Biz Bits

The latest essential buys for business travelers

Mophie Juicepack

www.mophie.com • $100

You depend on your iPhone to stay in touch with the office and your family (not to mention check email and listen to music), so what happens when you’re on the road and the battery starts running low? This external battery extender adds up to eight hours of talk time, 250 hours of standby time, six hours of internet use or

24 hours of audio playback.

Solio Magnesium Edition

www.solio.com • $200

Designed to meet the demands of the serious traveler, this just-released product bills itself as the world’s most advanced hybrid charger. It combines solar cells and an internal high-capacity battery to collect and store power through the sun or a wall outlet. It’s also compatible with hundreds of portable electronics and has a USB cable for iPods, digital cameras and more.

LIVESCRIBE Smartpen

• www.livescribe.com • $150/1GB; $200/2GB

Released in January, this smartpen simultaneously captures handwriting and records audio while writing, so you’ll never miss a word of that important meeting or presentation. And with a tap on your notes, it will play recorded audio from the time you were writing. The pen also connects to PCs, allowing you to transfer, backup, share and search for words in your notes.

Wi-fiDetecting Watch

• www.thinkgeek.com • $30

These days, it’s not hard to find a Wi-ficonnection in an airport or hotel, but sometimes you’re in a coffee shop or restaurant when the need for internet strikes. This watch displays the strength of the Wi-fisignal, ranging from zero to eight, so you know exactly what kind of connectivity to expect (or if you need to get closer to the access point). It also comes with an alarm and timer.

 

SONGS ABOUT MONEY BY FIVE TOP ARTISTS

There are almost as many songs about money as there are about love. And these artists are experts on the subject—they are each consistently among the top-earning musicians.

STRIKE A BALANCE

We tend to think of anxiety as panic and histrionics, not a catalyst for sound business. But in Just Enough Anxiety: The Hidden Driver of Business Success (Portfolio, $25), Robert H. Rosen says we may be looking at the situation all wrong. And he should know: He is founder and CEO of Healthy Companies International, a consultant and educational group that has worked with companies like Federal Express, Rolls-Royce North America and MedStar Health to improve their corporate cultures. Rosen tells us that anxiety is like a rubber band. If you pull too hard, it snaps, and you become burnt out; but if you don’t pull at all, nothing happens, and you become complacent. Here are his five basic principles to develop just enough anxiety to get you through life.

BE SELF AWARE
Think about what triggers your anxiety, what your reaction is, and about times you have retreated from it or just snapped. Also reflect on a time when your anxiety encouraged productivity.

ACCEPT AMBIGUITY
When making changes or starting new initiatives, you can’t predict all the outcomes. That’s OK. Focus on dealing with surprises, not trying to anticipate them.

GET COMFORTABLE
Don’t run away from your doubts. Your internal conflicting ideas become decision-making indicators if you listen to them and don’t shrug them off as stressors.

LET GO A LITTLE
Obsessing over wealth, fame and individuals will hold you back. If you find yourself stuck on any of these kinds of peripherals, try to let go.

REMEMBER YOU’RE A PERSON
You’re not a business machine. Allowing yourself the full range of human emotions will help you see which ones work for you. Shutting down will either snap the rubber band or make it go slack.

CLICK-THROUGH BREAKTHROUGH

BY LEE GIMPEL

Just because online advertising looks easy doesn’t mean it is.

It used to be that if you wanted to advertise, you hired an ad agency. And if a company was going to make itself known to the world, it certainly wasn’t done in a day. But today’s user-friendly, do-it-yourself online advertising platforms allow just that: Any company, big or small, can have a complete (and potentially lucrative) advertising campaign up and running in less than an hour.

But, according to Mary Eule Scarborough, co-author of Mastering Online Marketing, just because these “pay-per-click” or “pay-per-impression” programs such as Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing are easy to set up and use do not mean they are guaranteed moneymakers. To get more out of online advertising, consider the following:

IT’S ALL IN THE PHRASING
Online advertising—with its tiny text boxes and hyperlinks—looks simple, but using a dozen words to eff ectively describe your service or product can be extremely tricky. In fact, ad agencies have entire departments that research what messages appeal most to customers. Make sure to keep in mind that your homemade ad might be a total dud—and be willing to make changes. “You need to monitor it constantly, because you can lose a lot of money fast,” Scarborough says.

DIRECTLY LINK YOUR CUSTOMERS
Online advertising is built on the ability to target specific users and their preferences. So, when we look for something online, we expect to find it quickly. Perry Marshall, president of AdWordsStrategy. com, says that if you’re advertising something—be it baby bonnets or Bavarian crystal decanters—your ad should link your potential buyer directly to that product or service on your site. The link shouldn’t go to a general homepage or convoluted catalog where a buyer must hunt for what was advertised.

WATCH YOUR KEY WORDS
Computers aren’t mind readers—yet. Therefore, if you sell jackets, be sure you’re reaching customers who are looking for the kind you sell. After all, you pay a few cents for each click, whether or not the person who clicked is a strong potential customer. For example, Marshall notes that even if you clarify that you sell men’s jackets, you might get people clicking on your advertisement looking for dinner jackets and sport coats, when what you stock are ski jackets.

Use the advertising platform’s controls to ensure that your ad doesn’t appear when someone types in an unrelated, overlapping phrase like “winter vacation” or “ski trip.”

GET AN EXPERT OPINION
Finally, if you hire an expert, bear in mind that there are a lot of people who have hung out the “online advertising consultant” shingle. Marshall suggests separating the wheat from the chaff by asking consultants, based on their clients’ experiences, what their average cost per click is and the average gross margin on a click. These numbers should help you gauge who will help you get the most bang for your online ad buck.