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How To Present A Cheese Board

There are many ways to serve a cheese board to get the best of your cheese selection.

Obviously the first thing to do is to choose a few cheeses that go well together. It’s probably best to group them by theme such as region of origin or milk type. Don’t forget that the weather can influence the sort of cheese that people want to eat – warmer weather lends itself to fresh tastes such as goats cheese and colder weather lends itself more to mature flavours such as strong cheddar and blue cheeses.

Once you have a selection you will need a cheese board to present them on. There are many materials that the board can be made from slate to wood and marble to glass. They come in all shapes and sizes so choose something that you will be happy using time and time again and make sure that the board has enough room when filled for guests to cut the cheese.

Wood is great to serve on because it looks beautiful with the pattern of the grain, and the natural oil content of the wood kills bacteria. Each board is unique because each piece of wood is unique.

Slate is nice to use because you can write the name of each cheese using chalk so that your guests can find out what they are eating. One downside is that the noise of cutlery scraping on it is very unpleasant to some people.

Don’t put the cheese on the board too late. Get it out of the fridge about 2 hours before you want to serve it. This allows the process of aromatisation to occur which brings out the fullest flavour.

You can have fun with the way you arrange the cheese. It’s a good idea to put crumbly cheeses in the middle though. Consider turning wedges up on their end because it creates a dramatic impression. Make sure that you keep the cheese separate from each other though to avoid the flavours contaminating each other.

Depending on how you have cut the cheese you will need different cutlery. a block will need a knife to cut it but slices will need a fork or tongs. Spoons are a good idea for very soft cheeses.

To accompany the cheese on the board you will need a few crackers or some bread. also consider adding some fresh or dried fruit and some nuts.

However you choose to serve you cheese board you are sure to enjoy the flavour, textures and aromas that the cheese has to offer.

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Money Is Not Always the Most Important Issue in Negotiations

In many deals and negotiations, much time is spent on price. One side negotiating for the highest amount they can receive and the other negotiating just as hard to keep the number as small as possible. And while I won’t say this isn’t important, because it certainly is, often the actual dollar amount may not be the most important issue on the table, and sometimes even when it is the most important, there are other variables that are equally important or almost as important that can be major influences in the final outcome. We have all heard stories of the person who refuses to settle for a large amount of cash, because what the person really wants is for the other party or side to admit to wrongdoing and apologize. For a person such as this, the principle of the thing really is the most important, and money does not matter. There are other circumstances where issues other than money will make or break negotiations and in the end can be the factors in making better deals.

I have seen episodes of “Shark Tank” on television where the Sharks offered to purchase the name, or the entire business, and then license the idea out to other manufacturers and so forth, and besides the initial cash offering, provide a continual royalty to the seller for life on all profits the idea makes. Some people have accepted such an offer, and others have refused because they wanted to remain a part of the business they helped create. While selling everything and accepting a continual royalty very well might have made them rich, it was not enough. For some people, being a part of the businesses growth and daily activities was more important that just making money. These people were willing to walk away to find other resources and continue their dream, which was not necessarily money, but the pursuit of their creation.

At other times, things other than cash can turn out to be worth many more times that which is anticipated. Any one who has ever watched “I Love Lucy” reruns on television added to the net worth of Lucy and Desi, or their estate after they were gone. During the negotiations for the show, Lucy and Desi negotiated for the right to rebroadcast the shows at a future date. At the time reruns were virtually unknown, because who would want to see a TV show more than once? The rights seemed worthless to the network, so the readily agreed to that part of the deal. An issue that wasn’t money sure made Lucy and Desi a lot of it.

There are many things that can be negotiated other than money. That’s often what expanding the pie is all about. The creative negotiator will keep money in mind, but look for the other issues to negotiate the best deal possible.

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Marketing Small Businesses Online – How to Improve Your Web Presence and Increase Traffic

Home Based Business

More and more people today have been setting up their own businesses and learning about marketing small businesses online. Times have changed since the advent of the internet and there are a few elements to any successful marketing campaign that I’ll share with you here.

Web Presence

The point of marketing small businesses online is to drive traffic to your site and hopefully make a few conversions. A conversion rate calculates how many people must visit your site before you make a sale or generate a new lead. The following methods are each valuable methods of increasing your web presence.

Top Five Methods

1. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the single most important element to any online marketing campaign. By optimizing your site for search engine crawlers, you can improve your ranking in those search engines and generate long term organic web traffic.

2. Search engine PPC (pay per click) advertising is another way you can increase your presence. You set up your account with the search engines, choose your keywords and determine which sites you want your ad displayed. For everyone who clicks on one of your ads and lands on your site, you are charged for that. If no one clicks, you owe nothing.

3. Social networking is quickly becoming an amazingly powerful marketing tool. Setting up free accounts on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and HubPages you can start promoting yourself and your products. Include social bookmarking buttons on each of your web pages to encourage others to spread the news.

4. Article marketing campaigns in another excellent way to improve your web presence. By submitting good quality and informative articles to directories such as EzineArticles, you are not only presenting yourself as an expert to human readers, you are also creating valuable backlinks to your site which can greatly improve your ranking.

5. Commenting on blogs, forums and discussion groups is another powerful method of increasing your presence. Leave regular comments on sites that are related to your market’s niche. Doing this will also create valuable backlinks.

It Takes Time

Marketing small businesses on the internet takes patience and dedication. There is not overnight success, not even online. Be prepared to spend time each day building on each of the five principles. Keep at it and before long you’ll be reaping the rewards.

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