Small Business Design Resources

Top 5 Negative Organic Search Factors

Everybody is jumping on the Search engine optimization bandwagon these days. With the cost of pay per click advertising going through the roof as the competition intensifies, many corporations are looking at Organic search as a way to diversify and reduce their overall cost per action. SEO is certainly not for free, but it is very effective in driving thousands of leads to a site, if done right.

Many folks spends hours a day to optimize their campaigns for Google and Yahoo by improving their title tags, and writing better content, but unless you know about the top negative organic search factors, you are not going to be able to avoid the pitfalls in the way.

Here are the top 5 negative search engine ranking factors:

1. Duplicate Title/Meta Tags: many folks use content manage systems that do not create optimized title and meta tags for each page. You should always try to keep you tags unique per page. Duplicate tags are the best way to end up in the supplementary index (the one people usually don’t see).

2. Duplicate Content: using duplicate content on your web page tells search engines that you have really no new value to add for your audience. So you shouldn’t be surprised if search-engines try to penalize you for using other people’s content on your site.

3. Linking to Banner Farms: linking to a site is similar to giving it a vote of confidence. If you link to a spam or link farm, you are going to lose your credibility with search engines. Always try to avoid linking to any site you don’t know or trust.

4. Selling Links: Google, specifically, hates folks who try to get unfair competitive advantage over their rivals and manipulate search results. Buying and selling links used to work for a while, but selling can get you penalized these days. Buyers are less likely to be penalized, but there have been cases that serial buyers have had their paid links discounted by engines.

5. Server errors: you should always try to adopt a hosting plan that is reliable and comes with 99.9% up-time. You simply can’t afford to have your site being down when Google agents come to go through your pages. That simply gets you penalized, and it may take a long time to get your ranking back.

Google and other engines are all about providing quality search results to searchers. You simply make them look bad by making the above mistakes. Focus on quality and value for your audience, and your organic results will come.

By Panah C Rad

Looking for more killer search engine optimization tips? For more SEO tips and tricks, visit SEOABC.com.

SEOABC.com is your source of latest search engine optimization tips and developments: http://www.seoabc.net

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Don’t Just Brand Your Business, Brand Yourself

This title means what it says…don’t just brand your business, but brand yourself! ‘You are your business’ -especially in the Micro and HBB sector. It is very important for potential clients to trust you as well as your business. So put some energy into branding yourself, as well as your business.

Have a personal plan for branding yourself and keep it updated. Log your goals and put them to a time frame. Be specific. This type of action plan is very important if you really want to see results.

Promote yourself strongly. When someone asks ‘what do you do’ – have a verbal logo ready! This is an important part of branding yourself and your product; particularly if you are in the service industry.

Start with a negative e.g. define the problem; and conclude with a positive e.g. offer a solution; and point out your unique point of difference. An example of a good verbal logo is:- “Most Micro and HBB operators struggle with marketing tactics to help their business grow. Together, with the operators, I develop practical, simple marketing strategies that are both affordable and effective.”

How do you present yourself? You do not have to be a ‘glamorous chick’ or a ‘handsome hunk of ham’ – but you do need to have a visual signature as part of your personal brand.

The way you look can be repeated and recognised. Wear a hat and have become known for that (as has Molly Meldrum); wear some outrageous jewellery or a bow tie -dare to be different!

Your brand should play on your personality characteristics. One of these characteristics should be the ability to show your passion. If you really do believe in a certain behaviour or belief – that will show in everything you do.

Have a philosophy of ‘what can I do for you?’ rather than ‘what’s in it for me’ and constantly think of how to put that into action. Others notice this and comment on it. It helps set you apart from competitors.

And just how important is it to be always thinking of others? So, so, very important! Those hand-written notes, prompt email or phone follow ups, can set you aside from most, as it seems to be a forgotten art of etiquette by many. If networking is important to you (and I hope it is) these thoughtful acts will build and strengthen the relationships that you are trying to build.

Your brand needs to come to the fore when networking. Targeted networking can be much more successful than accidental networking. Make contact with those who are of interest to you and stay in touch with them.

Choose those that you can help and those that can help you. Remember the philosophy ‘what can I do for you?’ …well, by helping others become successful, you will be building a network of positive, supportive people who will help you when you need and ask for it.

Strengthen your brand by recognising what you are good at, and then build on it. Don’t waste time trying to improve on skills that you do not have well established…that will only hold you back from developing and growing the skills you do have. To be known as an expert in your field will strengthen your brand’s position in the community.

Once you have positioned yourself as an expert the media can do much to further promote you, as you become the person they will contact for comments.

Write articles, e-books and online newsletters. You will soon become well known within your niche. Undertake speaking engagements for community groups, council networking groups and any other business groups you can find.

Keep developing and distributing interesting media releases to enhance the ‘word of mouth’ promotion, by making it sizzle! You need to be HOT!

To help build your brand, choose a charity or association that you feel passionate about….the more you enjoy what you are doing, the stronger your brand will become. To enable you to put more time into developing your brand, make sure you have others to do some of the more menial tasks to keep your operation going, allowing you to concentrate on what you do best.

by Barbara Gabogrecan

Barbara Gabogrecan is a renowned artist and author and spends her time supporting the Micro and Home Based Business operators. www.micronavigator.com.au
A free e-book ‘The Power of Targeted Networking’ http://www.micronavigator.com.au/EmailForm/1194306048851-9110/

Article Source: ArticleRich.com

Full Color Printing – Explaining CMYK VS RGB

By Adan Ines

You are looking for the right printing company to render full color printing service for your ad materials. As you browse through your options, you are being bombarded with letters that you cannot comprehend – CMYK and RGB.

Are you lost with such acronyms? First, you must understand that color is an important element in printing as well as in the design process. You must have the eye to spot what will match and what will look good together to be able to provide the right material.

Color can affect the whole appeal of your material. It will evoke people’s emotions. It will create the impact.

RGB
The colors as you see them on your computer monitors are in RGB mode. It will not look the same way once printed though. That is why most printing companies ask you to convert your files to CMYK before sending them over.

What is RGB? This is a color model that is composed of red, green and blue. This is most useful for website design and presentations done on screen because the project will be viewed through a computer monitor.

There are various color spaces in the RGB model. These are the two that are commonly used.

• RGB. This is what most of the monitors of your PCs use. This is also advisable to be used if you are into web design.

• Adobe RGB. This has a larger selection of colors than the sRGB. This is more appropriate to be used if you are designing for print and with pictures that were taken using professional digital cameras.

CMYK

The CMYK model is produced when two RGB colors are mixed evenly.

• C or cyan is produced when green and blue are combined.
• M or magenta is produced when red and blue are combined.
• Y or yellow is produced when red and green are combined.
• K which means the key color or black is added to the model because when all the three colors of RGB are combined, they can only produce a dark brown.

If you want to avail of the full color printing process for your advertisements and other needs, you have to know that such method uses the CMYK model. Each color is placed on a printing plate. So there are four printing plates that are being utilized in the manner of printing.

The colors are then printed on the paper stock as small dots. But humans would only be able to see the final image.

You have to be really careful with colors especially when you are applying it to your professional arena. Colors will have a high impact on the design of your material, whether you are using the print medium or you are designing for web pages.

It is advisable to match the colors according to you target market. They are the ones who are going to appreciate the final product. So it will be safer to think about them from the start. And the next time you are going to avail full color printing services, you will no longer feel lost with what the acronyms RGB and CMYK stand for.

Full color printing can aid to help in making colorful and vibrant prints. To find more of its procedures and application please feel free to visit color printing wholesale

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Getting Traffic to your New Website

So you’ve just finished creating your new website. It looks good and you are ready for the visitors, you can’t wait for the traffic to come. So how are you going to get traffic to your new site? You will now need to promote your new site. Here are a few things you could start with:

1. Submit your site to the Search Engines.
If you want people to find your site then you should start by submitting your site to the biggest 3 search engines, which are Google Yahoo and MSN. They will find your site eventually without submitting to them but why wait. You should also submit your site to all the other lesser-known search engines because some people don’t or can’t use the big 3. Can be time consuming to submit your site to most of them so Search Engine Submission Software is recommended for this.

2. Submit your site to Directories.
People go here to find other websites. Provides good incoming links when your site is listed on directories, which can over time increase your website’s popularity and SE rankings. There are so many directories that this can also be time consuming.

3. Submit your site to Classifieds.
Was once considered to be an excellent way to get traffic to your site but not as effective today, however, it still could be worth your while submitting your site to the classified sites using Search Engine Submission Software because most of those sites are considered high traffic sites.

The above three methods are great ways to promote your site and start getting traffic but they can be very time consuming if you decide to submit your site manually to the above, however, there is a much faster and incredibly simpler way to get your site on over 700,000 Search Engines, Directories, Classifieds, Online Malls and Link pages by using Search Engine Submission Software like this http://www.easy.top5submitters.com

You could also consider other ways of getting visitors to your site like

1. Article Distribution – Writing articles about what can be found on your site and distributing them to article directories with a link to your site included in every article you write.

2. Participate in Forums that are related to your sites content – Post your opinion or expertise on the subject matter, and over time you’ll be allowed add a link to your site with every post you make.

3. Add lots of related links to your site – This is reciprocal linking where someone adds your link to their site while you agree to add their link to your site – make sure the sites you link to are related to your site in some way, this will improve your search engine ranking for more traffic, eg. If you have a weight loss site you should link to other weight loss related sites like health, fitness, diet, exercise.

4. Use Pay Per Click (PPC) – Brings in quality traffic but it can get costly if you don’t know what you’re doing. Every time someone visits your site it will cost you a pre-determined amount usually a few cents. I recommend you learn all about this method before you dive in, however, you can at least set your limit on how much you are willing to spend on this.

5.Traffic Exchanges – This is where you view other people’s sites to gain credits that will allow them to view your site. Most of the people viewing your site will have no interest in your site, they are only clicking on your site to gain credits. Worth a try because it’s free to join.

6. Advertise in Ezines – This can be an excellent way to advertise your website. Only use ezines that are related to your site and have a large circulation. Allow your site ad a few months of advertising to get the best value.

7. Hit Boosters – Instant traffic to your site using software technology. Some can be quite useless but others can bring in truly remarkable results for your site. Here’s a good one http://www.traffic.top5submitters.com

There are many more traffic gaining techniques. The above are 10 good ways that will get traffic to your site and a couple of solutions to your site promotion ventures. My advice is to try the above first and then when you are familiar with them you can look for other methods.

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David O Connell – Submit Sites to 700,000 SE’s Directories, Classifieds http://www.easy.top5submitters.
com Boost Site Traffic in Minutes http://www.traffic.top5submitters.com

Visit Site: Site Submit Traffic

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Developing and Managing Web Site Content

If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, the way to a site visitor’s and search engine’s heart is through palatable visual and textual food – web site content. However, the two most important factors that ultimately determine the success or failure of a web site is the manner in which web content is developed and managed. This is a continuous process, and site owners attribute much of their success to their strong emphasis on these two factors.

Content development is a process where some important steps should be taken initially, to develop good, quality, relevant content. These steps include visualization, research, preliminary drafts and editing of information meant for web site publication. These steps involve the development of such features as interactive text, animated or static graphics, pictures, video recordings and other advertising gimmickry.

When web site content has been developed, this most crucial stage begins. Content management is a process which, if well conceived, can contribute significantly to the success of a site. It includes such crucial elements as content sourcing, creation, updating, and publishing. It is also a collaborative process, in that it involves people qualified in various disciplines relevant to web content. For example, good web content may involve content writers, editors, managers, administrators, publishers, etc. Content writing must be creative, informative and search engine optimized (SEO). In this manner, such qualities will not only attract and sustain visitor interest, but also deliver an appreciable search engine ranking. For efficiency, several content managers use software called content management systems (CMS), which may also include a document management system. These can ensure that site visitors can easily interact with the content.

The key to successful web site content is inclusion of special keywords, key phrases and tags. However, many site owners and content writers are mistaken in their belief that by flooding content with keywords, they will attract more visitor traffic and enhance their search engine ranking. This must be avoided, as results have proved to the contrary. Content must be original, grammatically correct and specifically focused to a visitor’s needs. It must be confined to the particular business product or service that the web site is all about, e.g. if the web site is providing information on ‘home renovation’, content must be limited solely to this subject.

For a site to achieve its objectives, it is critically important to update and recycle web site content on a continuous cycle. However, it is also very important to plan everything well in advance. If your content has a solid platform (and a team of dedicated and experienced content developers and managers), it will have every reason and tool necessary to succeed.

Written By: Fresh Content

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Visit http://fresh-web-content.com for unique, fresh, quality web content.

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