2011 - Keeping your New Years Resolution in check

Each year about this time we all mentally review "the list". What we want to improve, do differently, or just cut out all together. Simple in principle but complex to follow through. Why not make this year different - keep your resolve to doing things BETTER - here are some simple ways to do just that.

1. SMART - start simple and make them something that is specific, measureable and attainable.
2. WRITE IT - instead of just thinking about it - write it down and make it real.
3. RIGHT IT - determine if the item is a bad habit. If it is, replace it with a good habit.
4. SHARE - tell someone and hopefully go as far as creating accountability.
5. BE STRONG - be determined and wake up each day with purpose and focus on change.
6. ELIMINATE - get rid of indecision and other factors that limit your ability to change.
7. RESET - sometimes things change for you, you may need a quarterly reset to continue progress.
8. CELEBRATE - even small steps are considered progress. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Go for it!

SEO Soup - recipe for simple success

GETTING YOUR BUSINES NOTICED IN 2011 - As a master in your field, your business goals include having your talents, services and products recognized in your metropolitan area and possiibly worldwide. Imagine a customer is searching Google or Bing for what your business provides and -- BOOM -- your business pops up above all your competition. Like the yellow pages of old, the business that was first or most prominently displayed usually got the first phone call and the fresh opportunity for new business.  

The game has changed and search giants like Google and Bing have become the source for most people to search for businesses. There are a lot of internet marketing businesses today that are providing SEO services but making it simple and cost effective for you is key. Getting noticed can be more simple than you think. Its like creating a good soup.

Ingredients:

• Clear Site Title
• Simple Description
• Effective Keywords
• Specific Content
• Clean Links
• Integrated Social Media
• Search Engine Submission
• Search Engine Tools

Recipe for Success

1. SET GOALS - Start with the end in mind. Set goals for your business and yourself. SEO isnt a destination, it is a continual evolution. The search engines and your customers continually change the game.
2. PLAN - Work with an SEO specialist or leverage some of the do-it-yourself tools on the market to correctly prepare the ingredients above. Your site title, description, keywords, and content matter the most. 
3. REFRESH - Dust off your website and put together a simple plan to refresh content, rebuild or redesign your website. With the dominance of iPads in the market, build your site in HTML rather than Flash. Using tools like Squarespace makes it easy.
4. ADD LINKS - There are several service providers you can use to build organic links that will keep you in a favorable position with Google and Bing, and improve where you rank.
5. ADD TOOLS - Leverage the free and low cost tools on the market to help you better understand your website ranking, traffic patterns, visitor base and improvement opportunities.
6. MAINTAIN - Keep the content fresh and updated at least on a monthly basis by posting new information, news, blog material, and other key updates.
7. ENJOY - Create your own testimonial.   

Proof is in the Soup:

A Human Resources Firm from Minneapolis that was fairly hidden on the web wanted to leverage SEO to gain additional sales leads and contacts. After spending 10 hours refreshing the website (focusing on organizing and preparing the ingredients above), the next step was to build a few organic links and some fresh content. The final step was to submit to teh search engines and then watch it go.

"Within 15 days of making our changes, I searched Minneapolis Human Resources, and WOW, my company showed up on PAGE 1!!! Better yet, I received an email from an owner of a business asking form more information about my business. I called him back and he said that he did a Google search for HR consultants and my company came up on the first page. Then he chuckled and said you must be doing something right on the SEO side of your site since you were right there."

Anyone for some SEO Soup?

Yammer - the Facebook for Business

With Yammer entering the market, the enterprise business space is changing because it is now forced to evaluate how to adapt traditional traditional business communication and collaboration processes into the social generation of tools and techniques.