Category: Tips

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Now You Can Create a Badge for Your Google+ Business Page

Just this past week Google rolled out a badge maker for your Google+ Business page. You can find the creator here: https://developers.google.com/+/plugins/badge/config With the free creator you can make a badge for your Business Google+ page just make sure to insert the correct ID that you can find in your page’s URL.

For example, here is my Google+ Business page address: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/111658254454469926987/#

See this number 111658254454469926987 right in the middle of the URL, that’s the number you grab and put in the badge creator tool in the spot it asks for it. Then you can select your size icon like the one at the top right of our post that is red. You would then insert your code into your website in two places or send the code to your webmaster to install for you.

Now you can let the world know where to connect with you on Google+. For me, connect with my business here:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/111658254454469926987/#

I’ve been taking another careful look at Google+ and I feel that you should too. There is just too much money behind this site to discount it too early in the rollout. Google+ is also testing scheduled updates with one of the tools we love HootSuite. Stay tuned on that topic!

 

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Creating a File Shortcut in Office Applications

I think that you will love this neat little shortcut that I have been using, if you don’t know about it already. Follow the instructions below to add a shortcut link on the system file menu screen for any Microsoft Office Applications.

  1. Go to the Start menu and click Computer.
  2. Travel to the file folder location you want to have appear in the Favorites Links on the left side of the Computer screen.
  3. Drag that file folder to the listing of links.
  4. Reposition the link as you desire in the list.

This little tip makes traveling to files on your computer easy by having file folders or even files within easy reach every time you use the Computer link.

There are some situations when you cannot add a shortcut to the list that appears in Windows. Usually this is when you are not within your user settings such as when you are accessing network locations or drive letters. But while you are in any Office Applications you will be able to see your own personal shortcuts to navigate faster to the things you use most.

 

 

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Make Sure You Don’t Get Locked Out of Your Own Business

I see this all the time, it is not uncommon at all. A business person buys an existing business, several months or years down the road they want to solve problems with organic placement and find out that they have no access to the important tools that control their online presence.

For any business owner considering buying an existing business, these are the things you should demand before the final payment for your new business changes hands. Then verify that they have been done before you sign over the last check.

  1. Domain name registration should be transferred to you.
  2. You should have the admin URL, login, and password for your domain control panel. Verify this! Make sure that if you needed to change your domain name servers you have access to do so. This allows you to change web hosts when you want without hassle.
  3. Your web hosting should be in your name and you should have administrative rights to the account and know how to login so you can set up new email accounts, and change passwords to lock old owners out.
  4. You should be an administrator on your business’ Google AdWords account. If the old business owner used his email address to set up the account, he or she needs to relinquish this email account to you or have Google AdWords change it to yours before you make your last payment to them. Don’t be satisfied with anything less than administrative rights.
  5. You should be an administrator on your Google Analytics account. Once you are an administrator, you can remove all old business owners and account managers from accessing your Google Analytics account. Don’t be satisfied with anything but administrative privileges. If the original business owner cannot do this for some reason, ask to be made a standard user so you can see the traffic, but demand that before you exchange final payment that a new Google Analytics account be set up with you as administrator and the new Google Analytics tracking code be installed on the website at their expense. This will allow you access to the old stats but full control moving forward. Demand that the old account remain in place for a minimum of two years.

You will never have more leverage to get what you want than before you make your final payment or before you pen your final signature to a contract. I have seen a number of instances when new owners simply did not know to make these changes and we have had to re-mediate them at expense to the new business owner. Be smart, be careful, and make sure you are not locked out of some of the most important tools to grow your new business. You should be in control not the old owner or an old account manager.

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SEO is Out – Web Visibility is In

SEO as we have known it over the past ten years is dead. What has taken its place is Web Visibility.

No longer can a website focus on keyword density and keyword stuffing to get organic search placement using traditional SEO tactics; instead the approach to garner placement is about web visibility.

What exactly do I mean by web visibility?

The new approach for organic placement is multi-pronged. Now, what’s important and garners improved organic placement and protects your site from serious placement fluctuations in the SERPs is much more than code tweaking. Here’s what I think is important for websites interested in moving up in search placement and real world experience.

  1. Have great unique content on your website.
  2. Have a targeted home page that is more than pictures, but not all text.
  3. Cater to your audience based on trends you see in questions, sales, and buyer activity.
  4. Make sure you are using your meta title and meta description tag properly on each page.
  5. Make sure you are blogging on-domain not off-domain.
  6. Do a press release and send it out via PR Web every quarter.
  7. Get going on Twitter and make sure you have great content.
  8. If Facebook makes sense for your business get going and work to interact.
  9. Consider writing articles for Google Knoll and several other high profile content sites linking back to your website.
  10. Develop a content building program for your website based on traffic and bounce statistics.

The key is to not be static. Watch your website statistics, pay someone to analyze them if you don’t know how on a monthly or quarterly basis. Know what is happening on your website in regards to what readers are reading and where your sales are coming from. From what you find out take action to improve and build your online presence in a smart way.

Garnering organic placement is much more than keyword density it is about what you are doing as a strategy in many areas across the Web. That’s web visibility!