Archive for February, 2012
Key Characteristics of Valuable Domain Names
Posted by Charles K. Mburugu in Blogging, Marketing on February 29, 2012
A great domain name is one that enhances your position in the industry and offers you an advantage over your competitors. The following are some of the main characteristics of great domain names.
Memorable
Good domain names are those that can be remembered easily. They don’t need much advertising so as to make them stick in the customer’s mind. The best way of creating a domain name which is straightforward and memorable is to keep it ‘short and simple’. The name should be limited to two or three words at most.
Avoid using special characters or hyphens in the domain name. Most people are not likely to remember those special characters or hyphens when typing in your URL. This means that they will not be able to find your site. When people can’t locate your site due to complicated or long domain names, you will end up losing business.
Relevant
The domain name should reflect what your site is actually about. This will help you position yourself advantageously on the internet. If your domain name shows how you stand out from the competition, you will attain a better position than others players in your industry. Relevance was a key criterion for selecting a domain name for my blog which offers ANhosting discounts and midphase coupons.
Use a .com extension
When it comes to commercial websites, .com is the default extension for many people. When looking for any site, web users are likely to type in a domain name with a .com extension. Therefore, it is very important to get a .com domain name, especially if you are in business.
Value
Perceived truth is very powerful. A great domain name creates a certain perception of a site’s value and says something about the quality of products and services offered. Your domain name will determine how people judge your site and whether they visit it or not.
Unique
Your domain name should not be an imitation of existing ones. This is because copying similar domain names may result in legal problems. In addition, you need to brand yourself differently from your competitors. It is therefore important to take time to think of a domain name which will distinguish you from others who are dealing with similar services and products.
It is also advisable to avoid ‘free’ domain names. When people realize that you are being hosted for free, they will automatically conclude that the services or products you are offering are substandard. If you can’t invest in a proper domain name, you will end up losing credibility with your customers.
Conclusion
Domain names can be a very powerful marketing tool. They give customers the first impression even before they visit your website. Therefore, it is very important to select your domain name wisely so as to get credibility from the onset.
Clever (and cheap) ways to market your firm
There are many aspects of businesses today that 40, even 20, years ago would’ve been very alien. For example, most firms today realise that employee productivity is often a result of a good work/life balance as opposed to a simple carrot and stick mentality, and do their utmost to facilitate this. One other area which has seen a big change in working practice is marketing. Today, even the smallest firms are likely to have somebody in charge of marketing for the company, if not a full-time dedicated professional.
For these small firms however, it can be difficult to use marketing to get through the current economic quagmire like larger companies are doing, as they are already invested up to the hilt in their advertising and marketing budgets respectively.
Be Inventive
The following are some inventive and more importantly cheap ways to advertise your firm.
1. There are plenty of places to advertise that won’t cost you a single penny, and if carried out properly are just as effective. Banners or signage on the side of buildings you own or operate from are a good idea for certain firms that might not necessarily do this normally. Contact details and branding should appear on these, and help build the company profile. Be careful with things like graphic design on the signage and also ‘upkeep’ as a damaged or weathered banner with poor design can give your firm a negative image.
2. One option which isn’t often considered in many industries is merchandise. Although the word itself conjures up pictures of action figures and bad baseball caps, more toned down items such as pens are almost de rigueur for firms like solicitors. The advantage of these products is that after being given out to customers and clients, they act as free advertising when in use, much like gift bags for retail products.
3. An obvious business essential for some, business cards, are rarely employed in other areas, which is missing out on a large amount of easy brand push. By encouraging employees to carry cards that contain their job title, the company name and logo and their own contact details, the firm will be remembered as well as providing a professional approach to garnering new sales and making contacts.
4. At times social networking might seem like the last thing your business needs more of, given its oft-reported effects on productivity, but by being active on sites like LinkedIn, the company can further increase its online presence whilst at the same time modernising its networking and sales tactics. Workers should ideally be given training in how to display themselves online when communicating on behalf of the company, and how to present their online profiles that re related to work professionally.
Ways to make sure Facebook works for your Restaurant
800 million people are active users of Facebook, all of them eat and you can be certain that most of you target market are using Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family in your area. The power of Facebook is not just that you can interact with new potential customers directly but that they can recommend and promote your restaurant, your food to their friends. Instead of sharing information, it comes as a recommendation, making customers more likely to act on it. That is the power of Facebook for restaurants.Link Building For Bloggers
Posted by jenthames in Blogging, Promoting Your Blog, Tips & Advice on February 24, 2012
Link building for bloggers is substantially different than it is for a regular website. Link building is the SEO technique of using back links from one website to another to create Clout for a website or an organization in the search engines. These links tell the search engines a site is worthwhile to other users. Links directly influence organic rankings and this is something every website and blog needs to pay attention to. John over at Seomoves.org has several excellent posts about link building strategies.
Facebook is one of the best examples of the power of link building. The structure of Facebook is designed for link building not “connecting people” although it does this too. Facebook and their optimized keyword header code is at the beginning of each and every Facebook post. The ‘Clout’ of Facebook should be disseminated among the millions of people that use it rather than funneling back to Facebook but that is not the way the linking structure was set up. To put it simply Zuckerberg paid attention to linking structures and built a site using Linux to get the best linking possible and make money. Isn’t this enough of a reason to think about link building in your own blog?
Blog linking strategy is substantially different than standard linking strategies for websites. This is partially because Google, Bing and Yahoo have probably created separate algorithms to deal with blogs the same way they have for mobile. Blogs are far more social than websites. Blogging can lead to commerce but blogs still exist primary as informational sites. This is what makes blogs so special and this is why we all love them!
Start Your Blog on the Right SEO Foot
Linking for websites or blogs starts from inception. To get the most out of a blog set up a website with your own website with a reputable web hosting company. Most hosting companies have an easy to use free WordPress plugin that can be added directly into the website structure. The reason for doing this is that when someone follows you on Facebook, signs up for your RSS feed or tweets about your post the search engines will read those links as your links rather than those belonging to WordPress.com. Like Zuckerberg, the free blogging platforms do not give the blogger credit for their own work. The credit, IE the links, feed back to WordPress.com and improve their Alexa rankings rather than yours. Even WordPress isn’t immune to the fame bug and capitalizing on the links of others.
Blog Linking is About Likes
Commerce Websites can gain links for many reasons and their ranking algorithms seem more stringent and reliant upon things like how long the site has been around and the site’s structure. Linking strategies are also monitored to ensure that too many links aren’t being added overnight. When a regular commercial website acquires too many links too quickly the search engines flag it for possible manipulation by SEO Gurus. If manipulation is found the website is buried.
Blogs are different because a blog can hit a nerve in the public and go viral almost overnight. This is natural. Blogs go viral due to shares, tweets and people reading what the blogger is writing and then sharing it with their friends. This is organic linking and the search engines look at this type of linking as GOOD.
Bloggers can improve their linking structures by paying very close attention to the placement of social media buttons. Use heat maps to make sure that the size and placement of social media buttons is optimal. Similarly, include an RSS feed in your blog today and optimize the placement of this button. Make it as easy as possible for someone to sign up for your RSS feed or email newsletter. One-click conversion is always preferable. Two-clicks is a max.
Link to Reputable Leaders in Your Field
Links and shares from uncle Joe and aunt Suzanne are helpful but they don’t carry a huge amount of Clout. Search Engines have identified other websites and blog leaders in your particular area of interest. As a blogger you probably know who these blogs are. Reach out to them. Establish a relationship, follow leaders in your field, ask to write for them, get on their radar! Writing well and being a decent individual will usually help your cause. After a while you will begin to get a reputation as a notable blogger and these sites will link to you and ask to use your material when times are lean. This is fabulous and nothing will increase the notoriety of your blog better than reputable links. One way to promote your blog is to write about holes you notice in the writing about your particular field. Taking a stand and having a viewpoint doesn’t hurt either!
Link Your Blog to Alternative Media
There are several video and photography sites on the web that are excellent for getting readership. Lets assume that you write a blog about college life and it gets picked up by a site that specializes in college supplies. This actually happened over at RHL.org. This blogger, Chelsea, ( You Go Girl!!!) could easily increase her readership by placing videos on Youtube summarizing her subjects and then linking them back to her written blog.
Photos can be used in the same way from sites like Flickr. Tag the photos “creative commons.” This allows someone to use the photos without paying for them or asking permission. Make sure to ask for attribution and a link back to your blog. Then imbed your name and URL onto the photo using the text tool in Photoshop to ensure that your photos work for you. In addition install the plugin that allows your site or blog to be read via a mobile device. Readers stuck in the doctor’s office waiting room are a blogger’s best friend!
Link To Previous Posts and Encourage Readers to Read More
Using WordPress plugins makes it easy for readers to navigate back to your previous post and to relevant previous posts you have written via keywords. You want a person on your blog as long as possible. Give readers lots of options and reasons to stay around looking at different posts. Make conversion points repetitive and always available in the same place on each post. Add a comment feature and be ready to respond to comments left by readers.
There are numerous linkbuilding plugins that have been designed for WordPress. The plugins will automate a good portion of the link building process both onsite and offsite. At the bare minimum a broken link checker is important. The essential thing to remember about automated linkbuilding plugins is that they will do some of the work for you but it is essential to monitor and review all automated plugins. Some of these have been known to add strange things into header codes and other weirdness. Stay on top of everything you automate. Automated plugins will not establish relationships with leaders in your field. These are the important links and the ones that will really make a difference in your blogging traffic and your organic ranking.
Tips for Entrepreneurs Entering Social Media
Posted by Isaac in Guest Posts, social media, Tips & Advice on February 22, 2012
Social Media is a powerful tool that is revolutionizing the way people communicate. In recent years, social media has aided in the overthrow of some of the world’s most oppressive regimes and reconnected thousands of people. However, it can also be used for entrepreneurs to launch their business ideas to a global market. Here are some tips for entrepreneurs when delving into the world of social media.
Choose popular sites for hosting your content. The more users a website has, the more potential views your business page will receive. This would include, first and foremost, sites like Facebook and Twitter. While other social media networks do exist, these are the major companies and should not be neglected when attempting to enter the market.
Try to attract popular or famous fans and followers. Trends and fads tend to start from the top and work their way down. A good example of this would be the explosion in popularity of trucker hats. Justin Timberlake and Ashton Kutcher are famous for sporting Von Dutch hats, at a cost around $50, which sparked a phenomenon among the impressionable youth that started purchasing the merchandise in vast quantities. This lead to a quite profitable venture by selling an inexpensive product at a premium price; all with the aide of a few famous followers.
Be consistent with your social media networking. It takes time to establish a presence but hard work will be rewarded with fans and followers. Make sure to completely fill out all relevant information pertaining to your business accurately so people can contact you directly or the company. This also means that friend requests need to be accepted in a timely fashion so people will feel like the company actually cares about their potential clients.
Do not spam your audience. One of the worst things a person or business can do is constantly post issues concerning trivial matters. Of course, let the people know when a new development takes place or a new product becomes available, but do not inform everyone in your audience every time your shoe comes untied or you brush your teeth. Use discretion and common sense.
Along those same lines, avoid all controversial posts. This includes anything from religion to sports teams. If someone might take offense to an update or post that is about to be on the page, think twice before hitting enter. Furthermore, set the profile so you as the owner of the page are the only one who is able to make posts on the wall. Your company should not be liable for disturbing content posted by someone with the intention of sabotaging or tarnishing the image of the company.
Connect with businesses in your area to build a strong network. The great thing about social media is that it allows many like minded individuals to discover similar people with the same interests, regardless of proximity. However, persons with similar ideals and business ventures next door can both use social media and appear in somewhat of an alliance. This will allow the companies to not only increase market penetration but also share fans and followers so both businesses’ increase sales and potential clients; a symbiotic relationship.
Social media provides businesses with a wonderful opportunity to enter the market. Remember to first enter using one of the more popular sites, like Facebook or Twitter (or both). Try to attract famous people to endorse the product or follow your company. Be persistent in updating but not so much that you continually post about trivial matters. Never post anything controversial in nature. Finally, consider creating an alliance with other local businesses to share fans and increase market share.
6 Ways Small Businesses Find Big Ideas
Posted by Mark Hess in Blogging, Guest Posts, My Thoughts, Tips & Advice on February 22, 2012
The world is changing quicker than ever before and small businesses today need to take advantage of new products, services, marketing channels and tools – or risk getting left behind. Yet even the most agile of company owners can be plagued by this simple question: “How do I get the best new ideas for growing my business?” Sometimes a “big idea” is really just a series of smaller efficiencies garnered by better work methods, or more efficient time management. Think of the areas where you waste time: maybe collecting past due invoices or tedious hiring practices, inefficient time tracking for billing, expensive tech support, or a hundred other areas you could improve. Write them down. There’s probably an “app” for that.
So take your “wish” list of things bogging you down and start finding the solutions. Below are some ways to get the ball rolling to finding ideas to create a better use of your time, and most importantly, a better bottom line.
1. Look for cutting-edge high-ranking business advice sites (perhaps like this one) that are constantly reviewing and examining new ideas and showcasing new innovative offerings. Use Technorati to help you find these sites. Subscribe to the ones you’re interested in and pay attention.
2. Read and take note of the ways successful companies run their businesses. Nothing works better than learning by example. Can you emulate what they’re doing and how they’re doing it? Contact them and ask them their secrets. It works.
3. Find sites that offer deals on business related products and services. These sites gather interesting new business tools, make them cheaper to try, and explain exactly why they will help your business. At my company, BizSaves.com we actually see ourselves as, “Business Advice in the Form of Deals.” Also look at AppSumo, BizyDeals, Rapidbuyr or MarketSharing for ideas.
4. Find forums and blogs that relate to a topic you’re interested in and get involved. Ask direct questions. Then as you gather opinions and advice, ask other’s what they think about the advice.
5. Ask for good advice and new high quality ideas on Facebook and Twitter. Follow only high authority individuals who have lots of followers and are consistently putting out great information.
6. Be creative; ask friends and associates, business club members, etc. for sources of advice and/or outright advice and tips.
Finding big ideas is not difficult once you know where to look and what to look for. When you’re not focusing 100% on your core business, but instead doing “necessary” peripheral tasks, ask yourself this: “Is there a better way?”
Chatting, Tweeting, and Keeping Connected in a Virtual Workplace
Posted by kdlagunas in Blogging, Technology, Tips & Advice on February 20, 2012
The modern organization has changed, but the need to remain connected to your organization has only grown. Your employee handbook says you have an open door policy, but in an increasingly virtual workplace, employees are not seeking to enter a physical office. As such, most open door policies are more metaphorical. Employees want to reach you via chat, email, and collaboration platforms. There are several ways even the busiest leaders can chat, check in, and connect with their workforce, though you may not be familiar or entirely comfortable with them. With the right tools and the right attitude, though, you can breathe new life into your open door policy – and strengthen your employee relations.
Talking to employees face-to-face is one thing. But when you’re connecting with them online, the rules are a bit different. Rather than jumping in head first, there a few rules of thumb to consider when connecting online:
1. Relax. Informal check-ins are more comfortable for employees, and casual hello-how-are-yous offer an excellent opportunity for leaders to coach employees and get valuable feedback from them. When communications from leadership are limited to formal, unidirectional messaging, there’s not going to be a whole lot of meaningful dialogue occurring.
Chat clients are a simple solution for quick communications with your team. Some of us are familiar with this media, but others might struggle with the conversational tone, lowercase letters and lack of punctuation. If you with the LOLs, OMGs, and TTYLs, don’t use them. Just keep things short and respond quickly. The point here is that you’re making yourself available and approachable.
2. You don’t have to be a tech guru. If you’re not super savvy when it comes to technologuy, don’t sweat it. Your organization may already have tools in place and you shouldn’t be afraid to try your hand at them. In fact, your leading by example can encourage employees to dig deeper into the technology your organization makes available to them.
The important thing is to find the tool that suits you and suits your company. “Whatever your style is as a leader,” says Lori Knowlton SVP of HR at HomeAway, “find the tool that you are most comfortable with, and then go with it.”
3. Onboard your team. Rally your team to a common communications and collaboration platform, and make sure they use it. The more people you have using the same tool to communicate, the easier it is to connect with them. Over time, the value of everyone working together on one system will make it a critical part of their routine.
HomeAway finds social collaboration tools like Yammer to be incredibly useful for fostering personable communication and dynamic collaboration across the organization. “We’ve seen a tremendous adoption across the organization,” says Knowlton. The vibrant company culture at HomeAway is a major contributor to their steady growth and success, and the value of this degree of buy-in is self-evident.
Interacting Critical, Tools Helpful
Interaction with a good boss is critical to realizing your full potential as an employee. With the right tools, keeping tabs on your people and your organization can become a part of your regular workflow. Go forth and dabble in a few different products until you find the right one, keeping in mind that many tools are free at their most basic level.
About the Author: As the the HR Analyst at Software Advice, Kyle Lagunas reports on trends and best practices in learning and talent management systems. For further reading, this article can be found in full on Kyle’s HR blog: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/hr/5-tips-for-keeping-an-open-door-in-a-virtual-workplace-1120111/
-
You are currently browsing the archives for February, 2012
Welcome & About Info Carnivore
Top Commenters