Local
Hero's
Walk down most High Street’s in the UK and you’ll be hard pressed to identify where you
are – such is the proliferation of national brands and chains. Local independent retailers are under more
pressure than ever before, and need all the help they can get. It’s the same story across the Atlantic, and
provides the backdrop to Supportland, an Oregon based company which uses incentives to encourage consumers to use
local businesses.
Supportland has developed a rewards card which can be used in any of the 50 participating stores. By shopping in
one of the stores, consumers build up points which can be used to purchase pre-selected products or services in one
of the other participating outlets.
This looks like the sort of thing which could be copied in any town in the UK, and should engender an
enthusiastic response from beleaguered local shopkeepers.
Cheaper
Energy
Deals
We mentioned in the summer that it was a good time to look at fixed
energy deal as they were going, going, soon to be gone. USwitch.com today offers a final call along with a
tip that the cheapest plan is now from EON at an average of £894 per year but that this is expected to
disappear very soon.
'This is a three minute warning for consumers looking to secure a cheap online deal. Online plans are always
competitive but with average prices falling below £1,000 in September last year, they have represented particularly
good value over the last 13 months.'
'However, because they are so keenly priced they are also the first to reflect any volatility in the market which
is why we have started to see online prices creeping up. The good news for consumers is that online plans still
offer a £239 saving on standard prices but with EON likely to follow suit in pulling its cheapest online plan
online prices are likely to continue rising.'
Be A Pro
Blogger
Advice from Avril has just come in. 'One of the best means of
promoting and marketing any business is through blogs. Blogs are websites that are easy to use and are a
place where you can record your thoughts while interacting with people. Some people wish to start a blog to
market their business but just do not know where to start. This is where you, as a professional blog writer,
can come in and help them.
Start a service as a professional blog writer where you write blogs for businesspeople. You can charge them for
this service; a charge of between £5 to £100, depending on the content, topic, and length of your services. It all
depends on you. The more experienced you are in blog writing, the more you can charge for your services.
With the use of a blog, you can help business people give views of their products or services. The blog generates
comments and views about the business. It is a great means of getting customers’ reports and testimonials about the
products or services of the business.
Create a website, advertising your services as a professional blogger. Include your email address and your blogger
URL so that people can visit the URL to find out how many people use your blogging services. The more used your
blog is the higher will be the trust in the prospective client in you.’ Interested? We can put together a short
report if enough members are interested. Let us know?
Best-Buy
Gold
If you are looking to add gold to your investment portfolio, Andrew
Gibson at city traders Galvan has some advice. "While the current frenzy for gold has brought with it
anecdotal evidence of panic buying, the more practical way of gaining exposure is via the mining sector and
gold stocks within it."
He explains why, "Mining costs are a relatively stable part of the equation so a 10 per cent or 20 per cent rise in
the underlying price of gold can have a disproportionately greater effect on the upside for profits of these
companies and therefore the share price valuations."
In short, as the gold price rises, so too do the values of gold mining companies, but at an accelerated rate. We
have some gold mining company tips coming soon.
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