Ziploc bags and containers are used for so many things, especially when it comes storing items for the kids. Teachers often request them to help with storage problems in the classroom. Moms use them when packing lunches and snacks. The list just goes on. If you think you’ll need some extra zip bags or storage containers, you may want to dash on over to sign up for the
Ziploc® Back-to-School Gift Pack. They are limiting it to the first 10,000 responders so…
act fast if you’d like to get some free goodies in the mail.
And while we’re talking about back to school containers for lunches, you may want to grab this
back to school menu plan. You just need to add the UPC codes from any 2 Ziploc products.
I'm asked daily about SEO, its the newest buzz word amongst business owners. "I have my site, now how to I get people to it?"
SEO, can be very overwhelming but there are some easy things you can check out on your own site today to help your rankings grown.
First, and I can't not stress this enough is check out your keywords. Sit down and write down thinking from your customers side, how people might search you. Write down your top 20 works (if you think of that many) and then pick out your top five. Now let's review those top 5 keywords and determine if they are a little to vague.
Let's look at my site here as an example. Boutique Web Designs, yes I do web design but I do not want web design as my number one keyword. Why you ask? :) Well here are a little stats about the keyword web design:
There are 935,400 monthly searches for that keyword and there are 405,000,000 other sites out there competing for that same keyword. YIKES! Now, if I really look at what all that word covers it is way to vague for my business. I don't want someone coming to my site that wants a website built for airplane parts, not that I would not help them but that's not my niche market and my site is not designed to appeal to airplane part companies so if they did click on my site they would probably click right back off. Whats the use of that. Now if you did have a very general web design business you might want to try the keyword of Web Designer as your number on instead because it gets 764,500 searches a month and there are only 4,540,000 sites competing for that same word so there are almost the same type of monthly searches but it will be much easier for your to get better ranking because there are not as many sites.
If your business is tailored to your niche market like mine is then you will want to drill it down even more, like WAHM Web Design or Work at home moms. (Seem like way to much? Don't worry we can do all this for you ;))
So, now that you have a better understanding of your keywords and have a good list lets get them on the site.
First our #1 keyword should be part of our page title. Alot of sites build with cart systems similar to our Boutique Web Shop will have %TITLE_TAG% in their page title, this pulls your company name as your title which is good but instead you should have something like this: Custom Birthday Invites - Birthday Invite Shop. Custom Birthday Invites is the #1 keyword and Birthday Invite Shop is the business name. Simple but every effective.
Second, lets get remove the HOME and ABOUT US from the first 2 links listed in our navigation, what a waste of great SEO space! Use your #1 and #2 key words as these links instead and find another spot on your site for the home and about us links. (TIP: These two steps alone took my own site from page 4 to page 1 top spot on google within a week)
Now, we need to embed those keywords into the text of our site. Don't over do it, we need to make sure that we sound organic and a user be able to read the content naturally. So make sure you have h1 (page header) with your keyword on each page (the keyword that matches up with that page) and then add the keywords in the text in bold. (this tells the spiders that its an important word). (TIP: Your homepage should have a minimum of 100 words but up to 300 are fine)
These are just some simple and easy steps that can help you up your rankings although there is so much more to SEO, and we will be sharing more tips each week.
Today, while watching the morning news at 5:00 am I see images and a story about how the police were called to one of the local malls because people waiting in line overnight for the new iPhone 4 got out of control.
Ok, really. I mean really! Yes the iPhone's great. But I would never in a million years wait outside all night in a line to spend hundreds of dollars on a phone. It seems as if we have learned nothing (around here) at least the past few years with the economy still trying to recover. There are 1.5 million people across the US as of yesterday that have lost their unemployment benefits with another 300,000 set to loose theirs by July 1st while our government has been arguing about the bill to extend the benefits for almost a month now, calling the unemployed "Spoiled!" I would love for a Senator to become unemployed and have to look for a "regular" job these days and see how long it takes he or she to find something.
There really is so much more to life than the latest iPhone people, open your eyes to the world around us because in the end that phone will make no difference in your or anyone else's life! Let's spend our time, energy and resources on more productive things. Let's take the money and give half to charity and save the other half to do something special and make a lasting memory with our families. Let's take some of that time and spend it outside enjoying the gift of the world that was given to us.
I'm sadden and hope that people wake up soon!
Boutique Template Includes:
- Installation of Boutique Web Shop or Compatible Cart.
- HTML Template
- Graphics shown in sample (you can choose one different image for main image from
istockphoto.com)
- Customization of header with your business name
- Customization of links in left column
- Customization of navigation at top
Options: Select "template only" to receive the above options, or set up a complete ecommerce site with our Boutique Web Shop Options.
What's Included:
- Installation of Boutique Web Shop or Compatible Cart.
- HTML Template
- Graphics shown in sample (you can choose one different image for main image fromistockphoto.com)
- Customization of header with your business name
- Customization of links in left column
- Customization of navigation at top
- Matching Business Card Design
- 2 Matching Web Banner Ads
- Matching Twitter Background
Options: Select "template only" to receive the above options, or set up a complete ecommerce site with our Boutique Web Shop Options.
With people losing their jobs and financial setbacks being what they are, there are more people starting internet home based businesses today than ever before. And why not? The internet accounts for over a hundred billion dollars a year in sales. Who doesn’t want a piece of that pie?
But before you even think about starting an internet home business yourself, there are a few things you need to consider that will help ensure your online success.
First off you need a solid business plan. This will include research for what market you want to be in, what products or services you want to sell or promote and close examination of your financial situation.
So Keeping those things in mind, the following list of practical guidelines will help you get started planning your internet home business.
Be Sure You are Financially Ready
Although it is true that starting an internet home business is cheaper than starting an offline business, that doesn’t mean it’s free. Your research and planning will require some time and building a website, finding a web hosting service as well as business tools and training will require a small budget.
Depending on the tools and services you use, starting an internet business could cost you $100 or less to get started or it could be as much as a few thousand dollars, it simply depends on what you decide to do. That’s where a good business plan is so important. You want to know right from the start what your business will be costing you so there are no surprises down the road.
Marketing will also play a big part in the success of your business. Your website, which will be your business, needs traffic and lots of it, so you’re going to have to find effective ways to drive traffic to your site. Whether you are using paid traffic options or free ones, keep in mind that it could take anywhere from one to six months before you actually see income coming in.
So be sure you draw up your business plan so you will know how much your business will cost, how much time you will need to spend at it and what tools and resources you will need to be successful.
Choose Your Online Business Model
There are many online business models to choose from. Legitimate business models include offering services, consulting, selling tangible items or information products, affiliate marketing and dropshipping to name a few.
But whatever business model you choose to be in it’s important to do something that you enjoy. If you are in a service based business where you create websites for example, but don’t especially love the service industry, you’ll want to consider that carefully before choosing that sort of business.
You may decide that you want to sell items on the web but don’t want to carry inventory, a dropshipping business may be ideal. Dropshipping allows you to sell items from your website but get shipped to the customer from a dropshipping supply house. When an order comes in through your website, the dropshipper packages and sends the item.
If you don’t especially love the customer service aspect of shipping products and dealing with inventory and returns, you may want to consider affiliate marketing where you don’t have products yourself, instead you simply promote other peoples’ products for a commission of the sale.
If you love to write you may want to create an informational website or a blog or write your own digital products that you can sell online.
Whatever you decide to do, be sure it fits with your personal, financial and business preferences. A business should meet your financial goals but it should also be something you enjoy. The more you like something, the better you will do at it.
Beware of the Online Schemers
There are lots of lures, schemes and tactics that trick people into thinking the internet is their ticket to fast riches. Don’t be mistaken. These are scams disguised to look like genuine plans. Only after it’s too late do you realize you’ve been scammed.
If you are not sure of a certain opportunity, check with the better business bureau, or check with ripoffreport.com before making any monetary commitments.
The simple truth is there is no fast and easy method for getting rich. If your true desire is to start an internet home based business, then just as in the offline world, you will need to invest time, effort, have a good plan in place and invest in your business.
Your business whether offline or online will be part of your future financial success, so treat it as such.
Article Source:
http://www.wahm-articles.com
For
Internet Home Business ideas , resources and personal guidance, Elizabeth McGee invites you to visit her
Internet Home Business website and start building your financial future today.
Chances are that at some point of time as you go about in your business, you have asked yourself if your strategy is working. Chances are that someone other than yourself developed that business strategy.
Well, as the business owner, you cannot just rely on a specialist or a consultant to do the strategy for your business. More often than not, since they are not very familiar with the ins and outs of your business, something may go wrong. Perhaps the strategy is not achieving the desired results, or worse, a misguided strategy can put the entire business at risk. Regardless of the severity of your concern, it is up to you as the business owner to make the necessary changes along the way.
Take this for example. If you realized that your posters are not achieving their purpose, will you pull the fire alarm right away? You can do this, but will it help the business? It is important to find ways to express your concerns in a manner that will not adversely affect the reputation of your business. By acting cautiously and thoughtfully, you can address your concerns without alarming the general clientele and your team.
Admittedly, business strategy development is a challenging task because it is time-intensive and often involves a messy process. The result is never perfect. Far from it! However, as the business owner, you have the obligation to act if you see that there is something wrong in your business strategy. You have to, as experts suggest, nip it in the bud. You have to act decisively before the problem becomes a disaster. You have to face the obstacles squarely to ensure that it does not get out of hand. Waiting and dilly-dallying will not help your business; you have to admit that there is something wrong and then do something about it. Remember however the earlier suggestion that you do this cautiously and without much fanfare.
To get the big picture, do not just rely on your team. Often, your team has been so immersed in the business that they fail to see the big picture. Ask around. Talk to your clients. Discuss your observations with colleagues in the same network. The more people you talk to about these apprehensions, the better. If the image in the poster printing for example is an affront to the values of some people, is this a general sentiment or there is just one noisy sector complaining about that particular image? You might even consider the noise about the image as a welcome distraction so that your print posters are being highlighted. Bad publicity is still good publicity, isn’t it?
Article Source:
http://www.wahm-articles.com
Katie Marcus writes about the
print posters or
poster printing technologies used by businesses for their marketing and advertising campaigns.
