Is it really smart to become completely debt free? Becoming totally debt free is an amazing achievement that can require a lot of work. But depending on your financial situation, you might be better off keeping some of those loans and continuing to make payments over time.
Is it really smart to become completely debt free? Becoming totally debt free is an amazing achievement that can require a lot of work.
But depending on your financial situation, you might be better off keeping some of those loans and continuing to make payments over time. Take student loans for example. These are some of the cheapest forms of debt, and it can help you to keep them. If you have multiple student loans, consolidating them and negotiating better terms might be the wiser move over paying off the loans in full. Here's why:
• Up to $2,500 in interest paid on your student loans is tax deductible.
• A 10% return from an investment is greater than the 5% interest you are paying on the student loan. Reinvest those earnings back into the investment, and over time compound interest will increase those returns.
• If you invest the money in a tax sheltered retirement account instead of paying off the loan, you could be using pre-tax money. This lowers your realized income, which means you pay less income tax. Not to mention taking advantage of company matching programs if offered by your employer's 401k plan.
• Student loans are the lowest forms of debt. Focus on paying off all other loans first before even considering paying down your student loans.
The same holds true with many mortgages. Wouldn't it be great to have no housing expenses? Owning your home free and clear could really boost your savings and personal cash-flow. But, you could also invest that money to help you make money.
If you have no other debts and are in the position to pay down a big chunk of your loan, you are really in a win-win situation. There’s no wrong move, there just could be a better one. You could choose to invest that money to help with your retirement savings, or you could give yourself peace of mind by paying your debts in full. Either way, you are in a great position..
If you are in a position to pay off your remaining low-interest loans in order to become debt-free, remember to consider the tax incentives for continuing to pay interest on your loans over time. Is being completely debt free more satisfying to you than investing the money you have to pay off the loan in order to accumulate more wealth?
Becoming a millionaire is easy when you know how. Receive a free gift to increase your wealth by visiting Millionaire Money Habits: http://www.mmhabits.com
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last year or so, you probably know that Google has become the king of the search engine hill. There are many reasons for this but number one in my opinion is that above all else they put value on content. Today I want to introduce you to two very powerful small business advertising options created by Google.
These two ingenious programs have all but revolutionized the way advertising is done on the web. Warning: If you are thinking..."web advertising isn't for me, I just need a few more clients around the block"...you better read this or be prepared to have your competitors eat your lunch.
Goolge AdSense - Again content is king at Google. This program allows web site "publishers" to add some code from Google and receive "content relevant" ads on their site from other site owners. Here is an example - those ads in the box on the right of the page are delivered by Google and are matched to the content on the page. When someone surfs to the page and decides to check out one of those ads, the web site owner earns a portion of the advertising revenue that Google collects.
The key here is that if you go to a site about quilting, you will see ads about quilting and not about dog grooming. I know this sounds so obvious but Google was the first to really figure this out.
This program has worked so well that some website owners are actually building content specific sites and paying for them solely through AdSense revenue. Small business owners should consider adding this feature to pages on their site for several reasons.
I've already mentioned the fact that there is money to be made, but what many site owners are finding is that because Google is so respected and because the ads are highly targeted...they are no longer looked at by surfers as ads, they are looked at as content.
Some will even go as far as to say that by putting the Google ads on your site you actually better your chances of higher rankings with Google. Google flatly denies this claim and I don't think it is true but I do know that Google AdSense ads should be on every small business owner's site. (Google AdSense)
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Another Warning: This is somewhat complex stuff. This article is only meant to introduce you to the power of these programs. Check out Google Cash by Chris Carpenter for a deeper understanding of ways to make this work for you.
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Google AdWords - I've already talked about those ads you see on websites, well those ads need to come from somewhere don't they. AdWords is Google's program for advertisers.
Any site that wishes to participate bids for "keywords" that are relevant to their product, service, or site and then creates ads to attract hits. These ads show up on private websites, like this example, and on the right side of Google search results like this search for "Free sales letters and tools" As you can see from this Google search you received the content related sites that you searched for but you also get some related ads that are sponsored.
Now here is where Google is genius. Instead of simply subjecting surfers to any ads that anyone is willing to pay for, they actually police the ads that are running. On some pay per click programs, whoever is willing to pay to most wins. Google uses a performance model. In other words an ad that is the most relevant and therefore receives the most clicks will move ahead of an ad that may pay more but isn't as effective. This simple philosophy is why Google has quickly dominated the PPC world.
Okay...and now the really big innovation
Regional targeting. Google recently introduced a system that allows advertisers to target certain metropolitan markets only. In other words, a remodeling contractor who only wants to do kitchen remodels in say, Denver, can bid on the keyword phrase "kitchen remodel" and only have his ads show up for people who live in and around Denver.
The implication this has for local small business owners is staggering. In the example above, our Remodeler can now tap into highly targeted web traffic for pennies per lead. In my opinion, small business owner who learn the ins and outs of this medium will dominate their markets. (Google AdWords)
Look for more on this topic in the future.
Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
About The Author
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of “Duct Tape Marketing” a turn-key small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php
Is it Possible for Me to Have More Than One Site For My Google Adsense Account? Yes. In fact, the more sites you have displaying Google Adsense ads, the more money you will make. You don’t even have to notify Google of the new sites. Make sure though, that any new site you add conforms to Google Adsense Program Policies, because if your account gets terminated for any reason, you would not be able to display the Google Adsense ads on any of them.
All you have to do is copy and past the same ad layout code you previously copied and pasted to your original site.
The same rules apply when adding an Adsense for Search box to your new site. Simply choose all the parameters from the choices displayed, copy the code to the new site or new pages within the old site. As in the beginning, Google’s webcrawler will detect the code and you’re all set. Will It Help Me to Buy Google Adsense “Secrets” E-books and Reports?
As with any money-making venture, there are pitfalls, pros and cons and some outright cons. As popular as Google Adsense has become, it’s no surprise there is a wealth of information for sale. Try it. Google Google Adsense and you’ll see what I mean. There are those promising they make thousands and thousands of dollars a month from Google Adsense and they are willing to share their “secrets” with you – for a price.
The fact is Google Adsense will tell you everything you need to know – for free. They have a support site that covers virtually everything you would need to know about the program and experience will teach you the rest, although I admit I have seen a couple of interesting books on amazon.com.
There are a lot of people out there in cyberspace who will gladly answer your questions for free and there are many forums where you can post questions. You can even email the Google Adsense Support Staff if you have questions that their Support Site doesn’t answer.
Experience will probably be your best teacher anyway. And the good news is the Google Adsense program makes that experience painless in that you have nothing lose. So just take a chance on yourself for now. Learn everything you can to maximize your earning potential.
Soon after the advent of internet, it was realized that the website real estate (or the space on websites) had commercial value in the advertising world. The simple reason behind this was the soaring popularity of internet and the increasing number of eyeballs received by various websites.
Thus, internet advertising (or online advertising) came into being. Today, internet advertising is treated as one of the most effective and most economical means of advertising. In fact, a lot of businesses, especially small businesses, use only this (affordable) medium for advertising their products and services. As technology progressed, so did the online advertising methodologies. Graphics based banner Ads and text Ads got their due recognition and were used quite extensively for online advertising. Even now banner advertising is one of the most popular forms of online advertising.
However, the real breakthrough in online advertising came with Google adsense advertising program. This program helped in connecting advertisers to several website owners who were ready to offer advertising space on their websites. Through Google AdSense program, the advertisements were floated on the websites that had some relevance to the products or services offered by the advertiser. This type of advertising is also called targeted advertising since the Ads are served only to the interested audience and not just anyone or everyone. Soon, Google AdSense became a very effective form of targeted advertising. On Google AdSense program, webmasters are paid on per-click and per-thousand-Ads-displayed basis. And the advertisers can control the amount of money they wish to spend on advertising through Google Adwords program that works in conjunction with the AdSense program.
Google adsense program has caught the fancy of a lot of advertisers and webmasters and its popularity continues to soar everyday. Until another, better advertising program comes into being; Google will continue to hold its place at the core of online advertising.
They are calling him the million dollar man. Jason Calacanis recently revealed in his blog that he is on track to earn a million dollars from AdSense over the year ahead. And if that number doesn’t wake you up and have you sitting on the edge of your seat, consider for a moment that he reached this level in less than a year. His company only started using AdSense in September 2004.
Calacanis runs Weblogs Inc., a network dedicated to creating trade weblogs across niche industries. And he’s quickly proven that AdSense is a credible advertising partner.
As their network has grown, so has their AdSense revenue. In January 2005 they earned an average of $580 per day.
In March it was $737. In May it was $1,585. One day in July, just before he made the blog entry referred to above, they earned $2,335. Remember that is just for one day. If they can take that daily average to $2,740 they’ll be earning a rate of $1 million for a year. And Calacanis predicts that reaching daily earnings of $3,000 or even $5,000 is quite achievable.
That’s quite an achievement. Keep in mind that Calacanis has 103 bloggers on the payroll and nine staffers. Even so, many webmasters would give an arm or a leg to have even a third of that.
Google’s AdSense has been revolutionary. It has become firmly established as the darling of the online advertising industry. Although rumors are heard of major competitors launching a similar service, AdSense’s premier position seems
secure for now.
In essence, AdSense has made it possible for almost anyone with a web site or blog to earn some revenue from advertising, without having to employ sales people or spend precious time searching for advertisers.
AdSense works like this. Webmasters sign up for an account in just a few minutes. They receive a small snippet of code to include on their web pages. Google will then automatically serve advertisements that are relevant to the content on the webmaster's pages. When someone visits the webmaster's site and clicks on one of Google's AdSense advertisements, the webmaster earns a fee. Advertisers can pay anywhere from five cents to a hundred dollars per click, and the webmaster receives a percentage of that fee.
Many webmasters are content with earning five to ten dollars from AdSense to cover the cost of web hosting. But many, unsurprising, have higher ambitions. At a popular WebmasterWorld forum, participants share tips and encouragement on
reaching a goal of $300 per day from AdSense. So it is no wonder that Calacanis created quite a buzz when he made his million dollar blog entry.
Google have proven once again that they excel at designing innovative Internet services. If you are in the web industry and have not yet used AdSense, then perhaps you should try it out. Or if you are already using it, perhaps Calacanis’ impressive results will encourage you to track the performance of your AdSense units more closely, fine tune their positions and formats, and take your earnings to a new level.
You don’t have to be a techno-geek to use Google Adsense. In fact, you don’t need any more technical knowledge than you do to surf the web. Google Adsense is very user-friendly with a comprehensive support site to answer any question you might have.
You are first walked through the sign-up process where you are prompted for any and all information needed. You will then have a couple of days while you are waiting for your account to be approved. This would be a good time to familiarize yourself with the program policies, which of course you read before you signed up. But look again. Make sure the site you are registering doesn’t have any of the no-nos listed.
For instance, some profanity is allowed, but nothing excessive. What is excessive? That could be a gray area, but if you’re in doubt, don’t register that site. There’s plenty of sites with little or no profanity.
Look at the support site while you are waiting on Google Adsense and see what other’s are saying and doing. Most of all, have fun. Your Google Adsense dollars are just waiting to be counted.
Does Google Adsense Offer Direct Deposit?
Google adsense offers various payment options for publishers.
Electronic Funds Transfer (ETF) is offered in 16 countries whereby your payments are deposited directly into your bank account in your local currency. Check Google Adsense support to see which countries participate in this option. You will need to sign up for this option after your application is approved by signing into your account. You then click the edit link adjacent to the payment header.
After you fill out the bank information, Google Adsense will make a small test deposit into your account. This is for security purposes to assure the account is really your own.
Watch your account for the test deposit to post, usually within just a few days. After you have received the deposit from Google, log back in to your account and in the Payment Details section, click Verify Account.
You then will need to enter the amount of the test deposit. If you do not complete this step, your payments will be on hold. Once you enter the test deposit amount correctly, your bank will be approved and selected as your form of payment.
Do I Need A Pin Number For Google Adsense?
When you accumulate $50.00 in earnings, Google Adsense will send you a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to the payment address you supplied when you signed up. This is just another security precaution that Google Adsense has in place to protect their publishers but it is important.
Once you’ve been mailed a PIN number, your account payments will be on hold until the PIN is entered in your account. You can still have access to your account and earn money; you just won’t be paid until the PIN is entered. If it hasn’t been entered within 1 year, your account will be disabled.
To enter your PIN after you receive it in the mail, log into your Google Adsense account. Click on the My Account tab, then click on edit. Update the appropriate field and click submit changes. It would also be a good time to check your contact information and make sure it is correct. You’re now well on your way to receiving your first Google Adsense check.
Chances are, you've heard of Google; the enormously popular search engine that everyone is using these days. But did you know that there's a way Google can help you make money? It's true; and the best part is you won't have to do very much to make it work. That's the beauty of Adsense.Google Adsense works on the principle of passive income. In other words, you will generate income with a minimal amount of active participation on your part. Think of it this way: Instead of having to do all of the cooking and cleaning yourself, imagine if you had a robot that could do it all for you, while you sat back and watched. Adsense works in a similar way, except instead of a cleaner house you get a fatter bank account. Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? We will show you how to make passive income work for you.
The world's richest people all understand the concept of passive income. That's how they can jet-set off to fancy parties and exotic locales while their businesses continue to flourish. They have more than just crackerjack staffs and winning ideas. They have passive income on the payroll.
Once you've invested the small amount of time to learn about Adsense and set it up, all that is left for you to do is to sit back and watch as your bank account or PayPal balance increases.
What is Adsense, anyway?
In a nutshell, it's a fast and easy way for a website owner to make money through the placement of Google ads on their site. Adsense takes the guesswork out of ad placement, by choosing ads that relate very closely to the content on your site. You no longer have to search for relevant ads yourself; Google Adsense does the searching for you.
Without Adsense, you would have to spend countless hours searching for different ads for each of the pages on your site. All that searching could seriously eat into your golf time! With Adsense, you will be able to concentrate on providing your site's visitors with high-quality content.
The program rewards site owners for providing web surfers with interesting content. You will generate an income stream from your website or blog just by participating in the program. Some site owners have earned monthly incomes in the thousands of dollars! Even if your initial incomes are small, Adsense has the potential to earn your site a very comfortable second income stream. You'll even earn while you sleep! And if you own more than one site, the earning potential is just that much greater!
The way it works is this:
Google Adsense compensates the affiliate on a pay-per-click basis. Each time an ad is clicked, the advertiser pays Google a certain amount. After they have deducted their amount, Google will forward you the rest, usually on a monthly schedule.
Do you want to earn money while you travel the world, play with your kids or simply take time out for yourself? That can be a reality with Adsense. With a simple set up and some tried-and-true strategies for taking full advantage of the program, you will soon see the dollars rolling in. So relax, put your feet up, and let Adsense work for you.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ecommerce-articles/google-adsense-and-the-potential-for-high-profits-353312.html
Google Adsense: Google ad sense are ads that are shown on your site. They can be small text ads or images. Google gets paid by their advertisers and in turn pays you each time someone clicks on the ad. Google adsense is a great way to make money from your website traffic. It is possible to make a sizable income from these little ads but many do not realize the potential of these little gems.
1. Set up an account 2. Decide what sort of ad format you want 3. Insert the html in your website15 Tips for making the most profit from your Google Adsense: Google has many tools check them all and see which ones will work for you.
1. Filtering your competition- Google allows you to filter out up to 200 URL from being shown on your sitem 2. Targeting your ads by using the right keywords and density in your content and making sure your content is relevant 3. Text ads are usually best 4. Positioning your adsense ads: The top or your site will earn you the most money 5. Keywords-niche markets are the highest paying ads. 6. You can add small graphics to draw attention to your ads 7. Customize the color of your ads to make them look like a part of your website. 8. Simplify your website to make your ads more noticeable 9. Combine your ads with Google search box. This also pays for searches and will bring in some money. 10. Make multiple niche sites. The more you make the more you earn. 11. Make your font the same size as your google ad. 12. You can set up sites that offer free resources and giveaways these will be ideal for Google ads 13. Make use of Google’s tracking tools. Keep a record of how well your ads are doing and which site and position is doing the best. 14. Use the 250 x 250 rectangle ad format and make them borderless. Blend the ads into your website and make them look like resources not ads. 15. Make use of Google ad links. They have a higher rate of click through than the test ads.
When not to use Google adsense:
1. If you are using any PPC engines to drive traffic to your site. You do not want you visitors to leave your site and use the Google links to go to another website. 2. If you are selling your own products and services and do not want your visitor to be distracted 3. If you are using any other text ads on your site Google may not accept and you will draw visitors away from your ads. 4. Topics to be avoided: Gambling, firearms, ammunition, tobacco or drugs will not be allowed by Google 5. Do not allow your layouts to look similar to Google. Uniqueness will get the click. 6. Never click on your own links or ads Google will ban you for doing this.
Driving traffic to your website: The key to success is to drive a large amount of targeted visitors to your site. This can be done by:
Try using these tips and techniques to boost your click through and make more money from your site. Experiment track and test and you will have a good source of passive income that will never cost you time or money.
Christopher Robinson is a renowned veteran in online and offline marketing, advertising in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He is currently part owner of Robinson & Associates Advertising Inc. Mr. Robinson's internet marketing tools and ebooks website, http://www.hype-factor.com , and is the author of his free ebook "Effective Internet Marketing 2006", http://www.forlifeincome.com
Since its launch in 2003, the Google Adsense program has revolutionized web publishing, translating visitors' clicks into money, turning blogs and websites into money making machines for millions of website owners. The Adsense program is a big revenue generator for Google, too. The company earned some $2.7 billion in Adsense revenues last year. If you're thinking of making money online here are some reasons why your first online business should be Google Adsense:
It's FREE and EASY.
You first need to apply to join the Adsense program via an online form. Once you've been accepted into the program, you will be given a snippet of code containing your unique ID to paste into your website to enable the ads to appear. It's that simple to start making money with Adsense.
Everybody can make money.
With Google Adsense, it doesn't matter if your website is big or small. The amount of money you make is generally proportional to the traffic that your website attracts. No site is too small to make money. Even if you could make an extra ten dollars a day (which is really very achievable) by just pasting a snippet of code into your web pages, I'd call that a great way to make money!
No worries about finding advertisers.
Finding the right advertisers and the right place to advertise can be a tricky business for both publishers and advertisers.Google, by their sheer size is a magnet that attracts advertisers and publishers for all sorts of products and services. They become the broker between publishers and advertisers. All you need to do is concentrate on your website.
Great for beginners.
The majority of newbies who try to make money on the Internet call it quits within twelve months, not because they want to, but because they get lost in the jungle of online money-making. This leads to frustration and disappointment and eventually, defeat. Google Adsense cuts a clear and simple path for everyone to follow – join the program, paste the code, improve your website content and get paid when people click on the ads.
Google is great
Google is on the cutting edge of search engine and pay-per-click technology. Even as Adsense became the spectacular success that it is today, Google never stopped developing and refining ways to help regular people with regular websites monetize their traffic. They have some of the best brains working for them.
Making money while you sleep
I can honestly say that I make money while I sleep. Round the clock, every click earns me anywhere from 5 cents to a couple of dollars. Since joining the Adsense program, my day starts off bright and cheery with a visit to my reports page that tells me how much I earned while sleeping!
Earnings grow with your website.
While Adsense does generate more income on certain types of websies than other less popular niche sites, the general consensus is that as long as you continue to build on your website's popularity and add good, useful content, your Adsense income WILL continue to grow. More traffic logically equals more clicks and more money.
Small change for some, BIG money for others
Perhaps the ones who are reaping the greatest benefit from the Adsense program are the publishers from the developing world. While a US100 dollar check may not mean very much to a webmaster in New York, it can mean a couple months salary to someone in Africa. Stories abound in Adsense-related websites and forums of how this program has changed the lives of thousands of people. Many have been able to make a comfortable living solely on the income derived from the Adsense program.
Earning money with Google Adsense gives new website owners hope and a clear sense of direction. Even if you earn 50 cents a day at first, it opens your eyes to the possibilities that Google Adsense presents. It's a straightforward way to make money compared to the often complex path of affiliate marketing. There's every reason to believe that Google Adsense can only get bigger and better, so it makes perfect sense that every newcomer to online money making should give the Adsense program a try.
Creating your own small business website can be a scary thing to do. It requires some planning to get it right and make Google sit up and take notice of your site at first glance. Small business website search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the keys, but all too often, astute business people leave the creation of their websites up to a family member or a friend who happens to know something about it. This is strange, for they wouldn't dream of letting the same people build their bricks and mortar store or office.
Of course, getting an expert who fully understands small business SEO to build your website is not likely to come cheap, but it may be the best solution if you are starting out from scratch. However, this article is aimed at those small businesses that already have a website, but are disappointed at how poorly it performs. If you're frustrated because your website appears on page 42 of the Google search results, and no one is visiting your website, here are 7 things you can do to quickly improve your results.
1. Create an Effective Website Title Tag, Description Meta Tag,
and Keywords Meta Tag
The most important part of any website page (in the eyes of the search engines) is the title tag. The title is enclosed between the opening title tag: and the closing title tag: . It is located in the head section of an HTML document, or web page. You should use your page's main keyword in your title. Try to use your main keyword near the beginning of your title, and perhaps again near the end. But always strive to make your title readable, and not obviously keyword stuffed.
Your description tag plays an important role in SEO for your local small business. This tag is used by most of the search engines in their listings, so you need to spend some time getting this right. The description tag looks like this: and it is also found in the head section of your web page.
Something brief such as, "Acme Incorporated, Makers of Blue Widgets," gets the message across, but you could do much better. Try to list benefits rather than features, and use your main keyword in your description as well. Keep your description reasonably brief, but not too short. Something like, "Acme, Inc., Makers of the Strongest, Most Powerful and Affordable Widgets on the Planet" is better.
Like a headline for an ad or sales flyer, your description may take time to develop. Start with a list of all of the benefits your product or service offers and then try to write 20 different descriptions for your site based on those benefits. Test your descriptions by reading them to your customers, employees or others familiar with your business. You'll find out which description resonates most strongly with your potential prospects - and that's good for the search engines and for your sales.
The keywords tag, again found in the head section of your web pages, looks like this: . The keywords you choose for your page are important, because they tell the search engines what should be found on the page. Google and all the other search engines present search results based on relevancy – how relevant your web pages are to the keywords and phrases your prospects are searching for.
Keep your keyword phrases to less than seven and don't repeat the same words. For example, if you have two keyword phrases, which are, "blue widgets" and "bright blue widgets," you should only include unique words after including the first "blue widgets" keyword.
Curious to know what your Title, Description, Meta and Keyword tags currently look like? Here's a simple tip – just go to any page of your website, then click on "View Source" or "View Page Source" from the "View" menu. There you'll be able to see exactly what your tags are telling Google when they crawl your site.
2. Optimize Your Website Copy
Your website copy consists of the words on every page of your site. Try to make it interesting and informative. One simple way to arrange your articles, or informative pages, is to use a simple three-step format. Begin with an introductory paragraph that tells your visitor what you are going to tell them. Then in the next two or three paragraphs, tell them. Finally, wind up the article by telling them what you just told them.
This may seem overly simple, but it works. Speak to your website audience as you would to a seven-year-old child. Don't patronize them, but lay it out clearly in simple steps using straightforward language that anyone can understand.
When writing your copy for each of your pages, make sure to focus on one or two keywords per page. If you are selling widgets in all colors and you also sell thingamajigs, then widgets should be on one page and thingamajigs on another. Keep it simple for your customers and the search engines by focusing on one idea per page and your customers will thank you for it, and Google will thank you too.
3. Establish an Acceptable Keyword Density for Your Website Copy
While optimizing your website copy you also need to establish a keyword density that is acceptable to the search engines. Opinions differ, but somewhere between 2% and 5% is probably about right. This means that for effective small business SEO, your main keyword phrase should appear around three times for every 100 words.
Where your keyword appears is important too. Try to use your main keyword or phrase twice in the first paragraph, once in the second paragraph, once around the middle of the article, and once again near the end of the article. Try to start and end the first paragraph with your main keyword if possible, but don't force it. Always aim for copy that is readable before copy that has perfect keyword density.
4. Create Quality Back Links to Your Website
Increasingly, the search engines are giving added weight to the number of quality back links your website has. It used to be that reciprocal linking was quite acceptable, and it still is, but now Google and the other search engines give higher credibility to one-way back links as far as your search engine rankings are concerned.
And it's not just any back links either. You need to have quality back links, or back links from sites that are similar to yours. It's not much good getting a back link from a site about butterflies if your site focuses on racing cars. With Google, it's all about relevance. You should also strive to get back links from so-called authority sites. These are sites that the search engines deem to be an authority on their chosen subject. They tend to be quite big and to have been around for some time.
5. Use Local Directories Effectively
If you are marketing to a local market, then make use of local directories. How do you find them? If, for example, you are located in New York, then go to Google and search for, "directory" + "new york." This will return a list of all the local directories in that city. You could even try searching for, "blue widgets directory" + "new york," if you are marketing blue widgets.
Once you find a suitable directory, submit your website to it. People do search on local directories, so even if your product has worldwide appeal, there's a greater chance that you will get the sale if someone finds you in a local directory over someone else located in another continent who can deliver just as cost effectively or as quickly.
6. Create a Proper Site Map and Google Site Map
Every website should have a site map. This is merely a directory of all your site's pages with links to every one. You should have a link from every page of your site back to your site map, and your site map must be updated whenever a new page is added.
A Google Site Map is also a site map, but one that is in a special format that Google can easily spider. It has the great advantage of allowing Google to instantly "see" your site and evaluate it. It can be a very useful tool in getting Google to index your site more quickly than otherwise. For more information on creating a Google Site Map, go to:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/.
7. Add Fresh Original Content to Your Website at an Acceptably Measured Pace
Your website should never be considered finished. It should always be a work in progress that is constantly expanding with fresh and original content. The easiest way to do this is to add new articles on specific subjects on a regular basis. One article a week is the least you should aim for, but don't add content too quickly either. Dumping 100 articles a day into your site will ultimately work against you, because the search engines look for organic growth – in other words, growth that seems natural. Since it's not likely that you were able to write 100 articles in one day, Google and the other search engines will see this as unnatural and will count it against you in your page ranking.
SEO for your local small business is easier than you might think. Getting Google to fall head over heels in love with your small business website is not rocket science. You only need to implement a few simple things on a regular basis, and over time Google will notice and your page rank – and your placement with the search engines – will start climbing.
If you would be asking small business owners which task they are least fond of and least understand, and they would most likely be answering payroll. This is probably because a lot of business owners are not really accountants and for them, the process of computing how much to pay their employees as they comply with the government regulations is a bit cumbersome and confusing.
Fortunately, there are services, which offer outsourced solution for small business payroll. Businesses could choose to outsource only their payroll processing and payroll accounting to the firms specializing only in that particular field.
Payroll service companies could easily handle the smaller business payroll tasks easily and accurately, which allows these smaller businesses to dedicate their administrative time thinking of ways to expand their business and generate more revenue.
Payroll accounting is an area where small business owners could benefit from the concept of outsourcing today. Payroll processing, through outsourcing, would ensure that the job would be done properly, taking into account the latest regulations.
Although a lot of us see payroll as just a paycheck, there is actually a lot more tasks involved in it. Payroll accounting would include direct deposit, payroll checks, federal and state withholdings, debit cards, check registers, tax liability registers, tax forms, unemployment taxes and a lot more.
By outsourcing these processes and responsibilities, you, as a small business owner, would be able to devote your time to other administrative functions to be able to make your business better, while being on top of the report and filing deadlines. This is because the payroll service company would be able to keep you informed and updated of all that you would need to know and ensure that you would be staying in compliance.
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As more and more businesses strive for a top ten Google ranking, it's becoming harder and harder to achieve. This is especially true for smaller businesses that simply don't have the budget for a big link popularity campaign. But hope may be just around the corner. If a top ten ranking for your primary keywords has been eluding you, then read on!
Google manipulates the results
Google is trialing an 'enhancement' to the way it displays its results. Instead of showing the top ten results for the exact words you enter, in the trial Google suggests three related results that you might want to check out. Where does it display these suggestions? It shunts (or replaces) results 6, 7 and 8 !!!
In this article, I refer to these results as 'intruders'.
To see some 'intruder' results in action, search for "piggy bank". Results 6, 7 and 8 are actually 'intruder' results; they're the top three results for the more specific, less popular search, "piggy bank lyrics". Google assumes that people searching for "piggy bank" will probably be interested in results of a search for "piggy bank lyrics".
On first impressions, it's tempting to think that this makes it harder to get into the top ten (because now it's really the top seven, and the last two results may be easily overlooked). But it may actually make it easier - especially for smaller businesses. Let me explain why...
The advantage for smaller businesses
It all comes down to who can rank in the top ten for the most popular searches - like "computers", "cars", "doctor", "pets", etc. For anyone in these industries, a top ten ranking for these keywords is the holy grail. Unfortunately, these sorts of searches are presently dominated by big corporations with hefty search budgets. Most smaller businesses don't even try to compete. Instead of focusing on these hotly contested keywords, small businesses tend to focus on much more specific keyword phrases - like "computers boston", "second hand cars ohio", "female doctor new england", "discount pets for children", etc.
But Google's trial may change that. Remember, it's replacing results 6, 7 and 8 of a popular, broad search with results 1, 2 and 3 of a less popular, more specific search. If the trial becomes a standard feature, a search for "computers" might well include three 'intruder' results from a search such as "computers boston". As discussed above, results 6, 7 and 8 are likely to belong to big companies, whereas results 1, 2 and 3 of the more specific search are more likely to belong to smaller businesses. Therefore, when the switch occurs, it's out with the big and in with the small!
In principle the enhancement appears to work in favor of small businesses:
1) Big business dominates popular / general search results
2) Smaller businesses have a greater chance of dominating less popular / more specific search results
3) General search results are replaced by specific search results
4) Big businesses are shunted out of the top ten by smaller businesses
Now I hear what you're saying: "Why wouldn't the big companies simply start optimizing for the more specific searches?" Granted, this is a possibility; but for most big companies, it would be a monumental task. Big companies tend to service a large geographic region, and they typically offer numerous products and services. Even a hefty search budget would be stretched to the limit if it was required to bankroll optimization for every single product, every single service, and every single location. And this is what would be required to dominate all of the more specific results, thereby gaining back their number 6, 7 or 8 position. It's far more likely that they'll simply try harder for a position in the top 5 of the popular/general search. This approach would be less complex and probably more rewarding.
The fine print
Of course, where Google is involved, nothing is ever that simple. I've oversimplified things above to make the trial a little easier to understand. In reality, the situation is a bit more complex because of the way Google chooses which search the three 'intruder' results come from. Take the "piggy bank" search for example. Google assumes that most users who search for "piggy bank" will also be interested in results from a search for "piggy bank lyrics". This assumption is based on the fact that thousands of other people are searching specifically for "piggy bank lyrics" - in fact, it's one of the most popular searches containing the original term "piggy bank". And that's why it gets the nod.
In other words, the intruder results come from popular searches (less popular than the original, but still popular). This means you'd already have to rank highly in a very popular search before you'd become an intruder. So, in reality, the above "computer" example is a little simplistic; the intruder results for "computer" are more likely to be from a search for something like "computers ibm". In reality, the top three results for "computer peripherals boston" are more likely to appear as intruders in a "computer peripherals" search.
Conclusion
The important thing to remember is that if this trial becomes a standard feature, it will be implemented on all searches. And the more specific the original search, the easier it would be to become an intruder in that search. In theory, it has great potential to help smaller businesses reach the next rung of the search engine ladder.
Other examples
Here are some further examples if you're interested:
One hard to target market for small business IT consulting is the "micro-small businesses"; those that have a single-digit number of PC’s - anywhere from one to nine PC’s. These micro-small businesses can provide, depending on the metro area where you’re located, $50 to $75 an hour or $75 to $90 (at the absolute most) for small business IT consulting work.
The "Micro-small" Business Environment
In small business IT consulting you need to be very aware that in this micro-small business space, when there are one to ten computers, one to ten employees, their revenue usually amounts to anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million a year in annual revenue. The big thing that defines a micro-small business is that there is no dedicated server yet.
Who's Your Competition?
In this space, there’s a ton of competition small business IT consulting firms will contend with. This competition is willing to work for less than $50 an hour, or in some cases, zero dollars an hour. This delivers a challenge for the small business IT consulting professional.
What the Competition Has (Or Doesn’t Have) To Offer
The competition agrees to help the micro-small business with their computer problems, every once in a while of course, because they have a day job. Therefore they can’t get there as quickly as a small business IT consulting professional could.
The small business, even though their server is down, will have to wait until a week from Saturday until they can get there, but hey, the help is cheap! They work for donuts and coffee, or pizza and beer! That’s the competition for a small business IT consultant in this space.
The Bottom Line about Small Business IT consulting
Part of the reason why a small business IT consulting professional has competition in attracting micro-small business is that the company has less than ten computers, less than ten employees, doing generally less than $1 million a year in annual revenue. There’s just not enough riding on IT to invest in small business IT consulting professionals. IT just isn’t that strategically important to the company yet.
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As small businesses naturally don’t have the necessary resources to launch huge marketing campaigns, they will have to compensate this with resourcefulness and innovation. If you’re running a small business and you’re searching for cost-efficient marketing solutions, here’s how you can use the wonderful World Wide Web to your company’s advantage.
5 Ways to Market Your Small Business Online
Build a Website – You don’t have to pay for web hosting even if you’re running a commercial website just as long as your company can be properly categorized as a small business. Having a company website is the means for prospective customers to learn everything they have to know about the products or services you’re offering. Compared to other online media, a website allows your customers to see and hear about your offer and perhaps interact with you as well.
Know about SEO – Your work doesn’t start and end with building a website. To make your website work as a marketing tool for your business, you need to incorporate SEO - or search engine optimization – elements in it. SEO can help your website zoom to the top of search engine rankings and provide it with all the exposure you need.
In regard to SEO, make sure that you focus on your design and content. Besides needing your website layout to be visually attractive, it must also have easily located links to facilitate navigation. Use HTML as much as possible as this is more SEO friendly than, say, CSS. As for the content, refresh or update it as much as you can because new information will always encourage old and new readers to visit your website. Also, think about the appropriate keywords for your website and use them as much as possible – without committing grammatical errors or ruining the coherence of your content – to delight search engine spiders all the more.
Have a Blog – A blog is one of the most effective online marketing tools today, and if you don’t have one yet then you’re wasting a huge opportunity day after day. A blog allows you to directly interact with prospective customers and almost immediately update them with anything new about your company’s products or services.
To increase the marketing effectiveness of your blog, make sure that you’re writing about one topic alone. This topic must be directly related to your company’s products or services. Furthermore, it must be something that you know and love a lot to enable you to write in a convincing and interesting fashion.
Build Your Network Contacts – Although websites sometimes seem to be creatures of their own right, always remember that a website can’t really operate by itself. It gets updated and achieves success because of its webmaster or owner, and that person should be the one you’re concentrating on getting friendly with. Do your best to build your network by establishing good working relationships with other website owners. This is a give and take situation so be ready and willing to shell out as many favors as you hope to receive. As you become good buddies with these people, you’ll end up exchanging links, and this, by the way, is called affiliate marketing.
Join the Podcast Revolution – Although the popularity of blogs is certainly not waning, that doesn’t mean you have to completely rely on blog marketing alone. There are other marketing fishes in the Internet, and one of them goes by the name of podcasting. Make new podcasts regularly and insert your ads in between. You have to make them short and interesting enough to discourage your listeners from wasting energy just to press the fast forward button.
There are several ways a business can improve profitability. The single most important tip for a small business owner is to take time out from the day to day routine and focus on the business and its activities. Emphasis being placed upon cost management a financial budget and business plan which should include sales and working capital requirements.
Small business owners are frequently totally involved in every business activity on a day to day basis. Such close hands on involvement has major advantages although not taking time out to focus on the factors affecting business profitability both as a whole and in detail can result in the profit performance being lower than is achievable.
An essential first step to improving profitability is to step back from the day to day business and analyse the activities and financial accounts from a third party perspective. Accurate and up to date accounting records are a prerequisite to the options available since the accounting records place a value on the trading history.
If financial records are not up to date the next step would be update the financial accounts by either manually recording the transactions or using accounting software to produce the financial accounts. For small businesses this is often a problem as accounts are often left until the last minute and produced for tax purposes. Simple bookkeeping spreadsheets are adequate for many small businesses while medium sized businesses may adopt more sophisticated accounting software packages.
List the strengths and weaknesses of the business examining each activity from sales and purchasing, running costs, employees and financial control. Use the financial accounts to place values on the different business activity areas. This list should be as detailed and extensive as possible as it is through this listing that plans of action will be developed and emerge as a business plan.
Particular areas to consider would be past and present sales turnover being sub divided into product areas, sales volume and selling prices. Costs analysed by type and separated into direct purchasing costs, operating expenses and fixed overhead costs such as rent and premises costs.
The business assets and liabilities is another important area. List the main business fixed assets and the relevance and importance to the business. Working capital being the difference between the liquid assets such as cash, bank account balances, stock and debtors and the liquid liabilities such as creditors, bank overdrafts, loans and credit agreements.
Having analysed the activity and financial areas of the small business and listed the strengths and weaknesses the real work can begin to examine and review each area to determine how each of the historical financial figures produced from the accounts to accompany the review can be changed to form part of the future financial business plan.
And that is the ultimate target this exercise is being carried out to achieve, a serious business plan for the future. A business plan might be produced in the form of a financial accounting budget against which the planned action can be monitored to achieve the target objectives.
Review sales turnover by determining both the sales volume of existing products, associated products and new product areas that might be introduced. Examine selling prices and the relationship with major clients and how additional important clients can be added. From the analysis produce a sales plan to improve the sales volume preferably targeted at those products and product groups which will produce the highest gross margins.
Sales channels are important and while several sales channels will already exist they may not have been fully exploited in the past. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of each existing sales channel and other potential sales channels.
Other areas to consider are the selling prices and whether selected price increases can be achieved and the effect more competitive pricing might have to increase volume. A review of existing customers may identify areas where increased sales can be achievable than increasing sales volume to lower value clients.
Cost management is an obvious important area. Examine the supplier base and whether better or cheaper suppliers are available including shopping outside the existing geographical area including importing products. The majority of small businesses and large businesses can always drive purchasing costs lower.
The cost management review should include going through each cost component and determining if maximum use is being made of the services those costs are providing to the business. Are premises being fully utilised, could storage be improved, are the best heating and power options being exploited.
Businesses that employ staff have a whole raft of areas to consider. Motivation and cost are management are important as usually highly significant cost bases and areas which may indicate improved productivity levels, directing staff resources to the most profitable areas and the level of staffing and reducing waste through idle time also being considerations.
Alternate staffing options might be considered particularly if volumes are variable. Permanent staff levels are a fixed cost while employing temporary staff or outsourcing services become variable costs and can be used effectively to reduce overall costs.
Financing costs should be considered and the finance policy generally reviewed. Paying high market rates using credit cards is a poor cost option and any small business funding operations in this way should consider producing a business plan to use to obtain cheaper funding.
If working capital is a problem and holding back growth and opportunities then alternative financing of assets such as leasing and hire purchase agreements may be useful if the funds released can be used more effectively. External financing costs real money in interest payments and should be viewed against the additional profit that can be generated through improved liquidity and cash flow to boost the working capital.
Following a full review the management action to be taken should be listed and evaluated financially. Produce a financial budget forecast of the business plan supported by statements of actions to be taken to improve profitability. On a regular basis review the progress and its effect on profitability which may require adjustments as time passes to exploit new opportunities or revise exist plans.
Terry Cartwright is a qualified accountant in the UK designs Accounting Software on excel spreadsheets providing complete Small Business Accounting Software solutions for with single and double entry bookkeeping solutions for limited companies and self employed business
