Skillx.com – Learning and Skills

New forums are popping up around the net all the time, adding to the thousands of forums on out there already. Many of them will never make it past a few months; some of them become pillars of the ever growing internet community. What makes the difference you ask? The following concepts will explore why some forums become successful and how to turn the success into cash.

Forums are a place for people to exchange ideas. There are two key elements in that simple sentence, people and ideas. You need people in your forum and you need them to be talking about things that matter, things that will get others to join in the fun. This gets you to the first problem, getting people and getting them to talk. People don’t like to join empty forums so you will need to get a few friends together and start posting topic others would be interested in talking about. When your forum is small, you really need to target a niche and get a good core group of regularly posting members. With many huge forums out there you are not likely to succeed with a broad forum. You can always expand later when your users ask you to. Start small with quality content, or if you already have a forum scale it down and find a target group.
If you are good with code or graphically inclined, you should spend some time customizing the forum so people feel like they are part of something special. You need to invest some time into making your forum look professional and inviting to people in your target niche. If you already have a forum maybe it is time for a makeover. Our visual sense is our strongest sense so a redesign will make a big difference.

Traffic, traffic, and more traffic. Every website needs traffic and everybody talks about how to get traffic so we won’t dwell on it too much. We will look at how to make that traffic into cash instead. Now that you have a core group of users and your forum is looking all pretty, let’s see if we can squeeze some ads in there. Affiliate banners such as Adsense probably won’t make you money unless you have massive amounts of traffic so you are better off finding your own sponsors. Since you are targeting a specific niche of people you will have an easier time to find individual sponsors. You can use something like Adbrite where individual sponsors will sign up for your site, commission junction where you can lick niche specific sponsors, or you can implement a custom php solution, what ever you think might work best.

An even better way to make money is if you can directly sell services or products to your members. For example a forum talking about web hosts can offer web hosting directly, a forum talking about travel can offer downloadable wall papers and so on. Also a great idea is to have something like a gift shop where people can order T-shirts, coffee mugs and so on with the forum logo on it. You could also look into maybe a good drop-shipping retailer deal for arts and crafts related forums. The possibilities are so broad that we will discuss it in the next article.
For now the you have lots of work to do, target your forum at a specific niche, get a core group together and start producing some valuable content. If start seeing increase in your traffic you can start looking for advertisers or establish services for sale or get a product line together.

Money is the most sensitive issue in the whole hiring process. Discussing the compensation often causes anxiety on both employee and employer. Here are seven ways to make the process of salary negotiating efficient.

1) Research:  Before the interview process begins, contact the professional organization that represents your field of career. As soon as they provide you with your salary information, you can now examine your monthly cash requirements. Remember that once your taxes are added to your paycheck, approximately 30% of your gross monthly salary is deducted.

2) Determine your skills: You should understand that different segments of the economy require a variety of skills depending on the industry setting. Once you have established what your skills are and what they are worth to the current employment market, you would know the limitations of your negotiation.

Salary range information is available at American Almanac of Jobs and Salaries, National Association of College and Employers, Career Center, and professionals in your related field.

In stating your salary range, avoid basing your desired salary on your current salary. Always tell the truth when it comes to your past salary. It is acceptable to extend a range to approximately $6,000 to show that you are within the company’s price range but interested in more compensation.

3) Weigh the company’s compensation package: To determine your fair market value for a specific job, you should consider the economic, geographic, and industry factors of the job offer. Weigh the benefits of compensation and promotions, insurance, allowed time off and retirement settlements of the offer to ensure a fair proposed salary.

4) Sell yourself: If you know what you could offer the company requires a larger income, never say it directly.  Once you sell yourself discreetly, the interviewer would understand that the proposed salary is not appropriate for your background.

5) Have a positive attitude: In negotiating, never compete. Negotiation is basically a process which could benefit both parties. Understand your needs and those of the company.

6) The final offer: Be aware when the negotiation is done. Pushing further when a deal has been set could give a negative first impression on your part.

7) Show what you are made of: The interview is only the first step in having an enhanced compensation. Once you are hired, offer your skills to the company and prove your worth by doing quality work. You may even get a promotion for doing so.

Based from a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, four out of five employees are willing to negotiate compensation. Understanding these basic tips will allow you to enhance the terms of your new job.