Digg it UP - Internet and Businesses Online

Choosing the Best News Media Type - TV, Radio or Newspapers
In the world today, we are constantly faced with new world events. We hear about how terrorist bombings are going on all over the world, about stocks going up and down, and about crime offenders being reprimanded. These kinds of issues are important to all of us...it affects our economy, our way of life, and mostly, our future.What goes on around us whether worldwide, nationally, or even just in our community, is the topic of many conversations. You can be in your elevator, at the office water cooler, or your maybe even in your grocery store line-up, people like to talk about who's being voted for what, which football team to cheer on, and what the weather is going to be like on the weekend. Being informed on these topics makes us part of the community.How can we stay up-to-date? There is always the radio. There are several stations available on the radio that we can tune in to while commuting to work and running errands. Unfortunately, many of these radio programs do not give you a full coverage. You are probably not commu

m people saying they have added a link back to me and when I go to their directory I am hunting for 10 minutes trying to find it! Very often I can't as they haven't added it yet! When you propose a trade don't simply give the URL of your links directory index page and say "you can find it in the appropriate category". No no no! Give them the exact path so they can get to it in one click. Time is precious.

Business - Did You Understand That?
There are times in the corporate world where we may get frustrated with our boss. They may even say things we may agree with, but sometimes they won’t even make sense.The following statements are from memos or emails from some well known national and international businesses. The names of the businesses have been removed to avoid any unintentional embarrassment.As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks.What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter.How long is this Beta guy going to keep testing our stuff?E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business.This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it.Quote from the boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say."My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled fo

More and more folks are realizing that building a solid themed reciprocal link directory is an affordable and highly effective way to increase inbound traffic. Not only is traffic generated through direct external links but weight is also given to search engines, as they assume that your website is more relevant. Relevant link building is clearly the key, where spammers requesting any link they can get will lose out every time. The more experienced you get in website promotion, the more you will want to concentrate on quality links. Let's look at one or two good rules to adhere to:

Only trade links with a website that:

Shares an interested audience
This is extremely important. If your website is about fly fishing in Montana then linking to a site that sells Viagra is not going to do you any favors. Just as importantly, when you do get offered a link from a site that shares your audience, make sure they are not linking to those Viagra sites!

Only trade links with a website that:

Has a clearly visible text link to its link directory
I can't tell you how many times I get proposed a link trade with a site that has told me they have already placed a link on their links page. 50% of the time they have not placed a link and secondly there is no clearly visible link to their links page from their home page. What good is that to anyone? I can't get traffic from their site and Google won't index either as it can't spider the page.

Only trade links with a website that:

Has a links page with no more than 50 to 60 links displayed
Many webmasters have no idea that search engines detest link farms and will ban a page with an excessive amount of links. More importantly they may not know that their links page is presently percieved as a link farm. They have simply added too many links on one page. Keep a links page to a minimum of say 50 links per page along with a keyword-laden title and description and only link to others who follow this principle.

Only trade links with a website that:

Has a Google pagerank not less than your own
This is a good rule of thumb. Clearly we would all love to trade links with a 9/10 site. It simply ain't gonna happen if you are still at 1/10. Take a few baby steps and climb up the ladder. Once in a while you might get a good 5 or 6 during the early stages. Just make sure you don't link to zeros, especially if their page is chock full of links. It may have been banned anyway.

Only trade links with a website that:

Has a static html links page
Google doesn't rank pages particularly well that are 'called' from other scripts, so try to stay away from these! Be cautious of .asp or .php scripts even though they may appear to be static. My rule of thumb is I will only link to .html pages unless the pagerank is worth it.

I have one or two pet peeves as far as link proposal etiquette is concerned. Here are a few things to take on board when proposing a link trade:

Always place a link before asking for a link
If you are going to propose a link trade with someone then add their link first before you shoot off an e-mail. It shows you are serious, professional and will give the recipient an incentive to trade back.

Give exact URL
When you propose a link trade state the exact page that they can find their link on your site. I get constant link requests from people saying they have added a link back to me and when I go to their directory I am hunting for 10 minutes trying to find it! Very often I can't as they haven't added it yet! When you propose a trade don't simply give the URL of your links directory index page and say "you can find it in the appropriate category". No no no! Give them the exact path so they can get to it in one click. Time is precious.

Value Stream Mapping And Six Sigma
Business processes are similar to a river flowing in a natural direction and carrying information from point A to point B. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is one of the techniques used in Lean Six Sigma for identifying areas of waste that need to be avoided in both manufacturing as well as office business processes. Aside from identifying areas of waste, VSM also helps in streamlining business processes for achieving higher productivity. VSM is based on scientifically proven methods, making it necessary for organization to employ profession Six Sigma consultants (VSM specialists) during the implementation stage.The Initial ProcessImplementing VSM is a long drawn process where the first step involves mapping the current flow of materials or information in key business processes of an organization. The mapping is done with the help of flowcharts that depict the flow of goods or information from one end to another. The flowchart also contains information about the average time taken for the completion of various sub processes. For

do get offered a link from a site that shares your audience, make sure they are not linking to those Viagra sites!

Only trade links with a website that:

I have one or two pet peeves as far as link proposal etiquette is concerned. Here are a few things to take on board when proposing a link trade:

Branding Counts, Both for Profit-Making Corporations and Non-Profits
While for-profit corporations and non-profit charities have their obvious differences, they have at least two things in common: They need to take in money in order to survive, and they need to connect with the individuals or organizations that need their products or services.With the for-profit company, the money comes from the customer; non-profits, on the other hand, have to seek funds from donors and then promote their services so that the people they propose to help know of them and can find them.For both types of organizations, branding helps enormously. Coca Cola's dramatic red and white logo is recognized instantly by billions of people around the world, as is the stylish little swash of Nike. When the tsunami hit in South East Asia and Hurricanes Andrew, Rita, and Katrina struck in the U.S., donations poured in to the Red Cross, a familiar, trusted international charity. And Habitat for Humanity sees a major inflow of funding as they participate in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. The organization, made famous by de

. More importantly they may not know that their links page is presently percieved as a link farm. They have simply added too many links on one page. Keep a links page to a minimum of say 50 links per page along with a keyword-laden title and description and only link to others who follow this principle.

Only trade links with a website that:

I have one or two pet peeves as far as link proposal etiquette is concerned. Here are a few things to take on board when proposing a link trade:

Top 7 Ways To Earn Some Extra Money
There are a lot of people out there that would like to have some extra money in their pockets. Whether it is to pay off some bills or just to have some money for a night out on the town the desire for extra cash affects almost all of us. Here are some ways that you can earn a little extra money, both online and offline.1. Filling out forms - There is some money to be made by filling out online surveys. You could probably actually make enough for a car payment but you need to be diligent and make sure that you are in with the right company so you don't get ripped off2. Ebay - Do you have some junk laying around the house that you don't use? Sure you do, we all do. Why not throw up some auctions on Ebay and see what kind of money you can make?3. Odd Jobs - Yeah, they stink, but you can make some extra money by doing things like mowing lawns, washing windows, handyman work etc.4. Get Paid to Read Email - Yes, there are programs out there that will pay you to read ads and participate in them. This is another area w

ks page
Google doesn't rank pages particularly well that are 'called' from other scripts, so try to stay away from these! Be cautious of .asp or .php scripts even though they may appear to be static. My rule of thumb is I will only link to .html pages unless the pagerank is worth it.

I have one or two pet peeves as far as link proposal etiquette is concerned. Here are a few things to take on board when proposing a link trade:

Grow Your Home Based Business By Outsourcing
As your home based business grows, you are going to quickly discover that you can’t do it all. Wouldn’t it be a relief to find reliable people that can help your business grow while you focus on more important issues? When you outsource to the right company, this can free you up to focus on tasks that make you the most money.A popular solution is outsourcing. When you outsource, you hire experienced people and let them use their creative talents while you focus on other tasks. Another benefit is that the workers you hire may be more up to date on the latest information and technology in their specific fields and can be assets to your clients, as well, offering improved quality service.The first step in outsourcing is looking at all the major tasks that you do to run your business. Look at your ‘To Do’ list and office area and ask yourself, what do I do that someone else can do?Look at your business and see what is piling up. Do you struggle responding to your customer service emails? Do you have articles to write b

Don't spam for link requests
Don't simply get a mailing list of websites and send a blanket e-mail requesting a link trade. If I don't see my personal e-mail address in the header of a link trade request I know it has been spammed and they haven't even been to my site. I also know they haven't visited my site because I have link proposal contact forms on all of them. If they actually went there they would have filled out my form. Spammed link requests don't go down well because they are usually from webmasters who are trying to cut corners at every possible turn. Send a personal e-mail to a site that you personally visit. (You can still use software like Arelis to help you find the sites and automate everything else).

Keep your proposal short & sweet
Long convoluted e-mails explaining "how trading links benefits everyone" really aren't necessary. Keep your e-mail short and to the point. Tell them where their link is, and exactly how they should link to you.

Don't delete without good reason
Once you add a link it should remain on a static html page unless there is good reason to delete it. If your partner has deleted his link then by all means send an e-mail and give them an opportunity to repair. If this is fruitless then go ahead and delete. Lastly I want to mention something that I think is extremely important regarding reciprocal linking. I see way too many websites that have high pageranks on their index pages and very often zeros on their links pages. Usually this is because the links page is too many sub folders away. That and poor internal linking is usually the problem. Webmasters only want to link to pageranked sites if they are building a solid strategy, and quite rightly. Many webmasters don't care too much about their own links page, simply assuming that they are sending traffic away from their site. This is not the attitude to take as the higher the pagerank is on your links page the better external link proposal you will get. The answer is to boost your links page in popularity. There are two ways to do this:

1) Link to your partners index page AND reciprocal links page.
2) Link to a site map that displays all your links pages.

Lets look at the first idea. No one has really adopted this idea yet and I'm very surprised. The idea is that you link to your partner's home page and next to that link you also add a link to the page that contains your reciprocal link on your partner's page. In effect you are boosting the popularity of the page that links back to you. If everyone did this then links pages would rank higher, in turn giving more weight to the link pointing back to you. I personally use Arelis to trade links, a fantastic tool that actually puts the fun back into an otherwise tedious task. At present there is no way to automate this strategy using Arelis (and probably Zeus as far as I know) but I have mentioned it to them and they are considering updating. As of now if you use either of these programs you would have to manually add these link-backs once the pages are generated.

The second idea to boost your links page ranking is to create a new page that ALL your internal pages link to. Let's call this new page /site_map.html. On this site map web page you will display text links and descriptions to every one of your themed link directory pages (making sure again that you keep the number of links around 50 per page - otherwise you will need to create a second site map page linked from the first). Also Include links to all your other internal pages. Now place a little text link to your site map on every page within your site. A good place to do this is at the bottom of each page where you can link from a little copyright sign. Something like this:

Effectively you have boosted your links pag

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If you are getting ready to set up a trade show booth for a show, then you are already being business-savvy and doing the smart thing.

How we view the world influences our performance. Some perspectives stand in the way of breakthrough performance. Minor shifts in perspective can transform how people play the game!

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