Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Scott Bywater
One of the big mistakes many business owners make is coming across as if they are perfect and have no faults.
But here's the problem with this.
Perfection doesn't endear you to anyone.
And everybody knows it's false.
Think about the people you know well: they have fears, they have insecurities, they have emotional issues.
Heck, I sure do.
So when someone tries to present the corporate image of perfection, most people look at that and think pfui.
And there's no connection there... there's a lack of trust there... and you simply cannot feel close to someone on a human level if they don't appear human.
American President, Barack Obama understands this. And he put it perfectly a couple of days ago when he addressed a function in Washington.
Here is what he said:
"You know, folks ask me sometimes why I look so calm. And I have a confession to make. There are times when I'm not so calm... there are times when progress seems too slow. There are times when the words that are spoken about me hurt. There are times when the barbs sting." Obama said.
"There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught. Change is painfully slow in coming. And I have to confront my own doubts."
Now if the guy who is arguably the most powerful man in the world is willing to share his insecurities and speak from his heart, don't you think you should open up more to your prospects and customers, too.
When you write...
When you meet with them in person...
And at every possible opportunity...
Come across as a real person - not a corporate robot.
That's how you develop deep relationships with your customers and prospects.
About the Author:
For quick results, you'll want to get your hands on this leading direct response copywriter's ebook "7 Ways To Get More Customers" at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/ Scott Bywater shows you how to get all the customers you need in just 60 days. This popular ebook has been downloaded by over 8,247 business owners over the past five years. Packed with information, this ebook will show you copywriting and marketing strategies which could have you getting new clients within just a couple of days.
Read more Articles written by Scott Bywater.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Online Marketing Consultants Say Content is King
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Paul Marshall
Websites with more content rank better with the search engines. Any online marketing consultant will emphasize, however, that "more" isn't enough. For successful SEO, your site needs a steady stream of fresh, relevant content.
Above all, know your audience. Understand what your readers want and give it to them. More content:
1. Feeds the search engines.
2. Encourages return readers.
3. Serves as a keyword platform.
4. Helps distribute PageRank (through relevant internal linking.)
Online marketing consulting emphasizes the need to build site authority. Information rich, relevant text is the most affordable SEO tool at your disposal to achieve that goal.
People Read Differently Online
Monitor resolution, color quality, available light, and the fixed distance and angle of the screen all cause eye fatigue. More importantly, links encourage distraction. Readers routinely jump ship in the middle of the paragraph with no guarantee they'll ever come back.
Use Inverted Pyramid Structure
To compensate, put the most important information in the first paragraph. Journalists have been doing it for years, well aware that almost no one will read their entire story. Arrange the rest of the material in descending order of importance.
Write To Your Links
If you include a link in a paragraph, continue to control the narrative at the link's destination. Regardless of where a reader goes in your site, make sure you are presenting a coherent message.
Repeat Without Copying
Don't be afraid to repeat information, but don't just copy the same chunk of text. Rewrite repetitive material to vary your keyword phrasing and anchor text. Every page on the site should appear fresh and dynamic.
Forget The Five-Sentence Paragraph
Online readers need more white space to make skimming the text easier. Forget the five-sentence paragraph structure you learned in English class. Keep online paragraphs to three sentences or less whenever possible.
When possible, use a mix of bold, italics and underlining to make skimming easier for the reader.
Keep An Active, Direct Voice
Action verbs create strong web copy. Don't write that you "have been taught." Tell the reader what you "learned." Speak authoritatively, not passively.
Keep Your Text Concise
Work for a length of 500 to 1000 words per page. When an article runs long, pay special attention to paragraph length. Use subtitles to highlight main ideas and to create more white space.
Consider that the average reader reads at about 200 words per minute. Keeping them on a page for more than 5 minutes (1000 words) often isn't possible.
Choose Common Vocabulary
Write your text on a 9th to 12th grade reading level. There are numerous tools online to measure the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of your text. Most require nothing more complicated than copying and pasting the material to be measured.
Proofread Your Copy
Misspelled words and poor grammar scream "amateur." Ask someone you trust to proofread your copy. Writers get too close to their words and easily miss mistakes.
Avoid Common Grammatical Errors
Don't be guilty of the most common grammatical mistakes. Making glaring errors will harm the reputation of your site and tell readers you don't know what you're doing. In particular avoid:
-- Loose for lose. You lose your car keys. Your Hawaiian shirt has a loose fit.
-- Lay for lie. When you have a headache you lie down. You lay your papers on the desk.
-- You're for your. "You're in for trouble if you don't mind your grammar."
-- Of for have. "I would have set you straight about this error if I could have."
-- They're for their. "They're suffering from the consequences of their bad manners."
-- Effect for affect. "A computer problem affects your ability to work. The effects of the situation may delay the project."
Know When To Break The Rules
There are always situations that require that the rules be broken. This relates directly to the need to know your audience. Some topics call for a more in-depth treatment and more complex language.
Introduce deeper, more complicated material with a brief synopsis. Make it clear that following the link will take the reader to an extended treatment of the topic.
Formatting is even more important for in-depth material. Try to treat one idea per page with a clear indication of how many pages will follow. This lets readers find logical stopping points and encourages them to bookmark their place and return to finish reading later.
Always Remember The Basics
In composing text for your site, never forget the different mechanics of reading online. Focus on the wants and needs of your audience. Believe the online marketing consultant wisdom that content is king.
Keep the most important information in the first paragraph. Use sub-headings to improve visual scanning. Choose active verbs and clearly understood words.
Control the narrative throughout your site. Repeat without copying. Proofread and correct your work and update frequently to feed the search engines and encourage repeat visits from your readers.
About the Author:
Marketing online since 2004, Paul Marshall can help you market on a realistic budget. He's an Online Marketing Consultant offering professional marketing services (and d-i-y Coaching). He also offers Affordable SEO services. Get to know Paul, just visit Strategic Web Marketing.net today!
Read more of Paul Marshall's articles.
Copyright © 2010 Paul Marshall
Websites with more content rank better with the search engines. Any online marketing consultant will emphasize, however, that "more" isn't enough. For successful SEO, your site needs a steady stream of fresh, relevant content.
Above all, know your audience. Understand what your readers want and give it to them. More content:
1. Feeds the search engines.
2. Encourages return readers.
3. Serves as a keyword platform.
4. Helps distribute PageRank (through relevant internal linking.)
Online marketing consulting emphasizes the need to build site authority. Information rich, relevant text is the most affordable SEO tool at your disposal to achieve that goal.
People Read Differently Online
Monitor resolution, color quality, available light, and the fixed distance and angle of the screen all cause eye fatigue. More importantly, links encourage distraction. Readers routinely jump ship in the middle of the paragraph with no guarantee they'll ever come back.
Use Inverted Pyramid Structure
To compensate, put the most important information in the first paragraph. Journalists have been doing it for years, well aware that almost no one will read their entire story. Arrange the rest of the material in descending order of importance.
Write To Your Links
If you include a link in a paragraph, continue to control the narrative at the link's destination. Regardless of where a reader goes in your site, make sure you are presenting a coherent message.
Repeat Without Copying
Don't be afraid to repeat information, but don't just copy the same chunk of text. Rewrite repetitive material to vary your keyword phrasing and anchor text. Every page on the site should appear fresh and dynamic.
Forget The Five-Sentence Paragraph
Online readers need more white space to make skimming the text easier. Forget the five-sentence paragraph structure you learned in English class. Keep online paragraphs to three sentences or less whenever possible.
When possible, use a mix of bold, italics and underlining to make skimming easier for the reader.
Keep An Active, Direct Voice
Action verbs create strong web copy. Don't write that you "have been taught." Tell the reader what you "learned." Speak authoritatively, not passively.
Keep Your Text Concise
Work for a length of 500 to 1000 words per page. When an article runs long, pay special attention to paragraph length. Use subtitles to highlight main ideas and to create more white space.
Consider that the average reader reads at about 200 words per minute. Keeping them on a page for more than 5 minutes (1000 words) often isn't possible.
Choose Common Vocabulary
Write your text on a 9th to 12th grade reading level. There are numerous tools online to measure the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of your text. Most require nothing more complicated than copying and pasting the material to be measured.
Proofread Your Copy
Misspelled words and poor grammar scream "amateur." Ask someone you trust to proofread your copy. Writers get too close to their words and easily miss mistakes.
Avoid Common Grammatical Errors
Don't be guilty of the most common grammatical mistakes. Making glaring errors will harm the reputation of your site and tell readers you don't know what you're doing. In particular avoid:
-- Loose for lose. You lose your car keys. Your Hawaiian shirt has a loose fit.
-- Lay for lie. When you have a headache you lie down. You lay your papers on the desk.
-- You're for your. "You're in for trouble if you don't mind your grammar."
-- Of for have. "I would have set you straight about this error if I could have."
-- They're for their. "They're suffering from the consequences of their bad manners."
-- Effect for affect. "A computer problem affects your ability to work. The effects of the situation may delay the project."
Know When To Break The Rules
There are always situations that require that the rules be broken. This relates directly to the need to know your audience. Some topics call for a more in-depth treatment and more complex language.
Introduce deeper, more complicated material with a brief synopsis. Make it clear that following the link will take the reader to an extended treatment of the topic.
Formatting is even more important for in-depth material. Try to treat one idea per page with a clear indication of how many pages will follow. This lets readers find logical stopping points and encourages them to bookmark their place and return to finish reading later.
Always Remember The Basics
In composing text for your site, never forget the different mechanics of reading online. Focus on the wants and needs of your audience. Believe the online marketing consultant wisdom that content is king.
Keep the most important information in the first paragraph. Use sub-headings to improve visual scanning. Choose active verbs and clearly understood words.
Control the narrative throughout your site. Repeat without copying. Proofread and correct your work and update frequently to feed the search engines and encourage repeat visits from your readers.
About the Author:
Marketing online since 2004, Paul Marshall can help you market on a realistic budget. He's an Online Marketing Consultant offering professional marketing services (and d-i-y Coaching). He also offers Affordable SEO services. Get to know Paul, just visit Strategic Web Marketing.net today!
Read more of Paul Marshall's articles.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Are Your Websites Secure Or Is The Back Door Wide Open?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Willie Crawford
One of the topics that all of us online business people are aware of but usually don't feel totally on top of is website security.
Coming from a background of having spent over 20 years in the U.S. military, and having spent four years as a software tester, I have a greater awareness of the need for continuous vigilance in this area than your average marketer.
I also know that you can never make your websites or your computers completely secure. Instead, you can only do things that reduce the risk.
Given that you spend a lot of time, money, and energy, building your online business, it only makes sense that you set aside time periodically to review security related issues, and to look for problems that can be easily minimized.
Here are a few easy "fixes" that you can implement today that will increase the security of your online business.
1) Delete outdated scripts that you no longer use from your server. Many of "the bad guys" have studied the exact same scripts that you use to power your websites, and they know where the backdoors and vulnerabilities are. They know exactly which file will allow them to create all kinds of havoc.
If you have old programs on your server that you are not using, simply delete them.
2) Update older scripts that you are using. Often, the reason that updates are released for a script IS to patch a vulnerability that the developer has become aware of.
YES, upgrading can seem time consuming, and it can be tempting to skip an update, and just wait for the next one. When you wake up one day and can't access your server, or all of your websites have been defaced or erased, you'll see the wisdom in ALWAYS keeping the scripts powering your websites completely updated.
If you are as non-techie as I am, you simply hire a trusted programmer to perform this task.
3) Change the default setting when installing scripts on your servers. Many scripts have default passwords, and default locations for critical directories that make these scripts work flawlessly. Since everyone obtaining a copy of these script have these settings, you probably want to change them, and you also may want to rename certain directories.
4) Secure your web logs. Many web hosts have a standard location for the website's logs and statistics on each hosting account. The files that allow you to access, read, download, and manipulate this data often aren't secured. At a minimum, password protect that directory.
The danger in someone readily accessing your logs is that they can see the names and paths of the files on your server, including your download pages and the file names of files that may actually be for sale products :-(
There are not only people who search on your product name, looking for unsecured files - there are also people who enjoy posting those links on sites where this type of information is shared.
5) Put an index page in every directory on your server. If someone surfs to the domain name of one of the directories on your server, and there is no index page in that directory, they will get a directory tree... showing them all of the files in that directory, and allowing them to simply click in a given file name to access it.
Servers can be configured to prevent this, but for many people, the quickest and simplest way to protect their directories from prying eyes is to stick an index page in each directory.
6) Give your download pages hard to guess names. Don't use urls like YourDomain.com/ProductName/download.html Instead you want to give download pages names comprised of a random sequence of letters and numbers, perhaps stick them in directories not even associated with a given product, or use a "download guard-type" script that gives each customer a unique download link and protects your files.
There are a lots of other things that you can do to easily close common holes in your website's security. This article barely scrapes the surface, and is intended more to make you aware of the problem, and to get your thinking about it. Make regularly reading articles and reports on the topic a part of your education in how to operate a successful online business.
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been operating an online business for 13 years and believes that too many online marketers simply pretend that problems with website security don't exist. For a really eye-opening report on website security, get the recordings of an interview Willie did with a leading web security expert at: http://timic.org/CloseTheDoor
Follow Willie Crawford on Twitter.
Copyright © 2010 Willie Crawford
One of the topics that all of us online business people are aware of but usually don't feel totally on top of is website security.
Coming from a background of having spent over 20 years in the U.S. military, and having spent four years as a software tester, I have a greater awareness of the need for continuous vigilance in this area than your average marketer.
I also know that you can never make your websites or your computers completely secure. Instead, you can only do things that reduce the risk.
Given that you spend a lot of time, money, and energy, building your online business, it only makes sense that you set aside time periodically to review security related issues, and to look for problems that can be easily minimized.
Here are a few easy "fixes" that you can implement today that will increase the security of your online business.
1) Delete outdated scripts that you no longer use from your server. Many of "the bad guys" have studied the exact same scripts that you use to power your websites, and they know where the backdoors and vulnerabilities are. They know exactly which file will allow them to create all kinds of havoc.
If you have old programs on your server that you are not using, simply delete them.
2) Update older scripts that you are using. Often, the reason that updates are released for a script IS to patch a vulnerability that the developer has become aware of.
YES, upgrading can seem time consuming, and it can be tempting to skip an update, and just wait for the next one. When you wake up one day and can't access your server, or all of your websites have been defaced or erased, you'll see the wisdom in ALWAYS keeping the scripts powering your websites completely updated.
If you are as non-techie as I am, you simply hire a trusted programmer to perform this task.
3) Change the default setting when installing scripts on your servers. Many scripts have default passwords, and default locations for critical directories that make these scripts work flawlessly. Since everyone obtaining a copy of these script have these settings, you probably want to change them, and you also may want to rename certain directories.
4) Secure your web logs. Many web hosts have a standard location for the website's logs and statistics on each hosting account. The files that allow you to access, read, download, and manipulate this data often aren't secured. At a minimum, password protect that directory.
The danger in someone readily accessing your logs is that they can see the names and paths of the files on your server, including your download pages and the file names of files that may actually be for sale products :-(
There are not only people who search on your product name, looking for unsecured files - there are also people who enjoy posting those links on sites where this type of information is shared.
5) Put an index page in every directory on your server. If someone surfs to the domain name of one of the directories on your server, and there is no index page in that directory, they will get a directory tree... showing them all of the files in that directory, and allowing them to simply click in a given file name to access it.
Servers can be configured to prevent this, but for many people, the quickest and simplest way to protect their directories from prying eyes is to stick an index page in each directory.
6) Give your download pages hard to guess names. Don't use urls like YourDomain.com/ProductName/download.html Instead you want to give download pages names comprised of a random sequence of letters and numbers, perhaps stick them in directories not even associated with a given product, or use a "download guard-type" script that gives each customer a unique download link and protects your files.
There are a lots of other things that you can do to easily close common holes in your website's security. This article barely scrapes the surface, and is intended more to make you aware of the problem, and to get your thinking about it. Make regularly reading articles and reports on the topic a part of your education in how to operate a successful online business.
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been operating an online business for 13 years and believes that too many online marketers simply pretend that problems with website security don't exist. For a really eye-opening report on website security, get the recordings of an interview Willie did with a leading web security expert at: http://timic.org/CloseTheDoor
Follow Willie Crawford on Twitter.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Maintain Your Dental Practice Profits by Dealing Effectively with Patients Who Chronically Break Appointments
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Peter Gopal, Ph.D.
Appointment cancels; broken appointments, and no-shows are a source of endless frustration in any dental practice. Although the vast majority of patients keep their appointments, about 10% of patients cause 80% of that frustration.
Developing a protocol for handling this group of patients is essential to avoid lost revenue of anywhere from $150 (minimally) to $700 per day, depending upon the procedure. With roughly 200 working days in a year, this works out to an annual loss of between $30,000 and $140,000.
Follow the four steps below to slow the daily losses.
How to Handle Failed Appointments
1. Identify the patients who are chronic offenders.
2. Use a code in your practice management software to designate these patients. Some codes, which may be beneficial are:
LA: Usually Late. These patients can wreak havoc on your schedule and drive up stress for everyone in the office.
SD: Same-day Patient. These are patients who have a history of cancellations (at least two cancellations). They should be told to call for a same day appointment.
DP: Doubtful Patient. No track record has been established yet, but the patient seemed hesitant at the time of setting appointment.
3. Be proactive in managing the difficult patients.
LA: Communicate the importance of being on time in a way that makes sense to the patient. Tell them that your appointment schedule is sequential, and if one person turns up late, the entire schedule is upset and every patient after that has to wait. Tell them politely that you can help them only if they can uphold their end of the bargain. If necessary, set their appointment 15 minutes ahead of their actual appointment time.
SD: Ask these patients to call when they have the time and the finances to come in. Do not book their appointment in advance, but if they call, and an opening is available that same day, ask them to come in.
DP: Call the patient three days in advance of their appointment. Talk to them live and confirm that they are going to keep their appointment. If you are unable to reach them live, leave a message asking them to call the office to confirm that they will keep the appointment. If you do not hear from them 24 hours prior to the appointment, open the slot up for another appointment.
4. Do not give peak-demand appointment slots (such as early morning, evenings, or Saturdays) to chronic offenders.
Be considerate and reasonable in developing your list of chronic offenders. Patients do have legitimate reasons for canceling appointments, such as a health problem, a real car breakdown, a daycare issue, a death in the family, being called in for overtime work at the last minute, and so forth. Give the patient the benefit of the doubt when possible. Put the patient on this list only if they are habitual cancelers, and take them off the list when their behavior puts them back among the 90% of patients who habitually show up for their appointments - on time.
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 © 2010 Peter Gopal, Ph.D.
Appointment cancels; broken appointments, and no-shows are a source of endless frustration in any dental practice. Although the vast majority of patients keep their appointments, about 10% of patients cause 80% of that frustration.
Developing a protocol for handling this group of patients is essential to avoid lost revenue of anywhere from $150 (minimally) to $700 per day, depending upon the procedure. With roughly 200 working days in a year, this works out to an annual loss of between $30,000 and $140,000.
Follow the four steps below to slow the daily losses.
How to Handle Failed Appointments
1. Identify the patients who are chronic offenders.
2. Use a code in your practice management software to designate these patients. Some codes, which may be beneficial are:
LA: Usually Late. These patients can wreak havoc on your schedule and drive up stress for everyone in the office.
SD: Same-day Patient. These are patients who have a history of cancellations (at least two cancellations). They should be told to call for a same day appointment.
DP: Doubtful Patient. No track record has been established yet, but the patient seemed hesitant at the time of setting appointment.
3. Be proactive in managing the difficult patients.
LA: Communicate the importance of being on time in a way that makes sense to the patient. Tell them that your appointment schedule is sequential, and if one person turns up late, the entire schedule is upset and every patient after that has to wait. Tell them politely that you can help them only if they can uphold their end of the bargain. If necessary, set their appointment 15 minutes ahead of their actual appointment time.
SD: Ask these patients to call when they have the time and the finances to come in. Do not book their appointment in advance, but if they call, and an opening is available that same day, ask them to come in.
DP: Call the patient three days in advance of their appointment. Talk to them live and confirm that they are going to keep their appointment. If you are unable to reach them live, leave a message asking them to call the office to confirm that they will keep the appointment. If you do not hear from them 24 hours prior to the appointment, open the slot up for another appointment.
4. Do not give peak-demand appointment slots (such as early morning, evenings, or Saturdays) to chronic offenders.
Be considerate and reasonable in developing your list of chronic offenders. Patients do have legitimate reasons for canceling appointments, such as a health problem, a real car breakdown, a daycare issue, a death in the family, being called in for overtime work at the last minute, and so forth. Give the patient the benefit of the doubt when possible. Put the patient on this list only if they are habitual cancelers, and take them off the list when their behavior puts them back among the 90% of patients who habitually show up for their appointments - on time.
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.
Four Warnings Regarding a Foreign-Sounding (or Foreign-Looking) New Business Name
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Marcia Yudkin
In 1915, California farmers banded together to rename the ahuacate, a pear-shaped fruit with pebbly skin and an oversized pit inside. They knew this Aztec word was hard for Americans to pronounce, and the Spanish version of the name, aguacate, was just as difficult for them. The new made-up name they agreed upon, avocado, sounds vaguely Latin American but does not present pronunciation problems for English speakers.
Those California farmers wisely recognized that an unfamiliar product with an unfamiliar name is hard enough to market, and when it also has a name whose sound patterns are unfamiliar to the ears of the public, that's one success barrier too many.
Foreign names for companies or products sometimes do very well in the American market. We also see plenty of pseudo-foreign names - created by misapplying spelling patterns found in foreign languages. For example, "soleil" is the French word for sun. When a suntan lotion placed a circumflex mark over the "o" in "soleil," it created fake French. Such names can appeal to those who have a slight knowledge of the foreign language - enough to recognize foreign implication but not enough to identify its implementation as wrong.
Use the following four-point checklist to make sure you're branding well by giving your name a foreign flavor rather than burdening your creation with a seriously disadvantageous name.
1. Does the spelling create uncertainty? A Chinese appliance company uses the brand name Haier for its Germanic implication of technical quality. However, with that spelling, an English speaker might pronounce it either HIGHer or HAYer.
Likewise, imagine someone confronting the brand name Pricci for the first time. It might be meant as an Italian surname, but that still leaves open whether it should sound like "preachy" or like PREEsee - or even like a cheeky spelling of "pricey." Hesitation over pronunciation hurts word of mouth publicity.
2. Are there diacritical marks? These include accent marks, the umlaut (two dots over a vowel, common in German), the o-slash (ø) in Danish and Norwegian, the tilde (that little squiggle over the "n" in Spanish words like señor) and many others. Sometimes these are added because they are needed to be correct in the foreign language that is the source of the name, and sometimes, as with the suntan lotion with the extra circumflex, these are added solely for effect. Either way, the marks signal foreignness and make a reader slow down and consider how to say the word.
Note that many people don't know how to type special characters. And on the web, some browsers and email readers don't interpret those special characters correctly. Consequently, brand names with accents, circumflexes, umlauts, tildes and o-slashes often get butchered in writing. (I've mostly avoided using them in this article for that reason.) If your media coverage and bloggers leave them out, then your branding becomes inconsistent.
3. Does the written name seem totally forbidding to your target audience? It's not surprising that no one, as of this writing, has yet snagged the domain XuStore.com even though it would be pronounced "Shoe Store," because the name Xu (also written Hsu in another transliteration system) flummoxes Westerners who do not speak Chinese. I understand that the common Vietnamese name Nguyen is pronounced nWEN, but that's another one that many Westerners encountering it for the first time would not even dare to try.
A foreign company name might also seem forbidding mainly because it's long and contains syllables that have to be painstakingly sounded out. For example, both
Kamehameha Kites, named after a Hawaiian king, and Vneshtorgbank (a large Russian enterprise which is now called Bank VTB), would give many Americans pause.
4. Is your target market clueless when it comes to foreign languages? A customer base that has traveled widely and knows one or two non-English languages generally takes a hard-to-say foreign name in stride better than a stay-at-home population of English-only folks.
My advice is that a "yes" to more than one of the above four questions indicates too high a risk for your naming. Just one "yes," however, could make for a cool invention. Remember Häagen-Dazs? That premium ice cream brand got a massive boost from its fake-Swedish name. Despite its umlaut and weird alphabetical sequences, it has only one probable pronunciation - and sophisticated, well-heeled consumers took to it like, well, a scrumptious treat.
About the Author:
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, a company that brainstorms creative business names, product names and tag lines for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with an appealing and effective name or tag line, download a free copy of "19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line" at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm
Read more of Marcia Yudkin's articles.
Copyright © 2010 Marcia Yudkin
In 1915, California farmers banded together to rename the ahuacate, a pear-shaped fruit with pebbly skin and an oversized pit inside. They knew this Aztec word was hard for Americans to pronounce, and the Spanish version of the name, aguacate, was just as difficult for them. The new made-up name they agreed upon, avocado, sounds vaguely Latin American but does not present pronunciation problems for English speakers.
Those California farmers wisely recognized that an unfamiliar product with an unfamiliar name is hard enough to market, and when it also has a name whose sound patterns are unfamiliar to the ears of the public, that's one success barrier too many.
Foreign names for companies or products sometimes do very well in the American market. We also see plenty of pseudo-foreign names - created by misapplying spelling patterns found in foreign languages. For example, "soleil" is the French word for sun. When a suntan lotion placed a circumflex mark over the "o" in "soleil," it created fake French. Such names can appeal to those who have a slight knowledge of the foreign language - enough to recognize foreign implication but not enough to identify its implementation as wrong.
Use the following four-point checklist to make sure you're branding well by giving your name a foreign flavor rather than burdening your creation with a seriously disadvantageous name.
1. Does the spelling create uncertainty? A Chinese appliance company uses the brand name Haier for its Germanic implication of technical quality. However, with that spelling, an English speaker might pronounce it either HIGHer or HAYer.
Likewise, imagine someone confronting the brand name Pricci for the first time. It might be meant as an Italian surname, but that still leaves open whether it should sound like "preachy" or like PREEsee - or even like a cheeky spelling of "pricey." Hesitation over pronunciation hurts word of mouth publicity.
2. Are there diacritical marks? These include accent marks, the umlaut (two dots over a vowel, common in German), the o-slash (ø) in Danish and Norwegian, the tilde (that little squiggle over the "n" in Spanish words like señor) and many others. Sometimes these are added because they are needed to be correct in the foreign language that is the source of the name, and sometimes, as with the suntan lotion with the extra circumflex, these are added solely for effect. Either way, the marks signal foreignness and make a reader slow down and consider how to say the word.
Note that many people don't know how to type special characters. And on the web, some browsers and email readers don't interpret those special characters correctly. Consequently, brand names with accents, circumflexes, umlauts, tildes and o-slashes often get butchered in writing. (I've mostly avoided using them in this article for that reason.) If your media coverage and bloggers leave them out, then your branding becomes inconsistent.
3. Does the written name seem totally forbidding to your target audience? It's not surprising that no one, as of this writing, has yet snagged the domain XuStore.com even though it would be pronounced "Shoe Store," because the name Xu (also written Hsu in another transliteration system) flummoxes Westerners who do not speak Chinese. I understand that the common Vietnamese name Nguyen is pronounced nWEN, but that's another one that many Westerners encountering it for the first time would not even dare to try.
A foreign company name might also seem forbidding mainly because it's long and contains syllables that have to be painstakingly sounded out. For example, both
Kamehameha Kites, named after a Hawaiian king, and Vneshtorgbank (a large Russian enterprise which is now called Bank VTB), would give many Americans pause.
4. Is your target market clueless when it comes to foreign languages? A customer base that has traveled widely and knows one or two non-English languages generally takes a hard-to-say foreign name in stride better than a stay-at-home population of English-only folks.
My advice is that a "yes" to more than one of the above four questions indicates too high a risk for your naming. Just one "yes," however, could make for a cool invention. Remember Häagen-Dazs? That premium ice cream brand got a massive boost from its fake-Swedish name. Despite its umlaut and weird alphabetical sequences, it has only one probable pronunciation - and sophisticated, well-heeled consumers took to it like, well, a scrumptious treat.
About the Author:
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, a company that brainstorms creative business names, product names and tag lines for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with an appealing and effective name or tag line, download a free copy of "19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line" at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm
Read more of Marcia Yudkin's articles.
Does Your Web Site Pass the Title Tag Test?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Stone Reuning
You know those words in the top bar of the browser when you're on a website? You may not have noticed them before now, but you'll want to pay attention to what shows there for your site from now on.
Those words are from the page's title meta tag, a part of the code that makes up the page. And while the title tag is just one small part of the code, it plays a really big role.
Title tags are crucial in getting your site indexed and ranked in the search engines. A title tag tells the search engine what your page is about - and it's also what displays in search results to represent your site.
Let's take a look at your title tags now. Pull up your site and look at what appears in the very top bar of the browser.
If you're seeing generic terms like "Untitled Document", "Welcome to our Home Page", "About Us" or "Contact Us" as you click through the pages, it's time for an overhaul. (Known as stop words or dead weight words, these are so common that search engines ignore them or return search results irrelevant to what the person is looking for.)
If you see just the name of your company or services, your title tags will also need help.
Here's what you need to do to get those all-important title tags working for you...
Include your most important keywords in your title tags. These are the terms people will most likely use to conduct a search on Google, Yahoo, etc. (A solid list of keywords is the foundation for any search engine optimization effort.)
Avoid your company's name or product/service names as the sole component of title tags. It's likely that only a very small segment of potential searchers will be searching on branded names, so be sure to use more descriptive terms the average customer might use.
Each page should have a separate title tag that represents the unique content on that page. Don't be tempted to use the same title tag for all the pages in one section of your site, for example.
Keep title tags to around 60 characters. Anything longer and it may be chopped off by the search engines.
Don't stuff keywords. This makes your title tag appear messy or unreadable, and it's going to entice fewer clicks even if it ranks high in search engines. Stop words such as "the", "of", "that", "is", "and", "to" and so forth can be used sparingly to improve the readability of a title.
Find out which other websites are using your keywords in their title tags to get an idea of who you'll be competing with. Google has a handy tool to help you find out. Go to Google.com and type in the search bar "intitle:your keywords" (quotes not needed).
Sample Title Tags
We'll show you a couple of examples to give you a boost on your way to great title tags.
If you look at T-mobile.com, you'll see a title tag something like:
"Cell phones, cellular phone plans, prepaid cell phones, free cell phones and deals"
Not bad. You can tell someone has put thought into which keywords the home page should rank for.
On the other hand, go to Nortel.com, and you'll see a good example of what not to do:
"Nortel"
Here's another example from the alpaca niche:
Before: "Alpaca Meadows Homepage"
After: "Wisconsin Alpaca Farm, Northern Wisconsin Alpaca Breeder: Alpaca Meadows"
The first tag is quite generic and will not rank well since most people looking for information on alpacas will not be looking for a specific ranch or breeders name right off the bat.
The second tag on the other hand contains many general AND specific keyword phrases such as "alpaca", "alpaca farm", "alpaca breeder" along with keywords related to its location. Not only will this descriptive tag gain more traction in the rankings but it will lure more visitors to the site.
Creating great title tags is a little bit of an art form. Indeed, some SEO engineers specialize in this, though hard-hitting meta titles should be included with any on-page SEO efforts you undertake.
About the Author:
Stone Reuning is president of SEO Advantage, a search engine optimization company that helps businesses harness the revenue generation potential of their websites. Referenced in books such as "Writing Web-Based Advertising Copy to Get the Sale" and the BusinessWeek bestseller "The New Rules of Marketing and PR", http://www.seo-advantage.com/ offers information to help small businesses compete online.
Read more of Stone Reuning's articles.
Copyright © 2010 Stone Reuning
You know those words in the top bar of the browser when you're on a website? You may not have noticed them before now, but you'll want to pay attention to what shows there for your site from now on.
Those words are from the page's title meta tag, a part of the code that makes up the page. And while the title tag is just one small part of the code, it plays a really big role.
Title tags are crucial in getting your site indexed and ranked in the search engines. A title tag tells the search engine what your page is about - and it's also what displays in search results to represent your site.
Let's take a look at your title tags now. Pull up your site and look at what appears in the very top bar of the browser.
If you're seeing generic terms like "Untitled Document", "Welcome to our Home Page", "About Us" or "Contact Us" as you click through the pages, it's time for an overhaul. (Known as stop words or dead weight words, these are so common that search engines ignore them or return search results irrelevant to what the person is looking for.)
If you see just the name of your company or services, your title tags will also need help.
Here's what you need to do to get those all-important title tags working for you...
Sample Title Tags
We'll show you a couple of examples to give you a boost on your way to great title tags.
If you look at T-mobile.com, you'll see a title tag something like:
"Cell phones, cellular phone plans, prepaid cell phones, free cell phones and deals"
Not bad. You can tell someone has put thought into which keywords the home page should rank for.
On the other hand, go to Nortel.com, and you'll see a good example of what not to do:
"Nortel"
Here's another example from the alpaca niche:
Before: "Alpaca Meadows Homepage"
After: "Wisconsin Alpaca Farm, Northern Wisconsin Alpaca Breeder: Alpaca Meadows"
The first tag is quite generic and will not rank well since most people looking for information on alpacas will not be looking for a specific ranch or breeders name right off the bat.
The second tag on the other hand contains many general AND specific keyword phrases such as "alpaca", "alpaca farm", "alpaca breeder" along with keywords related to its location. Not only will this descriptive tag gain more traction in the rankings but it will lure more visitors to the site.
Creating great title tags is a little bit of an art form. Indeed, some SEO engineers specialize in this, though hard-hitting meta titles should be included with any on-page SEO efforts you undertake.
About the Author:
Stone Reuning is president of SEO Advantage, a search engine optimization company that helps businesses harness the revenue generation potential of their websites. Referenced in books such as "Writing Web-Based Advertising Copy to Get the Sale" and the BusinessWeek bestseller "The New Rules of Marketing and PR", http://www.seo-advantage.com/ offers information to help small businesses compete online.
Read more of Stone Reuning's articles.
The Road To Online Marketing Success Requires Commitment
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Bill Platt
Unsuccessful online marketers are notorious opportunity seekers - giving an opportunity only a couple of weeks to start showing results, before changing directions to chase the next flavor of the week. It almost seems that the majority of online marketers are chasing get-rich-quick schemes, rather than trying to develop a legitimate business.
Sometimes it seems like the majority of online marketers change the program that they are promoting, almost as often as they are putting gasoline into their car. "Okay honey... I filled up the car today... it is time for us to find another business opportunity to promote..."
There is also another group of online marketers, who seem to make a real commitment to a specific business opportunity, but success continues to elude this group is well. The second group fails to make a commitment to a particular marketing plan that is designed to help them to achieve success. Like the first group, they change directions, as often as they put gasoline into the car.
Those who are successful online, are the kind of people who make a solid commitment to a particular business model and make a long-term commitment to a realistic marketing plan.
I am not telling you these things because I think I'm better than you... In fact, I am telling you these things because I am guilty of having done the exact same things myself.
Towards the end of 2001, I finally started making serious money online, after having spun my wheels online for more than four years, chasing one opportunity after another, until I made a commitment to a particular business model.
I managed to increase my income year-over-year, and in March of 2005, I quit my job and started working full-time online. I have continued to earn a nice living online, ever since.
My 2009 revenues were down, but primarily because I was working less than normal... In November 2008, I learned that my father was ill... I had my suspicions right away, but we did not have verification of cancer until February 2009. (Contrary to popular belief, he was a non-smoker.)
As 2008 wound down, I made a commitment to my father that if he needed any assistance whatsoever, that I would make myself available to help him. That meant, if he needed transportation to and from doctors' appointments, I would drive the one-hour to his house, and then take him wherever he needed to go. If he needed me to come to his house to help him with anything whatsoever, I would come to his house to help him.
I made the commitment to him, and I honored that commitment to him.
My online business suffered considerably, as a result of my making that decision. But, I have no regrets... It was the right thing to do, and I am grateful that I did it.
My dad passed away in November of 2009.
I continued to miss work, through November and December of 2009, while doing those things that must be done in relation to matters of his funeral and his estate.
Just a couple weeks ago, I sat down and calculated exactly how much time I actually spent outside the office in 2009.
Not all of my absenteeism, during 2009, could be attributed directly to the time I spent assisting my father during his illness. In March of 2009, I had missed two weeks when we moved across town. My websites had also suffered a 16-day shut down in May, because I was unable to update the DNS records for my domains, when my web hosting company migrated my account to a new server. When I went to do the DNS updates, I discovered that ICAAN was in the process of shutting down my domain registrar and moving my domain registration information to a new domain registrar. Unfortunately, during a move of that type, updates cannot be made to the DNS records. So, my websites were offline until ICAAN finished its work.
All told, I missed two weeks while moving, two weeks while waiting for ICAAN to get everything moved so that I could update my DNS records, and another 12 to 14 weeks while assisting my father and taking care of the things that I needed to take care of after he passed away.
During the course of the last eight years, there has only been one year in which I was not fully committed to my business. That year was 2009. I did not walk away from my business, but I had made the decision that taking care of my family was more important than my business.
While my business, my reputation, and my income suffered tremendously in 2009, due to my frequent absences and slow responses, the commitment that I had shown my customers in previous years helped my business survive 2009 intact.
Now that I have returned to my business full-time, my revenue is starting to bounce back.
The past nine years has been a wild and exciting ride. The thrill of growing a business from nothing to something worthwhile has been an awesome experience for me.
But to the point of this article, this story would have been very different if I had not committed to a specific business model in 2001, and it would have been very different if I had not committed to a specific marketing plan for the promotion of that business.
If I had not made the commitment to develop a viable business model and commit to a specific marketing plan, I would have probably still been working 60 hours per week on a job when my dad got sick. If I had still been working in the brick-and-mortar world of retail sales, I would not have had the opportunity to help my dad when he most needed my help.
Then again, I would have had a different job than I had previously, because my last employer went out of business in January 2009.
With all that has happened in the last 16 months, I count among my greatest blessings the care and concern that was shown to me by my clients. Sure, some of the new people had absolutely no patience for my absences... But, I received a large number of personal phone calls, snail-mail letters, e-mails, blog comments, and tweets from my clients and people that I know from online, who wanted to offer their support to me, during my emotional roller coaster ride.
My greatest blessings have been realized in 2009 and 2010. I am blessed by the wonderful people, whom I have met online through my online business. And I am blessed to have a business that was strong enough to survive my frequent absences, during the last 16 months.
Those blessings were available to me, because I made a commitment in 2001 to stop chasing new opportunities every couple of weeks. I made the commitment to a business model that I believed could be successful, and I made the commitment to promote that business in a consistent and reliable manner.
When I brought commitment to my online marketing endeavors, I finally started to make money online. As I maintained that commitment over several years, I was able to grow my business to the point where I would be able to consistently earn enough money from my business, so that I would never have to have an outside job again.
To be honest, I believe that the reason my business continued to attract new customers through 2009 was because I had used article marketing to promote my businesses. The articles I write and distribute, for the promotion of my online businesses, seem to have real staying power.
The articles that I wrote and distributed, over the last nine years, continue to influence readers to visit my websites and to learn more about my businesses and what I can do for the reader.
Between September 2008 and January of 2010, I only wrote and distributed four articles for the promotion of my websites. During those 16 months, I barely wrote and distributed one article every four months, yet the traffic to my website was only diminished during May of 2009, when my sites were off-line.
I honestly believe that the reason my websites continued to attract new visitors and new customers, during this period of time, is because I had more than 150 articles online, posted on thousands of websites, doing the hard work of convincing people that they needed to visit my websites to see how I could help them to accomplish their goals.
When your articles are as useful five years from now as they are today, your articles will have the same potential of continuing to send visitors to your website for many more years to come.
If you are seeking true success online, and you are still chasing the flavor of the week in business opportunities, I strongly recommend that you pick out something that seems to have real potential for you and to make a commitment to see it through to success.
If you would like to learn more about how to make article marketing work for you in the same positive manner that it has worked for me, pick up one or both of my article marketing ebooks shown below in my author information.
About the Author:
I encourage you to download my free ebook, "Article Marketing: Beyond The Basics" ebook at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/advanced-article-marketing.html If you find my free ebook useful, and most people do, I would encourage you to purchase the more advanced ebook, "How To Use Article Marketing To Positively Impact Your SEO Efforts". It is 70-pages of hard-hitting information about how to make your article marketing truly profitable: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-seo.html My name is Bill Platt, and I have been earning a nice living from article marketing for more than a decade. In my ebooks, I try to share with you the lessons that I have learned about how to get the most from your article marketing.
Read more Articles written by Bill Platt.
Copyright © 2010 Bill Platt
Unsuccessful online marketers are notorious opportunity seekers - giving an opportunity only a couple of weeks to start showing results, before changing directions to chase the next flavor of the week. It almost seems that the majority of online marketers are chasing get-rich-quick schemes, rather than trying to develop a legitimate business.
Sometimes it seems like the majority of online marketers change the program that they are promoting, almost as often as they are putting gasoline into their car. "Okay honey... I filled up the car today... it is time for us to find another business opportunity to promote..."
There is also another group of online marketers, who seem to make a real commitment to a specific business opportunity, but success continues to elude this group is well. The second group fails to make a commitment to a particular marketing plan that is designed to help them to achieve success. Like the first group, they change directions, as often as they put gasoline into the car.
Those who are successful online, are the kind of people who make a solid commitment to a particular business model and make a long-term commitment to a realistic marketing plan.
I am not telling you these things because I think I'm better than you... In fact, I am telling you these things because I am guilty of having done the exact same things myself.
Towards the end of 2001, I finally started making serious money online, after having spun my wheels online for more than four years, chasing one opportunity after another, until I made a commitment to a particular business model.
I managed to increase my income year-over-year, and in March of 2005, I quit my job and started working full-time online. I have continued to earn a nice living online, ever since.
My 2009 revenues were down, but primarily because I was working less than normal... In November 2008, I learned that my father was ill... I had my suspicions right away, but we did not have verification of cancer until February 2009. (Contrary to popular belief, he was a non-smoker.)
As 2008 wound down, I made a commitment to my father that if he needed any assistance whatsoever, that I would make myself available to help him. That meant, if he needed transportation to and from doctors' appointments, I would drive the one-hour to his house, and then take him wherever he needed to go. If he needed me to come to his house to help him with anything whatsoever, I would come to his house to help him.
I made the commitment to him, and I honored that commitment to him.
My online business suffered considerably, as a result of my making that decision. But, I have no regrets... It was the right thing to do, and I am grateful that I did it.
My dad passed away in November of 2009.
I continued to miss work, through November and December of 2009, while doing those things that must be done in relation to matters of his funeral and his estate.
Just a couple weeks ago, I sat down and calculated exactly how much time I actually spent outside the office in 2009.
Not all of my absenteeism, during 2009, could be attributed directly to the time I spent assisting my father during his illness. In March of 2009, I had missed two weeks when we moved across town. My websites had also suffered a 16-day shut down in May, because I was unable to update the DNS records for my domains, when my web hosting company migrated my account to a new server. When I went to do the DNS updates, I discovered that ICAAN was in the process of shutting down my domain registrar and moving my domain registration information to a new domain registrar. Unfortunately, during a move of that type, updates cannot be made to the DNS records. So, my websites were offline until ICAAN finished its work.
All told, I missed two weeks while moving, two weeks while waiting for ICAAN to get everything moved so that I could update my DNS records, and another 12 to 14 weeks while assisting my father and taking care of the things that I needed to take care of after he passed away.
During the course of the last eight years, there has only been one year in which I was not fully committed to my business. That year was 2009. I did not walk away from my business, but I had made the decision that taking care of my family was more important than my business.
While my business, my reputation, and my income suffered tremendously in 2009, due to my frequent absences and slow responses, the commitment that I had shown my customers in previous years helped my business survive 2009 intact.
Now that I have returned to my business full-time, my revenue is starting to bounce back.
The past nine years has been a wild and exciting ride. The thrill of growing a business from nothing to something worthwhile has been an awesome experience for me.
But to the point of this article, this story would have been very different if I had not committed to a specific business model in 2001, and it would have been very different if I had not committed to a specific marketing plan for the promotion of that business.
If I had not made the commitment to develop a viable business model and commit to a specific marketing plan, I would have probably still been working 60 hours per week on a job when my dad got sick. If I had still been working in the brick-and-mortar world of retail sales, I would not have had the opportunity to help my dad when he most needed my help.
Then again, I would have had a different job than I had previously, because my last employer went out of business in January 2009.
With all that has happened in the last 16 months, I count among my greatest blessings the care and concern that was shown to me by my clients. Sure, some of the new people had absolutely no patience for my absences... But, I received a large number of personal phone calls, snail-mail letters, e-mails, blog comments, and tweets from my clients and people that I know from online, who wanted to offer their support to me, during my emotional roller coaster ride.
My greatest blessings have been realized in 2009 and 2010. I am blessed by the wonderful people, whom I have met online through my online business. And I am blessed to have a business that was strong enough to survive my frequent absences, during the last 16 months.
Those blessings were available to me, because I made a commitment in 2001 to stop chasing new opportunities every couple of weeks. I made the commitment to a business model that I believed could be successful, and I made the commitment to promote that business in a consistent and reliable manner.
When I brought commitment to my online marketing endeavors, I finally started to make money online. As I maintained that commitment over several years, I was able to grow my business to the point where I would be able to consistently earn enough money from my business, so that I would never have to have an outside job again.
To be honest, I believe that the reason my business continued to attract new customers through 2009 was because I had used article marketing to promote my businesses. The articles I write and distribute, for the promotion of my online businesses, seem to have real staying power.
The articles that I wrote and distributed, over the last nine years, continue to influence readers to visit my websites and to learn more about my businesses and what I can do for the reader.
Between September 2008 and January of 2010, I only wrote and distributed four articles for the promotion of my websites. During those 16 months, I barely wrote and distributed one article every four months, yet the traffic to my website was only diminished during May of 2009, when my sites were off-line.
I honestly believe that the reason my websites continued to attract new visitors and new customers, during this period of time, is because I had more than 150 articles online, posted on thousands of websites, doing the hard work of convincing people that they needed to visit my websites to see how I could help them to accomplish their goals.
When your articles are as useful five years from now as they are today, your articles will have the same potential of continuing to send visitors to your website for many more years to come.
If you are seeking true success online, and you are still chasing the flavor of the week in business opportunities, I strongly recommend that you pick out something that seems to have real potential for you and to make a commitment to see it through to success.
If you would like to learn more about how to make article marketing work for you in the same positive manner that it has worked for me, pick up one or both of my article marketing ebooks shown below in my author information.
About the Author:
I encourage you to download my free ebook, "Article Marketing: Beyond The Basics" ebook at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/advanced-article-marketing.html If you find my free ebook useful, and most people do, I would encourage you to purchase the more advanced ebook, "How To Use Article Marketing To Positively Impact Your SEO Efforts". It is 70-pages of hard-hitting information about how to make your article marketing truly profitable: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-seo.html My name is Bill Platt, and I have been earning a nice living from article marketing for more than a decade. In my ebooks, I try to share with you the lessons that I have learned about how to get the most from your article marketing.
Read more Articles written by Bill Platt.
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