What is SEO, PPC & Ranking?
October 31, 2009
What is SEO, PPC & Ranking?
by: Bill Naugle
This article examines the basics behind quality site promotion.
Let us take a good look at acronyms in the industry! Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a term thrown around a million times a day online. So many sites use old techniques that will get there rankings hurt or reversed with there hap-hazard web designs it frustrates me. I don’t want you to be one of them. In fact this article is aimed for creating SEEN web design projects. If you don’t use this anti-SEO (i.e. cloaking and doorway pages) and follow the following rules you can expect decent results with your web design. The basics for SEO are simple and should be used by all web designers and web design services (although that doesn’t mean they are always used):
1. Optimize your site with a high percentage of text relevant to the search terms you intend to go after.
2. Make sure all alt (alternate image tags) and title tags have relative descriptions including keywords.
Burnout
October 31, 2009
Today I want to share a question from a reader who writes:
How do I keep from being burned out while cold calling? My job is to call current customers and also call new business prospects. I have a quota of 60?80 calls to make per day, but it seems as though I cannot stay focused long enough to make even 50 phone calls. By the time I get finished calling my current customers and servicing their accounts, I am mentally burned out. I am in no state to begin calling for new business. What advice/strategy do you recommend to keep me “pounding the phone” and “dialing for dollars”?
****
You ask an excellent question, and one that comes up for many people who conduct business over the telephone. Phone work can be exhausting! It is an intense experience. You must stay focused, listen carefully, assess prospects and respond quickly.
Try making your new calls first. Set aside a specific time, such as the first hour or two in the morning (depending on how many customer service calls you need to make that day) and dedicate that time to making new calls and only new calls. When the time that you have scheduled is up-stop. Then, go on to your customer service calls.
Better Manager Skills - How to Learn
October 30, 2009
When you first take over a department, expectations are usually high but operations are sometimes in disarray. The staff is disorganized, goals aren’t being met, and hours are spent on unproductive tasks. Just when you think the company would never get on track, the CFO recommends that you learn more about something called operations assessment.
Crucial Management Skills Help Avoid Mistakes
At first, you aren’t sure how operational assessment skills would help you manage better, but you quickly see that the training makes all the difference. You learn that planning without assessment can be as ineffective as not planning at all. You also learn that goal-oriented checklists, frequent follow-ups, and asking the right questions at the right times can eliminate costly mistakes.
With Operations Assessment Training, You Will Be Able To:
Articulate the advantages of an operations assessment in the maintenance and improvement of your management systems.
? Explain the Model of a Process-based Quality Management System, and the purpose and structure of ISO 9001.
? Plan and execute an operations assessment.
? Gather objective evidence through observation, interview and sampling of documents and records.
? Write factual assessment reports that drive improvements in your management system.
Try Mistypes For A Chance At Cash
October 29, 2009
Try Mistypes For A Chance At Cash
by: Brian Pubrat
A while ago I was asked how common is it that people mistype words into their browsers or into search engines. I replied that it happens each and every day and probably a thousand times a second.
If you think about it, there are billions of searches conducted every day on the internet. It is inevitable that mistyped words will occur. Just this morning I misspelled the word ‘mispell”.
If you can focus on typos (misspelled words) for a moment I will show you a trick on how to profit from them. Let me explain.
A while ago I bought the domain name: www.loneofficers.com. Not loanofficers.com, but loneofficers.com. (The difference is the “ne” instead of “an” in the word: loan).
Here’s how it happened…..
My friend was over and needed to use the computer. I happily obliged. He needed to find a loan officer for a new car he was about to purchase. This is when something interesting happened. When he went online he typed in “loneofficer” instead of “loanofficer” into the browser window. I couldn’t believe it since my friend is very intelligent. But there it was, he misspelled the word “loan”.
Forward Thinkers Stay Ahead of the Curve
October 28, 2009
What is it like from a marketing perspective to be yesterday’s news? We rely on what is tried and true in marketing because it is usually safe, tried, and tested. It saves us time, as well, since we don’t have to put on our creativity cap to craft an innovative strategy.
But, there’s a certain attractive quality around someone who markets his or her business on the edge. They stretch their thoughts and ideas into new territories to create an innovative way of packaging or presenting their product or service. Shifting ourselves to be forward thinkers, one step ahead of everyone else when it comes to marketing our business might be something to consider when attracting new customers and clients.
Here are some ways to add some zip to your marketing.
1. Try a new mental environment. Involve yourself in new mental environments. Read different materials or magazines. Take a class in creativity or in an area completely unknown or outside of your general interest area. Or, better yet, find a coach who works on the cutting edge to experience their way of thinking.
Why Small Business Must Turn to PR
October 27, 2009
If small business had no important outside audiences, it wouldn’t exist.
But since they do have external "publics," it’s doubly unfortunate when those same small business owners seem unconcerned about the very outside folks whose behaviors can place a choke-hold on their business!
And worse, are so casual about public relations, the best way to move those behaviors in their direction.
Is that you? What’s the problem? Can you think of any other way to marshall those groups of people you need so badly if your business is to succeed?
Face it. You must turn to public relations if you are really serious about getting those important outside people to support what you are trying to do.
And the best part is, there’s no mystery about how to do it!
Start today by listing your important outside audiences in priority order. No doubt, customers and prospects will place #1 and #2. But think carefully about your local and trade media as well as community residents and leaders, suppliers and the like. The test for adding an external audience to your worry list is this: if left unattended, could its perceptions and behaviors hurt your business?
Top 10 Super Job Interview Tips
October 26, 2009
Use these interview tips for job hunting success!
It’s a tough job market out there today. And getting the job you want requires more than just a killer resume. In other words, you can’t just sell yourself on paper. You also have to be able to do it in person–in a face-to-face job interview.
Here are a few interview tips to help you make a great impression on the person who interviews you.
1. Market your skills and related experience in the field that you are applying for. Be sure to do it in a way that is positive, but not cocky or aggressive.
2. Research the company before your interview. It’s a great way to know where you would fit into the organization. It also lets the employer know that you really want to be a part of the company.
3. Prepare answers to common interview questions ahead of time, and practice saying them, so you aren’t stumped during the interview.
4. Dress for success, in the manner you would dress for the position you’re seeking.
Marketing Apathy Solutions: 10 Solutions for Overcoming Apathy Beginning Today
October 26, 2009
Are you suffering from feelings of indifference or a lack of concern when it comes to marketing your business? Do you lack the passion that’s necessary to attract customers to your business?
Marketing apathy, characterized by feelings of passiveness, disregard, and a lack of interest is widespread among today’s businesses. This attitude is like putting a roadblock between you and your success. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions for overcoming apathy that you can start implementing today. Try one or more of these.
1. Do something. The best way to take a blah attitude and turn it around is to do something. You may have heard the phrase, "an idle mind is the devil’s workshop". The same goes for your business. Apathy often disguises itself as procrastination ? lack of action. In the case of your business, an idle business can mean financial disaster. When you find yourself not wanting to do anything, do something. Pick up a book and read for a while, call a client or two and ask them how things are going, or contact your coach to get yourself moving. If you have to, get up and do jumping jacks or take a walk around the block. When you engage your physical body, it’s usually easier to engage the rest of you. Once you get the energy moving on your end, you’ll be able to take it and channel it into a number of avenues that can lead to business success.
Tips On Building A Profitable Opt In List
October 25, 2009
Tips On Building A Profitable Opt In List
by: Jo Han Mok
Have you realized that you need a good opt-in list if you want to own a successful online business? After reading countless articles, sought expert advices and reading many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists, you finally decide to have one of your own. You think you know everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed expert advices to the T and you still weren’t able to make a profit.
In fact, you may be losing money. You may even be hiring writers to help you out, and incuring some expenses, but even with a big list, with only a very small percentage buying from you, you will still be losing profit.
Just what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived straight right in. You chose a market that you think could be quite popular and would earn you money. This just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.
The Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Goals
October 24, 2009
Human beings are goal-seeking creatures. We are impatient and try, and fall, and try again until we learn to walk. We babble and coo and struggle until we learn to talk. Skinned knees mean nothing in the quest to ride a bicycle. Recently, the world has watched Olympic athletes over-come incredible obstacles in the quest for a medal. When a client tells me they have had a goal, but in the past 6 months they have made little or no progress towards achieving it, I encourage them to ask themselves the following 10 questions:
1. Do I really, really want this goal? It may sound nice, it may be something I should have or might enjoy, but do I really, deep in my soul, want it? Or, not?
2. Is the goal actually just a means to some other goal? Is my stated goal really a way to look good, or to please someone, or a handy excuse to work on something that sounds wonderful while I avoid something I don’t want to do? Great-sounding goals can be a marvelous distraction!
