Atricle Dump - Internet and Businesses Online

How Do You Know You Are Getting Better? Use Data to Drive Improvement
The best quality improvement initiatives are driven by data! Why? How are you going to know how much you have improved if you don’t measure something?All of you have been exposed to measures in many situations. Most of them were important. In school, you were graded. Perhaps you own shares of stock; how do you measure the success of the stock—its increase in value, a measurement. How do you know if your team wins? By its score, a measurement. The fact is that many daily activities in life have accompanying measures to judge their success.You might argue that you know if things are getting better; you can just tell. I am sure that you can. This is not enough, though. In the healthcare field it is important to measure improvement. One reason to do so is to prove to others that things are improving. For instance, suppose you are in charge of implementing electronic health records in a hospital setting. You meet resistance from several staff members, including a large number of doctors. How can you overcome this resistance? Collect data—lower percentage of wrong prescriptions, for instance— from a pilot program of willing participants and then demonstrate the positive benefits with your data. With

e as frequently as they visit sites with 100% link integrity. So make sure you download some link checking software and begin a regular schedule of verifying your link structure.

Using Images For Primary Navigation Links

Many webmasters like to use fancy looking navigation links but, in doing so, they fail to establish a theme for their sites. For instance, using a graphical link back to your home page does not tell the search engine spiders what that link is about unless the spider actually visits that page. If you use optimized ALT text on that graphical home page link, then that would be a step in the right direction. But to maximize the effect and clearly define the theme of your web site, you need to use a text link that has your primary keyword or phrase within the link text. This is called Link Reputation.

Home, Site Map and Contact Page Links

For God's Sake ... Don't Do This! (Advice to Newbies)
We needed more money. That was an accepted fact. We were both retired and the cost of the insurance AND the co-pays on the medications was overwhelming us. The rent keeps going up as well as the cable (with our internet connections) and everything else was too. Now, gas is costing $3+ per gallon! Yup! We needed more money coming in. So I decided to see if I could do ‘something’ on the internet.My first adventure was ‘surveys’. That went over about as well as a frog in a flight suit! I would fill them out and click submit and the only things I got was a sweepstakes entry or a ‘promise’ of money. This just wasn’t working! I even sent emails to one of the survey companies. I had racked up over $500 in surveys and only received $130 - where is the rest? No response AND no more money. I had to find something else. I had submitted thousands of surveys and all I got was a lousy $130 bucks!!!The second adventure started with an ad from an internet marketer. He would build me a website and set it up with an automatic advertising system for 400 days...WOW! I bit like a starving man in a pastry shop. I followed his instruction in the lessons he sent and was feeling very good about myself, BUT again, no money! **I should note here that the site l

Maximizing traffic from the search engines to your web site is not a difficult task but it does require you to think ahead and plan your Search engine optimization strategy carefully. If you have not yet built your web site and are still in the initial planning stages then you may have an easier time of it. If you already have an existing web site, then you may need to take the time to read up on these SEO strategies and make some changes to incorporate them into your web site.

I will discuss 13 ways in which you can improve on your existing web site or boost a brand new web site into the stratosphere of high rankings. These are NOT SEO tricks but rather tried, tested, ethical and true methods that we know to work effectively. We all know that in reality there are no real SEO tricks. True success is achieved through hard work, research and implementation of a thorough and complete SEO strategy.

Without further ado here is a checklist of important items to consider and implement into your SEO strategy.

Using Javascript or Other Unspiderable Code

If you intend to use Javascript on your web page it is best to use it sparingly or not at all. Search engine spiders cannot read Javascript and it is possible that along with ignoring it when they come across it on your page, they may also get hung up on it if you are using a lot of it. If you really need to use Javascript you can safely use it by putting the code into a separate JS file and calling it with a single line of code which you place between your head tags within the header of your web page.

Using Style Guidelines Effectively

If you are using CSS style commands, do not include them within your actual web page source code. You don't want search engine spiders to have to wade through 100 lines of unreadable code before they reach your actual content. Instead, place your style guidelines into a separate CSS file and call them with a single line of code from within your head tags again by using the following code:

Primary Keyword Layout

Examine your web site from a source code point of view and ensure that your primary keywords or phrases will be spidered first. When search engine spiders read your page they read the source code just like we would read a book from left to right - top to bottom. We know that search engines place higher relevancy on keywords and phrases which appear closer to the top of a page so it stands to reason that if you've got a large table full of graphics appearing at the top of your source code before your primary keywords, then you can achieve higher rankings by adjusting your layout and placing a well written search engine optimized paragraph above that table full of graphics.

Spiderable Text Present on Each Page

Many times I have seen some very pretty web sites, but their chances of ranking high for any relevant keywords have been dashed by the use of only graphics and very little or no text on the pages. It is very important to your SEO strategy that you make sure that you've taken the time to write some quality textual content for your pages. Don't write nonsensical text filled with blatant sp@m. Instead, take a few extra minutes and write 4-5 quality paragraphs which clearly explain the theme of your site and the particular page you’re writing for.

Proper Use of robots.txt File

On several occasions I have performed an analysis of a client's web site only to discover that they had inadvertently blocked spider access to their web site by incorrectly formatting their robots.txt file. It is critical that you know what you're doing when you use a robots.txt file. If you are unsure of the correct syntax when modifying or creating a robots.txt file, I recommend you not use a robots.txt file at all. This may sound counterproductive, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Accidentally blocking the spiders can result in a loss of all your rankings. It would almost be like starting over again to repair the damage. For help on correctly formatting your robots.txt file, visit robotstxt.org.

Dead Links and 404 Errors

If you are not checking for broken links on your web site, then you should start immediately and make this a part of your SEO strategy. You can never be 100% sure of your link integrity, especially when your site has 100, or more, pages. Aside from losing potential customers into a vortex of 404 errors, you risk more than that from a search engine perspective. When a search engine spider visits your web site and finds broken links, the impression left is that your site is not regularly maintained and updated. Not much is known about how the engines view this, but your crawl status may be assigned a low priority by visiting search engine spiders. In other words, the spiders may not visit your site as frequently as they visit sites with 100% link integrity. So make sure you download some link checking software and begin a regular schedule of verifying your link structure.

Using Images For Primary Navigation Links

Home, Site Map and Contact Page Links

Employee Evaluation - Not an Arena of Torture by the Honest Answer Consultant
Employee evaluations are a necessary task that every company should use to improve their human resource and should be used to pick the prospect with the most potential to advance and acquire more responsibilities. Some time, the only way to know the history of a person is through their evaluation as the supervisor may have retired, been promoted or left the company.I have seen both spectrum of employee evaluation. I have been in an organization where the evaluation was convoluted and very complicated to complete. On the flip side, I was involved with another company where I received an evaluation once in the five years that I was there. Both situations were frustrating. On the former, the organization was very bureaucratic and it seemed that the evaluation process was used as a punishment tool. It was very negative and only dealt with mistakes that occurred during the year. Concerning the latter system, I continue by normal standard of working not knowing if I was doing things correctly or if my supervisor was satisfied with my productivity. I would be criticized out of the blue for the work that I had been doing for years the same way. It would get very frustrating and my motivation would always go down when this happens.A good evalua

ossible that along with ignoring it when they come across it on your page, they may also get hung up on it if you are using a lot of it. If you really need to use Javascript you can safely use it by putting the code into a separate JS file and calling it with a single line of code which you place between your head tags within the header of your web page.

Using Style Guidelines Effectively

Primary Keyword Layout

Spiderable Text Present on Each Page

Proper Use of robots.txt File

Dead Links and 404 Errors

Using Images For Primary Navigation Links

Home, Site Map and Contact Page Links

The Most Unusual Businesses
Since childhood I've had an interest in unusual businesses. I grew up with four brothers, and when it was time to vote for which television show we would watch, I sold my vote to the highest bidder. You could call that the business of politics. I collected the paper-wads that fell all over when my brothers had their wars, and then sold them back to them for a couple cents each. I was a war profiteer in the paper-wad wars. I also sold candy out of a hollow book in school.My business activities were more conventional as an adult, but I still loved to hear about and read about the more unusual businesses. Sitting around a fire in an Arizona desert, I once talked to a man who sold used stuffed animals on the side of the highway. He claimed he sold $3000 worth his first month.The Most Unusual BusinessesThen there was the guy I talked to in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who collected the bodies of dead deer. The county needed the deer carcasses off the roadsides for health reasons. They contracted with this guy for $25 per body. I'm not sure how he disposed of them, but maybe his other business was providing meat to dog food companies.When I was living in Traverse City, Michigan, someone started a dog poop cleaning business. W

cy on keywords and phrases which appear closer to the top of a page so it stands to reason that if you've got a large table full of graphics appearing at the top of your source code before your primary keywords, then you can achieve higher rankings by adjusting your layout and placing a well written search engine optimized paragraph above that table full of graphics.

Spiderable Text Present on Each Page

Proper Use of robots.txt File

Dead Links and 404 Errors

Using Images For Primary Navigation Links

Home, Site Map and Contact Page Links

Are You a Cultivator or a Harvester?
As a result of providing marketing consulting, training and coaching to a variety of individuals and industries over the years, I have come to recognize that people generally approach the business building process in one of two ways. Everyone tends to be what I identify as either Cultivators or Harvesters. The problem is the business building process requires both cultivation and harvesting. Read on to determine which you are and how to assure that you are both cultivating and harvesting new business.Harvesters are the great sales people of the world. These are the people that don’t mind, may even enjoy, spending two or three hours a day cold calling. They willingly spend a day starting at the first floor of an office building and visiting every office on every floor to try and get an appointment. Harvesters will close business. However, they also tend to leave a lot of green fruit on the tree because their approach is geared towards those individuals who have a need now and are willing and able to purchase – the so called low hanging fruit. Harvesters tend to move from orchard to orchard seeking out and picking whatever fruit is ripe at the time. They are constantly seeking out a new orchard that might

al that you know what you're doing when you use a robots.txt file. If you are unsure of the correct syntax when modifying or creating a robots.txt file, I recommend you not use a robots.txt file at all. This may sound counterproductive, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Accidentally blocking the spiders can result in a loss of all your rankings. It would almost be like starting over again to repair the damage. For help on correctly formatting your robots.txt file, visit robotstxt.org.

Dead Links and 404 Errors

Using Images For Primary Navigation Links

Home, Site Map and Contact Page Links

Property Franchise Opportunities & How to Build an Income
Many franchise opportunities now exist in the lucrative and fast growing property market. The property business is awash with money as property prices continue rising and new property millionaires are created daily.There are many different types of property franchises available in the market today. They include mortgage broker franchises, letting and property management franchises, property search franchises and estate agency franchises. There are even property franchises that specialise in finding overseas homes and property investments.Some of these franchises are work from home opportunities like property management. The franchisees main tasks include collecting rent, making sure essential repairs are carried out and communicating with both the tenant and the owner of the properties.This business can be worked part time or full time and in the right location it is possible to build this into a very lucrative business. If the franchisee provides good service then word of mouth will spread and finding properties to manage will be easy.Often a successful franchisee will find that he has to stop taking on more work or start taking on employees and open an office near the town centre once he reaches a certain threshold.

e as frequently as they visit sites with 100% link integrity. So make sure you download some link checking software and begin a regular schedule of verifying your link structure.

Using Images For Primary Navigation Links

Home, Site Map and Contact Page Links

The Home, Site Map and Contact pages are your site's primary pages and should be your SEO strategy top priority. It is essential that these pages be spidered and exposed to your site visitors. To ensure that they are spidered, place links to them near the top of your source code on every page of your web site. Your home page is, of course, the main entrance to your web site so you want that to be the focal point in the search engines. Your site map page should (if properly optimized) have links to all of your sub pages and use primary keywords belonging to each sub page within the link text pointing to those sub pages. Your contact page is just as important because it's used by visitors who have questions or who wish to order products and services.

Redirected Pages

When a web page has outlived its usefulness, webmasters will, on occasion, redirect visitors hitting that page to another page. Search engine spiders, however, take a dim view of page redirects. If you change the content of your site and find that you have no further use for a page, do not place a redirect on that page. Instead, remove the outdated content and replace it with something relevant. Include a text link to your home page or to a new replacement page. When you remove a page or place a redirect on an outdated page, you're cheating yourself out of better rankings and search engine traffic. Moreover, using page redirects can result in the removal of your site listing in search engine databases with a consequent loss of revenue.

Excessively Small Type Font Sizes

Text in a font smaller than font size 2 is normally reserved for copyright information and the legal jargon often seen at the bottom of web pages. Use font size 2, or greater, for the majority of text on your page. Font size is a major factor in SEO strategy because the font size used defines the relevancy a search engine spider assigns to the content it finds on your page. An example of this would be the text within heading tags (H1 through to H6). Text surrounded with H1 tags has a higher relevancy placed on it than text surrounded with H6 tags. Visit the w3.org website for a better understanding of how on-page text is viewed by search engine spiders with regard to importance and relevancy. Search engine spiders tend to follow the W3 HTML standard.

Hidden Text, Door Way Pages and Other Tricks

Nowadays search engines are pretty smart and trying to trick them is not a wise course of action. Take some time to stop and examine your approach before proceeding with your SEO strategy. The rule of thumb is that if it looks like spam or could be perceived as spam by the search engines, then it probably is spam. The last thing you need is for a competitor to report unethical SEO tactics to the search engines. Such tactics could result in a loss of existing site listings as well as a ban on future submissions. So, to ensure the longevity of your online business, stay away from any technique that looks unethical.

Using HTML Frames

In short, don't. Frames are not very search engine friendly because search engines cannot read a framed source document that tells your browser to load more than one page in your browser window at the same time. Thus, achieving a high PageRank on your home page is difficult. Frames also make it hard for search engine spiders to find all of your sub pages.

Non-Spider-Friendly URL's

If the URL's for your web site contain characters such as &, $, =, %, etc., that is they are dynamic in nature, then search engine spiders may not be able to read them. And, if they can't be read, then the search engine spiders won't be able to follow them to index your pages. However, there are solutions available to fix this problem. For example, webmasters who have sites hosted on servers with Unix operating systems can use Apache mod_rewrite to rewrite URL's that contain a session ID, or other nasty characters, into search engine spider friendly URL's.

SEO, of course, is not just limited to the 13 areas covered in this article, but if you apply the SEO strategies outlined in these 13 areas to your web site, you will find that your site rankings and traffic improve dramatically.

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.articledump.net/article/78678/articledump-Maximize-Your-Search-Engine-Traffic--13-Ways-to-Pull-in-More-Visitors-From-the-Search-Engines.html">Maximize Your Search Engine Traffic - 13 Ways to Pull in More Visitors From the Search Engines</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.articledump.net/article/78678/articledump-Maximize-Your-Search-Engine-Traffic--13-Ways-to-Pull-in-More-Visitors-From-the-Search-Engines.html]Maximize Your Search Engine Traffic - 13 Ways to Pull in More Visitors From the Search Engines[/url]

Just putting an tamper evident asset label on your company's equipment can mean the difference of that asset being stolen or misplaced.

What is the difference between RAD and Waterfall methodologies and which should I use for my intranet portal project? Find your answers here - or at least - the right questions!

Have you been thinking about offering a teleseminar, webinar, or live workshop, because you know that it will increase your list numbers, showcase you as an expert, bring you new clients and customers, and be just plain fun, but you haven't actually moved forward with the idea? This article will teach you how to make it happen now!

Tags

Links

Atricle Dump - Maximize Your Search Engine Traffic - 13 Ways to Pull in More Visitors From the Search Engines

Related Articles: