The Day Loans Blog

Targeted traffic is the life-blood of any online business, without which, any online business will eventually go to the wall. Generating targeted traffic to their websites is also one of the greatest nightmares of any online business owners.

There’re a myriad of tactics that online business owners can employ to drive targeted traffic to their websites, but the most cost-effective one is undeniably that of “building an army of affiliates”.

This can be achieved by implementing what’s called an affiliate program. An affiliate program is undoubtedly the best way to increase website exposure, sales and profits.

For business owners, if you sell products that have a medium-to-high profit margin via the internet, you’ll be much more profitable and successful if you start implementing an in-house, two-tier affiliate program for reasons which I’ll delineate in a moment.

Affiliate Program Defined

What’s an affiliate program?

An affiliate program is a marketing initiative, a sort of performance-based advertising, whereby the affiliate promotes the merchant’s products/services, and in return and depending on the type of program, the affiliate receives a commission from, or shares revenue with the merchant for delivering sales, leads or traffic to the merchant’s websites. The affiliate can be paid a flat fee or a percentage of the transaction.

It’s a mutually beneficial business relationship, and is also commonly termed as associate, reseller, referral, or partner program. A case in point is Amazon.com which is amongst the first to launch an affiliate program on the internet.

How Does An Affiliate Program Work?

In a typical affiliate program, affiliates normally promote the merchant’s products/services by placing graphic links, text links and/or banners from their websites. They also advertise in ezines, send endorsement letters to their list of opt-in subscribers and customers via emails and/or autoresponders to drive traffic to the merchant’s websites.

The merchant leads the referred visitors through the selling process, closes the sale, processes the payment, fulfills the order and handles all customer service issues. The merchant also tracks the affiliates who send him the traffic via an affiliate software. If a sale is closed, the merchant calculates and pays the commission to the affiliates as agreed.

Types of Affiliate Program

Affiliate programs can be broadly categorized into various types as delineated below, and they can be either single-tier or two-tiers.

You can also either implement and manage the affiliate program yourself or outsource it to third party managers such as Commission Junction, LinkShare, etc. My suggestion is that you run your own affiliate program in-house as it is more cost-effective and profitable to you in the long run. By running your affiliate program in-house, you’ll do away with the start-up costs and percentage of revenue to be paid to third party affiliate program managers.

1. Pay-Per-Impression

Pay-Per-Impression is a type of affiliate program where the affiliate is paid by impressions. Everytime a banner or link is displayed to a visitor at the affiliate’s website, it is counted as an impression. The affiliate is normally paid a few cents per visitor, and the commission is calculated based on per 1000 impressions or CPM.

2. Pay-Per-Click

In this type of affiliate program, the affiliate is paid everytime a visitor clicks on the links or banners displayed at the affiliate’s website through to the merchant’s website. The compensation to the affiliate normally ranges from a few cents to a few dollars per click.

3. Pay-Per-Lead

As the name implies, the affiliate is compensated by every lead it generates for the merchant such as a visitor filling-up a form at the affiliate’s website.

4. Pay-Per-Sale

For this type of affiliate program, the affiliate is only paid when a sale is closed. This is the most cost-effective and profitable type of affiliate program and is the one that I recommend for reasons as delineated below.

Benefits of Affiliate Program

1. Increased Brand Awareness

An affiliate program will increase your brand awareness. Building your brand requires mass exposure, and as such, an affiliate program is ideal because of your network of affiliates. As your name, logo, and products are being promoted by your affiliates all over the internet, it inevitably increases your mindshare and brand awareness.

Amazon.com is a good example. It builds its brand identity initially via its affiliate program. Amazon.com is able to do so because of its vast network of affiliates. Its ten of thousands of affiliates is more than willing to promote its products because it benefits them as well in terms of the perceived credibility by associating with and promoting Amazon.com’s products.

2. Higher Search Engine Ranking

Search engines place great importance on the quality as well as the number of websites that link to you in determining your website ranking. A well designed affiliate program will dramatically increase your search engine link popularity because of the number of affiliates who link to you. This in turn will boost your ranking resulting in more traffic to your website.

In addition, with greater visibility in the search engines, both organic and paid listings, your brand identity will be further enhanced.

3. Extremely Low Advertising Costs and Risk

Your advertising costs is limited to what you pay to your affiliates when a sale is closed. Your affiliates literally do all the marketing and bear all the costs of advertising. Even when they spend money on advertising promoting your products and not making any sale, it doesn’t costs you a dime because they’re only paid on performance, that is, only when a sale is closed.

Therefore, it naturally follows that your risk is also extremely low. Your risks is only limited to the cost of your affiliate software and your time.

4. Increased Leads and Sales

An afffiliate program can literally grow your leads and sales exponentially. This is especially so with a 2-tier affiliate program when affiliates begin to recruit sub-affiliates. The increase in the volume of visitors to your website will give your website conversions a further boost. That means sales, with next to no effort on your part. Sales you might never have made without your affiliates referring them to you.

Furthermore, you can profit from these customers by selling to them over and over again with back-end sales. You’ve indeed gained additional customers for life, not forgetting that your affiliates themselves are also your potential customers.

As you can see, an in-house managed, two-tier affiliate program is undeniably one of the most cost-effective and profitable traffic generation tactic for both big and small businesses.

Think about this…

… You simply can’t lose because you don’t invest much money up front except for your time and the cost of the affiliate software which in most cases is rather low, and which you can easily make it back within a very short period of time.

Instituting an affiliate program is definitely one of the most powerful ways of marketing online, and is undoubtedly also a win-win relationship for the merchant and its affiliates.

About the Author

Copyright 2005 by Larry Lim, MarketingSphere.com

Larry Lim, a Singaporean, is the Founder of MarketingSphere.

A marketing strategist, Larry dishes out highly effective marketing strategies, tactics and tips that will enable you to start and grow your business on the Internet.

To read more of Larry Lim’s articles, visit his Internet Marketing Strategy and Article Search Engine Directory websites.

Chinese herbs are a separate category of medicines altogether and rightfully so. They can strengthen the immune system, inhibit the growth of tumors, manage blood pressure and increase sexuality - indeed, the range is very wide. There are numerous herbs, including those that are considered common and those that are the jealously guarded secrets of traditional Chinese herbalists.

Here are some examples of Chinese herbs and what all they can be used for:

Ginseng is a commonly available root that has a flair for healing and rejuvenation. The Korean ginseng, for example, stimulates the cerebral cortex and counters exhaustion and extreme infirmity. It helps to replenish depleted energy and body fluids. It can also stimulate the sex glands and is capable of removing toxins from the body. The taste is mildly bittersweet.

The black and red Reishi mushrooms are other examples of prized Chinese herbs. They can strengthen the immune system, increase vitality of white blood corpuscles and accentuate the impact of anti-oxidants. These mushrooms also have a calming influence on the mind. They alleviate insomnia and female sexual dysfunction.

The Lotus seed is yet another indispensable Chinese herb. It tones the kidney and spleen and eases diarrhea. It stimulates appetite and has a sweet to neutral taste.

The Licorice root comes as a blessing because it can detoxify the body, invigorating and cooling it down at the same time. It acts as an analgesic and can regulate the action of other herbs. It can also be used as a natural sweetener.

Ginko biloba is a distinguished herb and arguably the oldest in traditional Chinese medicine. It has proven beneficial effects on the heart and lungs. It is used to treat coughs, asthma, and chronic allergic inflammation, and is one of the best herbal nutritional supplements available.

Herbs provides detailed information on Herbs, Medicinal Herbs, Herbs And Spices, Chinese Herbs and more. Herbs is affiliated with Mediterranean Diet Food.

A lot of times, people are a lot better at coming up with excuses for not accomplishing things than for coming up with ideas to achieve their goals.

How about you?

(let that question sit for a while, and answer it honestly)

Whether this applies to you, or not, here’s something to think about, and to internalize into your subconscious mind.

****

When your reasons why are bigger than your excuses, you will make progress toward your goal.

****

“What do I mean by that?” you ask.

It’s simply this…

You’ve got to come up with all the reasons why you should accomplish something and focus on those positive reasons, rather than dwell on the negative excuses that are holding you back.

There’s something very interesting about your subconscious mind (which is much more powerful than your conscious logical mind).

Your subconscious mind will work on achieving WHATEVER you give it to work on.

If you give it excuses and negative thoughts, it immediately believes this is what you want and it works on making your wishes come true.

If you give it great positive reasons why you want to achieve a specific goal, it will immediately take you at your word and begin working toward that goal. And it will keep working on that goal until instructed to do otherwise.

(and “otherwise” means those negative excuses snuck back into your thinking)

You see, the choice is yours.

Feed your subconscious carefully.

Whether you feed it positive or negative thoughts, it works incessantly on getting you the results it believes you want, the thoughts that you plant into it.

So take just one minute, right now, and get out that paper and pen.

Write down something that you want.

And write down all the reasons why you should have it and who it would benefit (you and specific others).

Once you do this, you’ve imprinted your positive thoughts on your subconscious mind forever.

Don’t write out your excuses, they will pop into your head much too easily on their own.

Just focus on your positive reasons why and write those down to internalize them into your mind.

And then –

Take action on those reasons why right now.

Do something.

Take one small step and experience how good it feels to move forward toward your goal, without worrying about excuses or other roadblocks.

(did you do what I’ve just told you to do?)

No?… why not? — (fill in your excuse here)

Yes?… congratulations — you just got RESULTS!

Tony Robbins has been an inspiration for millions. Love him and his philosophy or not, it is undeniable that he has had a positive impact on millions of people. He has sold over 30-million motivational tapes, published three best-selling self-help books, more than 2 million people attended his seminars and another 10,000 (including myself) have attended his mastery university in Hawaii. His core products include Get The Edge - Unlimited Power - Date with Destiny - Mastery University and more.

Here are the top 10 lessons that I learned from Tony Robbins:

1) By altering your body’s physiology, you can achieve an immediate change of your emotional state. The mind will follow whatever state your phsyical body is in and not vice-versa.

2) Ask specific questions of yourself (in your self-talk) to direct and control your attention to the various aspects of the human experience. The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions you ask of yourself.

3) Get leverage to create personal change by associating an old behavior with massive pain and the desired new behavior with massive pleasure. Tony is a big believer in the pain/pleasure principles of life and this applies in business as well.

4) When you get stuck, interupt your limiting pattern by doing something totally unexpected.

5) You can condition your behavior by visualizing it over and over again. This is not exactly unique to Tony Robbins, but he does reinforce this message in all of his products.

6) Goal-setting strategy: Know your end outcome; Take massive intelligent action; Have sensory-acuity to notice if you are getting the results you desire and if not; change your approach; and change *until* you get your end outcome.

7) Create a “Compelling future” by vividly imagining your end result to generate enthusiasm and power within yourself. The past does not equal the future. Find beliefs that support your goals and desires.

Youth is Power! This is one of Tony’s beliefs. Even if you don’t have fancy degrees, your youth can still mean power, flexibility and opportunity for your life.

9) Principles of CANI! CANI stands for Constant And Never-ending Improvement. It’s a basic tenet of Tony Robbins.

10) NLP can be useful. NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming and there are many NLP undertones in Tony’s basic tenets. He went on to morph NLP into his own technology called “NAC” (Neuro Associative Conditioning).

Need inspiration? Surf on over to: http://InspiresYOU.com/

Outside of the sports industry, most people, particularly in North America, are unfamiliar with coaching as a helping profession. The purpose of this article is to introduce / reinforce what coaching is and the role coaches play in helping people to find more value in their life.

Coaching is defined by its governing organization, the International Coaching Federation (ICF), as, “an ongoing partnership that helps clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives”. Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life.

In each meeting, the client chooses the focus of conversation, while the coach listens and contributes observations and questions. This interaction creates clarity and moves the client into action. Coaching accelerates the client’s progress by providing greater focus and awareness of choice. Coaching concentrates on where clients are today and what they are willing to do to get where they want to be tomorrow.

Phil Jackson coached Michael Jordan to help him to realize his own athletic potential and, thereby, achieve extraordinary results that were consistent with his goals. Phil provided Michael with the edge that allowed him to reach beyond his own limitations. His job was to provide Michael with an outside perspective and keep him focused on his goals. Well, that’s what we coaches do for those who seek a better life in their career, in business, improved health, better relationships, etc. Our task is to point out the things our clients can’t see and offer them ideas on how they can improve their performance. At the same time we are motivating our clients to do their best. We challenge our clients to go beyond where they would normally stop. We help them to tap into their greatness allowing them to share it with the world.

Much of the coach’s efforts are fueled by their belief that individuals are intelligent, gifted, resourceful and possess great levels of integrity and conviction. While clients may initially appear to be clueless about how to get from where they are to where they want to be, effective coaches view them as being the masters and creators of their destiny as opposed to being victims. Oftentimes, they’ve taken the harder road to success instead of just deciding who they want to be or what they want to have and then acting on that decision. My role as a career and life coach, for example, is to help my clients achieve their goals by working smarter not harder.

Through coaching, clients learn how to rid themselves of those things in their life that drain their energy and sabotage their success. My colleague and mentor, Cheri Baumann (www.myprivatecoach.com) describes the process as, “Out with the old, non-effective clutter, and in with new things that you want in your life.” Clients learn more about managing areas of their life like money and time in order to have the things they want to have. Additionally, clients learn to become more in tune with their needs as well as the needs of others. This allows them to broaden their network and influencers in ways that put them in greater alignment with their goals. It’s the client’s agenda, not the coach’s that’s most important at all times.

John P. Carvana is a certified Career and Life Purpose Coach. He owns and operates LPF Consulting (http://www.discoveredpurpose.com) which specializes in working with motivated individuals in career transition and those seeking executive coaching. He is featured as the “#1 Career Coach” with MyPrivateCoach.com (http://www.myprivatecoach.com). He has thirty years of experience as a career service provider. He is a skilled trainer and motivational speaker and has received national awards and recognition for his work with clients.

In recent times the most noticeable public role for Peter Sutherland as chairman of BP PLC was to play host at the company’s yearly meeting. But after a run of oil spills, dangerous accidents and an energy-trading scandal at BP, the 60-year-old one-time rugby player has charged head first into the scrum.

Last year, the Irish politician and prominent banker forced Chief Executive John Browne to publicly commit to his retirement date. After Lord Browne’s surprise decision last month to leave a year and a half earlier than previously planned, Mr. Sutherland must now bolster BP’s image and manage the company’s first executive-suite transition in more than ten years.

Despite a persistent rise in oil prices its shares rose just 4.5 per cent in 2006, in comparison with a 36 per cent rise by Exxon Mobil Corp. and 15 per cent at Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Yesterday, the company announced 4th quarter net income decreased by 22 per cent, in part reflecting lower production and lower natural-gas prices.

BP, meanwhile, faces U.S. criminal probes on multiple fronts — oil spills and corrosion in Alaska; a a refinery explosion in March 2005 which claimed the lives of 15 in Texas; as well as its energy-trading practices, with federal officials alleging BP traders surreptitiously influenced propane markets in 2004. BP refutes this claim and says it is cooperating with investigators on all three inquiries.

Mr. Sutherland’s higher profile also underpins a pattern that goes further than BP: a transition in the boardroom dynamics at many of Europe’s largest publicly traded companies. Nonexecutive directors here have in the past been criticized for leaving too much decision-making in the hands of powerful executives. Now, many firms are moving to strengthen their boards with independent and strong directors.

Up until Shell were shaken by an accounting scandal in 2004, Shell’s British holding company had as its chairman a professor of geology. After the scandal, it got in Jorma Ollila, former chief executive officer of Nokia Corp as chairman. Unilever also appointed an external chairman last month to cap a restructuring at the Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods giant.

The goal of Mr. Sutherland at BP from the beginning has always been to establish a “robust” and independent board structure he said in an interview recently. After stints as Ireland’s attorney general and Europe’s competition czar, Peter Sutherland took over negotiations known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Geneva in 1993. There, he clinched the Uruguay Round, a pivotal trade agreement that set the stage for today’s World Trade Organization. For a man who has achieved so much it is difficult to forsee where he will find his next challenge.

With new technological improvements for example digital Telly, Hi Definition Telly, Freesat and home cinema sound, if you’re most recent television device is greater than 5 years old, then it is a wonderful time to acquire a brand new television. However, as equipment improves roughly almost on a weekly basis, obtaining a new telly set may be dreadfully complex & perplexing.

This guide attempts to offers an insight on all the newest innovations that will guarantee to take your telly enjoyment to a fantastic new intensity.

Hi-Definition TV: Possibly one of the most important advancement to television since the invention of colour technology, High Def (HD) television brings detail, clarity and colour, with pictures normally four times as crisp as numerous usual TV machines. To witness Hi-Def television you are required to own a High-Definition Ready TV. Sky & Freesat have already begun broadcasting high-def TV programmes meaning you can now get pleasure from a collection of your beloved television programmes, movies and sporting occasions with incredible realistic pictures.

Incorporated Digital Tuner: A TV with built in digital tuner (generally referred to as idTV) permits you to acquire all free to air digital TV stations, including: E4, BBC3, Sky News and countless more without the need for a separate set top box.

Freesat: A new digital satellite television service obtainable via joint venture between the BBC & ITV, supplying you free Hi Def TV programmes at no further fee. Freesat has no twelve-month contract, no payment subscription, just an up-front price for the TV, satellite dish & installation. And because Freesat is broadcast via satellite, it is available to roughly almost each and every family in the United Kingdom. Freesat television is at this time only accessible with Panasonic tellies.

LCD or Plasma: Even though LCD and Plasma televisions operate in very different ways, the benefits of both are very much similar. But, it’s critical to keep in mind that when choosing between a Plasma or LCD television, it’s in actual fact only a question of size. LCD is at its optimal performance up to and including 32″ while Plasma televisions offer optimal performance at 37″ and higher. Thus, if you want to purchase a small flat panel TV set, then LCD offers the far better performance, while on the other hand if you need a bigger panel size, then Plasma is without doubt the greatest option.

In evaluation its necessary to remember when selecting the most appropriate telly for you, to consider your available budget, your viewing distance, the appearance you crave & if it’s to be an LCD or Plasma television. Find great deals on Plasma TVs at John Lewis.

Many winter fantasies revolve around a crackling fireplace. Perhaps you’re sipping hot chocolate with the kids and talking about snowflakes. Maybe you’re even roasting marshmallows. Or, maybe you’re cuddled with your honey by the light of the glowing embers. It’s a beautiful scene, isn’t it? The reality, however, is a bit less romantic. In reality, wood-burning fireplaces can be a lot of work. First of all, you have buy or chop the wood. Then you have to struggle to get the fire started. When it’s all over, you have to clean up the ashes. Not fun.

Luckily, there are less labor-intensive alternatives. Gas fireplaces replicate the look and feel of wood fireplaces without the aggravation. These fireplaces are easy to operate, as they are activated by a wall switch or remote control. Gas fireplaces have health benefits over their wood-burning counterparts, as well. Wood stored inside a home can lead to the growth of mold sporesgas fireplaces completely eliminate this significant health risk. Gas fireplaces also produce cleaner flames, leading to less air pollution.

Today’s gas fireplaces have the look of traditional fireplaces. Fireplaces are available in a wide variety of styles, including traditional masonry and more contemporary looks. Most are also equipped with a real or faux wood mantle. These come in cherry, oak, pine, white, and a host of other colors. Some come with a surrounding frame in which tiles can be placed. The tile does not have to be grouted or permanently affixed, so it can be easily changed if your décor changes.

Gas fireplaces are available as inserts or as free-standing units. Prices range from a couple of hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. They can be portable units that can be moved from room to room, or they can be large units that must be installed. They can be purely decorative or they can provide heat. As you can see, there are many options available in today’s gas fireplace market. No matter what your budget is, no matter what your style isif you desire a gas fireplace, there is probably one available that will suit your needs.

About the Author

Gas Fireplaces Info provides detailed information about ventless, outdoor, corner, and natural gas fireplaces, and gas fireplace stoves, as well as gas fireplace inserts, logs, and more. Gas Fireplaces Info is the sister site of Fireplace Mantels Web.

Lucky you if you live in the north (of the US). Lucky all of us that nature is plentiful in providing free supplies for decorating our homes for Thanksgiving no matter where we live.

Even in South Texas at this time of year I can wander outside and clip off some branches from my yellow-berried pyracantha (I planted some with yellow berries as well as red just for this occasion), and grab a handful of at least brown leaves. If you live in the north and can garner pine cones, seed pods, pine branches and fallen leaves in all their glorious colors, use these as the basis for your color scheme.

I’m also lucky to have a garden full of chrysanthemums in bloom ready to be put around in vases in the house. Since they’re perennials (down here), I can always count on having them come back this time of year. Check your yard and garden for blooms in keeping with your color scheme (and next year, consider planting accordingly).

You also have an array of decorating materials available in the produce department of your grocery. All those squashes lend themselves beautifully to the fall color scheme. It’s nature’s way. Go for it! Arrange some greenery branches across the mantle and place fruits and vegetables around and there you have it. We’re celebrating the harvest, after all.

Now here’s the trick. We have two major celebrations coming up: Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Here at my house I need to make a quick transition and I’m short on time, like everyone else. I’m having guests for Thanksgiving, but then my grandchildren will be coming here the Friday after. I’m giving a Christmas Cookie Baking Party for Kids on Friday, and will need to switch rapidly from Thanksgiving to Christmas, so I’ve planned my decorating accordingly.

I’ll be using only greens, yellows, golds and whites for Thanksgiving. Then, for instance, I can remove the white, green and yellow gourds and squashes from the greenery on the mantle, add some white lights and gold stars, gold jingle bells, and gold ornaments and I’m set to go.

The white, yellow and gold candles and tealights for Thanksgiving can remain. See how easy it can be!

Cheap tip for a real glow? Buy a fair-sized mirror, place it on your dining room table, buffet or mantel and cover it with tea lights. Beautiful!

You could achieve this same easy transition keeping green and brown for basic background and using accents of burgundy and rust. This is a more subtle look for Christmas than the bright primary red, but it works just as well.

Also make some trips to your local Goodwill and Thrift Stores and visit some garage sales. People give away the most amazing holiday decorations that can be yours for pennies. I’ve found everything - hand towels, wreaths, pillows, stuffed animals, wall pictures, water globes and statuettes. Since they’re used only for a short time, you hate to spend too much on them.

And here’s a neat tip. My Goodwill store has a selection of lamp shades and I have the lamps, don’t you? You can change out your lampshades to fit your decorating scheme. Did you ever think of that? It only takes a minute. Just make sure before you go that you know which kind of lampshades you have, and match them.

Oh and don’t forget to check out the picture frames at the resale shop. You could move a favorite photo to a holiday frame and place that up on the mantel as well. In fact if you don’t already have some great holiday photos, take some this year. I have a great photo of my grand-daughter sitting with a pumpkin I move to a central location at Thanksgiving, and then a collage of my own children at former Christmases I bring out in December. I bought an ugly print at a garage sale that had a beautiful forest green frame, threw away the print and substituted with the collage. It’s such a dear reminder.

And while you’re decorating, don’t forget yourself! Most thrift stores set up displays of holiday apparel you’ll want to take advantage of for you and the kids.

Some planning ahead can help you save time and money and still allow for a festively decorated home for the holidays.

©Susan Dunn, MA, Personal Life & EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc . Offering coaching, Internet courses and ebooks for your personal and professional development. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for free ezine. I train and certify EQ coaches. Email me for information on this fast, affordable, comprehensive, no-residency program.

Source: www.isnare.com

The most unique beach wedding reception ideas are sparked by imagination not tradition. Never mind etiquette, tradition and timelines. That information is outdated and stuffy. Do what will make you and your guests happy. It is a time for fun and celebration, not pomp and ceremony!

Long gone are the days of “assigned” seating arrangements and cookie cutter reception programs. Everyone waiting to be told what to do next. Yawn! Today, you can “have it your way”. No, I am not suggesting that “Burger King” host your reception. But, you could, IF you wanted to! That’s the message.

To plan for your reception, you need first to know:

* What is your theme? * What time of day you will be having your wedding ceremony? * What type of atmosphere do you wish to create?

Answer those three questions and great beach wedding reception ideas will follow.

Perhaps you will marry in a romantic sunrise ceremony followed by a breakfast reception. How about an early afternoon wedding followed by a beach barbeque? Plan fun activities such as a sand castle building contest or a volleyball game. Marry at sunset. Follow the ceremony with a wine and cheese reception and dancing.

The size of your guest list and your budget will also help to determine which path you take.

Buffet or food station receptions lend themselves very well to informal beach weddings and are the most fun. They are also cheaper! You can easily coordinate this type of reception yourself and eliminate the added expense of a caterer. Those special women in your family who love to cook would be honored to assist with this project I’ll bet. Heck, knowing “Aunt Jo” and “Grandma”, they will probably take over and you won’t have to worry about a thing!

Formal afternoon weddings will of course lead to the usual “sit down” planned menus. Caterers will be necessary. The advantage being that the whole affair will be tended to without you lifting a finger…for a price. In order to cut costs here, you will have to limit the menu and the guests.

So, if you have a large guest list and a limited budget, avoid marrying late in the afternoon. Guests will be hungry and expect the dinner reception. Instead, stick with a breakfast, brunch or cocktail reception.

The wedding industry dictates that a reception should be from three to five hours in length. Rubbish! A reception should be as long as it takes for you and your guests to enjoy each others company and have fun. It can last a couple of hours or all day if you like.

Don’t feel obligated to stretch the event out. Often, your older guests tire easily and would like to leave before the designated departure time anyway. If you are having a beach side bash, consider a “come and go” atmosphere. Let people know what time your departure will be so they can be there to send you off.

As far as beach wedding reception ideas go, the rule of thumb is - there is no rule of thumb! Break the mold. Do something different, something fun, something memorable.

Whatever you and your guests will enjoy most, IS the perfect beach wedding reception!