Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Bill Platt
I have been providing advertising services to online businesses since 2000. I have helped many people become successful online through the use of my services.
Too often, I only hear from people on the phone after they have lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to launch their new online business ventures. They call me when they have just a few dollars left. I sometimes wish people would have found me first, so that I could have helped them find real success, instead of heartache.
Beware Of The Charlatans
Before you consider spending any large chunk of cash, please be aware of those who are preying upon the Internet newcomers.
I know companies selling cookie-cutter websites for tens of thousands of dollars, and those cookie-cutter websites have never helped anyone achieve any kind of success online.
If you are buying a website that is selling products available on thousands of websites, it will be extremely difficult for you to stand out among the crowd.
I know that these cookie-cutter sites are attractive, because they have the products, the shopping cart, and the fulfillment systems built in, but you are still one of thousands of sites displaying the exact same kind of products for the exact same prices. You are only one in a huge wilderness of sites that might look different, but are exactly the same under the hood.
In these cases, the only website owner who profits is the guy who is selling the cookie-cutter website and handling the product fulfillment for the customers.
The guy selling the site wins in three ways: 1. Selling the cookie-cutter website for 10 grand; 2. Filling the product orders and collecting his wholesale fees; and 3. He gets to capture the email and mailing addresses of people who buy products from the cookie-cutter sites.
Beware Of The Cost Cutters
If you are selling any kind of hard-product (a product that must be shipped to the customer), be aware of the price comparison websites, such as http://Nextag.com/ where consumers can find the product they want to buy, then compare prices on that particular product across hundreds of websites.
You might be the one providing the best information about the product, only to ensure that your lowest price competitor gets the sale.
It is tough selling hard products online for this very reason, unless you are an exclusive distributor of such a product or no other companies have shown an interest in selling that kind of product.
Beware Of Import/Export
Before diving off into buying products from China to resell in the United States, you need to be aware of the laws governing the importation of certain product types.
There are certain products that the Chinese Wholesale sites would be happy to sell to you. And at the same time, the U.S. Customs Office would be happy to seize those products at the border, due to import restrictions.
If the U.S. Customs seizes your shipment, your investment may be lost forever.
You should know what you can import and what you can export. Know the facts, before spending your money arranging large product shipments into the United States. http://Customs.gov/ is a good place to start to learn about importing products into the U.S.
Beware Of Bad Business Advice
If you have ever heard that online business is different than offline business, please take some time to understand what that actually means.
Primarily, it means that I do not have to have an office on Main Street USA in order to do business online. I can run my business out of my house, if I so desire.
Beyond that difference, both methods of doing business are exactly the same.
The rules that govern the profitability of a business are exactly the same.
You must earn more than you spend to make a profit, and what you pay yourself is an expense.
Beware of Those Who Are In The Business Of Selling Lies
There are tons of people online who prey on people like you.
The one that immediately comes to mind is the Internet Marketing guru who says that you can hire ghost writers for $5 an article, and that is all you should need to spend.
I provide ghost writing services, and I cannot get good content for anywhere near $5 per article.
What you usually get for $5 is stolen from someone else, or it looks like it was written by a second grader.
The thing that is so ironic about that claim is that the gurus saying that you should only pay $5 for an article are usually paying $250 to $500 to have their articles written. And they would never tell you WHO writes their articles, because finding and keeping good help is tough, even online.
I can get decent articles written for you, for well under $250, in fact, for under $100 and sometimes for under $50, depending on if I am doing the writing or my writers are doing the writing.
It is important for you to understand that awesome writers can typically earn you an awesome Return On Investment (ROI).
When you find those awesome writers, you need to pay them what they require to keep them on your payroll, and you certainly do not want to share their name with another, in the off-chance that they decide that they would prefer to work for the other guy instead of you.
It is just bizarre to me that the big Internet Marketing gurus are telling you that you should never pay more than $5 an article, when I know for a fact that many of them are paying $250 to $500 an article to have their own stuff written.
You know what this actually boils down to?
Those gurus are not telling you what you need to know. They are telling you what you want to know.
Shame on them.
Just Be Careful Out There
The Internet is full of fraudsters looking to get your money and steal your your dreams.
So be careful not to become a victim of the Internet Marketing dream.
Many of my customers have taken the time to learn how to be successful, and they are. I have several clients who earn 7-figures a year from their online marketing endeavors.
If you learn the necessary work processes that you will need to do, offer a product or service people actually want or need, and you follow through with good advertising and customer service, you can be successful too.
Unfortunately, most people will blow their bankroll, before they figure out what it was that they were doing wrong. And then it is too late, because they no longer have the resources to make anything happen.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been providing article marketing services since 2001, including article ghost writing and article distribution services, through his website at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/ You can download Bill's free ebook titled, "Article Marketing: Beyond the Basics" on his blog. You can also listen to Article Marketing Tips and Tutorials at: http://ArticleMarketingConceptsRadio.com/
Follow @contentmanager on Twitter.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
How Many Links Does It Take To Get To The Middle Of Google Page One?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Bill Platt
Everyday it seems, people are asking me the optimum numbers of inbound links they need to acquire for their website in order to rank well in Google.
My answer is going to seem a little flip, but it is the honest, best answer.
Answer: You need more inbound links - of equal or higher quality - than what your competitors have.
Albert Einstein argued that any mathematical formula that required pages of calculations did not contain within it "the mind of God".
So when Albert Einstein developed E=mc2, then Einstein had fulfilled the promise of a simple formula that could encompass the brilliance of God.
When people wonder as to how many inbound links they might need to acquire in order to rank in the Top 4 of Google's search results or even the Top 10 of Google's SERPs, they are generally hoping that someone will be able to give them a numeric answer, so that they know whether they can afford to undertake the process or not.
I understand the WHY of the question, but there is no canned answer that will work for everyone.
Remember, your competitor may be asking the same question and undertaking the same processes as you are, trying to accomplish the same goal.
No one can truly begin to understand the answer to this question, until one has take the time to do an Inbound Link Comparison Analysis of all of your competitors in the Top 10 spots of Google's SERPs.
You need to look at the Top 10 listings in Google for a particular keyword.
You need to do backlink checks for all ten URLs in Google's search listings, and you need to check those numbers across a variety of sources, including Google, Yahoo and any other tool you can find to do a check. (Google and Yahoo both tend to understate the actual link counts. While Yahoo will show you more than what Google does, they also show a number of "no consequence" links in their results.)
You need to look at the quality of a few of the pages that offer links to the URLs in the search results.
This is not an easy process to undertake. I have done it before, but the best you can hope for is a "snapshot" of what is out there, and therefore, what you need to accomplish.
Note: If Wikipedia turns up in your search query, few people with small budgets will ever be able to dislodge Wikipedia in the search results. What they make up for in a small number of inbound links, they more than make up for with links from dozens or hundreds of PR4, PR5 and PR6 pages. Wikipedia is the king of Internal Linking, and they use that to a great degree to rank extraordinarily high in Google's search listings.
Your analysis should seek to uncover how many links a page has to it.
As a general rule of thumb, Google will show you less than 1% of the existing number of links for a web page. Yahoo will sometimes show closer to 5% of the existing number of links for a web page, but they will not show you the highest quality of those links.
So, as you strive to gain a "snapshot" picture of the playing field, you want to take Google's Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 100. Then you want to take Yahoo's Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 20, then cut the number in half to acknowledge the number of worthless crap links they have in their database. Once you have achieved these two numbers, then I tend to call the truth "somewhere in the middle".
With your "somewhere in the middle" number in hand, then you need to look at the quality of links to a few of those search listings, to get an idea of whether those links exist on higher quality pages or simply junk pages.
If those links are on junk pages, then the goal could be achieved by just working the numbers. But if there are a lot of high PageRank pages in the mix, then whatever number is in your hand, should be multiplied, perhaps 100-fold, to overcome the quality of pages that link to your competitors.
If you get the idea that my simple formula leads to a complicated answer, then you are right.
All of the numbers that I have included in my sample formula are based on rough speculation, as the "snapshot" offers you your best hope of understanding the challenge in front of you.
While the number of inbound links may be relatively easy to determine, the link quality is a factor that is really hard to pin down.
If you determine that you only need 300 inbound links to rank with the big boys, you may be right.
Your 300 inbound links number should also be quantified against the number of links that Google will count worthy, so you may need 1200 links to get 300 links that Google will deem worthy. This calculation depends more on the "quality of your content", rather than the "quantity of your content".
When all is said and done and your 300 Google-worthy links have not yet put you on page one, then you know that the quality of the links pointing at your competitors is greater than the quality of the links pointing to you.
If you were hoping for an easy answer, I am sorry that I could not help you with that.
But with this explanation of the challenge, you may be better prepared to answer the big question, the question that is really on your mind:
=== Are my hopes of achieving good rankings in Google within my reach?
I tend to throw "worry" to the wind and just start working. I don't worry if I can afford to do it or not. I simply start doing, and I know that in one month, one year or five, I will have built enough value in my website that my competitors are going to be the ones who are trying to figure out if they can unseat me!
About the Author:
Bill Platt has provided SEO services since 2004. In 2009, he transformed his SEO service, into one that helps people defeat negative search results in Google. By improving the rank of positive website reviews in the search results, negative search listings begin to disappear from the public eye. If you would like to learn more about how Bill's Reputation Management SEO service can help your business, visit: http://911reputation.com/ Bill has also owned http://thePhantomWriters.com/ since 2001.
Copyright © 2009 Bill Platt
Everyday it seems, people are asking me the optimum numbers of inbound links they need to acquire for their website in order to rank well in Google.
My answer is going to seem a little flip, but it is the honest, best answer.
Answer: You need more inbound links - of equal or higher quality - than what your competitors have.
Albert Einstein argued that any mathematical formula that required pages of calculations did not contain within it "the mind of God".
So when Albert Einstein developed E=mc2, then Einstein had fulfilled the promise of a simple formula that could encompass the brilliance of God.
When people wonder as to how many inbound links they might need to acquire in order to rank in the Top 4 of Google's search results or even the Top 10 of Google's SERPs, they are generally hoping that someone will be able to give them a numeric answer, so that they know whether they can afford to undertake the process or not.
I understand the WHY of the question, but there is no canned answer that will work for everyone.
Remember, your competitor may be asking the same question and undertaking the same processes as you are, trying to accomplish the same goal.
No one can truly begin to understand the answer to this question, until one has take the time to do an Inbound Link Comparison Analysis of all of your competitors in the Top 10 spots of Google's SERPs.
This is not an easy process to undertake. I have done it before, but the best you can hope for is a "snapshot" of what is out there, and therefore, what you need to accomplish.
Note: If Wikipedia turns up in your search query, few people with small budgets will ever be able to dislodge Wikipedia in the search results. What they make up for in a small number of inbound links, they more than make up for with links from dozens or hundreds of PR4, PR5 and PR6 pages. Wikipedia is the king of Internal Linking, and they use that to a great degree to rank extraordinarily high in Google's search listings.
Your analysis should seek to uncover how many links a page has to it.
As a general rule of thumb, Google will show you less than 1% of the existing number of links for a web page. Yahoo will sometimes show closer to 5% of the existing number of links for a web page, but they will not show you the highest quality of those links.
So, as you strive to gain a "snapshot" picture of the playing field, you want to take Google's Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 100. Then you want to take Yahoo's Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 20, then cut the number in half to acknowledge the number of worthless crap links they have in their database. Once you have achieved these two numbers, then I tend to call the truth "somewhere in the middle".
With your "somewhere in the middle" number in hand, then you need to look at the quality of links to a few of those search listings, to get an idea of whether those links exist on higher quality pages or simply junk pages.
If those links are on junk pages, then the goal could be achieved by just working the numbers. But if there are a lot of high PageRank pages in the mix, then whatever number is in your hand, should be multiplied, perhaps 100-fold, to overcome the quality of pages that link to your competitors.
If you get the idea that my simple formula leads to a complicated answer, then you are right.
All of the numbers that I have included in my sample formula are based on rough speculation, as the "snapshot" offers you your best hope of understanding the challenge in front of you.
While the number of inbound links may be relatively easy to determine, the link quality is a factor that is really hard to pin down.
If you were hoping for an easy answer, I am sorry that I could not help you with that.
But with this explanation of the challenge, you may be better prepared to answer the big question, the question that is really on your mind:
=== Are my hopes of achieving good rankings in Google within my reach?
I tend to throw "worry" to the wind and just start working. I don't worry if I can afford to do it or not. I simply start doing, and I know that in one month, one year or five, I will have built enough value in my website that my competitors are going to be the ones who are trying to figure out if they can unseat me!
About the Author:
Bill Platt has provided SEO services since 2004. In 2009, he transformed his SEO service, into one that helps people defeat negative search results in Google. By improving the rank of positive website reviews in the search results, negative search listings begin to disappear from the public eye. If you would like to learn more about how Bill's Reputation Management SEO service can help your business, visit: http://911reputation.com/ Bill has also owned http://thePhantomWriters.com/ since 2001.
Why 529 College Savings Plans Still Make Sense
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Charles Montgomery
When the economy went sour and took the stock market with it, lots of pundits came out swinging against 529 college savings plans.
"You see, you saved all this money for college and now it's gone," they exclaimed. They claim that investing for college in stocks is risky and, therefore, shouldn't be done at all.
Like anything, using black and white criteria is a mistake. In fact, it's a mistake not to take advantage of the tax benefits of 529 plans. You just need to do it smartly.
Stock investing is long term investing. How long is long term? At least 10 years. If you open a 529 plan for your child or grandchild when they're born, that gives you about a 20 year horizon. That's long enough to invest in stocks.
But that doesn't mean you should sock all of it into a risky stock mutual fund and let it ride until your child enrolls in college. Instead, you need to gradually move your investments into less risky asset classes.
Many 529 plans will do this for you. These target-date funds put most of your money in stocks to begin with and then move it into treasuries, bonds, and other asset classes as you get closer to needing to withdraw it.
One fair criticism of target date funds is that they might not be conservative enough with investments as you get closer to your target date. That's fair, which is why you need to research how your fund works. Don't just put everything on autopilot.
I personally manage the target dates myself. I'm still investing in my daughter's 529 account each month, one hundred percent in stocks. When she gets a little bit older I'll move some of this into less risky investment options. Then when she gets to within a few years of college, I may move it all into FDIC-insured assets. Whether or not I do this depends on how much I'll rely on that money to pay for college. If I have significant savings elsewhere, I'll keep the 529 in slightly more risky assets.
It's important to not overlook why 529 plans are such a great investment vehicle for saving for college. The tax benefits are extraordinary, especially if you live in a state that levies income tax and also offers 529 plan tax benefits.
First, you get federal income tax benefits when you withdraw your money to pay for qualified education expenses, such as tuition. You don't pay any tax on the capital gains and investment income. This applies to everyone with no income limits.
Second, some states will give you a tax deduction or credit when you contribute money into your plan, in addition to not paying tax when you pull the money out. That means you get a financial benefit today...not just 20 years from now.
You shouldn't necessarily invest in your states' 529 plan, even if they offer these tax benefits. It's important to search for the state that offers the ideal mix of investment options and fees for you.
But don't ignore saving for college with 529 plans just because of an alarmist news headline warning you to stay away. It's simply not sound advice. You just need to be smart about how you invest.
About the Author:
Charles Montgomery writes for 529s.com, an online resource for parents and grandparents research 529 plans. At 529s.com you can download a free report: 5 Biggest 529 Plan Mistakes. Learn more at: http://529s.com/
Copyright © 2009 Charles Montgomery
When the economy went sour and took the stock market with it, lots of pundits came out swinging against 529 college savings plans.
"You see, you saved all this money for college and now it's gone," they exclaimed. They claim that investing for college in stocks is risky and, therefore, shouldn't be done at all.
Like anything, using black and white criteria is a mistake. In fact, it's a mistake not to take advantage of the tax benefits of 529 plans. You just need to do it smartly.
Stock investing is long term investing. How long is long term? At least 10 years. If you open a 529 plan for your child or grandchild when they're born, that gives you about a 20 year horizon. That's long enough to invest in stocks.
But that doesn't mean you should sock all of it into a risky stock mutual fund and let it ride until your child enrolls in college. Instead, you need to gradually move your investments into less risky asset classes.
Many 529 plans will do this for you. These target-date funds put most of your money in stocks to begin with and then move it into treasuries, bonds, and other asset classes as you get closer to needing to withdraw it.
One fair criticism of target date funds is that they might not be conservative enough with investments as you get closer to your target date. That's fair, which is why you need to research how your fund works. Don't just put everything on autopilot.
I personally manage the target dates myself. I'm still investing in my daughter's 529 account each month, one hundred percent in stocks. When she gets a little bit older I'll move some of this into less risky investment options. Then when she gets to within a few years of college, I may move it all into FDIC-insured assets. Whether or not I do this depends on how much I'll rely on that money to pay for college. If I have significant savings elsewhere, I'll keep the 529 in slightly more risky assets.
It's important to not overlook why 529 plans are such a great investment vehicle for saving for college. The tax benefits are extraordinary, especially if you live in a state that levies income tax and also offers 529 plan tax benefits.
First, you get federal income tax benefits when you withdraw your money to pay for qualified education expenses, such as tuition. You don't pay any tax on the capital gains and investment income. This applies to everyone with no income limits.
Second, some states will give you a tax deduction or credit when you contribute money into your plan, in addition to not paying tax when you pull the money out. That means you get a financial benefit today...not just 20 years from now.
You shouldn't necessarily invest in your states' 529 plan, even if they offer these tax benefits. It's important to search for the state that offers the ideal mix of investment options and fees for you.
But don't ignore saving for college with 529 plans just because of an alarmist news headline warning you to stay away. It's simply not sound advice. You just need to be smart about how you invest.
About the Author:
Charles Montgomery writes for 529s.com, an online resource for parents and grandparents research 529 plans. At 529s.com you can download a free report: 5 Biggest 529 Plan Mistakes. Learn more at: http://529s.com/
Friday, October 30, 2009
The Ultimate Security
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater
I can remember times when I didn't feel very secure.
For instance, when I was dead broke after finishing up with the hairdressing salon and didn't have enough money to eat.
Or when I looked around at the people on the street and wondered "will that be me before too long."
Or when I went away for a retreat to a little town called Kiama and didn't know if I was going to be able to afford the accomodation (because I had no money in my bank account to afford the rent - which was only $20 a night. Thankfully somebody paid me within this time and I could).
There's no feeling quite like being on the edge. And trust me, it's not the sort of feeling I would ever want again.
In fact, I don't think it could ever happen again.
Why?
Because now I know without a doubt I have the ability to produce.
And that's the only real security there is.
After all, let's face it.
Your money can disappear overnight (it's happened to thousands of people before and will happen again).
Your house can be knocked down in a heartbeat (my parents knew this only too well when they lost everything in Cyclone Tracy).
And things can change in your industry which can leave your business obsolete (think of the big train companies from a century ago)
But if you've got the ability to produce... to market... to sell...to hustle... then you don't need to worry because you know in your heart that no matter what happens... no matter what disaster hits (they do and they will again)... your security lies in the knowledge you hold in your own mind... and your ability to take action on it.
That's why you should move heaven and earth to get your hands on http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com/
Because knowledge (and your ability to act on it) really is THE ULTIMATE SECURITY.
About the Author:
Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter with extensive experience in B2B and B2C writing. Mr Bywater is the author of Cash-Flow Advertising and More Customers Made Easy. You can gain access to his copywriting and marketing tips via his entertaining and eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/
Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater
I can remember times when I didn't feel very secure.
For instance, when I was dead broke after finishing up with the hairdressing salon and didn't have enough money to eat.
Or when I looked around at the people on the street and wondered "will that be me before too long."
Or when I went away for a retreat to a little town called Kiama and didn't know if I was going to be able to afford the accomodation (because I had no money in my bank account to afford the rent - which was only $20 a night. Thankfully somebody paid me within this time and I could).
There's no feeling quite like being on the edge. And trust me, it's not the sort of feeling I would ever want again.
In fact, I don't think it could ever happen again.
Why?
Because now I know without a doubt I have the ability to produce.
And that's the only real security there is.
After all, let's face it.
Your money can disappear overnight (it's happened to thousands of people before and will happen again).
Your house can be knocked down in a heartbeat (my parents knew this only too well when they lost everything in Cyclone Tracy).
And things can change in your industry which can leave your business obsolete (think of the big train companies from a century ago)
But if you've got the ability to produce... to market... to sell...to hustle... then you don't need to worry because you know in your heart that no matter what happens... no matter what disaster hits (they do and they will again)... your security lies in the knowledge you hold in your own mind... and your ability to take action on it.
That's why you should move heaven and earth to get your hands on http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com/
Because knowledge (and your ability to act on it) really is THE ULTIMATE SECURITY.
About the Author:
Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter with extensive experience in B2B and B2C writing. Mr Bywater is the author of Cash-Flow Advertising and More Customers Made Easy. You can gain access to his copywriting and marketing tips via his entertaining and eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/
Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.
Top Ten Ways to Use Twitter for Marketing
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Jason OConnor
Twitter is a micro-blogging site that asks you a basic question, "What are you doing?" It allows anyone with an account to write up to 140 characters in a text field as a means to update, comment, promote or communicate to others who are "following" you. When people follow you, they see what you've recently contributed when they login. They see your "tweets", which are the messages you leave.
And of course you can follow others who tweet about the things that interest you. As an Internet marketer you may want to follow other Internet marketers, for example.
Like anything, and this is especially true of working with social media, the more you give, the more you get. In other words, the more often you tweet the more activity you'll generate. Some suggest that you tweet a few times a day, every day. Not every tweet needs to be profound. But they should all be useful.
It's important that you don't abuse Twitter for marketing and promoting your products, services or affiliate links. Most of your tweets ought to be about offering your followers useful and valuable information. Only once in a while should you try to use Twitter to promote something. Otherwise you'll be perceived as a spammer, and no one wants that tag.
Imagine if you had a large number of people following your tweets? Some people have tens of thousands following them. If you had something to promote and you had a large following, you could quickly and efficiently alert a lot of people of your promotion. It acts sort of like an opt-in mass emailing blast to your house email list, but it's a heck of a lot easier and faster. This is the power of Twitter.
One thing that I've noticed with Twitter is that it can seem overwhelming at times. The sheer information on Twitter, the 'how-to's', tutorials and all the other ubiquitous advice on how to use and take advantage of it can seem hard to understand and implement. So here's an easy-to-understand list of the top ten ways in which you can use Twitter to market yourself, your business and your website.
The Top 10 Ways To Use Twitter for Marketing:
1. Use it to promote new pieces of content you or your company create to drive traffic to your site. From online articles to blog posts or from videos to webinars, each time you add something to the Web that is of value, tweet about it and include a link. (Most people on Twitter use www.TinyURL.com to take a long URL and make it short.)
2. Use it for learning new marketing ideas, strategies and techniques. If you follow the right people, and you have to be picky about who you follow, you'll get pointed to a good amount of useful tutorials, videos, e-zines and other things that teach you about marketing.
3. Use it to get new customers. Use Twitter's search to find people who may be interested in your product or service. There are many ingenious ways to search for people on Twitter. For example, if you sell red widgets you could go to http://search.twitter.com and find people who have tweeted specifically looking for red widgets. To do this, type the following into the search box: red widgets?
You'll notice a lot of the results will be of others selling red widgets. These ones will all obviously have links in them to direct people to the site they're selling red widgets on. To weed these people/tweets out, use the negative sign like this: -http red widgets?
Since every link has 'http' in it, using the negative sign in front of it will cause your search results to not include any tweets with links in them.
4. Use it to build your email list. Use Twitter's search to find people who may be interested in the monthly newsletter you send out to your opt-in house email list. Invite these people to join.
5. Utilize Twitter plugins or add-ons such as TweetMyBlog or The Twitter Updater, which both automatically make tweets of every new blog post you publish. Also check out TwitThis. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the Web page and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their followers on Twitter. Finally, look at TweetLater, a service that allows you to write lots of tweets at once and then schedule them to go out over time.
6. Use it to build buzz about an upcoming product or website launch.
7. Use it to better brand yourself or your business. Remember, when someone wants to learn more about you or your company, they are increasingly using sites like Twitter for research. You could easily use Twitter to establish yourself as an authority in your field.
8. Use it to update followers on breaking news regarding your company. If your company is mentioned in a new article, tweet about it and include a link to the article. Or if you're at a conference or trade show, you could tweet what you're doing and invite people to visit you in person.
9. Use it for business networking, master-mind groups (see Napoleon Hill), and getting yourself seen by high-profile people in your industry.
10. Use it as an instant messaging system to keep your and your team on the same page during projects. This is especially useful for those who work with teams spread out in different cities or countries.
You should note that this top 10 list is not in order of importance or in any particular order. I suggest that you give Twitter a try if you haven't already. See if you can apply a few of these techniques and tactics to help you take advantage of Twitter as a marketing tool.
And one more important thing to remember is that there is no silver bullet in marketing. You should always be trying and implementing numerous tactics when marketing your business. Don't only rely on Twitter or any other one thing. Instead, use Twitter (or any other Web 2.0 site) as simply one more tool in your entire social media and marketing toolbox.
Copyright 2009 TheNetGazette.net
About the Author:
Jason OConnor is an Web consultant, writes for The Net Gazette, a Web marketing newsletter, and owns Oak Web Works, LLC, a Web design and marketing company at http://www.oakwebworks.com/
Follow Jason OConnor on Twitter.
Copyright © 2009 Jason OConnor
Twitter is a micro-blogging site that asks you a basic question, "What are you doing?" It allows anyone with an account to write up to 140 characters in a text field as a means to update, comment, promote or communicate to others who are "following" you. When people follow you, they see what you've recently contributed when they login. They see your "tweets", which are the messages you leave.
And of course you can follow others who tweet about the things that interest you. As an Internet marketer you may want to follow other Internet marketers, for example.
Like anything, and this is especially true of working with social media, the more you give, the more you get. In other words, the more often you tweet the more activity you'll generate. Some suggest that you tweet a few times a day, every day. Not every tweet needs to be profound. But they should all be useful.
It's important that you don't abuse Twitter for marketing and promoting your products, services or affiliate links. Most of your tweets ought to be about offering your followers useful and valuable information. Only once in a while should you try to use Twitter to promote something. Otherwise you'll be perceived as a spammer, and no one wants that tag.
Imagine if you had a large number of people following your tweets? Some people have tens of thousands following them. If you had something to promote and you had a large following, you could quickly and efficiently alert a lot of people of your promotion. It acts sort of like an opt-in mass emailing blast to your house email list, but it's a heck of a lot easier and faster. This is the power of Twitter.
One thing that I've noticed with Twitter is that it can seem overwhelming at times. The sheer information on Twitter, the 'how-to's', tutorials and all the other ubiquitous advice on how to use and take advantage of it can seem hard to understand and implement. So here's an easy-to-understand list of the top ten ways in which you can use Twitter to market yourself, your business and your website.
The Top 10 Ways To Use Twitter for Marketing:
1. Use it to promote new pieces of content you or your company create to drive traffic to your site. From online articles to blog posts or from videos to webinars, each time you add something to the Web that is of value, tweet about it and include a link. (Most people on Twitter use www.TinyURL.com to take a long URL and make it short.)
2. Use it for learning new marketing ideas, strategies and techniques. If you follow the right people, and you have to be picky about who you follow, you'll get pointed to a good amount of useful tutorials, videos, e-zines and other things that teach you about marketing.
3. Use it to get new customers. Use Twitter's search to find people who may be interested in your product or service. There are many ingenious ways to search for people on Twitter. For example, if you sell red widgets you could go to http://search.twitter.com and find people who have tweeted specifically looking for red widgets. To do this, type the following into the search box: red widgets?
4. Use it to build your email list. Use Twitter's search to find people who may be interested in the monthly newsletter you send out to your opt-in house email list. Invite these people to join.
5. Utilize Twitter plugins or add-ons such as TweetMyBlog or The Twitter Updater, which both automatically make tweets of every new blog post you publish. Also check out TwitThis. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the Web page and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their followers on Twitter. Finally, look at TweetLater, a service that allows you to write lots of tweets at once and then schedule them to go out over time.
6. Use it to build buzz about an upcoming product or website launch.
7. Use it to better brand yourself or your business. Remember, when someone wants to learn more about you or your company, they are increasingly using sites like Twitter for research. You could easily use Twitter to establish yourself as an authority in your field.
8. Use it to update followers on breaking news regarding your company. If your company is mentioned in a new article, tweet about it and include a link to the article. Or if you're at a conference or trade show, you could tweet what you're doing and invite people to visit you in person.
9. Use it for business networking, master-mind groups (see Napoleon Hill), and getting yourself seen by high-profile people in your industry.
10. Use it as an instant messaging system to keep your and your team on the same page during projects. This is especially useful for those who work with teams spread out in different cities or countries.
You should note that this top 10 list is not in order of importance or in any particular order. I suggest that you give Twitter a try if you haven't already. See if you can apply a few of these techniques and tactics to help you take advantage of Twitter as a marketing tool.
And one more important thing to remember is that there is no silver bullet in marketing. You should always be trying and implementing numerous tactics when marketing your business. Don't only rely on Twitter or any other one thing. Instead, use Twitter (or any other Web 2.0 site) as simply one more tool in your entire social media and marketing toolbox.
Copyright 2009 TheNetGazette.net
About the Author:
Jason OConnor is an Web consultant, writes for The Net Gazette, a Web marketing newsletter, and owns Oak Web Works, LLC, a Web design and marketing company at http://www.oakwebworks.com/
Follow Jason OConnor on Twitter.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Effect of Inflation and Deflation on Retirees
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Irene A. Majchrzak
When we worry about how long our retirement income will last, we consider so many factors. The current economy is causing a drain on 401(k)'s and IRA's. So we have become much more cautious about withdrawing money to use it as part of our pensions. Now we are limited to living within the Social Security benefits of those 65 and older. Social Security is in the process of being changed to stop the cost of living benefits for the next couple of years, as well.
The Dow Jones continues to fluctuate between 9200 and 9500 for almost all of 2009, so it will be difficult to feel confident that we will be accessing our savings for any big ticket items like a new car or vacations within the near future. The unemployment rate is over 9% and still rising. This emphasizes the concern that the country is not really coming out of the recession as is being argued by many economists.
As my friends and I discussed the impact of inflation I wonder if the inflation level will rise from the 3% that I routinely use to determine the growth of liabilities and consumer goods for my clients, as I help them with their retirement planning.
I ask myself should I start using 4% as a better indicator of the amount of savings my clients will need at retirement? As a result I went on to Google and entered "current inflation rate" and what I found was very surprising and worthwhile discussing for all of us trying to make sense of the economy.
While all of us have heard about inflation and recognize that when it occurs it could cause problems for us, personally. What we may not have is an easy definition that describes inflation as occurring when money becomes relatively less valuable than goods.
Knowing this I expected to see inflation rising over the past few months but instead, since March, 2009 our economy has been in continued periods of deflation. September's number will be due out on October 15^th and it is likely that the trend of deflation will continue.
So now I went back to Google and asked what causes deflation? **According to Kimberly Amadeo of _About.com_ deflation is defined as the time that "asset and consumer prices continue to fall." This may seem like a great thing to consumers, because it may seem a positive concept that consumer prices are becoming more affordable, except that the cause for deflation is a long-term drop in demand.
Unfortunately as Ms. Amadeo continues, "a drop in demand means that a recession is already underway, with job losses, declining wages, and an ongoing decline in the value of your home and your stock portfolio. Deflation is a result of businesses dropping prices in a desperate attempt to get people to buy their products.
Officially, deflation is measured by a decrease in the Consumer price index. However the index does not measure stock prices which retirees use to fund purchases and businesses use to fund growth."
Can Anything Be Done About Deflation?
Google.com has become my research source. In seeking the answer to the prevention and possibly a cure for deflation many interesting perspectives were presented. The table presented on _Inflation Data.com_ shows the drop in the inflation rate in Dec./08 and continuing into Jan. and Feb./09 and the subsequent rate of deflation often linked to recessions, that started in Mar/09.
Inflation is defined in the _Merriam Webster Dictionary_ as a continuing rise in the general prices due to an increase in the volume of money and credit with less goods and services available for purchase. Deflation seems to be caused by a long term drop in demand for goods. Of course this is only a part of the story. We need to ask ourselves why is there a drop in demand for goods?
Mike Moffatt writing on "What is Deflation and How Can It Be Prevented" @ _About._com. gives us further insights. Mike quotes Colin Asher speaking to _Radio Free Europe_, and Mark Gongloff @ _CNN Money_.
Colin Asher, an economist at Nomura Securities, told _Radio Free Europe_ that the problem with deflation is that "in deflation [there's] a declining spiral. Businesses make less profits so they cut back [on] employment. People feel less like spending money. Businesses then don't make any profits and everything works itself into a declining spiral." Deflation also has a psychological element as it "becomes rooted in peoples' psychologies and becomes self-perpetuating. Consumers are discouraged from buying expensive items like automobiles or homes because they know those things will be cheaper in the future."
Mark Gongloff at _CNN Money_ agrees with these opinions. Gongloff explains that "when prices fall simply because people have no desire to buy -- leading to a vicious cycle of consumers postponing spending because they believe prices will fall further -- then businesses can't make a profit or pay off their debts, leading them to cut production and workers, leading to lower demand for goods, which leads to even lower prices."
So the recession is the fault of the consumer? Or could it be caused by the continued increase in printing money whenever the government needs more for its own special use. Glen Beck @ Glenbeck.com displayed a graph that outlines the spending that has taken place in America. In 1971 President Nixon decided to stop using the gold standard to back our money. Over the ensuing years the outpouring of printed money being pumped into the economy will so devalue our dollar as to be almost worthless.
The consumer anxiety is this. We are concerned about the effect of inflation and deflation on our lifestyles. We are concerned about the level of our retirement funds and the slow return to the pre-October 2008 level. What if we continue to withdraw funds to augment our Social Security or pensions and the recession finally ends after we have drained our savings. As the economy surges forward the young, with jobs, will need to start over and the elderly on fixed incomes, can become greeters.
We are also, concerned about the continued recession no matter that many economists say the US economy is finally coming out of the recession. Look at the numbers and decide for yourself. We are still seeing unreasonable growth in unemployment numbers and fewer new jobs being developed except in bigger government or in lower paying homecare fields.
What is the answer? The job of preventing recessions over the past few years lies with the Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Government. Decreasing the interest rates has helped to increase the supply of money into the economy. Lowering interest rates has worked in the past but now the interest rates are already low and the feds hesitate to cut the rates further.
The government can help by putting more money into the economy by lowering taxes and increasing government spending with a temporary deficit. The government is already printing money for many new ideas such as the stimulus package for AIG and loaning money to the banks and the auto industry thus causing a real deficit, not a temporary one.
Why not lower taxes? This would benefit the common people not only the banks and corporations. Why not beg the feds to print more money to be used to buy bonds to decrease our interest rates? Is it such a big deal to cut the rate by 1/8^th of a percent to help the economy? The feds have usually lowered the rates by 1/4% or greater.
Last quarter the feds decided against cutting the interest rate. When economists talk about "printing more money" and "the Fed lowering interest rates" they're talking about the same thing. The Government is printing money but not reducing taxes or lowering interest rates. While already low, there is still room to lower them further, so using this policy to fight deflation will support growth in the economy.
About the Author:
Irene A. Majchrzak helps people retire debt-free with a sense of well-being and the freedom to have the things they want. Get her free ebook, Debt Free to Retire, by going to http://debtfreetoretire.com
Read more of Irene A. Majchrzak's articles.
Copyright © 2009 Irene A. Majchrzak
When we worry about how long our retirement income will last, we consider so many factors. The current economy is causing a drain on 401(k)'s and IRA's. So we have become much more cautious about withdrawing money to use it as part of our pensions. Now we are limited to living within the Social Security benefits of those 65 and older. Social Security is in the process of being changed to stop the cost of living benefits for the next couple of years, as well.
The Dow Jones continues to fluctuate between 9200 and 9500 for almost all of 2009, so it will be difficult to feel confident that we will be accessing our savings for any big ticket items like a new car or vacations within the near future. The unemployment rate is over 9% and still rising. This emphasizes the concern that the country is not really coming out of the recession as is being argued by many economists.
As my friends and I discussed the impact of inflation I wonder if the inflation level will rise from the 3% that I routinely use to determine the growth of liabilities and consumer goods for my clients, as I help them with their retirement planning.
I ask myself should I start using 4% as a better indicator of the amount of savings my clients will need at retirement? As a result I went on to Google and entered "current inflation rate" and what I found was very surprising and worthwhile discussing for all of us trying to make sense of the economy.
While all of us have heard about inflation and recognize that when it occurs it could cause problems for us, personally. What we may not have is an easy definition that describes inflation as occurring when money becomes relatively less valuable than goods.
Knowing this I expected to see inflation rising over the past few months but instead, since March, 2009 our economy has been in continued periods of deflation. September's number will be due out on October 15^th and it is likely that the trend of deflation will continue.
So now I went back to Google and asked what causes deflation? **According to Kimberly Amadeo of _About.com_ deflation is defined as the time that "asset and consumer prices continue to fall." This may seem like a great thing to consumers, because it may seem a positive concept that consumer prices are becoming more affordable, except that the cause for deflation is a long-term drop in demand.
Unfortunately as Ms. Amadeo continues, "a drop in demand means that a recession is already underway, with job losses, declining wages, and an ongoing decline in the value of your home and your stock portfolio. Deflation is a result of businesses dropping prices in a desperate attempt to get people to buy their products.
Officially, deflation is measured by a decrease in the Consumer price index. However the index does not measure stock prices which retirees use to fund purchases and businesses use to fund growth."
Can Anything Be Done About Deflation?
Google.com has become my research source. In seeking the answer to the prevention and possibly a cure for deflation many interesting perspectives were presented. The table presented on _Inflation Data.com_ shows the drop in the inflation rate in Dec./08 and continuing into Jan. and Feb./09 and the subsequent rate of deflation often linked to recessions, that started in Mar/09.
Inflation is defined in the _Merriam Webster Dictionary_ as a continuing rise in the general prices due to an increase in the volume of money and credit with less goods and services available for purchase. Deflation seems to be caused by a long term drop in demand for goods. Of course this is only a part of the story. We need to ask ourselves why is there a drop in demand for goods?
Mike Moffatt writing on "What is Deflation and How Can It Be Prevented" @ _About._com. gives us further insights. Mike quotes Colin Asher speaking to _Radio Free Europe_, and Mark Gongloff @ _CNN Money_.
Colin Asher, an economist at Nomura Securities, told _Radio Free Europe_ that the problem with deflation is that "in deflation [there's] a declining spiral. Businesses make less profits so they cut back [on] employment. People feel less like spending money. Businesses then don't make any profits and everything works itself into a declining spiral." Deflation also has a psychological element as it "becomes rooted in peoples' psychologies and becomes self-perpetuating. Consumers are discouraged from buying expensive items like automobiles or homes because they know those things will be cheaper in the future."
Mark Gongloff at _CNN Money_ agrees with these opinions. Gongloff explains that "when prices fall simply because people have no desire to buy -- leading to a vicious cycle of consumers postponing spending because they believe prices will fall further -- then businesses can't make a profit or pay off their debts, leading them to cut production and workers, leading to lower demand for goods, which leads to even lower prices."
So the recession is the fault of the consumer? Or could it be caused by the continued increase in printing money whenever the government needs more for its own special use. Glen Beck @ Glenbeck.com displayed a graph that outlines the spending that has taken place in America. In 1971 President Nixon decided to stop using the gold standard to back our money. Over the ensuing years the outpouring of printed money being pumped into the economy will so devalue our dollar as to be almost worthless.
The consumer anxiety is this. We are concerned about the effect of inflation and deflation on our lifestyles. We are concerned about the level of our retirement funds and the slow return to the pre-October 2008 level. What if we continue to withdraw funds to augment our Social Security or pensions and the recession finally ends after we have drained our savings. As the economy surges forward the young, with jobs, will need to start over and the elderly on fixed incomes, can become greeters.
We are also, concerned about the continued recession no matter that many economists say the US economy is finally coming out of the recession. Look at the numbers and decide for yourself. We are still seeing unreasonable growth in unemployment numbers and fewer new jobs being developed except in bigger government or in lower paying homecare fields.
What is the answer? The job of preventing recessions over the past few years lies with the Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Government. Decreasing the interest rates has helped to increase the supply of money into the economy. Lowering interest rates has worked in the past but now the interest rates are already low and the feds hesitate to cut the rates further.
The government can help by putting more money into the economy by lowering taxes and increasing government spending with a temporary deficit. The government is already printing money for many new ideas such as the stimulus package for AIG and loaning money to the banks and the auto industry thus causing a real deficit, not a temporary one.
Why not lower taxes? This would benefit the common people not only the banks and corporations. Why not beg the feds to print more money to be used to buy bonds to decrease our interest rates? Is it such a big deal to cut the rate by 1/8^th of a percent to help the economy? The feds have usually lowered the rates by 1/4% or greater.
Last quarter the feds decided against cutting the interest rate. When economists talk about "printing more money" and "the Fed lowering interest rates" they're talking about the same thing. The Government is printing money but not reducing taxes or lowering interest rates. While already low, there is still room to lower them further, so using this policy to fight deflation will support growth in the economy.
About the Author:
Irene A. Majchrzak helps people retire debt-free with a sense of well-being and the freedom to have the things they want. Get her free ebook, Debt Free to Retire, by going to http://debtfreetoretire.com
Read more of Irene A. Majchrzak's articles.
My Super-Effective Article Writing Formula
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Willie Crawford
Here's the formula that I use to quickly write informative articles that get results. For many of the articles that I write my goal is to get visitors to a website where they take some action related to the topic of the article. Often the action that they take is to buy some product that I recommend.
Here is the formula that I use to write articles almost in an assembly line fashion. The reason that I write so many articles is that in some niches you need dozens, even hundreds of articles, to break through the clutter.
I begin with keyword research. You want to know what keyword phrases your ideal customers are using when searching online. They come online searching for solutions to their problems, and when they come across your articles offering a solution, they become raving fans.
To do keyword research, I often use the "Google External Keyword Tool." You can find it by googling that term. This tool shows you how many searches are made on a given term in a month, plus how many webpages there are out there already targeting that phrase. The tool also suggests related terms that you might want to target. You can use this tool to compile a list of suitable keywords and then download your research results in an Excel spreadsheet.
In looking at keywords, what you're trying to identify, in addition to search volume, is "What problems are these searchers try to solve." People come online looking for solutions to their problems. You identify those problems and then let them know (via your articles) that you have the perfect solution.
In crafting my article titles, I use my keywords but also work in a promised benefit. My titles promise to show them the solution to a nagging problem. When they see that title listed in the search engines, this is what entices them to click through to your target site.
In crafting the body of my articles, I use the "problem, agitate, solution" formula. I describe the problem to let the reader know that I understand their problems. I then go into excruciating details explaining the problem, and how it's not going to get any better unless they do something about it. Finally, I point out the obvious solution, which is my recommended product.
Sometimes I only point them to a website to read more about the problem. On that website, they'll also find my recommended solution. This is a less-threatening, soft-sell approach.
When I do my keyword research, I sometimes identify hundreds of related keywords that are being searched on a lot. At the same time, I identify several different painful problems (or variations of the same problem). This is what allows me to write articles in almost an assembly line fashion.
After the articles are written, I use an automated submission service to submit them to the top article directories. I use automated submissions because otherwise I'd spend countless hours submitting each article (not a very good use of our time).
In the resource box of these articles, I point readers to a target site. Where permitted I use anchor text in the links in these resource boxes. That anchor text is generally the keyword that I'm targeting (the same keyword that I used in my title).
I also post these articles to my blogs or maybe to a static page on one of my sites.
Since I like to leverage my time, I also turn many of my articles into videos, and podcasts. I generally create the videos by putting the main points of the articles on PowerPoint slides. Then I read the article as I go through the slides - recording then using Camtasia (screen capture software).
Alternatively, I sometimes simply turn the text of an article into a PDF. Then I scroll down my computer screen reading the article, and again, recording it using Camtasia.
To create the podcast you can use recording software probably already on your computer, or you can download one many free pieces of software such as Audacity. Simply read the article as you record it. I generally save it as an MP3.
Submit the videos to video sharing sites, and submit the audio to podcast sites. I use an automated submission service for this, submitting to numerous sites!
Here's one final tactic that I use to get my articles to rank higher for a target keyword and get noticed more readily in the search engines. I look for ways to create external links pointing to my article in one location - generally my main blog. I do this by bookmarking the blog post that contains the article. This is perhaps the easiest way to give the article a search engine boost.
There you have it, my super-effective article writing formula. It generates a steady stream of high quality website traffic for me, and a steady stream of orders too. Feel free to use it.
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been marketing online for 13 years, and used article marketing most of that time (writing over 1500 articles). His favorite tools for automatically distributing his articles, videos, podcasts, and press releases is the automated submission site: http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.com/
Follow @WillieCrawford on Twitter.
Copyright © 2009 Willie Crawford
Here's the formula that I use to quickly write informative articles that get results. For many of the articles that I write my goal is to get visitors to a website where they take some action related to the topic of the article. Often the action that they take is to buy some product that I recommend.
Here is the formula that I use to write articles almost in an assembly line fashion. The reason that I write so many articles is that in some niches you need dozens, even hundreds of articles, to break through the clutter.
I begin with keyword research. You want to know what keyword phrases your ideal customers are using when searching online. They come online searching for solutions to their problems, and when they come across your articles offering a solution, they become raving fans.
To do keyword research, I often use the "Google External Keyword Tool." You can find it by googling that term. This tool shows you how many searches are made on a given term in a month, plus how many webpages there are out there already targeting that phrase. The tool also suggests related terms that you might want to target. You can use this tool to compile a list of suitable keywords and then download your research results in an Excel spreadsheet.
In looking at keywords, what you're trying to identify, in addition to search volume, is "What problems are these searchers try to solve." People come online looking for solutions to their problems. You identify those problems and then let them know (via your articles) that you have the perfect solution.
In crafting my article titles, I use my keywords but also work in a promised benefit. My titles promise to show them the solution to a nagging problem. When they see that title listed in the search engines, this is what entices them to click through to your target site.
In crafting the body of my articles, I use the "problem, agitate, solution" formula. I describe the problem to let the reader know that I understand their problems. I then go into excruciating details explaining the problem, and how it's not going to get any better unless they do something about it. Finally, I point out the obvious solution, which is my recommended product.
Sometimes I only point them to a website to read more about the problem. On that website, they'll also find my recommended solution. This is a less-threatening, soft-sell approach.
When I do my keyword research, I sometimes identify hundreds of related keywords that are being searched on a lot. At the same time, I identify several different painful problems (or variations of the same problem). This is what allows me to write articles in almost an assembly line fashion.
After the articles are written, I use an automated submission service to submit them to the top article directories. I use automated submissions because otherwise I'd spend countless hours submitting each article (not a very good use of our time).
In the resource box of these articles, I point readers to a target site. Where permitted I use anchor text in the links in these resource boxes. That anchor text is generally the keyword that I'm targeting (the same keyword that I used in my title).
I also post these articles to my blogs or maybe to a static page on one of my sites.
Since I like to leverage my time, I also turn many of my articles into videos, and podcasts. I generally create the videos by putting the main points of the articles on PowerPoint slides. Then I read the article as I go through the slides - recording then using Camtasia (screen capture software).
Alternatively, I sometimes simply turn the text of an article into a PDF. Then I scroll down my computer screen reading the article, and again, recording it using Camtasia.
To create the podcast you can use recording software probably already on your computer, or you can download one many free pieces of software such as Audacity. Simply read the article as you record it. I generally save it as an MP3.
Submit the videos to video sharing sites, and submit the audio to podcast sites. I use an automated submission service for this, submitting to numerous sites!
Here's one final tactic that I use to get my articles to rank higher for a target keyword and get noticed more readily in the search engines. I look for ways to create external links pointing to my article in one location - generally my main blog. I do this by bookmarking the blog post that contains the article. This is perhaps the easiest way to give the article a search engine boost.
There you have it, my super-effective article writing formula. It generates a steady stream of high quality website traffic for me, and a steady stream of orders too. Feel free to use it.
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been marketing online for 13 years, and used article marketing most of that time (writing over 1500 articles). His favorite tools for automatically distributing his articles, videos, podcasts, and press releases is the automated submission site: http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.com/
Follow @WillieCrawford on Twitter.
Hosted PBX - What Is It and Do I Want One?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Nermine Shaker
You know how important telecommunication services are to your business. They let you communicate efficiently with colleagues, workers and customers. They also allow you to serve your customers' needs directly by giving them direct access to your goods and services.
Telecom services also provide one of the major components of your public identity. Your phone number or website reminds customers who you are, what you offer and what services you provide. Since these benefits are important to make your business successful, you should always be looking for new telecom services that can increase your efficiency, help your bottom line and improve your identity with the public. One solution that addresses these issues is a hosted PBX.
What is Hosted PBX
PBX stands for Private Branch exchange. With traditional PBX, an incoming call is routed through switchboard hardware to different extensions throughout the company. This hardware is usually kept somewhere on company premises. With a hosted PBX service, the call will go to the carrier's central office, get processed through the hardware at their site and then will be sent to your phone extensions. So, Hosted PBX is an IP-based PBX (Internet Protocol) service that is hosted by someone else and provides call routing for your company. These systems have been in use for decades.
Today, the technology has improved enough that firms should seriously consider the advantages of using a hosted PBX network before deciding what kind of telecom system they wish to use.
Why You Should Consider a Hosted PBX System
The advantages that a hosted PBX network provides may make a convincing argument for using such a system. Businesses generally save money on their phone and Internet bills by switching to a hosted PBX network because all calls and data are processed at one centralized location, which reduces the need to use a service provider's resources. It also lets firms easily create as many lines of communication as they need because all those lines are also centrally located. In addition, it is easy to handle any number of phone calls and Internet connections at one time.
So with a hosted PBX system, you won't have to invest in a new on-site phone system, which can be costly. However, you may need to purchase new Internet Protocol (IP) phone sets, but the investment is minimal. You'll get all the features of traditional PBX including auto attendant, voice mail, call routing, and unified communications without the huge investment of traditional PBX.
That Sounds Good, But What About...
There are some potential disadvantages that you must considered before deciding on whether or not to use a hosted PBX system. For example, some firms' existing telecommunications infrastructure is too large and/or complicated to convert without an unacceptable level of disruption to their communications.
Reliability is a huge concern with hosted PBX service. If your connection to the Internet fails, for whatever reason, you will lose your phone service. Make sure there is redundancy in place, an alternative network that will take over if one fails. If the telephone system is crucial to your business and even a short disruption of service is unacceptable, you may want to reconsider using an IP voice solution at all.
Another drawback is the potential time and effort to teach your firm's workers how to use the new services. This difficulty may lead to decreased short-term productivity and increased marginal labor costs that may offset any cost savings the service would provide you.
Finally, the short lifespan of the technology needed to implement a hosted PBX network may make it impractical in the long run for some firms to use. Computer technology changes often enough that your firm must weigh the possibility of having to replace the equipment against any benefits you may receive from a hosted PBX service. Your individual situation will determine what's best for your company.
Questions to Ask if You Are Considering a Hosted PBX Network
While considering the advantages and disadvantages of using a hosted PBX system, you should ask several questions before making your final decision. What kinds of businesses benefit from using hosted PBX services? Smaller businesses have certain long-term advantages that may make them better candidates for using hosted PBX services that larger firms may not have. Will my business benefit in the long run by using this service? If so, you then should ask which service provider best fits your needs.
Telecom providers have hosted PBX systems that offer a wide variety of services for your firm to consider. This makes it all the more important for you to shop around carefully before making a final decision. Finally, do you have enough time and resources to use the service in the long run? Because there are many short-term disadvantages in setting up the service, you must be willing to commit to using the service for some time before you will see any savings. Otherwise, it is a waste of your time and resources.
Hosted PBX systems offer many benefits to firms who can best utilize their services. Before deciding if you are one of them, due diligence is needed to weigh the benefits against the potential disadvantages that could make using the service untenable. In the end, this careful analysis can make a huge impact on your firm's bottom line.
About the Author:
Nermine Shaker is a Partner at THE SYGNAL GROUP, a telecom consulting firm that offers telecom expense management, telecom auditing and VoIP management to businesses of all sizes. Find out how to lower your telecom expenses at http://www.SygnalGroup.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.TelecomExpertise.com/
Read more of Nermine Shaker's articles.
Copyright © 2009 Nermine Shaker
You know how important telecommunication services are to your business. They let you communicate efficiently with colleagues, workers and customers. They also allow you to serve your customers' needs directly by giving them direct access to your goods and services.
Telecom services also provide one of the major components of your public identity. Your phone number or website reminds customers who you are, what you offer and what services you provide. Since these benefits are important to make your business successful, you should always be looking for new telecom services that can increase your efficiency, help your bottom line and improve your identity with the public. One solution that addresses these issues is a hosted PBX.
What is Hosted PBX
PBX stands for Private Branch exchange. With traditional PBX, an incoming call is routed through switchboard hardware to different extensions throughout the company. This hardware is usually kept somewhere on company premises. With a hosted PBX service, the call will go to the carrier's central office, get processed through the hardware at their site and then will be sent to your phone extensions. So, Hosted PBX is an IP-based PBX (Internet Protocol) service that is hosted by someone else and provides call routing for your company. These systems have been in use for decades.
Today, the technology has improved enough that firms should seriously consider the advantages of using a hosted PBX network before deciding what kind of telecom system they wish to use.
Why You Should Consider a Hosted PBX System
The advantages that a hosted PBX network provides may make a convincing argument for using such a system. Businesses generally save money on their phone and Internet bills by switching to a hosted PBX network because all calls and data are processed at one centralized location, which reduces the need to use a service provider's resources. It also lets firms easily create as many lines of communication as they need because all those lines are also centrally located. In addition, it is easy to handle any number of phone calls and Internet connections at one time.
So with a hosted PBX system, you won't have to invest in a new on-site phone system, which can be costly. However, you may need to purchase new Internet Protocol (IP) phone sets, but the investment is minimal. You'll get all the features of traditional PBX including auto attendant, voice mail, call routing, and unified communications without the huge investment of traditional PBX.
That Sounds Good, But What About...
There are some potential disadvantages that you must considered before deciding on whether or not to use a hosted PBX system. For example, some firms' existing telecommunications infrastructure is too large and/or complicated to convert without an unacceptable level of disruption to their communications.
Reliability is a huge concern with hosted PBX service. If your connection to the Internet fails, for whatever reason, you will lose your phone service. Make sure there is redundancy in place, an alternative network that will take over if one fails. If the telephone system is crucial to your business and even a short disruption of service is unacceptable, you may want to reconsider using an IP voice solution at all.
Another drawback is the potential time and effort to teach your firm's workers how to use the new services. This difficulty may lead to decreased short-term productivity and increased marginal labor costs that may offset any cost savings the service would provide you.
Finally, the short lifespan of the technology needed to implement a hosted PBX network may make it impractical in the long run for some firms to use. Computer technology changes often enough that your firm must weigh the possibility of having to replace the equipment against any benefits you may receive from a hosted PBX service. Your individual situation will determine what's best for your company.
Questions to Ask if You Are Considering a Hosted PBX Network
While considering the advantages and disadvantages of using a hosted PBX system, you should ask several questions before making your final decision. What kinds of businesses benefit from using hosted PBX services? Smaller businesses have certain long-term advantages that may make them better candidates for using hosted PBX services that larger firms may not have. Will my business benefit in the long run by using this service? If so, you then should ask which service provider best fits your needs.
Telecom providers have hosted PBX systems that offer a wide variety of services for your firm to consider. This makes it all the more important for you to shop around carefully before making a final decision. Finally, do you have enough time and resources to use the service in the long run? Because there are many short-term disadvantages in setting up the service, you must be willing to commit to using the service for some time before you will see any savings. Otherwise, it is a waste of your time and resources.
Hosted PBX systems offer many benefits to firms who can best utilize their services. Before deciding if you are one of them, due diligence is needed to weigh the benefits against the potential disadvantages that could make using the service untenable. In the end, this careful analysis can make a huge impact on your firm's bottom line.
About the Author:
Nermine Shaker is a Partner at THE SYGNAL GROUP, a telecom consulting firm that offers telecom expense management, telecom auditing and VoIP management to businesses of all sizes. Find out how to lower your telecom expenses at http://www.SygnalGroup.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.TelecomExpertise.com/
Read more of Nermine Shaker's articles.
The Puppy Dog Close
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater
On Friday, my three year old son's cubby house, slippery dip and sandpit arrived and was erected in our backyard.
The look on his face was one of absolute delight... surprise... shock and happiness all rolled into one.
All he wanted to do all weekend was hop on it.
And when his cousins came over to our place yesterday, they had the time of their life.
Now my wife and I ummed and aahed about whether or not to get this cubby house or not.
It was virtually double the price of the others we looked at. But it had other benefits such as being non-toxic and having aesthetic appeal.
Now after we received it, it got me thinking:
What would I do if I was selling these little cubby houses.
And the thought came to me: Is there any way in the world that I would send it back?
Obviously, the answer is no.
My son loves it. His friends love it. It looks great.
There's no way in the world it's going anywhere.
And I imagine the story is the same for everyone else who buys it.
And that's why if I was running a company like this, I would use a "puppy dog close" to secure the sale.
So how does a "puppy dog" close work.
It goes like this: take the puppy for a week. If you don't like it, send it back. If you like it, then pay me our agreed amount.
Makes sense, right.
I mean obviously you would need to ensure you were targeting the right market, do credit checks and ensure your potential client could afford the product.
But that's how I would close the sale on a product like that.
It wouldn't work in some industries.
But it would work for selling cars.
It would work for selling boats.
It would work for selling bikes.
Ask yourself: could it work for your business?
And if you answered yes, think of how you can apply this strategy today.
About the Author:
Scott Bywater is an advertising copywriting expert and the author of Cash-Flow Advertising. To gain access to all of his copywriting tips on how to get more customers via his eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter, simply head on over to his web site at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/
Follow @scottbywater on Twitter.
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater
On Friday, my three year old son's cubby house, slippery dip and sandpit arrived and was erected in our backyard.
The look on his face was one of absolute delight... surprise... shock and happiness all rolled into one.
All he wanted to do all weekend was hop on it.
And when his cousins came over to our place yesterday, they had the time of their life.
Now my wife and I ummed and aahed about whether or not to get this cubby house or not.
It was virtually double the price of the others we looked at. But it had other benefits such as being non-toxic and having aesthetic appeal.
Now after we received it, it got me thinking:
What would I do if I was selling these little cubby houses.
And the thought came to me: Is there any way in the world that I would send it back?
Obviously, the answer is no.
My son loves it. His friends love it. It looks great.
There's no way in the world it's going anywhere.
And I imagine the story is the same for everyone else who buys it.
And that's why if I was running a company like this, I would use a "puppy dog close" to secure the sale.
So how does a "puppy dog" close work.
It goes like this: take the puppy for a week. If you don't like it, send it back. If you like it, then pay me our agreed amount.
Makes sense, right.
I mean obviously you would need to ensure you were targeting the right market, do credit checks and ensure your potential client could afford the product.
But that's how I would close the sale on a product like that.
It wouldn't work in some industries.
But it would work for selling cars.
It would work for selling boats.
It would work for selling bikes.
Ask yourself: could it work for your business?
And if you answered yes, think of how you can apply this strategy today.
About the Author:
Scott Bywater is an advertising copywriting expert and the author of Cash-Flow Advertising. To gain access to all of his copywriting tips on how to get more customers via his eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter, simply head on over to his web site at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/
Follow @scottbywater on Twitter.
SEO Vs Pay Per Click Advertising
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario
In the world of modern business, the key to success is getting your product seen and understood by your target audience. Simple numbers don't always accomplish the goal - it doesn't matter how many millions of vegetarians see your commercial for Grade-A double-plus chuck steak, after all. The key is advertising to a targeted audience, the ones who need or at least want the goods or service being offered. The best way to accomplish this goal of course will vary among different media, however, having a target market strategy is a must on the Internet.
In particular, the Internet has embraced this truth and virtually exploded with a variety of means toward the end of successful, specific advertising. Internet advertising campaigns range from the obvious and the notorious (tasteful banner advertising versus badly-worded spam emails) to the clever and the outrageous (Amazon's 'Still not big enough' television campaign from the late 90s, and Halo 2's legendary 'I Heart Bees' viral marketing alternate reality game).
Obviously, some of these efforts are more successful than others, and some are successful in all the wrong ways. The exiled Nigerian prince who wants to share his vast wealth with lucky, lucky you has become a pop-culture meme and in-joke, practically an obligatory reference in any discussion of modern marketing or Internet spam.
However, a great deal of web advertising is quite a bit less flashy than the aforementioned efforts, yet is seen by every user who runs a request through a search engine. When engines return a search, they generally include two sections in the result. The first is the target of the search itself, which is the Organic SEO result, the second is a series of advertisements off to the side of or above the organic result, known as Pay Per Click advertisements.
SEO
For those who don't know what SEO is, this acronym stands for Search Engine Optimization. In short and simple terms, every search engine provides results based on a series of criteria, generally keyword and content related. The engine compares the search request to its index of websites and their descriptions, and provides the most relevant answers it can, ranked in order of precedence.
The first sites to come up are the most closely related to the search terms as the engine understands them. This is why different engines may rank sites differently - Yahoo, Google and Bing have different indexing and keyword criteria, so their responses to a particular search may vary. It is termed Organic SEO because the results are returned organically, or naturally - there is no external interference or override changing the results, they simply return per the standard operating practices of the search engine.
Organic SEO has the advantage of having no inherent costs associated with it. Proper search engines don't charge businesses for their ranking in the list, so the only required investment is building a noteworthy site that generates the traffic and keyword results that will bring a high ranking. The downside is that it requires a great deal of research to properly take advantage of this strategy. Craigslist alone abounds with writing jobs catering to experienced SEO writers, and entire websites exist discussing the ins and outs of the practice. In addition, it relies entirely on users searching for terms that relate to your site, leaving the situation far less in your business's hands than some owners may be comfortable with.
PPC
In pay per click advertising, businesses contact a search engine and bid on certain keywords they feel are particularly relevant to their website. For example, a company making horse saddles might bid on keywords pertaining to horses, riding events, and saddles. Then, when someone searches these terms, the search engine provides a link to this business in the form of a pay per click advertisement. The name pay per click comes from the fact that the company must pay the website a fee every time a user clicks the advertisement.
Pay per click advertising is attractive because it increases the odds of really snagging a targeted audience. Rather than having one result possibly come up in a search, there's another result just off to the side, increasing the chances of gaining user attention. On the flip side, PPC can quickly become a cost burden. Every single click must be paid for, and there's no guarantee that every click will result in a sale, meaning costs could skyrocket before a business is prepared to deal with them.
Making the Choice
Often times, the best choice is to strike a balanced approach between SEO and PPC style advertising. Just where that balance lies depends entirely on the business in question. The savvy web advertiser will carefully consider keyword popularity before choosing a PPC campaign, and perhaps even set aside an actual budget to account for those users who will click through but are not looking to buy.
Additionally, there are literally thousands of experienced SEO writers available for employ at inexpensive rates for short term work, meaning the organic SEO standing of a page can be improved with relatively little investment. As ever, the keys are research and understanding, both of the target audience and the means with which you intend to reach them.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/
Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.
Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario
In the world of modern business, the key to success is getting your product seen and understood by your target audience. Simple numbers don't always accomplish the goal - it doesn't matter how many millions of vegetarians see your commercial for Grade-A double-plus chuck steak, after all. The key is advertising to a targeted audience, the ones who need or at least want the goods or service being offered. The best way to accomplish this goal of course will vary among different media, however, having a target market strategy is a must on the Internet.
In particular, the Internet has embraced this truth and virtually exploded with a variety of means toward the end of successful, specific advertising. Internet advertising campaigns range from the obvious and the notorious (tasteful banner advertising versus badly-worded spam emails) to the clever and the outrageous (Amazon's 'Still not big enough' television campaign from the late 90s, and Halo 2's legendary 'I Heart Bees' viral marketing alternate reality game).
Obviously, some of these efforts are more successful than others, and some are successful in all the wrong ways. The exiled Nigerian prince who wants to share his vast wealth with lucky, lucky you has become a pop-culture meme and in-joke, practically an obligatory reference in any discussion of modern marketing or Internet spam.
However, a great deal of web advertising is quite a bit less flashy than the aforementioned efforts, yet is seen by every user who runs a request through a search engine. When engines return a search, they generally include two sections in the result. The first is the target of the search itself, which is the Organic SEO result, the second is a series of advertisements off to the side of or above the organic result, known as Pay Per Click advertisements.
SEO
For those who don't know what SEO is, this acronym stands for Search Engine Optimization. In short and simple terms, every search engine provides results based on a series of criteria, generally keyword and content related. The engine compares the search request to its index of websites and their descriptions, and provides the most relevant answers it can, ranked in order of precedence.
The first sites to come up are the most closely related to the search terms as the engine understands them. This is why different engines may rank sites differently - Yahoo, Google and Bing have different indexing and keyword criteria, so their responses to a particular search may vary. It is termed Organic SEO because the results are returned organically, or naturally - there is no external interference or override changing the results, they simply return per the standard operating practices of the search engine.
Organic SEO has the advantage of having no inherent costs associated with it. Proper search engines don't charge businesses for their ranking in the list, so the only required investment is building a noteworthy site that generates the traffic and keyword results that will bring a high ranking. The downside is that it requires a great deal of research to properly take advantage of this strategy. Craigslist alone abounds with writing jobs catering to experienced SEO writers, and entire websites exist discussing the ins and outs of the practice. In addition, it relies entirely on users searching for terms that relate to your site, leaving the situation far less in your business's hands than some owners may be comfortable with.
PPC
In pay per click advertising, businesses contact a search engine and bid on certain keywords they feel are particularly relevant to their website. For example, a company making horse saddles might bid on keywords pertaining to horses, riding events, and saddles. Then, when someone searches these terms, the search engine provides a link to this business in the form of a pay per click advertisement. The name pay per click comes from the fact that the company must pay the website a fee every time a user clicks the advertisement.
Pay per click advertising is attractive because it increases the odds of really snagging a targeted audience. Rather than having one result possibly come up in a search, there's another result just off to the side, increasing the chances of gaining user attention. On the flip side, PPC can quickly become a cost burden. Every single click must be paid for, and there's no guarantee that every click will result in a sale, meaning costs could skyrocket before a business is prepared to deal with them.
Making the Choice
Often times, the best choice is to strike a balanced approach between SEO and PPC style advertising. Just where that balance lies depends entirely on the business in question. The savvy web advertiser will carefully consider keyword popularity before choosing a PPC campaign, and perhaps even set aside an actual budget to account for those users who will click through but are not looking to buy.
Additionally, there are literally thousands of experienced SEO writers available for employ at inexpensive rates for short term work, meaning the organic SEO standing of a page can be improved with relatively little investment. As ever, the keys are research and understanding, both of the target audience and the means with which you intend to reach them.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/
Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.
Indispensable Employee Management Tools for a Dental Practice
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Hema Gopal, M.B.A. and D.M.D.
Many dentists are not equipped to deal with employee performance issues. Managing performance requires a systematic approach in which the employee clearly understands what is expected of him or her, with a process in place to monitor performance.
In managing employee performance, you need to consider four separate issues: Innate ability or talent; skill; motivation; and attitude.
If lack of skill is the main obstacle for an employee, it is a training issue, and there is an excellent opportunity to work with the employee and improve their performance. Their innate ability will determine how quickly they learn.
If motivation is an issue despite competitive pay and a bonus incentive, you need to meet with the employee to find out why he or she is not motivated. If money does not motivate the employee, it could be that he or she is not suited for that particular job or needs increased responsibility, more challenging assignments, or recognition of some other type. In general, motivation is an internal trait, and cheerleading and rah-rah speeches rarely produce sustainable results.
Attitude is by far the most difficult one to resolve. Your recruiting process should focus heavily on screening candidates for proper attitude. Recruit for attitude, train for skill.
Employee Management Tools and How to Use Them
The following tools are essential for managing performance. Make sure you have them and use them in your practice.
1. Human Resources Manual. This contains detailed policies regarding absenteeism, uniforms, professional behavior, performance reviews, vacations and benefits. All new employees should be given a human resources manual so that they are aware of "how things work" within your office. All employees should read and sign the last page of the manual.
2. Job Expectations/Descriptions for Every Position. Each employee position requires a specific, detailed explanation of work responsibilities. In your dental office, this would entail written descriptions for all assistants, hygienists, and business office personnel.
3. Job Review Sheet. The review sheet is a form on which all responsibilities can be reviewed and graded from a range of Excellent to Good to Poor to Unacceptable. The job review sheet involves a two-step process, with both the employee and you assessing the employee's contributions.
4. Job Performance Meetings. Once the job review sheet has been filled out, you should meet with the employee to discuss performance. Do not view performance evaluation as a once-a-year event. It is a process that begins the moment an employee is hired and continues throughout the employee's tenure with your practice. It involves clear communications of expectations and standards; development of specific, measurable goals; and ongoing feedback. New employees require more frequent feedback.
5. Timely Feedback for Interim Performance Issues. Between job performance meetings, be sure to address issues that surface in a timely manner.
The health of your practice hinges heavily on your ability to build and maintain a productive team. Non-performing staff members present one of the biggest impediments to success and growth. Often, a single difficult employee can completely sabotage and hinder progress, or cause dissension and unhealthy conflict within a practice. On the other hand, the doctor who figures out how to get employees to work in harmony and be productive will experience less stress, see a higher income, and enjoy dentistry.
About the Author:
Hema Gopal, M.B.A., D.M.D., and her husband Peter Gopal, Ph.D., consult with dentists who are intent on building a more profitable practice. Whether you are leaving money on the table due to broken patient appointments, improper scheduling, poor case acceptance, low hygienist productivity, excessive overhead, or unnecessary reliance on PPOs, they can pinpoint your weaknesses and prescribe remedies. Receive a free, realistic assessment of the earning potential of your dental practice by going to: http://www.visionary-management.com/assessment.php
Read more of Hema Gopal, M.B.A. and D.M.D.'s articles.
Copyright © 2009 Hema Gopal, M.B.A. and D.M.D.
Many dentists are not equipped to deal with employee performance issues. Managing performance requires a systematic approach in which the employee clearly understands what is expected of him or her, with a process in place to monitor performance.
In managing employee performance, you need to consider four separate issues: Innate ability or talent; skill; motivation; and attitude.
If lack of skill is the main obstacle for an employee, it is a training issue, and there is an excellent opportunity to work with the employee and improve their performance. Their innate ability will determine how quickly they learn.
If motivation is an issue despite competitive pay and a bonus incentive, you need to meet with the employee to find out why he or she is not motivated. If money does not motivate the employee, it could be that he or she is not suited for that particular job or needs increased responsibility, more challenging assignments, or recognition of some other type. In general, motivation is an internal trait, and cheerleading and rah-rah speeches rarely produce sustainable results.
Attitude is by far the most difficult one to resolve. Your recruiting process should focus heavily on screening candidates for proper attitude. Recruit for attitude, train for skill.
Employee Management Tools and How to Use Them
The following tools are essential for managing performance. Make sure you have them and use them in your practice.
1. Human Resources Manual. This contains detailed policies regarding absenteeism, uniforms, professional behavior, performance reviews, vacations and benefits. All new employees should be given a human resources manual so that they are aware of "how things work" within your office. All employees should read and sign the last page of the manual.
2. Job Expectations/Descriptions for Every Position. Each employee position requires a specific, detailed explanation of work responsibilities. In your dental office, this would entail written descriptions for all assistants, hygienists, and business office personnel.
3. Job Review Sheet. The review sheet is a form on which all responsibilities can be reviewed and graded from a range of Excellent to Good to Poor to Unacceptable. The job review sheet involves a two-step process, with both the employee and you assessing the employee's contributions.
4. Job Performance Meetings. Once the job review sheet has been filled out, you should meet with the employee to discuss performance. Do not view performance evaluation as a once-a-year event. It is a process that begins the moment an employee is hired and continues throughout the employee's tenure with your practice. It involves clear communications of expectations and standards; development of specific, measurable goals; and ongoing feedback. New employees require more frequent feedback.
5. Timely Feedback for Interim Performance Issues. Between job performance meetings, be sure to address issues that surface in a timely manner.
The health of your practice hinges heavily on your ability to build and maintain a productive team. Non-performing staff members present one of the biggest impediments to success and growth. Often, a single difficult employee can completely sabotage and hinder progress, or cause dissension and unhealthy conflict within a practice. On the other hand, the doctor who figures out how to get employees to work in harmony and be productive will experience less stress, see a higher income, and enjoy dentistry.
About the Author:
Hema Gopal, M.B.A., D.M.D., and her husband Peter Gopal, Ph.D., consult with dentists who are intent on building a more profitable practice. Whether you are leaving money on the table due to broken patient appointments, improper scheduling, poor case acceptance, low hygienist productivity, excessive overhead, or unnecessary reliance on PPOs, they can pinpoint your weaknesses and prescribe remedies. Receive a free, realistic assessment of the earning potential of your dental practice by going to: http://www.visionary-management.com/assessment.php
Read more of Hema Gopal, M.B.A. and D.M.D.'s articles.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Travel In Tuscany, Italy: Useful Tips To Find The Perfect Place To Stay
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Alice Esposito
Tuscany has been one of the top travel destinations in the world ever since Percy Bysshe Shelley decided that it was the place that would welcome his poetry. It stands to reason that accommodations in a place that is as popular as Tuscany, Italy, a traveler would have not only a large amount of options for hotels, apartments and country houses; but would also find a little advice useful. This is especially true for the seasoned traveler that is considering taking the plunge into buying a vacation home.
The real estate savvy say that there are three important things to know about a property: location, location, location. This applies to property one is renting or buying. So whether you are sifting through lists of country houses in Tuscany that are for sale or perusing short-term apartment rentals; location is the first thing to think of.
Florence, of course, is the largest city in the region and if art, culture and fashion are your key interests then you only need to narrow it down to neighborhood. This leaves all the rest of the region for consideration.
When you visit Italy and are searching for accommodations in Tuscany for a short - term vacation, other than location you should consider transportation and proximity to other destinations. Transportation is key. There WILL be a transportation strike, numerous times per year, in fact. Even if you have no desire to ever leave your well-stocked country house in the hills of Tuscany, you may on the day of a strike, and the cost and availability of a rental car on those days will astound you.
Being within a short distance of a train station is a blessing. Trains crisscross Italy like a well embroidered pillow. You can get from point A to Z and everywhere in between using trenitalia.it. If you are staying in a short term rental it is also good to have full clarification on utility costs and whether they are included in the cost of rent; these can add a nasty surprise to your credit card statement.
If you are among those that are lucky enough to be in a position to be leafing though catalogs of the Tuscany properties for sale and either buying a second home or relocating entirely to the homeland of Chianti, then there are additional things to ponder. The first is a car. It is actually more difficult for a non-Italian to buy a Fiat in Tuscany than a country house in Tuscany.
So when you see that treasure of multi-century aged, postcard farmhouse or villa, make sure that you will be able to conveniently go buy a liter of milk. If Italy in general, and Tuscany in particular have drawn you with their Siren song enough to contemplate purchasing one of the beautiful properties for sale, either in the hills or along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea; there are only a limited number of caveats.
Virtually nothing will be open Sunday's, except for restaurants and shops in tourist areas. You must become accustomed to long conversations over small, intensely flavored coffees. Your neighbors will actually want to know you.
About the Author:
Alice Esposito works as group booking manager for Podere Casalino, a quiet bed and breakfast in the Florence surrounding, just among the Chianti hills. Learn more at: http://www.poderecasalino.com/
Read more of Alice Esposito's articles.
Copyright © 2009 Alice Esposito
Tuscany has been one of the top travel destinations in the world ever since Percy Bysshe Shelley decided that it was the place that would welcome his poetry. It stands to reason that accommodations in a place that is as popular as Tuscany, Italy, a traveler would have not only a large amount of options for hotels, apartments and country houses; but would also find a little advice useful. This is especially true for the seasoned traveler that is considering taking the plunge into buying a vacation home.
The real estate savvy say that there are three important things to know about a property: location, location, location. This applies to property one is renting or buying. So whether you are sifting through lists of country houses in Tuscany that are for sale or perusing short-term apartment rentals; location is the first thing to think of.
Florence, of course, is the largest city in the region and if art, culture and fashion are your key interests then you only need to narrow it down to neighborhood. This leaves all the rest of the region for consideration.
When you visit Italy and are searching for accommodations in Tuscany for a short - term vacation, other than location you should consider transportation and proximity to other destinations. Transportation is key. There WILL be a transportation strike, numerous times per year, in fact. Even if you have no desire to ever leave your well-stocked country house in the hills of Tuscany, you may on the day of a strike, and the cost and availability of a rental car on those days will astound you.
Being within a short distance of a train station is a blessing. Trains crisscross Italy like a well embroidered pillow. You can get from point A to Z and everywhere in between using trenitalia.it. If you are staying in a short term rental it is also good to have full clarification on utility costs and whether they are included in the cost of rent; these can add a nasty surprise to your credit card statement.
If you are among those that are lucky enough to be in a position to be leafing though catalogs of the Tuscany properties for sale and either buying a second home or relocating entirely to the homeland of Chianti, then there are additional things to ponder. The first is a car. It is actually more difficult for a non-Italian to buy a Fiat in Tuscany than a country house in Tuscany.
So when you see that treasure of multi-century aged, postcard farmhouse or villa, make sure that you will be able to conveniently go buy a liter of milk. If Italy in general, and Tuscany in particular have drawn you with their Siren song enough to contemplate purchasing one of the beautiful properties for sale, either in the hills or along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea; there are only a limited number of caveats.
Virtually nothing will be open Sunday's, except for restaurants and shops in tourist areas. You must become accustomed to long conversations over small, intensely flavored coffees. Your neighbors will actually want to know you.
About the Author:
Alice Esposito works as group booking manager for Podere Casalino, a quiet bed and breakfast in the Florence surrounding, just among the Chianti hills. Learn more at: http://www.poderecasalino.com/
Read more of Alice Esposito's articles.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Government Grant Writing: Doing It Yourself
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Brendon Turner
Chances are, if you're looking for a grant to start up your small business or not-for-profit organization, you don't have the money to hire grant writers. A few will work with the promise of payment once the grant money comes in, but these are few and far between. The alternative? Do the government grant writing yourself.
Benefits of DIY Government Grant Writing
You'll find that there are a number of reasons to learn how to apply for grants yourself. Obviously, you can save quite a bit of money during the startup period when most businesses are looking to save money. Often, it's best for the business owner or one of the partners to take on as much of the grunt work as possible until the funding comes through. This will allow you to spend nothing, apart from time.
In addition, you can tailor each application to the government grant that you are applying for. With grant writers, this would be extra. Doing the writing yourself lets you make changes quickly and easily, based on which funding option you are doing the grant proposal for.
How to Write a Grant Proposal
There's a reason grant writers are expensive. It can be difficult to figure out how to write a great proposal if you don't know what you're doing. There are many areas that need to be covered, including budgets, timelines and project descriptions. It can be very confusing at first glance, but it is also very important that you include all the information needed or you could lose out on a chance to get grant money for your business or organization.
The best way to ensure that you are doing everything correctly is to get some help. Government grant writing isn't like writing an article or a letter, you need to include very specific, very detailed information so the decision makers have everything they need in order to choose you to receive the money. Most people prefer to keep their tips for success a secret, but you can still learn how to write a successful proposal and get the most out of your application.
Looking at sample applications can be a huge help and will let you style your own paperwork after something that has already been successful. While you certainly don't want to copy, you should get a feel for what is required when it comes to government grants. Writing your own proposals can save you a lot of time and money, so it is certainly worth looking into.
About the Author:
If you need more help with government grants writing, then you should check out Government Grants Source. The site features a full database of government grants, as well as tutorials and samples to help you write the best proposal possible. Written by Brendon Turner for http://www.governmentgrantsource.net/
Read more of Brendon Turner's articles.
Copyright © 2009 Brendon Turner
Chances are, if you're looking for a grant to start up your small business or not-for-profit organization, you don't have the money to hire grant writers. A few will work with the promise of payment once the grant money comes in, but these are few and far between. The alternative? Do the government grant writing yourself.
Benefits of DIY Government Grant Writing
You'll find that there are a number of reasons to learn how to apply for grants yourself. Obviously, you can save quite a bit of money during the startup period when most businesses are looking to save money. Often, it's best for the business owner or one of the partners to take on as much of the grunt work as possible until the funding comes through. This will allow you to spend nothing, apart from time.
In addition, you can tailor each application to the government grant that you are applying for. With grant writers, this would be extra. Doing the writing yourself lets you make changes quickly and easily, based on which funding option you are doing the grant proposal for.
How to Write a Grant Proposal
There's a reason grant writers are expensive. It can be difficult to figure out how to write a great proposal if you don't know what you're doing. There are many areas that need to be covered, including budgets, timelines and project descriptions. It can be very confusing at first glance, but it is also very important that you include all the information needed or you could lose out on a chance to get grant money for your business or organization.
The best way to ensure that you are doing everything correctly is to get some help. Government grant writing isn't like writing an article or a letter, you need to include very specific, very detailed information so the decision makers have everything they need in order to choose you to receive the money. Most people prefer to keep their tips for success a secret, but you can still learn how to write a successful proposal and get the most out of your application.
Looking at sample applications can be a huge help and will let you style your own paperwork after something that has already been successful. While you certainly don't want to copy, you should get a feel for what is required when it comes to government grants. Writing your own proposals can save you a lot of time and money, so it is certainly worth looking into.
About the Author:
If you need more help with government grants writing, then you should check out Government Grants Source. The site features a full database of government grants, as well as tutorials and samples to help you write the best proposal possible. Written by Brendon Turner for http://www.governmentgrantsource.net/
Read more of Brendon Turner's articles.
Dental Practice Staff Management -- Turning a Difficult Employee into a Star
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Peter Gopal, Ph.D.
It takes both courage and management skill to deal with a difficult employee in your dental practice. It is never easy to confront an employee with regard to performance issues.
Yet, by developing this vital management skill, you can potentially add upwards of $40,000 to the gross receipts of your practice. That's for a solo practitioner with 3-6 employees. If you have a larger practice, the gains could be even more significant. And you can do this without spending money on expensive equipment (more debt) or marketing (which is risky) and without increasing your overhead - simply by turning around one or more poorly performing staff members.
Warning Signs of Sub-Standard Employee Performance
Here are ten common warning signs of poor or unacceptable staff performance.
1. Too many absences or tardy arrivals.
2. Does not follow through without reminders.
3. Unprofessional behavior, such as rudeness, use of cell phone at work or excessive gossip.
4. Personal problems interfering with work duties.
5. Sloppy or incomplete work.
6. Complaints from patients or co-workers.
7. Undermining behavior at staff meetings, such as sarcastic comments or rolling eyes.
8. A negative, it-will-never-work attitude.
9. Disrespect to co-workers or management.
10. Little or no initiative.
How to Intervene When an Employee Performs Poorly
Avoidance is not an option. As an owner/manager, the longer you wait to address a performance problem, the harder it is to deal with constructively, and the worse the problem becomes. When most employers contemplate confronting an employee about poor performance, they are apprehensive about how to proceed.
You have to start out assuming that most people want to do a good job. Most employees desire and intend to do a good job, and would like to improve when they are not performing well. However, limitations of personality, knowledge, experience, or other barriers, may interfere with the employee's ability to be productive. Your task is to remove these barriers.
Identify a time when speaking to the employee will bring the best results. When the employee is greatly stressed, it is difficult to have a meaningful conversation. Then proceed with the following five steps.
1. Identify and define the performance problem. Be specific. Provide supporting evidence. Use "I" messages such as "I have noticed" or "I have observed" to give constructive feedback.
2. Explain the impact of the performance problem on patients, other employees, productivity, and customer service.
3. Work with the employee to figure out the reasons for the performance problem. Sometimes what gets in the way is they don't know how to do a good job, or there are obstacles beyond their control.
4. Explore ideas for a solution. Have ideas of your own about what the employee can do to improve, but be sure to involve the staff member in coming up with solutions.
5. Write a plan for improvement. You should write this plan describing the area needing correction, the plan for corrective action, a date to check progress and the consequences for lack of improvement. You should have the employee read it and sign it.
Work toward building a staff-driven practice where the staff share responsibility for running your practice and serving your patients. When implemented correctly, a good system for performance feedback and early management intervention raises the caliber of your staff and the profitability of your practice.
About the Author:
Peter Gopal, PhD, together with his wife, Hema Gopal, M.B.A. and D.M.D., consults with dentists who are intent on building a more profitable practice. Whether you are leaving money on the table due to broken patient appointments, improper scheduling, poor case acceptance, low hygienist productivity, excessive overhead, or unnecessary reliance on PPOs, they can pinpoint your weaknesses and prescribe remedies. Receive a free, realistic assessment of the earning potential of your dental practice by going to: http://www.visionary-management.com/assessment.php
Read more of Peter Gopal, Ph.D.'s articles.
Copyright © 2009 Peter Gopal, Ph.D.
It takes both courage and management skill to deal with a difficult employee in your dental practice. It is never easy to confront an employee with regard to performance issues.
Yet, by developing this vital management skill, you can potentially add upwards of $40,000 to the gross receipts of your practice. That's for a solo practitioner with 3-6 employees. If you have a larger practice, the gains could be even more significant. And you can do this without spending money on expensive equipment (more debt) or marketing (which is risky) and without increasing your overhead - simply by turning around one or more poorly performing staff members.
Warning Signs of Sub-Standard Employee Performance
Here are ten common warning signs of poor or unacceptable staff performance.
1. Too many absences or tardy arrivals.
2. Does not follow through without reminders.
3. Unprofessional behavior, such as rudeness, use of cell phone at work or excessive gossip.
4. Personal problems interfering with work duties.
5. Sloppy or incomplete work.
6. Complaints from patients or co-workers.
7. Undermining behavior at staff meetings, such as sarcastic comments or rolling eyes.
8. A negative, it-will-never-work attitude.
9. Disrespect to co-workers or management.
10. Little or no initiative.
How to Intervene When an Employee Performs Poorly
Avoidance is not an option. As an owner/manager, the longer you wait to address a performance problem, the harder it is to deal with constructively, and the worse the problem becomes. When most employers contemplate confronting an employee about poor performance, they are apprehensive about how to proceed.
You have to start out assuming that most people want to do a good job. Most employees desire and intend to do a good job, and would like to improve when they are not performing well. However, limitations of personality, knowledge, experience, or other barriers, may interfere with the employee's ability to be productive. Your task is to remove these barriers.
Identify a time when speaking to the employee will bring the best results. When the employee is greatly stressed, it is difficult to have a meaningful conversation. Then proceed with the following five steps.
1. Identify and define the performance problem. Be specific. Provide supporting evidence. Use "I" messages such as "I have noticed" or "I have observed" to give constructive feedback.
2. Explain the impact of the performance problem on patients, other employees, productivity, and customer service.
3. Work with the employee to figure out the reasons for the performance problem. Sometimes what gets in the way is they don't know how to do a good job, or there are obstacles beyond their control.
4. Explore ideas for a solution. Have ideas of your own about what the employee can do to improve, but be sure to involve the staff member in coming up with solutions.
5. Write a plan for improvement. You should write this plan describing the area needing correction, the plan for corrective action, a date to check progress and the consequences for lack of improvement. You should have the employee read it and sign it.
Work toward building a staff-driven practice where the staff share responsibility for running your practice and serving your patients. When implemented correctly, a good system for performance feedback and early management intervention raises the caliber of your staff and the profitability of your practice.
About the Author:
Peter Gopal, PhD, together with his wife, Hema Gopal, M.B.A. and D.M.D., consults with dentists who are intent on building a more profitable practice. Whether you are leaving money on the table due to broken patient appointments, improper scheduling, poor case acceptance, low hygienist productivity, excessive overhead, or unnecessary reliance on PPOs, they can pinpoint your weaknesses and prescribe remedies. Receive a free, realistic assessment of the earning potential of your dental practice by going to: http://www.visionary-management.com/assessment.php
Read more of Peter Gopal, Ph.D.'s articles.
Find The Right Property For Sale In Tuscany
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Alice Migliorini
Those that have spent any significant amount of time in Tuscany know the draw that the region has. Anyone that has been a student in Florence or has soaked up the agritourism side of the most famous region of Italy understands the desire to return. The desire may be for an annual vacation, a farm holiday in Cortona with your family during the harvest season long enough to attend the annual truffle festivals.
The Tuscan countryside may have infected you with so much appreciation and inspiration that you may want to relocate or retire to your own villa with your own olive trees and vines. Whatever motivates the urge to live "la bella vita," and find your own perfect Tuscan villa for sale; there are a few things that can help you along the way.
All the basics as far as real estate are essentially the same. If you are buying a condo in Miami or a property in the rolling hills of Tuscany you follow the same road. The road just meanders a little bit more when you deal with purchasing a house in Italy rather than the US.
The first step in attaining your dream is the same as purchasing in the US, find your agent. Just as in the US, real estate agents focus on certain areas or certain niche markets. There are actually a good number of agents and agencies that specialize in finding and selling properties to non-Italian citizens.
Unless you not only speak fluent Italian, but are familiar with the convoluted Italian legal system, it is best to choose one of these agents. You don't want to be in a position where you think you have found the perfect Italian villa in Tuscany only to find out that the owner doesn't want to sell to you or the improvements you envisioned won't be permitted.
Time is an additional factor to consider. Communication will generally be just a touch slower because of the time difference. But if you always send emails or make phone calls in the morning it will facilitate everything and you will be that much closer to spending long, slow relaxing farmhouse in Cortona, dining al fresco.
You should allow a little more time for escrow than you would in the US, unless your agent has found a villa that is unoccupied. Another clarification you will want to make is whether the homes you are considering are furnished or unfurnished. If you have a strong preference, there are actually a lot of furnished homes for sale in comparison to the US; and if you are searching for the perfect house as a vacation home this is a great option.
Be aware that when a property in Italy is unfurnished in many cases that includes not being furnished with appliances and fixtures, even in the bathrooms and kitchens. If you take your time, work closely with your agent and make sure that you all of your desires for either a permanent vacation home or relocation to the land of Chianti and scenic vine covered hills are clear; then you will arrive in Tuscany with a smile that will only widen with time.
About the Author:
Alice Migliorini is specialized on selling prestigious properties and she is one of the real estate agents working for http://www.intermediacortona.com , a real estate agency based in Cortona (Tuscany). Alice deals with Tuscan villas for sale and farmhouses for sale in Tuscany: Cortona, Arezzo, Lucca, Montepulciano, and many other Tuscan cities and towns. Learn more at: http://www.intermediacortona.com/home_en.asp
Read more of Alice Migliorini's articles.
Copyright © 2009 Alice Migliorini
Those that have spent any significant amount of time in Tuscany know the draw that the region has. Anyone that has been a student in Florence or has soaked up the agritourism side of the most famous region of Italy understands the desire to return. The desire may be for an annual vacation, a farm holiday in Cortona with your family during the harvest season long enough to attend the annual truffle festivals.
The Tuscan countryside may have infected you with so much appreciation and inspiration that you may want to relocate or retire to your own villa with your own olive trees and vines. Whatever motivates the urge to live "la bella vita," and find your own perfect Tuscan villa for sale; there are a few things that can help you along the way.
All the basics as far as real estate are essentially the same. If you are buying a condo in Miami or a property in the rolling hills of Tuscany you follow the same road. The road just meanders a little bit more when you deal with purchasing a house in Italy rather than the US.
The first step in attaining your dream is the same as purchasing in the US, find your agent. Just as in the US, real estate agents focus on certain areas or certain niche markets. There are actually a good number of agents and agencies that specialize in finding and selling properties to non-Italian citizens.
Unless you not only speak fluent Italian, but are familiar with the convoluted Italian legal system, it is best to choose one of these agents. You don't want to be in a position where you think you have found the perfect Italian villa in Tuscany only to find out that the owner doesn't want to sell to you or the improvements you envisioned won't be permitted.
Time is an additional factor to consider. Communication will generally be just a touch slower because of the time difference. But if you always send emails or make phone calls in the morning it will facilitate everything and you will be that much closer to spending long, slow relaxing farmhouse in Cortona, dining al fresco.
You should allow a little more time for escrow than you would in the US, unless your agent has found a villa that is unoccupied. Another clarification you will want to make is whether the homes you are considering are furnished or unfurnished. If you have a strong preference, there are actually a lot of furnished homes for sale in comparison to the US; and if you are searching for the perfect house as a vacation home this is a great option.
Be aware that when a property in Italy is unfurnished in many cases that includes not being furnished with appliances and fixtures, even in the bathrooms and kitchens. If you take your time, work closely with your agent and make sure that you all of your desires for either a permanent vacation home or relocation to the land of Chianti and scenic vine covered hills are clear; then you will arrive in Tuscany with a smile that will only widen with time.
About the Author:
Alice Migliorini is specialized on selling prestigious properties and she is one of the real estate agents working for http://www.intermediacortona.com , a real estate agency based in Cortona (Tuscany). Alice deals with Tuscan villas for sale and farmhouses for sale in Tuscany: Cortona, Arezzo, Lucca, Montepulciano, and many other Tuscan cities and towns. Learn more at: http://www.intermediacortona.com/home_en.asp
Read more of Alice Migliorini's articles.
What Are Meta Tags and Why Do I Need Them?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario
There is no other way to put it; the World Wide Web is big business. As an example, you only have to look at the phenomenal success of the online bookstore, Amazon. In 2008, Amazon brought in over nineteen billion dollars in income, yet only required an operating budget of approximately eight hundred and fifty million dollars. It really is no surprise to anyone then that more businesses are investing in expanded web presence and capability. Yet, not every organization has the same successes. Barnes and Noble was selling books online before Amazon was even an idea, and yet it isn't Barnes and Noble that people think of when considering online bookstores, it's Amazon. The key? Amazon took greater advantage of the opportunity to effectively market their product.
Search Engines, Spiders and Websites, Oh My
The most important and often least understood tool for online marketers is the search engine. The primary type of search engine is the web crawler - these are largely automated programs that crawl through available web pages, indexing data according to a variety of parameters. In short, the crawler, or spider, examines each page of a website. Once it has examined the page, it submits it to an index. Then, when a person uses the search engine software, the index provides links to these pages, ranked according to relevance. It is worth mentioning two other points. First, not all engines index the same way. Some use keyword density; others focus on the content of the first paragraph. Second, any changes to a webpage are likely to affect search rankings, so webmasters must carefully consider each change and its possible effects.
I Never Meta Tag I Didn't Like
One important part of preparing a page for good search engine rankings is effective use of HTML meta-tags. These tags do not directly relate to the position a site will have in a search result, but they do offer webmasters some control over the way their sites are presented when they come up in a search. In brief, meta-tags are additional bits of code added to the head of your HTML document, right after "TITLE." Because of the tendency for unscrupulous coders to find and abuse loopholes in search technologies, search engines do not rely heavily on these tags for rankings. Their benefits to web users are important, however.
First, there is the Meta Description tag. This is a brief report about the content of the webpage in question. When a search engine presents users with a hyperlink, there is frequently a small description accompanying that result. In many cases, that is the Meta Description tag the Webmaster put in the HTML document so that when a spider visits the site, it indexes this information. This is not always the case, however; Google in particular will generate its own description for a site.
The Meta Description is often the first piece of information someone using a search engine will see. The URL may not mean anything to them, but this description will. If it is poorly written, the user will likely skim right past the site for one that presents itself more effectively. Thus, the key is effective, concise writing that conveys exactly what the site is about.
The second tag is the Meta Keywords tag. This tag is a list of keywords the Webmaster considers most pertinent to each page. Proper use of the keywords tag is also vital. While search engines use a variety of keyword systems, and have in recent years de-emphasized the Meta Keywords tag, it still contributes to website rankings and should not be neglected. The best method is to examine each page carefully, and pick approximately ten keywords that best represent the data therein. Too many nonspecific keywords will lead to inconsistent search results, and too few means missing an opportunity to get a message in front of users. In addition, many sites are actively on the lookout for keyword abuse. Google in particular is known to ban certain pages from its index entirely if they consider the article to be an abusive, loophole-seeking piece.
There are other, less relevant tags that can provide some benefits, though they aren't as important as the previous two. An example is the Robots tag, which is only useful in making sure certain sites do not index a particular page. This can help a Webmaster keep their content from being associated with undesirable elements, but it does not contribute directly to higher search placement.
No Meta Tag is an Island
Once again, it must be stressed that meta-tags are not a magical solution to the very complex problem of online marketing. They must be regarded as one tool in an inventory of other tools, and should be used responsibly. Properly implemented, they will help complete an effective marketing strategy.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/
Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario
There is no other way to put it; the World Wide Web is big business. As an example, you only have to look at the phenomenal success of the online bookstore, Amazon. In 2008, Amazon brought in over nineteen billion dollars in income, yet only required an operating budget of approximately eight hundred and fifty million dollars. It really is no surprise to anyone then that more businesses are investing in expanded web presence and capability. Yet, not every organization has the same successes. Barnes and Noble was selling books online before Amazon was even an idea, and yet it isn't Barnes and Noble that people think of when considering online bookstores, it's Amazon. The key? Amazon took greater advantage of the opportunity to effectively market their product.
Search Engines, Spiders and Websites, Oh My
The most important and often least understood tool for online marketers is the search engine. The primary type of search engine is the web crawler - these are largely automated programs that crawl through available web pages, indexing data according to a variety of parameters. In short, the crawler, or spider, examines each page of a website. Once it has examined the page, it submits it to an index. Then, when a person uses the search engine software, the index provides links to these pages, ranked according to relevance. It is worth mentioning two other points. First, not all engines index the same way. Some use keyword density; others focus on the content of the first paragraph. Second, any changes to a webpage are likely to affect search rankings, so webmasters must carefully consider each change and its possible effects.
I Never Meta Tag I Didn't Like
One important part of preparing a page for good search engine rankings is effective use of HTML meta-tags. These tags do not directly relate to the position a site will have in a search result, but they do offer webmasters some control over the way their sites are presented when they come up in a search. In brief, meta-tags are additional bits of code added to the head of your HTML document, right after "TITLE." Because of the tendency for unscrupulous coders to find and abuse loopholes in search technologies, search engines do not rely heavily on these tags for rankings. Their benefits to web users are important, however.
First, there is the Meta Description tag. This is a brief report about the content of the webpage in question. When a search engine presents users with a hyperlink, there is frequently a small description accompanying that result. In many cases, that is the Meta Description tag the Webmaster put in the HTML document so that when a spider visits the site, it indexes this information. This is not always the case, however; Google in particular will generate its own description for a site.
The Meta Description is often the first piece of information someone using a search engine will see. The URL may not mean anything to them, but this description will. If it is poorly written, the user will likely skim right past the site for one that presents itself more effectively. Thus, the key is effective, concise writing that conveys exactly what the site is about.
The second tag is the Meta Keywords tag. This tag is a list of keywords the Webmaster considers most pertinent to each page. Proper use of the keywords tag is also vital. While search engines use a variety of keyword systems, and have in recent years de-emphasized the Meta Keywords tag, it still contributes to website rankings and should not be neglected. The best method is to examine each page carefully, and pick approximately ten keywords that best represent the data therein. Too many nonspecific keywords will lead to inconsistent search results, and too few means missing an opportunity to get a message in front of users. In addition, many sites are actively on the lookout for keyword abuse. Google in particular is known to ban certain pages from its index entirely if they consider the article to be an abusive, loophole-seeking piece.
There are other, less relevant tags that can provide some benefits, though they aren't as important as the previous two. An example is the Robots tag, which is only useful in making sure certain sites do not index a particular page. This can help a Webmaster keep their content from being associated with undesirable elements, but it does not contribute directly to higher search placement.
No Meta Tag is an Island
Once again, it must be stressed that meta-tags are not a magical solution to the very complex problem of online marketing. They must be regarded as one tool in an inventory of other tools, and should be used responsibly. Properly implemented, they will help complete an effective marketing strategy.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/
Monday, October 26, 2009
How to Use a Good Domain Name Suggestion Tool
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu
Domain name is an important part of your online business. Without a good and meaningful domain name, you can never expect to make your business a success. You can choose a good domain name by using a number of online domain-name suggestion tools. Here are some simple tips to choosing a domain name by using one of the domain-name suggestion utilities.
Choose your theme: Theme and subject of the domain name form an important part of a domain name. You may wish to decide on the main theme of your web site. Once you choose the theme of the web site, pick a domain name that relates and works well with the main theme. Let us say that you are dealing with selling flowers online. Then, you may wish to pick up a domain that reflects this glower selling theme. For example, choosing a theme enriched domain name like onlineflowerselling.com will work very good.
Find the domain name: Experts prefer and recommend .com as your preferred domain name. Most successful online entrepreneurs like to find a domain name based on the keywords. These keywords always relate to the main theme of the web site. If you are selling red flowers, then you must choose domain keywords that reflect the flower-selling theme. For example, you can choose a keyword like red flowers, online flowers or virtual flowers.
If you do not own a domain name then you can make use of a number of online domain tools to find your name of choice. Before buying a domain name, you may also wish to use a keyword search tool to check the availability of good keywords. Let us say that you want to find keywords that relate to orchid flowers. Then, you will need to find all keywords that connect to orchid flowers and online sales of orchid flowers. This means that your keywords will be a combination of themes like orchid flowers that you want to sell online to your virtual customers. For example, you can choose keywords like online orchid flowers.
Tip: Most popular keyword search tools are:
http://www.keywordtracker.com and
http://www.keyword.adwords.com
Now that you have your preferred keywords, you can use free online domain name tools like:
http://www.nameboy.com/
http://www.domaininformer.com/tools
Enter your keywords plus domain extension in the search bar and find out the availability of the domain names. If it is available, then you can place an order for it almost immediately as someone may pick up that name before you.
Registering domains: You can register your domain name only when it is available. To find whether the domain name of your choice is available or not, you can make use of a free online utility called Whois database. Just enter the keywords Whois on the search-engine address field and enter the web portal. Now, you can type the domain name of your choice in the Whois search data entry box and hit Find button. Now, the database will inform whether the domain name is available or not. If it is available, you can buy the name immediately by paying the required registration fees.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain names business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
Read more Articles written by John Khu.
Copyright © 2009 John Khu
Domain name is an important part of your online business. Without a good and meaningful domain name, you can never expect to make your business a success. You can choose a good domain name by using a number of online domain-name suggestion tools. Here are some simple tips to choosing a domain name by using one of the domain-name suggestion utilities.
Choose your theme: Theme and subject of the domain name form an important part of a domain name. You may wish to decide on the main theme of your web site. Once you choose the theme of the web site, pick a domain name that relates and works well with the main theme. Let us say that you are dealing with selling flowers online. Then, you may wish to pick up a domain that reflects this glower selling theme. For example, choosing a theme enriched domain name like onlineflowerselling.com will work very good.
Find the domain name: Experts prefer and recommend .com as your preferred domain name. Most successful online entrepreneurs like to find a domain name based on the keywords. These keywords always relate to the main theme of the web site. If you are selling red flowers, then you must choose domain keywords that reflect the flower-selling theme. For example, you can choose a keyword like red flowers, online flowers or virtual flowers.
If you do not own a domain name then you can make use of a number of online domain tools to find your name of choice. Before buying a domain name, you may also wish to use a keyword search tool to check the availability of good keywords. Let us say that you want to find keywords that relate to orchid flowers. Then, you will need to find all keywords that connect to orchid flowers and online sales of orchid flowers. This means that your keywords will be a combination of themes like orchid flowers that you want to sell online to your virtual customers. For example, you can choose keywords like online orchid flowers.
Tip: Most popular keyword search tools are:
Now that you have your preferred keywords, you can use free online domain name tools like:
Enter your keywords plus domain extension in the search bar and find out the availability of the domain names. If it is available, then you can place an order for it almost immediately as someone may pick up that name before you.
Registering domains: You can register your domain name only when it is available. To find whether the domain name of your choice is available or not, you can make use of a free online utility called Whois database. Just enter the keywords Whois on the search-engine address field and enter the web portal. Now, you can type the domain name of your choice in the Whois search data entry box and hit Find button. Now, the database will inform whether the domain name is available or not. If it is available, you can buy the name immediately by paying the required registration fees.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain names business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
Read more Articles written by John Khu.
Government Grant Programs: Why You Need an Awesome Proposal
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Brendon Turner
Government funded grants might sound too good to be true, but the fact of the matter is that there are vast numbers of government grant programs out there. There are also a lot of people looking for that grant money, so if you are going to be successful in your application, you need to know what you're doing.
Consider that there are a number of people applying for the exact same grant as you, possibly even thousands. While grant funding is available, often to more than just one startup or non-profit, you will still need to beat out a lot of other people. That means you need a really awesome proposal in order to get that money for your organization or business.
Writing a proposal for government funded grants might sound difficult, but if you know what you're doing, it doesn't have to be. There are a lot of factors to consider when writing the proposal, simply stating that you need the money isn't going to cut it. You'll need to include a project summary, mission and objectives, plans for managing the project, documenting it, timelines, and a number of other things that the government will want to know about before even considering giving you grant money.
You'll also be required to provide a budget and justify the items on it. If you don't know how to do this, it's very important to learn. Each section of the grant proposal is vital if you want to ensure a fighting chance at that money. Many people don't understand all the requirements or how to properly prepare a grant proposal and will miss out on a number of areas. That's actually to your advantage, if you are doing it all the right way! The more people mess up, the better your chances of being selected. You just need to ensure that everything is in order and that you can have presented your case clearly.
The best way to be sure that you have everything correctly prepared is to look at samples of successful grant proposals. Unfortunately, most people aren't willing to share much about how they got their grant funding, so you'll need to go to those who provide not only the samples, but information on how to apply for those government grants.
The last thing you want to do is give the decision makers who handle the grant funding a reason to turn you down. If you have a great business plan and prepare your proposal carefully, you eliminate those reasons and it is down to simply being better than the others who are also applying for the government grant programs.
About the Author:
Still confused about how to apply for government funded grants? Government Grants Source offers sample proposals, grant application tutorials and a database of government grants. Written by Brendon Turner for http://www.governmentgrantsource.net/
Read more of Brendon Turner's articles.
Copyright © 2009 Brendon Turner
Government funded grants might sound too good to be true, but the fact of the matter is that there are vast numbers of government grant programs out there. There are also a lot of people looking for that grant money, so if you are going to be successful in your application, you need to know what you're doing.
Consider that there are a number of people applying for the exact same grant as you, possibly even thousands. While grant funding is available, often to more than just one startup or non-profit, you will still need to beat out a lot of other people. That means you need a really awesome proposal in order to get that money for your organization or business.
Writing a proposal for government funded grants might sound difficult, but if you know what you're doing, it doesn't have to be. There are a lot of factors to consider when writing the proposal, simply stating that you need the money isn't going to cut it. You'll need to include a project summary, mission and objectives, plans for managing the project, documenting it, timelines, and a number of other things that the government will want to know about before even considering giving you grant money.
You'll also be required to provide a budget and justify the items on it. If you don't know how to do this, it's very important to learn. Each section of the grant proposal is vital if you want to ensure a fighting chance at that money. Many people don't understand all the requirements or how to properly prepare a grant proposal and will miss out on a number of areas. That's actually to your advantage, if you are doing it all the right way! The more people mess up, the better your chances of being selected. You just need to ensure that everything is in order and that you can have presented your case clearly.
The best way to be sure that you have everything correctly prepared is to look at samples of successful grant proposals. Unfortunately, most people aren't willing to share much about how they got their grant funding, so you'll need to go to those who provide not only the samples, but information on how to apply for those government grants.
The last thing you want to do is give the decision makers who handle the grant funding a reason to turn you down. If you have a great business plan and prepare your proposal carefully, you eliminate those reasons and it is down to simply being better than the others who are also applying for the government grant programs.
About the Author:
Still confused about how to apply for government funded grants? Government Grants Source offers sample proposals, grant application tutorials and a database of government grants. Written by Brendon Turner for http://www.governmentgrantsource.net/
Read more of Brendon Turner's articles.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Recycle and Get Green
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Janet Davis
Blue disposal bins, catchy three-word slogans, signs asking users to separate green glass from clear glass, 'paper or cardboard only' disposal receptacles - these are just a few of the visible signs of the modern recycling movement. Recycling has been a major issue since human beings first started forming organized societies. Renaissance armies would melt down old, worn out cannons to reclaim some copper instead of having to dig it out again.
The Great Depression made it difficult to get food, let alone new goods, so people buckled down and learned how to reuse. The US and Britain launched massive recycling and reclamation campaigns during World War II to maximize wartime production. People have always found ways to save time, effort, and money by finding inventive new uses for their personal goods.
What's Old Is New Again
The modern story of recycling as an environmental movement truly begins in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For the first time, with conservation efforts and the consequences of worldwide pollution really being made public (facilitated by the explosion of television's ability to reach a worldwide audience), people were becoming aware of the ability of major recycling campaigns to positively affect their lives. Spurred by events like the infamous Mobro 4000 barge, which sailed up and down the eastern coast of the Americas for nearly a year hauling a full load of garbage, people were moved to take widespread, systematic action.
Recycling can have a significant impact in many obvious, measurable ways. Every aluminum can melted down and reclaimed is one less can that has to be stored in a landfill. Landfills aren't simply dumping holes that are filled once and ignored, but sophisticated facilities that require careful attention, maintenance, and energy to properly function. For example, inspectors are required to periodically ensure that the environmental seal around the underside of landfills doesn't rupture, potentially spilling pollutants into the local environment through leakage. The less product that gets dumped into these landfills, the less a modern society has to invest in their upkeep.
Recycling By the Numbers
The benefits go beyond the mere physical, however. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that recycling tin and aluminum cans only requires five percent of the energy needed to make all new cans out of raw materials. Similarly, the EIA estimates that paper recycling reduces the energy cost of paper manufacture by forty percent compared to all new paper production. Reduced energy consumption means less pollution from the power plant, and less need to harvest the fossil fuels that are still the world's predominant energy supply.
Simple Home Green
That isn't to say that recycling only has a benefit in the realm of production. There are of course benefits to private recycling as well. Some solutions are simple - a milk jug can be cut open and turned into a measuring tool for rainwater for the scientifically minded. Rather than discarding old clothing, some families cut the garments up for use as rags, patching material, or even art supplies. A pair of jeans someone would never wear in public often find new life as work trousers for painting or automotive projects.
Plastic shopping bags are often thrown away without consideration, but some families stretch their dollar a bit by using them as small-can trash bags, such as for waste paper in the bathroom. This saves the cost of buying new bags, at the very least. For those interested in getting even more use out of these bags, they can be used as improvised lunch bags, or for transporting food to a big picnic.
And, if you can't find a way to reuse something, there is always the option of taking it to the appropriate city recycling facility. The key is to find creative ways to reuse the materials already in the home, instead of just throwing them away.
Simple Office Green
Similar options exist for the office environment, of course. In particular, offices generate a lot of paperwork, and an equal amount of paper waste. Some small businesses actually take advantage of this, and instead of throwing out their old shredded paper and scrap, use it as package stuffing. This saves them the cost of purchasing new packing material, and keeps the scraps out of the landfill for a bit longer.
Cardboard shipping boxes can often be reused as well, whether to continue shipping goods or as a low-cost way to store some short-term documents until the new filing system arrives. Additionally, some cities even have buyback programs, offering small monetary compensation to those who recycle certain products. Businesses should research their local options, as they could possibly use this as a way to reduce their operating costs over the year. It won't bring in millions, but the wise businessman saves wherever possible.
Think About It
In both house and office environments, the key to successful recycling is stopping to think. A great deal of the waste generated in the modern world can be reused or recycled, but isn't because people have a habit of throwing out their soda bottle when finished drinking. Finding new ways to recycle doesn't require expensive programs or elaborate schemes. All it really requires is for someone to stop for one moment when throwing something away, then asking themselves, 'Is there something else I could do with this?'
About the Author:
Janet Davis and her husband are health and nutrition entrepreneurs and founders of Mark And Janet, a website with uncompromising, premium products for your health conscious family. For more on going green -- Visit us at http://www.MarkandJanet.com/ or check out our blog at http://www.MarkandJanetBlog.com/
Read more Articles written by Janet Davis.
Copyright © 2009 Janet Davis
Blue disposal bins, catchy three-word slogans, signs asking users to separate green glass from clear glass, 'paper or cardboard only' disposal receptacles - these are just a few of the visible signs of the modern recycling movement. Recycling has been a major issue since human beings first started forming organized societies. Renaissance armies would melt down old, worn out cannons to reclaim some copper instead of having to dig it out again.
The Great Depression made it difficult to get food, let alone new goods, so people buckled down and learned how to reuse. The US and Britain launched massive recycling and reclamation campaigns during World War II to maximize wartime production. People have always found ways to save time, effort, and money by finding inventive new uses for their personal goods.
What's Old Is New Again
The modern story of recycling as an environmental movement truly begins in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For the first time, with conservation efforts and the consequences of worldwide pollution really being made public (facilitated by the explosion of television's ability to reach a worldwide audience), people were becoming aware of the ability of major recycling campaigns to positively affect their lives. Spurred by events like the infamous Mobro 4000 barge, which sailed up and down the eastern coast of the Americas for nearly a year hauling a full load of garbage, people were moved to take widespread, systematic action.
Recycling can have a significant impact in many obvious, measurable ways. Every aluminum can melted down and reclaimed is one less can that has to be stored in a landfill. Landfills aren't simply dumping holes that are filled once and ignored, but sophisticated facilities that require careful attention, maintenance, and energy to properly function. For example, inspectors are required to periodically ensure that the environmental seal around the underside of landfills doesn't rupture, potentially spilling pollutants into the local environment through leakage. The less product that gets dumped into these landfills, the less a modern society has to invest in their upkeep.
Recycling By the Numbers
The benefits go beyond the mere physical, however. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that recycling tin and aluminum cans only requires five percent of the energy needed to make all new cans out of raw materials. Similarly, the EIA estimates that paper recycling reduces the energy cost of paper manufacture by forty percent compared to all new paper production. Reduced energy consumption means less pollution from the power plant, and less need to harvest the fossil fuels that are still the world's predominant energy supply.
Simple Home Green
That isn't to say that recycling only has a benefit in the realm of production. There are of course benefits to private recycling as well. Some solutions are simple - a milk jug can be cut open and turned into a measuring tool for rainwater for the scientifically minded. Rather than discarding old clothing, some families cut the garments up for use as rags, patching material, or even art supplies. A pair of jeans someone would never wear in public often find new life as work trousers for painting or automotive projects.
Plastic shopping bags are often thrown away without consideration, but some families stretch their dollar a bit by using them as small-can trash bags, such as for waste paper in the bathroom. This saves the cost of buying new bags, at the very least. For those interested in getting even more use out of these bags, they can be used as improvised lunch bags, or for transporting food to a big picnic.
And, if you can't find a way to reuse something, there is always the option of taking it to the appropriate city recycling facility. The key is to find creative ways to reuse the materials already in the home, instead of just throwing them away.
Simple Office Green
Similar options exist for the office environment, of course. In particular, offices generate a lot of paperwork, and an equal amount of paper waste. Some small businesses actually take advantage of this, and instead of throwing out their old shredded paper and scrap, use it as package stuffing. This saves them the cost of purchasing new packing material, and keeps the scraps out of the landfill for a bit longer.
Cardboard shipping boxes can often be reused as well, whether to continue shipping goods or as a low-cost way to store some short-term documents until the new filing system arrives. Additionally, some cities even have buyback programs, offering small monetary compensation to those who recycle certain products. Businesses should research their local options, as they could possibly use this as a way to reduce their operating costs over the year. It won't bring in millions, but the wise businessman saves wherever possible.
Think About It
In both house and office environments, the key to successful recycling is stopping to think. A great deal of the waste generated in the modern world can be reused or recycled, but isn't because people have a habit of throwing out their soda bottle when finished drinking. Finding new ways to recycle doesn't require expensive programs or elaborate schemes. All it really requires is for someone to stop for one moment when throwing something away, then asking themselves, 'Is there something else I could do with this?'
About the Author:
Janet Davis and her husband are health and nutrition entrepreneurs and founders of Mark And Janet, a website with uncompromising, premium products for your health conscious family. For more on going green -- Visit us at http://www.MarkandJanet.com/ or check out our blog at http://www.MarkandJanetBlog.com/
Read more Articles written by Janet Davis.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Domain Name Ideas for Your Business
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu
To achieve success with your web site, you will need to choose the right type of domain name that is relevant to the theme of your web portal. Hence, choosing the correct name is very important. Almost all well-known web sites have names built around very sensitive and important keywords. Good keywords are very essential for the success of web sites. Web users enter their keywords of choice to search for information from the web. A web user who wants to have an access to information about a product or service will enter keywords in the search bar of the major search engines. Keyword types of domain names are very handy to develop your business ideas.
If you are running an orchid flower selling online business, then you may wish to choose a name like onlineorchidflowers.com. Likewise, a business that sells discount flowers will do well with a name like discountedflowers.com. Choosing the right type of name is not at all difficult. You just need to use your common sense to find out a very good domain name. Here are some practical domain name ideas for your business:
1. All famous domain names are very short. People can easily type very short domain names unlike a long one that is difficult to type and remember. People also hate to type a very long name.
2. Let the name chosen be very simple. People always misspell domain names that are difficult to type. It is likely that someone may visit some other people's web site if they misspell your domain name.
3. Never ever, use a domain name that sounds like an established and approved trade name. You could land in serious trouble if you do that. Double-check your domain name before you publish it.
4. Let the name be relevant to the theme of your business. People want to reach web sites that reflect their needs and requirements.
5. Give preference to a .com domain-name extension. If it is not available, then you can take other domain extensions. .com is still the in thing!
6. If possible, register all similar domain names under different extensions like .net, .org, .biz etc. You can always redirect people to your main web site by using these domain names.
7. Never ever, use hyphens. Web users will never be able to remember them. It is also difficult to type these names. If someone is using domain name of your choice, do not order for a domain that contains hyphens in between. People may confuse your web site with similar sounding web sites. This will result in your web users visiting your competitor's web portals.
8. If you have a difficult to remember name, people may miss out some letters in the domain name. To avoid this possibility, you can register similar sounding names and redirect visitors from these domains to your main web site. All well-known web sites use these techniques even if someone types wrong URL in the address bar of the search engine.
Make sure that the domain of your choice is actually available with a registrar. You can use the Whois database to check whether the domain name of your choice is still available or not.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
Copyright © 2009 John Khu
To achieve success with your web site, you will need to choose the right type of domain name that is relevant to the theme of your web portal. Hence, choosing the correct name is very important. Almost all well-known web sites have names built around very sensitive and important keywords. Good keywords are very essential for the success of web sites. Web users enter their keywords of choice to search for information from the web. A web user who wants to have an access to information about a product or service will enter keywords in the search bar of the major search engines. Keyword types of domain names are very handy to develop your business ideas.
If you are running an orchid flower selling online business, then you may wish to choose a name like onlineorchidflowers.com. Likewise, a business that sells discount flowers will do well with a name like discountedflowers.com. Choosing the right type of name is not at all difficult. You just need to use your common sense to find out a very good domain name. Here are some practical domain name ideas for your business:
1. All famous domain names are very short. People can easily type very short domain names unlike a long one that is difficult to type and remember. People also hate to type a very long name.
2. Let the name chosen be very simple. People always misspell domain names that are difficult to type. It is likely that someone may visit some other people's web site if they misspell your domain name.
3. Never ever, use a domain name that sounds like an established and approved trade name. You could land in serious trouble if you do that. Double-check your domain name before you publish it.
4. Let the name be relevant to the theme of your business. People want to reach web sites that reflect their needs and requirements.
5. Give preference to a .com domain-name extension. If it is not available, then you can take other domain extensions. .com is still the in thing!
6. If possible, register all similar domain names under different extensions like .net, .org, .biz etc. You can always redirect people to your main web site by using these domain names.
7. Never ever, use hyphens. Web users will never be able to remember them. It is also difficult to type these names. If someone is using domain name of your choice, do not order for a domain that contains hyphens in between. People may confuse your web site with similar sounding web sites. This will result in your web users visiting your competitor's web portals.
8. If you have a difficult to remember name, people may miss out some letters in the domain name. To avoid this possibility, you can register similar sounding names and redirect visitors from these domains to your main web site. All well-known web sites use these techniques even if someone types wrong URL in the address bar of the search engine.
Make sure that the domain of your choice is actually available with a registrar. You can use the Whois database to check whether the domain name of your choice is still available or not.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
Buying a Top Level Domain Name - Some Ideas and Suggestions
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu
Of late, it is getting increasingly harder to choose and buy a top-level domain name. It is also very difficult to find a top-level domain name that relates directly to the theme and subject of your web site. People who are looking forward to buy a top-level domain name work hard to find a suitable name often with tremendous difficulty. If you are a seller of products or services through your internet portals, then you must try had to purchase a .com or .biz top-level domain name. In fact, such domains will lend immense credibility and authenticity to your business. Top-level domains can also act as very strong advertising tools for your business.
The top level is always the extension of a particular domain name. .com is the most famous top-level domain name in the world. Top-level domain extension indicates the type of online activities you are carrying right now. These domain name extensions are there for special purposes. A .com domain indicates that you are in some form of business while .net signifies that you are dealing with a network of different services. An .org is always special to non-profits while .biz always signifies that you are dealing with some business services.
For commercial business purposes, you will need to buy .com domain because most web surfers have the habit of adding.com extension at the end of their keywords. Make sure that you buy the .com name extension first before buying other extensions. Otherwise, someone else may pick up your .com name. In this way, .com name extensions are always so invaluable.
Almost all search engines will check your domain names before allowing someone to search your name. You must ensure that the site content and the domain name extension are in complete resonance with each other so that search engines can easily index your web site. Major search engines like Google and Yahoo always respect and value top-level domain names. It is possible to check the availability of a top-level domain name by trying the plural version of the names. However, domain owners are very intelligent and smart because they will always make sure that they register plural forms of their main domain name.
Top-level domains are possible when you add numbers to the domains. Experts recommend adding numbers to choose and register some top-level domain names. Adding numbers to the main body text of the domains may help you register some top-level domain names. Some people use substitutions of the letters to some original letters of the domain name. For example, you can substitute the word four with 4.
Top-level domain names are in excessive demand while people will go any lengths to register such domain names. If you fail to get these domain names, you can always choose and buy an expired domain. Expired domain market could be a very good source of very good top-level domain names. However, get ready to pay very high price for a very good top-level expired domain name.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
Copyright © 2009 John Khu
Of late, it is getting increasingly harder to choose and buy a top-level domain name. It is also very difficult to find a top-level domain name that relates directly to the theme and subject of your web site. People who are looking forward to buy a top-level domain name work hard to find a suitable name often with tremendous difficulty. If you are a seller of products or services through your internet portals, then you must try had to purchase a .com or .biz top-level domain name. In fact, such domains will lend immense credibility and authenticity to your business. Top-level domains can also act as very strong advertising tools for your business.
The top level is always the extension of a particular domain name. .com is the most famous top-level domain name in the world. Top-level domain extension indicates the type of online activities you are carrying right now. These domain name extensions are there for special purposes. A .com domain indicates that you are in some form of business while .net signifies that you are dealing with a network of different services. An .org is always special to non-profits while .biz always signifies that you are dealing with some business services.
For commercial business purposes, you will need to buy .com domain because most web surfers have the habit of adding.com extension at the end of their keywords. Make sure that you buy the .com name extension first before buying other extensions. Otherwise, someone else may pick up your .com name. In this way, .com name extensions are always so invaluable.
Almost all search engines will check your domain names before allowing someone to search your name. You must ensure that the site content and the domain name extension are in complete resonance with each other so that search engines can easily index your web site. Major search engines like Google and Yahoo always respect and value top-level domain names. It is possible to check the availability of a top-level domain name by trying the plural version of the names. However, domain owners are very intelligent and smart because they will always make sure that they register plural forms of their main domain name.
Top-level domains are possible when you add numbers to the domains. Experts recommend adding numbers to choose and register some top-level domain names. Adding numbers to the main body text of the domains may help you register some top-level domain names. Some people use substitutions of the letters to some original letters of the domain name. For example, you can substitute the word four with 4.
Top-level domain names are in excessive demand while people will go any lengths to register such domain names. If you fail to get these domain names, you can always choose and buy an expired domain. Expired domain market could be a very good source of very good top-level domain names. However, get ready to pay very high price for a very good top-level expired domain name.
About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)