Save 30 percent on Lenovo Laptops that mean business

Lenovo laptops mean business and for a limited time only, you can save 30% on the popular T Series ThinkPad and the ThinkPad X Series laptops by buying direct from Lenovo Australia.

Lenovo is a global leader in the PC market that develops, manufactures and markets cutting-edge, reliable, high-quality PC products and value-added professional services that provide business customers around the world with smarter ways to be productive and competitive.

T Series Special Offer
Spend $2499 and above and get 30% off on T Series ThinkPad Laptops
These portable powerhouses feature high-end processors and graphics for lightning-fast performance and durable, reliable data storage. Intel® Turbo Memory and solid-state storage drives (both on select models) speed boot and application load times.
Use e coupon: AUPATSERIES30OFF
Offer expires: March 26, 2010
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

X Series Special Offer
Spend $2499 and above and get 30% off on X 201
Designed for extreme mobility, lightweight ThinkPad® X Series laptops deliver big in reliability, performance and durability.
Use e coupon: AUPAX20130OFF
Offer ends: 26 March 2010
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Grants for small businesses to become more family friendly

Eligible small businesses with less than 15 employees can apply for a grant of up $15,000 to put in place family-friendly arrangements in their workplaces.

This second round of grants form part of the Australian Government’s $12 million Fresh Ideas for Work and Family Grants Program, created to support Australian small businesses to implement practices that help employees balance their work and family obligations.

Successful recipients of grants in Round 1 of this program put in place practices such as, agreements between employees and employers for flexible working hours, and agreements for some employees to work from home in order to spend more time with their kids. Some businesses installed family rooms within their offices.

Research shows that these kind of flexible working arrangements help businesses to retain their valuable staff, reduce turnover costs, increase productivity and improve staff morale and customer satisfaction.

The Fair Work System also provides all working families with access to a number of entitlements to help them balance work and family.

These are:

• 12 months unpaid parental leave for new parents – one of the ten legislated National Employment Standards. Like annual leave, public holidays and redundancy pay, unpaid parental leave is guaranteed to all employees covered by the new national Fair Work system.

• A parent’s right to request flexible work arrangements like returning to work part time or an additional 12 months unpaid leave to help care for children under school age. The ‘right to request’ will help Australia maximise workforce participation and ensure employers can retain skilled and experienced employees in the future. An employer can refuse a request on ‘reasonable business grounds’ but must provide their reasons for the refusal in writing. A refusal without reasons is insufficient.

The Australian Government is also introducing legislation for a government-funded paid parental leave scheme later this year to help working families better balance work and family responsibilities.

Applications for the second funding round of the Fresh Ideas for Work and Family Grants Program will close on 31 March 2010.

To apply for a grant, small businesses can go to www.deewr.gov.au/freshideas to complete the online application form, or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 (open 8.00am–6.00pm, Monday to Friday) for further information.

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Free Recruitment Services and Advice for your business

Are you looking to hire new staff in 2010? You can access free recruitment services and advice to help you find the right staff for your business.

Job Services Australia providers are located in more than 2000 locations across Australia, and can help you with:

• candidate screening and short-listing support to help you find appropriately skilled job seekers

• work experience opportunities

• access to the Australian Government’s free online Australian JobSearch database to register staff vacancies and search for new staff directly

• opportunities for wage assistance and subsidies.

Contact your local Job Services Australia provider to find out how they can help your business. Find your local Job Services Australia provider by visiting the Jobsearch website or phone 13 17 64.

Source:  business.gov.au

Ten Consumer Trends for 2010

From ‘urban pride’ to ‘forced sustainability’, according to trendwatching.com, even cautious consumers will crave pragmatic or exciting innovations in 2010.

1. BUSINESS AS UNUSUAL: When the downturn ends, there won’t be a return to ‘business as usual’. This year, prepare for ‘business as unusual’ as for the first time, there’s a global understanding, if not a feeling of urgency that sustainability, in every possible meaning of the word, is the only way forward.

In mature consumer societies, companies will have to do more than just embrace the notion of being a good corporate citizen. To truly prosper, they will have to ‘move with the culture’. This may mean displaying greater transparency and honesty, or having conversations as opposed to one-way advertising, or championing collaboration instead of an us-them mentality. Read more

Home Based Businesses Keep Office Location Top Secret

According to a recent survey¹, more than half of Australian home based businesses choose to keep their clients in the dark about operating from home for fear of losing business. The survey by Serviced Offices International, a provider of serviced offices and virtual offices in the Sydney CBD, found 56 per cent of business owners believe prospective clients are hesitant to work with a business that is home based.

Managing Director of Serviced Offices International, Michelle Mills (pictured) said: “There are nearly one million people running home based businesses across Australia², but it is no surprise that such a large number keep their place of business a secret. Image is very important, especially for a home operator who has to convince customers that home life will not infringe on the quality of product and service provided.” Read more

How to Use RSS Feeds

You may have seen the words RSS Feed many times on websites and blogs that you frequent, but exactly what is an RSS Feed?

RSS refers to Really Simple Syndication which is actually a format that allows a publisher to get updated content on their website or blog with little effort. Sometimes, RSS is also known as Rich Site Summary. Feed formats used in updating web content include news headlines, blog posts, audio clips and videos.

RSS formats have been in existence since 1999 but its popularity soared during 2005 and 2006. Currently, there are many sites that offer a feed of their content through the RSS format. Read more

Effective Ways to Promote Your Name Online

Having a good business reputation is one of the most effective ways of attracting people. This is not only true in the real world but even on the internet. A person who is real and trustworthy as well as one who provides interesting and useful information to web users often gets the most number of followers online.

Whether one is in business or is just pursuing a passion online, what counts most is for a person to establish a good name. Some of the appropriate traits that could help you successfully achieve this goal are honesty, sincerity, respect towards other people, ability to connect or socialize and the ability to persuade. These traits coupled with a dedication to make it in the virtual world can surely reap the benefits.

So how does one go about promoting her name? There are several ways to do it and one is to create a bio that will easily draw the attention of web readers. This can apply to both individuals and organizations who want to raise awareness on what they do. Read more

Understanding Public Relations with Melanie King from 303

In my experience, the role of public relations (PR) is still largely misunderstood by the very people who could benefit from it most. I’m not just talking about business owners, but some publishers as well.

So in an attempt to clear up all this confusion in relation to the role of PR in business and the media, I recently spoke to former journalist and Head of PR at 303, Melanie King (pictured). Melanie has managed PR for some of the biggest brands in Australia and she also teaches PR at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Read more

10 Ways to Build a List

Doing business the traditional way or online would not be complete without clients or customers. Whether you’re selling a product or service, you will always have to attract people to what you’re offering and encourage them to take action. Generating more clients is a priority for any business and should be done consistently.

There are easy ways you can build your list of regular customers or opt-in list online. You can start with one and then as you get positive feedback, you can try the other methods. Read more

Small Business Promotion 101

Written by Johanna Baker-Dowdell, who was recently named by TweePR in the Top 10 of Australia’s most followed PR professionals, The 21st Century Guide to Promoting Your Small Business eBook is packed full of tips to help business owners get their brand noticed.

The ebook includes topics such as promoting business expertise, writing media releases, approaching the media, using the Internet and social media, email marketing, competitions and networking, Johanna, who is also a journalist and blogger, explained.

“I’ve worked with many small and micro business owners who need to build their brand, but have a tiny budget with which to do it. With the strategies outlined in my eBook, business owners can secure themselves hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, worth of publicity,” Johanna said.

“Often business owners aren’t sure where to invest their money to get the results they need, so I have packaged a number of strategies together in one easy-to-read guide so they can choose which is the best fit for their business,” she said.

Business owner, Annie Rennie from Czarque Shoes said the eBook made an extremely valuable addition to her marketing plan.

“This eBook is a must for all small businesses. It not only gives you an insight into how publicity works it also actually gives you lots of valuable information on how to go about promoting your business that won’t cost you a cent apart from your time. Very inspirational!” said Anne.

Johanna has more than 15 years experience as a journalist, professional blogger, writer, marketer and public relations consultant, both in Australia and in the UK. She launched Strawberry Communications in 2007 with the aim of positioning clients as experts through writing and public relations strategies tailored to gain media attention and build their businesses.

The eBook The 21st Century Guide to Promoting Your Small Business is priced at AU$37 and can be purchased online at http://strawberrycommunications.com.au/ebooks

For more information about Johanna Baker-Dowdell or Strawberry Communications visit www.strawberrycommunications.com.au

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