Minding Your Business-How to register your domain

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Nisha Garg

When you launch a new website you must register a unique domain name with an authorized registrar. When the internet was first starting, all domain names and IP addresses were registered through one organization, Internic. Eventually Network Solutions took over the role as "keeper" of the internet domain names. Today, there are hundreds of websites where you can register your domain name but Network Solutions still maintains the main database of domain names. Some websites charge as little as $2.95 per year for your domain name while others charge as much as $35 per year for the exact same service. Some even offer one year free if you register your domain name with them and host your website on their servers. Why pay $35 when you can register your domain name for much less at another website? So why does Network Solutions charge $35 a year if they are the keeper of the database and their resellers charge a fraction or even nothing? Who knows and who cares! Register your domain with one of the cheaper providers and you'll be fine. A word caution - be care that you choose to host your website. Getting a free year of your domain name isn't worth it if your webhost is unreliable and your website is down more than it's up. Register Your Domain for $9.95 with Yahoo You pay for your domain name on a yearly basis. It's a separate charge from your webhosting bill. When you register your domain name choose the autorenewal option if it's available. This way your domain name will not expire if you forget to renew it. If your domain name expires, it's free for anyone else to register so you need to stay on top of when it's expiring. Also registering your domain name for a 3 to 5 year term will often save you money. For example, godaddy.com charges $8.95 a year for your domain name but only $7.25 a year if you register for a 5 year term. When you register your domain you can create different contact names. The three contacts are Administrator, Technical and Billing. Most of the time the same person is all 3 contacts. If you web designer registers your domain name for you, make sure you are designated as the Administrative contact. This gives you control over the domain name and you must be notified if someone is trying to make changes to your record. If you aren't one of the contacts then someone can transfer ownership of the domain name without your permission. To see a record of your domain name, go to www.networksolutions.com and use their WHOIS utility which is located in the bottom left corner of their home page. Simply enter your domain name and click Search. You'll see the complete record of your domain name, where it's registered and where your website is hosted. For a complete video of how to use WHOIS, visit www.valiss.com/video/whois/whois.html. When you register your domain name you'll have to the option of making it a private registration. I highly recommend paying the additional fee to make your information private. If you leave your registration public anyone can look up your domain information which includes your home or business address and your email address. Many spammers scan public domain registration records to find valid email addresses to spam. I always use a yahoo or hotmail email account when registering my domains. This way if spammers to find my email address, I can just get a new "throwaway" email address and I won't receive spam at my primary email address. Always make sure your domain record remains locked. Locking your domain name is a feature implemented a few years ago. When you want to transfer your domain name to a different registrar you must unlock it. Once it's unlocked the new registrar can "pull" your domain name from your current registrar. Once the transfer is complete, the domain name will be locked to prevent anyone else from "pulling" your domain away from you

Minding Your Business-Key Marketing People in a Digital World

Presented On US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Sallie Leblanc Fifteen years ago, when a business decided to invest money in advertising, typically this meant buying ad space in a newspaper or magazine, creating print mail ads, or buying air time on the t.v. or radio. But that was then, and this is now. Unless you have been living under a rock, most of us realize that advertising has moved from traditional, to the completely fast-paced digital world of social media. The internet has been a game changer. So what are the rules to this new world of digital advertising world, and how can business stay competitive? It can all be very overwhelming, especially if you are just starting a new business, or you are lacking the man power or time to fully invest in digital marketing. Digital marketing, unlike traditional marketing, does have one huge flaw unlike traditional advertising. Digital Marketing is extremely time consuming! And to really do it right, you cannot do it on your own. But before panic ensues, I am going to try to break it down into a few easy steps, in hopes that I can somehow relieve your anxiety. Think of it as "Social Media Marketing Help 101". There are a few key people who can manage your business in this digital world, and make your business a powerful player on the internet and in the social media world. These are not ALL the people who work in social media, rather the four key players who can launch your business. Get accurate business listings across top directories with Localworks from Yahoo #1) The WEBSITE company Yes, it is obvious, but you must have a website to do business today. Businesses without websites might as well not even be open. Think back to the days of yellow pages. If your business was not listed in the yellow pages fifteen years ago, there was a good chance Mrs. Jones was not going to find your air conditioning service when her A/C unit blew out in the 100 degree summer. Well it is the same thing with the internet. No website= no business. You cannot have one without the other. But many of you are taking the cheap route and hiring just about anyone to create a website. Yes, we know who you are! You are the one who hired your college kid's friend to throw up a website, and then this same kid disappeared and left you high and dry with a website that is still dated with a December 2009 calendar. While December 2009 might have been a good month, it is doing nothing to help market your company. Possible client's assumed you went out of business and moved onto the listing underneath you. And a bad website design can actually hurt your business rather than help it. Lesson: Invest in a well designed website run by a real company from day one. Trying to take the cheap route will cost you more in the long run. #2) The SEO Optimization Specialist SEO, what? SEO, who? Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving your ranking on the internet so your website shows up at the top of a search page. Basically this means when you do an internet search for, "Pet Stores, San Diego, CA", an SEO specialist can help your link for "Susie's Reptiles and Fuzzies" show up higher than "Doug's Dog's and Cat's" . You are more likely to be found and receive business.

SEO optimization is tricky, and time consuming. There are many rules for how to rank high in Google, and many times the rules change. So how do you find an SEO specialist? Today most website designers are also SEO specialists, so make sure when purchasing your website, you are also comfortable with their SEO capabilities. Lesson: The common person does not have the time or energy to play the SEO optimization game, nor do they care. Get your website guy to do it, or contract it out. #3) The VISUAL's company I realize I lost you many of you on this one, but stay with me. Your Visual company is the people or company you hire to enhance your website through visual elements. Your Visuals company would include your commercial photography, as well as your video. As most of you should already know, consumers are visual! Yes, I know, I know, many of you think you are photographers because you bought that high-tech camera down at the Big Box store and you can do some really funky stuff on Photo Shop, but I am sorry to tell you, you are not a photographer! And, if you insist on buying those cheap generic stock images just to fill in the website space, how does the consumer really know you are a real company and not just some random person in a foreign country who threw up a website? Recently I posted an ad on craigslist for a website designer. I got multiple replies from professionals who had active websites, but these websites were almost all text, splattered with some cheap stock images of office buildings. As I looked closer, I realized their "Contact Us" section had a 1-800 number. And as I looked even closer, I realized there was a possibility this company was not even in the United States, and was most likely in India. Professional photography can never be replaced by amateur photography or cheap stock images, which can make a company look small or fake. "I see so many people who try to take the cheap way out when doing their photography," said Sallie LeBlanc, owner of Visual Advantages, LLC, a commercial photo and video production company in Dallas-Fort Worth, www.visualadvantages.com , but they always pay for it in the long run, either by losing customers, or by having to re-shoot later with a real professional." Your visual company will partner with your website designer to finish your website, and make it stand out from the other thousands of other websites. Professional photography can engage your customer, create a brand, and can even make a small company look huge! Now let's talk about video. Statistics show that the more engaged your customer becomes in your website, the more likely they are to become a customer. With video, you are not only engaging your customer, but you are teaching them! Many times it is hard to explain a product or service over the internet, but video can bridge the gap between a consumer quickly clicking though your site, and one that is actively learning about you and what you can offer. Lesson: Consumers are visual. Professional photography and video can make your company's website or social media look stellar, as well as engage your customer. Don't whip out your digital camera or camcorder, or plug up your website with cheap stock images. Leave the visual elements to the professionals, and develop your brand. 4) The Social Media Manager Ahhh, Social Media Manager! A title of a person who did not exist so long ago. A title you may not even recognize. Social Media Managers are the ones who continually update your website so consumers do not think you went out of business. They write your blogs, tweet for you on twitter, run your Face Book, and stay up to date on your competition. They may also create polls on Face Book, or organize live events. Your Social Media Manager may even take on the role of PR Rep by writing Press Releases, on occasion. Social Media Managers are the cohesive unit between your live business, your website, and all your social media outlets. But many people put social media on a back burner, thinking it secondary, and hand it off to an intern or friend with no vested interest in their company. Recently I was on the Face Book page of a local restaurant who posted that that they had a "buy one, get one free lunch special" coupon on their website . All of the Face Book fans flocked to the website lusting after that free plate of pasta, only to find an expired coupon from a year ago. A restaurant employee later told me their Face Book fan page was being run by a student, in another state. Lesson: Invest in a Social Media Manager if you do not have the time to tweet on Twitter, post on Face Book, or blog your little heart out. This can be a full-time position for larger companies, or for small business, this could simply mean a small monthly fee for a contractor who is off site but dedicated to promoting your brand. Also, I would highly recommend finding someone local, who keeps up with current events in your city, rather than farming the job out to a telecommuter. And sometimes your website guy may try to take over this role, but it is better to let him focus on what he does best, the technical side of your website and SEO ! OVERVIEW Social Media Marketing may be new territory for most businesses, but with the right people in place, you can be an active competitor. Most businesses will never reach their greatest potential until they are actively optimizing their social media. If you make the time to find the right people to create and manage your website, SEO, visuals, as well as social media communications, it will be time and money well spent. Once you have these companies and individuals in place, be sure and introduce them to one another. Together they can be a well oiled machine that can drive your business to the next level. Sallie LeBlanc is a photo shoot producer and photo stylist in Dallas- Fort Worth, TX.

Minding Your Business-12 Things To Consider When Starting A Home Based Business

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Theuns Victor

Getting Out Of The "Rat-Race" Are you tired of commuting to a job you hate? Then it is time to consider a change and making the decision is easy once you know; "What, Where, When and How?" The exhilaration of firing one's boss and having the freedom to get out of bed and into your own empire each day is dawning with more and more people each and every day. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools Simply not having to start the day commuting or having to sit in clogged up traffic for 2 to 4 hours a day already makes the thought of working for oneself the most desirable of all. Getting out of the corporate world and the lifestyle associated with it is another consideration. Most people today get up in the morning imposing personal pressure on themselves just to go and do a job which nobody else would do and which they themselves hate with passion but, the truth of the matter is that the majority fall into this flow of life because that is what society require and that is what their ancestors did, which is to work the daily grind for 35 to 40 years just to be forgotten when they hit retirement. Getting Started The thought of working for oneself is a marvellous idea and you have decided this is what you want to do with the rest of your life but, the ugly truth is where does one begin? Not having an idea of what you want to do with this Home Based Business of yours and simply jumping into a well of quicksand is something which can very quickly turn into a nightmare. Myself I have been dreaming of having an online marketing business for almost 20 years. When the day came that I had the opportunity to start my own "Home Based Online Marketing Business" the tenacity and vigour with which I was soon brought to a screeching halt and woke up from the dream made me realize that jumping on the proverbial bandwagon online was not going to make me a successful businessman overnight and I realized that there were much more involved in building a business online. Starting a business from scratch already is a huge challenge but starting such a business online brings out even more challenges and the volume of knowledge required to build and create a successful business is enormous in comparison to what one think you know. Below follow "12 Must Consider Aspects to starting your first Home Based Business. When considering the founding of your future successful Home Based Business include the following in your "To Do" List. Quote: The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done... you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do". Lil Wayne End Quote 12 Pillars To Creating A Successful Home Based Business 1. Determine what it is you Wish to Accomplish. In other words establish a "WHY"?. Many fail in their attempts to start and grow a successful Home Based Business because they simply never set goals and decided where it is they want to go with the business. "Why are you doing what you have set out to do"? 2. Determine the Type of Business you want to create. It is of utmost importance that you decide whether your business is going to be an Online Business or an Offline Business or a combination of the two. 3. Get Organized. Many operations and projects have failed in the past simply because there is no drive to get organized. Every home has some free space available. Organize a place where you can establish an "office", maybe a small corner in the dining room, a place in the garage, any place where you can put a table or small desk to use as an office. Do not procrastinate on this; the easiest way to start is to get started! You and your family should realize that "work is work" and "home is home". 4. Determine a Routine. Even though you are working for yourself from home there are certain things that have to be done daily. Determining when you are going to do it is an essential element for success. Although you determine your hours the work that need to be done determine the number of hours and "When" these hours per day are allocated. 5. Determine your Niche. Trust me falling blindly into a pool of dark water could be very hazardous to your overall health. Establishing who you want to address with the product or service you want to render is paramount to success. 6. Determine the Model of Your Home Based Business. Some people have great success in recruiting people; others have success in working one on one. What you have to establish is whether your business is going to be a one man/woman operation or whether you want to get involved in a Multi Level Marketing system. Each has its benefits however, they also have certain limitations. Doing some research before making a final decision on what model you are going to follow could save a lot of time, frustration and disappointment. 7. Determine the solution to a problem. Now is a good time to determine which product or service you are going to provide to your future customers. Remember your overall priority should be to help people who are experiencing a specific problem. Maybe you have your own product or you are excellent in consulting people with a specific need and helping them to satisfy that need or solve their problem. If you do not have a product or service you could make use of Affiliate Marketing to provide the solution to their problem. 8. Acquire the Tools To Develop and Manage Your Business. If you have a computer and a mobile phone and you have established your home "office" you are already halfway through this process. However, if a large portion of your business is going to come via the internet you will need other tools to consider and to obtain. Here we think of things like registering a domain, creating a website, tracking in order to determine where your potential customers came from, autoresponders and various other requirements. Before going head first into signing up to site after site first do some research and find the best hosting, tracking and advertising sites you can. They will be with you for a long time so make sure you get this one right. 9. Register with Payment Processors and Affiliate Networks. This is a very important aspect. Before you go into just signing up to any or all payment processors and affiliate networks think back what exactly it is you want to accomplish. Many people get themselves so cluttered with sites which actually have no purpose for there "WHY" that they get lost in all the bookmarked sites in their web browser. When registering also take time to read through the terms and conditions and make sure that you have a fair idea of what the rules of these sites are and what influence they could or could not have to the success of your business. 10. Determine "HOW" You are going to Promote Your Business. Every business need advertising, whether online or offline. There are many ways of advertising and promoting your business however, some means of advertising work better for certain types of businesses than others. Before just getting into advertising and promoting it is essential that you do some research in this field as well. Before spending $100's and even $1,000's on advertising which don't work take the time and find the advertising tools which would work for your specific Niche. Trying to promote baseballs to football players would not do any good now would it? 11. Get Rid of the Junk. In your progress toward building up this business of yours if there is one thing you should absolutely not overlook it is the following: • Offline you will find many who will try to talk you into posting an advertisement in their monthly bulletin. Be on the lookout. This could cost you plenty over time without bringing in a return on your investment simply for the reason that your ad is not relevant in relationship to other ads in the bulletin and the audience it is set to address. Avoid this kind of unnecessary cost. • Online you will come across a multitude of offers promising overnight success and instant riches for a mere $7. These cheap products are the beginning of a process to suck you into a realm in which you will eventually max out your credit card, get into debt and month after month you will sit in agony not knowing where tomorrows food is going to come from. Take extra caution before investing in anything that looks even a little better than good, there are tons of places where you could find a similar product free which will keep the initial costs in establishing your business down. • If the biggest portion of your business is going to be online specifically, do not get put of or discouraged by the so called experts out there telling you, you won't make it and you do not have the right mindset. Many of the so-called "gurus" and these "Super Marketers" use this as a tactic to suck you into their world. Toss it off and maintain focus. • Finally lay the foundation and then build your house. You will come across geniuses who will put up the roof before they have built the walls and then hope to lay the foundation afterwards. One does not build a house without a foundation. Rather spend more time getting yourself organized, doing proper research, and getting all the tools in place to make a success of your business than to jump in, make a few quick bucks and then you find that you are on a dry sandbank in the middle of the ocean all on your own. The preparation and planning of your business is 50% of the struggle won. Having to come back and do it over is frustrating and can cost you valuable time and a lot of unnecessary money. 12. Legalities and Other Rules. To save yourself hours of frustration and to be sure to understand what the Do's and Dont's are take time to read through some of the Terms and Conditions and Rules and Regulations as you signup to sites. Also it is a good idea to address things like Tax Requirements, Affiliate Agreements and things like this. Trust me sometimes one is in a hurry and then because of a lack of the right information or a shortage thereof you can find yourself in a haven of frustration just for not clicking the right radio button, it happens. The satisfaction of owning a business which one know you have build from the floor must be something every successful businessman/woman cherish at some point. However, the hurdles, barricades and pitfalls, in achieving this can bring many to a halt before they make that breakthrough to success. Knowing what to do, how to be aware of the things which can and cannot influence one's success could bring a much higher success rate than is presently the case. In your attempt to overcome these hurdles take note of what others have already experienced and learn from that instead of having to go to boot camp over and over.  After being in the military and part of the corporate world for 37 years I have been pushed into early retirement and decided that this was the time to chase my dream. Read my full bio at http://www.reducethebs.com/aboutus.html

Yahoo Small Business-Minimizing Flaws in Your Website

Presented on US Sports Net by Yahoo Small Business!

BY PHIL GRIER | SMALL BUSINESS

The day your site goes live is certainly cause for celebration. It’s also the day the real work begins. You’ll need to monitor it on an ongoing basis for security vulnerabilities, usability issues and content errors. Fortunately though, minimizing the flaws in your website before you launch can be accomplished more easily when you use a good small business website builder.

Get Help

Enlist the assistance of the most fastidious people you can find. You want relentlessly ruthless reviewers who will revel in revealing every flaw—no matter how small. These should be people you’d avoid in every other social situation, because you can’t stand the criticism that oozes freely from their lips. And, while you’d probably avoid them in every other circumstance, they are the most perfectly suited for this one.

Website Builder - Easily create a beautiful, mobile friendly website for as little as $7/mo!

Here are the key things to have them look for.

Content Errors Sometimes information will become outdated the moment you post it. Unleashing those impartial eyes on your site to look for content errors will be a huge help before you launch. If the site is vast, have each of them focus on a specific section of the site—ideally one in which they have some expertise. Avoid having the people who wrote your content look over their own work. They will miss slip-ups they made. The brain has a way of tricking writers into overlooking their own missteps.

Dead Links Here’s a fatal flaw that is often overlooked, broken hyperlinks. Dead links detract from the user experience and diminish your SEO (search engine optimization). The good news is there are a number of tools available to help you accomplish this. However, it’s a good idea to enlist real human beings to go through and check them as well.

Accurate Meta Tags As the reviewers go through your site, charge them with ensuring each page has accurate titles, relevant keywords, the proper description and good image tags. While your users might not care one way or another about these things, search engines do—big time. What’s the point of having a thoroughly scoured website if it can’t be indexed properly?

Security Features Advanced security features might require someone with a bit more expertise to review. But novice users can probe functions such as user name requirements, password protections and secondary authorizations. When it comes to security, you should always try it before you rely on it.

The concerns listed above will need to be reviewed to make sure everything is correct. Meanwhile, the best small website builders will take care of design and navigation issues, as long as you plug the right information into the right fields. Yahoo Small Business has the perfect templates you need to get your website idea off the ground in no time. Choose yours today!

Phil Grier is an ecommerce veteran who has spent more than 10 years advising sellers how to build successful online stores, as well as having experience running his own online retail store. He’s been a panelist at PROSPER and other industry events, and has been quoted in numerous articles about site optimization and steps to take to increase sales.

Minding Your Business-5 Reasons to Hire a Financial Planner

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Chelsey Bullock

Balancing and planning out your finances can be a very difficult task for everyone. Life can throw anything at you, and it's up to you to be ready to catch it. The same goes for your finances; you never know when an expensive emergency will arise. By hiring a financial planner, you will be better prepared to handle anything that may come your way. Here are five reasons to consider hiring a financial planner. Determining your financial status: A financial advisor will help determine where you stand with your total income versus your debts. Together, you will be able to come up with a game plan to reduce the debts and improve your overall income for a validated savings account for emergencies. Website Builder - Easily create a beautiful, mobile friendly website for as little as $7/mo! Plan a retirement strategy: Are your retirement funds enough to live on with your current expenses? If not, you need to figure out how to invest more money into your retirement. In life, there are always unexpected expenses. It's best to view your long-term financial goals and outside holdings into account to determine how much you should be investing towards your future. Written provisions for child care: This is a topic that should determine the day your children are born. If you or your spouse die, it's very important to have written provisions for their care. They are your number one priority, and together you and your financial advisor will determine what they need to have financially after you are gone. Find investments for your wealth: Investments can be a great way to boost your financial status. But what investments should you invest in, so you don't lose money? A financial advisor knows how to handle investments like stocks and other exchanges. Determine a budget that’s right for your family: Is your monthly income less than your monthly spending? If so, there need to be improvements made to secure your finances and future for your family. A financial advisor will give you advice on how to stay on track and where your lifestyle needs to change to better your finances. These five reasons only scratch the surface of what a financial advisor can do for you. To learn more about financial planning visit The Investment Advisors of Utah, where together you and the financial advisor can determine the changes and investments that will need to be made to better you and your family's financial future. If you are planning to retire in Salt Lake City you could benefit from having a professional investment advisor. Having a financial planner in Utah to help guide you will pay off when retirement arrives.

Minding Your Business-How To Get More Views On Your WordPress Blog

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Calvin Moss

Today, I want to talk about how to get more views on your word press blog. Blogging has become more popular than ever. An increasing number of today’s network marketers have at least one blog. In a way, it seems as if blogging has become a sport. The more active you are, the better you become. As bloggers, one of our goals is to get more views on our posts. The more views we get, the more popular our blogs become. Although I consider myself a student at blogging, there are simple ways to get more eyeballs on your work. The information provided will assist in getting the views you seek for your blog. A good title: The first way to get more blog views is to start with a good title. Titles are very important because they are the first thing people see. Headlines dictate whether or not your reader will proceed further into your article. Your title needs to be eye catching and possibly tell a story in itself. Register Your Domain for $9.95 with Yahoo  Original content: We all know the ole’ saying that content is king. Original content builds kingdoms. Network marketing success blogs require good quality content. Even if your content is not a completely original idea, it should be written with originality. You should include articles that offer encouragement and education. These kind of articles seem to resonate well with readers. Entrepreneurs are consistently looking for ways to improve themselves and their business. Good content that provides ideas and solutions work best. Blog syndication: After you write your blog post, you want to get it syndicated through a social platform. Tribe pro is an excellent place to get eyeballs on your blog. There are a variety of MLM tribes that will syndicate your content so long as it provides value. Many six and seven figure earners have tribes of influence. Submit your RSS feed and integrate videos as well. You can add several links and even create your own MLM tribe. Social media: This one is a no-brainer, so I won’t spend much time on it. Hundreds of millions of people are on social media. So it only makes sense to leverage the platform to connect with visitors. You want to post on social sites such as Face Book and twitter. The key with Face book though, is not just posting on your timeline. You want to post in groups that focus on blogging so you can attract more targeted visitors to your word press blog. Guest blogging and commenting: I haven’t guest blogged yet, but I will. I have been asked a few times to do some guest blogging and an interview! I learned that guest blogging on sites that attract thousands of visitors is a great way to get more traffic to your site. In addition, liking and giving positive feedback on other bloggers sites, which I have done, is a good way to gain exposure. In conclusion, the information presented above are great ways on how to get more views on your word press blog. If you would like to post on purpose and profit at the same time(who wouldn’t) my mentor is offering some free training that will assist you to make money even if you don’t have a website!  Calvin Moss is a writer, blogger and entrepreneur. He teaches bloggers how to make money online with their content and how to generate leads for their business. Send me an email at; harlemdogrunner@me.com.

Minding Your Business Black and White - The Philosophies of SEO

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Jennifer Kothe

Search engine optimization otherwise known as SEO is a popular form of search engine marketing. The main goal of which (as its name would suggest) is to improve the ranking of the site in various search engines. An entire industry of consultants has sprung up around the idea of search engine optimization. It’s important to note that when it comes to SEO there are two distinct methodologies at work when it comes to optimization. In fact, the SEO consultants themselves as well as their methods can be subdivided further into two different groups. The categories are best known as "white hat SEO" (which is aimed at improving overall site quality, and increasing the site’s ranking through approved methods), or "black hat SEO" (often use methods such as cloaking and spamdexing to increase rankings. However, using such methods can lead to your site to being removed from search engine listings). Those in the white hat camp charge that black hat methods are not only giving SEO a bad name but are also attempting to manipulate and undermine the search rankings. The black hatters counter that argument by saying that in truth all SEO is an attempt to manipulate rankings, and therefore the particular methods one uses to increase rankings are irrelevant. In other words they take the more Machiavellian approach of using the end results to justify the means they use. Get accurate business listings across top directories with Localworks from Yahoo  So what more specifically are the methods being employed by the two camps? White hat methods: These methods typically involve following the search engines' published guidelines as to what is and what isn't acceptable. The advice typically given by the white hat SEO experts is to create more user-friendly content, and not focus so much on the search engines. That is if your site is well put together and presents something users need it will naturally climb in the rankings. Also by making content that is easily accessible to the search engines spiders it will be properly read and therefore properly indexed in the search engines. The white hatters are needed most often because a webmaster has made critical mistakes in either the design or the set-up of their websites, inadvertently "poisoning" them so that they will not rank well. The SEOs then attempt to discover and correct these mistakes, which may include unreadable menus, broken links, temporary redirects, or simply a poor navigation structure. Here are a few examples of SEO activities which the search engines find acceptable: • Using a reasonably-sized, accurate description meta tag without excessive use of keywords, exclamation marks or off topic terms • Optimizing tags, titles and other parts of the code as necessary • Using WordTracker or a similar database to find popular and relevant keywords and phrases to use for your site • Monitoring the various search engines to ensure that your URL gets indexed • Increasing the amount of unique content on the site • Writing quality content for the website visitors instead of the search engines Black hat methods: Whereas the white hat methods follow search engine guidelines "Black hat" SEO methods to try to improve rankings by any means necessary. Most of these methods are disapproved of by the search engines, typically because of their deceptive nature, but also hamper the ability of the search engines to provide quality content to site visitors. Search engines often penalize the sites they discover using black hat methods, by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from the search engine results altogether. These penalties are usually applied automatically by the search engines' algorithms, because the Internet is too large to make manual policing of websites feasible. However once they are discovered, search engines may take action against those found to be using unethical SEO methods. Take for example Google’s removal of both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany in February 2006 for use of these practices. One common black hat method is known as Spamdexing. Spamdexing is the promotion of irrelevant, chiefly commercial, pages through various deceptive techniques and the abuse of the search algorithms. Unfortunately it often gets confused with white hat search engine optimization techniques, which do not involve deceit. Spamming involves getting websites more exposure than they deserve for their keywords, leading to unsatisfactory search results. Optimization involves getting websites the rank they deserve on the most targeted keywords, leading to satisfactory search experiences. One example of spamdexing is link farming. Link farming can be basically defined as any group of web pages that all link to every other page in the group. Another common practice is listing popular keywords in fine print or in the same color as the background so they can’t be seen by users. These were only a few examples but there are many other deceptive practices that may be employed by black hat SEOs. So how can you tell the difference between Black and White SEO practices? A very easy way to distinguish between the two is though the amount of time involved in getting the desired results. White hat SEOs use methods that produce results slowly over time and only after a good deal of effort has been put into the site. Black hat SEOs offer you quick and easy results most, if not all, of which will obtained through deceptive practices. Jennifer Kothe is the talented marketing coordinator at Internet Traffic Solutions (http://www.itsontarget.com) which is a full service marketing agency that offers clients a profitable way to get the attention of their target audience online.

Minding Your Business-Developing Social Content – Where Social Media And Content Marketing Merge

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Nikolay Peshev

Are you trying to successfully incorporate social content into your blog? Even experienced content marketers like 411 Locals face challenges and struggles when creating content that is meant to engage their audiences. The key factors behind successful sharing of social media content are those that make the art of developing social content. But how to create content that is both educational and touching the emotional side of your readers? Here are some innovative ideas about how to expand your content marketing strategy and make it work for your social media goals. Business Mail - Mailboxes as low as $1.59* per month w/ Yahoo Business Mail! Customer Spotlights Work Better Than Long And Boring Case Studies A good part of the content marketing gurus love to point out complicated case studies. In fact, this method of being persuasive has been used so often that it became more of a nuisance than an actual attention-grabbing tool. It is kind of hard to get involved when you see a wall of text that explains the step-by-step struggles of someone you’re not familiar with as a reader. So that’s why the customer spotlight can enrich the reader’s experience with the use of feedback and emotion. It is a more direct approach to prospects – to make them see what your happy customers have to say. With customer spotlights, you’re telling success stories coming directly from the source. Interview Bloggers If You Have The Chance Some of the most valuable followers are the ones that count as influencers. Their actual worth-base is more than tens of customers, in the long run. Someone who is well-known and respected will earn you more views, likes, comments and long-lasting engagement. The overall impression that your readers will gain is no less than positive. Interviewing a big name in the blogosphere will bring you on a whole new level, where you no longer communicate your thoughts one-sidedly. Approaching influential people takes time and requires skills like being tactful and on the other hand, loudly convincing when necessary. Build Authority By Sharing Insights It is a faster if somewhat less direct influcencer outreach. To put it simply, you need to create compilations of thoughts and ideas, already shared by top dogs. Moreover, linking to the source will add more page authority to your blog. You will be more trusted as a source of information – both to your audience and the search engines. Input New Context To Already Known Information Having the dogged determination to create new content at all cost can be a major drawback. One of the most important aspects of earning "eyeballs" is your ability to express a genuine point of view. And you don’t have to create new content for that. You only need to comment and analyze well enough to have your audience intrigued. So instead of rewriting well-known pieces of content, you can actually add more to an existing text. Your insights can make a tremendous change of opinion among those who read the original content. Elegantly Extort Your Audience Here is a tip that always works – the more engaged you look, the more interested your audience will be. With your timely responses to the appearing comments, you will inspire more comments. The more intensive discussions you get, the better chance you have to extract resources for surveys, topics, and new concepts. This is just one of the techniques used by 411Locals – it makes your audience both satisfied and contributing to the purpose of your blog and/or social media profile.

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Minding Your Business-Online Book Publishing: Digital Fulfillment Delivers

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business!

By: Shaun Fawcett

This is another in my series of articles that explain the Online Publishing Model and how small-time authors and/or self-publishers can use the OPM as a more lucrative alternative to the often archaic and dysfunctional traditional book publishing model. In short, using the OPM you'll make more book sales and you’ll net more profits, faster. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools   Typically, you will create your book/ebook in a source word processing program such as MS-Word or WordPerfect. Once you have converted it into PDF format you’ll be ready to start selling it via the three primary channels that make up the Online Publishing Model: 1. Sales-Mini-Sites, 2. Digital Download Distributors, 3. Print-On-Demand (POD) Distributors. This article explains Channel 2, Digital Download Distribution. Discovering exactly how the digital fulfillment channel works was a major breakthrough for me. That discovery alone has resulted in many thousands of dollars in ebook sales that I otherwise wouldn't have made. Really! Based on my experience, the use of this one online distribution channel is guaranteed to add thousands of dollars annually to your bottom line sales! That's right -- if you harness the digital fulfillment channel of the OPM you'll sell hundreds more ebooks than you would just selling them from your Web sites. DIGITAL FULFILLMENT: DEFINITION It's important that you understand exactly what I'm talking about when I use the term "digital fulfillment", as opposed to print-on-demand (POD) fulfillment. Digital fulfillment refers to when your ebook is delivered to the buyer strictly in electronic form as a "digital download" product. Essentially, it's the same as when your ebook gets downloaded from your Web site, except that, the digital fulfillment is provided by a digital download distribution company through their distribution network. A typical example of digital fulfillment in action would be when you provide your ebook electronic files (PDF) to a company that distributes digital download ebooks to amazon.com, for example. Amazon.com would then offer your ebook to its customers as a digital download product. IMPORTANT: When I talk about “digital fulfillment” here, I am NOT talking about delivering a downloadable ebook to your buyers from your own “sales-mini-site”. I’m referring to when one uses third party vendors and/or distributors to deliver a digital version of one’s book through their own channels. THE SECRET OF DIGITAL FULFILLMENT As I stated in the other parts of this series on the OPM, I have spent the past few years immersing myself in learning about the tools and techniques of successful Internet marketing to help me sell more of my ebooks/books. In the process, I have purchased scores of "must have" books from many heavy-hitter big-name Internet marketers. But NEVER have I read anything about the digital fulfillment strategy in ANY of those many books/ebooks from the gurus! In fact, I basically stumbled across this largely unknown money-making publishing secret by accident when I asked a major book selling company if it would be possible to sell my ebooks through their Web sites in addition to my own. They promptly answered that "yes", there is indeed a way to do that… by using a digital fulfillment company. Although I didn't fully realize it at the time, that was a breakthrough moment for me! Typically, a digital fulfillment company maintains large digital libraries of books and ebooks. They deliver those products electronically "on demand" as digital download e-books in response to orders from publishers, distributors, booksellers, and libraries. Bottom Line: The major digital fulfillment companies offer a vast distribution network, folks. Exploiting this channel means much more than just getting your ebook and/or book listed on amazon.com. It means getting your title in front of the vast majority of all ebook wholesalers and retailers! WHY DIGITAL FULFILLMENT, WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE A WEB SITE? That's a good logical question, and you may be surprised by the answer. I have found that there is minimal cross-over between the people that buy ebooks at my Web sites and those who buy them through sites like amazon.com, and others. That's right. In fact, out of thousands of sales through both channels I have received only one e-mail that indicated a buyer had seen my ebooks at both places. Another proof of this is that, although I use the same list price for my ebooks on my Web sites and at amazon.com, that company quite often chooses to offer a 30% discount, which actually makes it a much better deal to buy the ebook at their Web site. In spite of this, sales at my Web sites remain strong. In fact I continue to sell more ebooks from my Web sites. So, it's pretty clear that people aren't doing cross-comparisons of prices. They appear to be two mutually exclusive groups of shoppers! (However, I should add that people who buy the ebook at my Web site also receive a number of bonuses that don’t come with the ebook when sold through a distributor). The key point here being -- if I didn't offer my ebooks online through amazon.com and other digital download distributors, I would probably not make over 95% of those sales through my other distribution channels (i.e. my Web sites). Lucky for me, I now know about this little secret! DIGITAL FULFILLMENT - EASY TO SET-UP If you're careful, and plan ahead when you create the original version of your ebook that people will purchase and download from your Web site, you'll also be able to provide the same efiles to your digital fulfillment distributor with few changes, if any. Typically, it will take only 10 to 15 days from the time you submit your efiles until you will start seeing your ebook show up on book retailer Web sites as digital downloads. This channel works folks! In fact, just this afternoon I checked my account and found that over 30 copies of my Recommendation Letter Kit ebook have sold so far this month, and this is one of the slower months for that product! I've also sold more than 25 paperback versions (POD) of that same book this month through the same digital distributor, but I'll get into the POD model in the next part of this series. The really exciting thing about these digital download sales is, as I explained above, they are IN ADDITION to any sales that you will make via your Web site. It's almost like "found money". That’s what makes using the Online Publishing Model so exciting; it gives you three equally productive selling channels for your books and/or ebooks. Shaun Fawcett is the author of numerous “how-to” books on everyday practical writing help. He also writes about how to create and publish books and ebooks. His popular book that explains how to implement the Online Publishing Model can be found at: http://InstantBookWritingKit.com

Minding Your Business 8 ways to build the habit of success

Presented on US Sports Net By Yahoo Small Business! By: Ahmed Al-shraify

To become successful, we have to first understand what the word "success" really means. The Cambridge Dictionary defines success as; "the achieving of desired results, or someone or something that achieves positive results". Despite the actual definition, the word "success" has now been associated with monetary rewards by society. Often times people think that to be successful means to be rich. The truth is, one must first be successful before he can ever be rich. Once a person fully understands that concept, he allows himself to reach his full potential. Success is a habit, and money is attracted to the habit of success. Below is a list of 8 things I believe you can start applying today, that will help you build the habit of success in your life. Make the decision You will not accomplish anything in life without first making the decision to commit to accomplishing that thing. You will not get healthy without FIRST committing to a healthy lifestyle. Before you can become successful, you must first commit to success. Most people say they want "it", but they don’t ever commit to getting "it", and to making the necessary changes needed to get "it". Talk is cheap, you MUST make the commitment first and figure out the "how-to" later. Convince yourself that success is attainable, and that it’s not an impossible thing in your life. Don’t credit your failures or shortcomings to "Bad luck" or to a "lack of opportunities". You must take responsibility for your failures, and understand that the reason you are not where you want to be in life is due to a lack of commitment to success. Plain and simple. Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools Write down your goals Most people don’t see the value in writing their goals down on paper. "I have my goals in my head" they say. We live in a time where we are exposed to an overflow of information every day. Your goals WILL get lost somewhere in the chaos of all of that information if you don’t write them down on paper and revisit them EVERYDAY. Write down your goals on a piece of paper once when you first wake up, and once before you go to sleep everyday. Get in the habit of focusing your attention on your goals. Some people are not even able to commit to writing down their goals on paper twice a day, and then they wonder why they cannot achieve them. This isn’t some law of attraction stuff (although that stuff works). This is a method to get your mind focused solely on your goals and off of the latest social media buzz or nonsense. It’s very easy to get side tracked nowadays. I recommend you try writing your goals down twice a day for 1 week straight and if somewhere within that week you stop doing it, then that’s how you’ll know that you have a problem with the habit of success. Do the Math Set a financial target/goal for yourself , and then do the math to figure out how to get it. This is straight out of the Grant Cardone playbook and I credit it 100% to him. First you must figure out what you have to offer to the world, then you have to figure out "Who’s got my money". For example, if I am someone who’s very good at athletics, and can offer athletic training, then I will target athletes, that’s "who has my money". After you do that, you must figure out how much money you can make from what you have to offer. If as an athletic trainer you make 70$ per hour, then you must use that to break down the math of how to reach your financial target. For example, let’s pretend that I am an athletic trainer, my target audience (Who got my money) are athletes, I charge 70$ per hour and my goal is to make 100,000$ in 1 year. First, I will divide my goal (100,000$) by my hourly income (70$) to determine how many hours I must work to reach my target. (100,000 divided by 70 = 1,430) I know that I must get paid for 1,430 hours of work in 1 year to reach my goal Second, I will divide the hours I must work to reach my goals (1,430) by the number of days i have set for myself to accomplish my goal (365) to determine how many hours per day I must work to reach my goal. (1,430 divided by 365 = 4) I know that to reach my goal I must get paid for 4 hours of work everyday If you are charging 70$ per hour, and are training 4 clients per day for only 1 year you will reach 100,000$ in that time. Once you break down the big numbers, you will see that they are not as big as we think they are. Do the math, to make the big numbers seem smaller. Seek knowledge The amount of time people spend consuming junk is ridiculous, and I am guilty of it as well. I know it’s hard to look away when Kanye West is going wild on twitter, I understand that. With that being said, you must counteract the junk that you are consuming by gaining more useful knowledge and information. There is no shortage of great content out there for people to learn from. Rather than spending all of your time watching cat videos on YouTube, you’d be better off learning from people like Grant Cardone, Gary Vee, Bob Proctor, who are consistently dropping amazing and useful FREE content everyday. Invest in yourself and in your personal development. I recommend the book Think & Grow rich for anybody who is looking to get started in moving towards the direction of success. DO NOT overlook the power of a good book. Find mentors, role models, & teachers This is very important for people who are just getting started in their careers. You must find someone who you want to live like and study everything that they do, did & are going to do. You must find people who are great at what they do and emulate them. The average Canadian makes 51k per year. There is a cycle that is going on and we are constantly falling into this cycle of mediocrity because we are being taught the wrong information. Most people want to become millionaires, but are getting their life advice from someone who makes 51k a year… That doesn’t add up. You must forget everything that you have been taught about money, and find someone who can actually teach you about how to make it in the quantities you want. If your goal is to be a millionaire, then go get advice from a millionaire. If you don’t have access to any millionaires, then follow people like Grant Cardone, and Bob Proctor who can mentor you through the unlimited amounts of content and information that they put out. Get rid of bad habits and Junk Bad habit is the kryptonite to success. People love to hang out with toxic people, drink toxic beverages, and waste time being unproductive in toxic environments. This isn’t a judgement of anyone, nor is it a question of morality… this is an assessment of poor time management skills. How are you spending your time? And with who are you spending it? I recommend that you stop giving your time away, and focus on spending it on income producing activities, or personal development. The people, and places that you give the most time to will directly influence the growth or lack thereof in your life. Become stingy with your time, and value you it the same way that you value the worthless pieces of paper known as money. Surround yourself with winners This plays into the previous point of getting rid of the bad habits, and the waste of time in your life. To get rid of something is difficult; but to replace something is easy. Once you get rid of the toxic parts of your life, look to replace them with something positive. Network with like-minded people who are looking to achieve the same things that you are. Create a mastermind group with someone who supports your goals and ambitions, whether it’s with your mom, uncle, cousin, girlfriend, etc. Find someone who supports your visions, and meet with them regularly. You will see a HUGE difference in your life and in their lives as well. Clean your room This last one is for all you dirty folks out there, CLEAN YOUR MESSY ROOM. All the moms out there will thank me for this last point. A messy room is a representation of a messy mind. Clean your room, you will notice a big difference in your overall emotions. Give it a try and you will thank me later. These are few things you can start doing today, to start building up the habit of success in your life. Most people think success is a crazy, unattainable thing and that is not the case. We are all capable of success. Take responsibility for any shortcomings you may have and start working towards success. Don’t be a little bitch. Thank you for reading, be sure to follow me on Instagram @Thedonshraify for more posts like this.