profession. Many agencies also offer free or subsidized CEU’s. This benefit will keep you learning and growing as a nurse.

Once you understand what your needs are, make a list and interview some travel nurse companies. Be sure they offer everything that you will need to have a successful assignment.

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8 Important Affiliate Marketing Tips

If you think affiliate marketing is easy, then you are wrong.

Over the years, I have seen plenty of affiliates who fail in their online venture. In fact, statistics have shown that 20 percent of affiliates produce 80 percent of all income; while 80 percent of affiliates generate 20 percent of all income.

This may be a sad figure, but it is true.

To succeed in affiliate marketing, you need more than just putting the affiliate links in your web site, pray that your visitors will click on it and make a purchase (that is what 80 percent of the affiliates are doing).

These are the things that you need to do:

Affiliate Marketing Tip 1: Be an affiliate of a niche market

Successful affiliate marketers focus on a niche market. They focus on serving a targeted audience with specific needs. Provide quality content related to the niche product or services will certainly increase the traffic to your site, and hence increase your affiliate sales.

Affiliate Marketing Tip 2: Be an affiliate of quality products or services

Do not promote a product or services just because it has a high commission payout. If the product or service is not up to the standard, it will only hurt your reputation. Instead, promote a product /service that you truly believe is good and beneficial to your visitors.

Affiliate Marketing Tip 3: Be a close friend of your visitors

One of the greatest mistake most affiliates make is to become a sales person. In actual fact, affiliate marketing is not about selling things. Rather, it is about recommending your friend a great product /services. The last thing that you want to do is to write a long sales pitch and scare your visitors off. Instead, write as if you are talking to a close friend.

Affiliate Marketing Tip 4: Be an expert in your field

Establish yourself as an expert in your field. This will greatly increase your credibility. The more credible you are, the more your visitors will trust your recommendation. Write plenty of articles related to your niche and distribute them to various article directories. Active participation in forums and discussion groups also help in improving your credibility

Affiliate Marketing Tip 5: Publish a monthly newsletter

Newsletter or Ezine is a effective tool for you to communicate with your visitors. It also gives you a reason to revisit them and attract them back to your site again.

Affiliate Marketing Tip 6: Give testimonial for your product

Testimonial is the best form of marketing. If you have tried the products or services, give your own personal testimonial. Else, request for the reviews of the products and place it in your site.

Affiliate Marketing Tip 7: Cloak your affiliate links

Cloaking affiliate links may not seem necessary, but it actually is. Apparently, visitors will not tend to click on your link when they see that it is leading to an affiliate program on your site.The best way to avoid this problem is by covering your URL. There are plenty of cloaking resources available over the Internet that you can make use of.

Affiliate Marketing Tip 8: Generate lot of traffic to your site

Traffic is vital to any web site. If you are not getting the traffic, you won’t be getting the result you desired. The best way to generate lot of traffic is to optimize your site for the search engine (SEO). Each and every page of your web site should be optimized with a specific keyword. For more tips on search engine optimization, click here.

Conclusion

To be successful in affiliate marketing is never easy, but it is surely attainable with the correct strategies. Follow these 8 affiliate marketing tips diligently and you will be on your way to the top 20 percent.