Web Site Design by David Rutstein from A to Z

Without any doubt, one of the main benefits of the internet is that it lets you, your business and your web site to be reached by millions of millions of users around the world.

In the other hand, it makes you compete with millions of competitors, millions of web sites that offers the same you offer, provides the same services you provide and contains the same content your site’s contain.

So what to do then ? stay in your hometown with your small brick and mortgage store ? No, you have to find the way to make your way within your  million of competitors.

So, now you have a great site, great content, stunning graphic design, top of the top hosting service, great performance, more than speed internet connection, bunch of services to provide online, but who uses them ? that is the key question we will focus now, how to attract traffic to your website.

There are a lot of ways to bring users to your sites, we will focus on one of them, search engines.

Now a days, without any doubt, search engines is one of the most used ways to obtain traffic, to gain users into your site, to promote your services, and even more, as time goes by, it seems to be a tendency that just few search engines will survive.

In the beginning of the internet and search engines, there were much more search engines than today, but as some of them becomes more popular (for several reasons, from performance to marketing campaigns), the others  disappear or even joined with bigger surviving search engines.

So, what’s a search engine, it’s the yellow pages of the internet, much more than that, it’s a yellow pages with own life, a yellow pages services that does juts wait you to call them and publish, it finds you, analyze you and promote you.

So, if you are thinking about getting recognized in the web, search engine are definitely one of the first things to consider.

Being listed in a search engine is not hard, as mentioned above, even without doing anything else than putting your site online you will be listed by them, the hard  thing to do is to be listed in a significant place, come on, who wants to be listed in page 20 of a user’s search, even more, when do you check the results of your page 20 in search results ?

So the real art (and it has something of real art) is to be placed in the top positions, I even dare to say that the real deal is to be listed in the first page.

Okay, so let’s start our way to get top listed in all major search engines and some good advices to achieve that.

The first thing you need to do is to define the keywords you want your site to be found by.

You can’t pretend your site to be first placed for every term, from “software development” to “real estate”,  so you should carefully define the terms you want as keywords to your site, you should try to be as specific as possible without being too specific.

When thinking about that, the best practice is to put yourself in the place of the user you want to attract and guess what he will type in that small text box area, what keywords would he (your perfect and profitable customer) type ?

You should make a list of several search terms, the order he might enter them, and you should end with a list of 8-12 keywords, not more than that.

Once you have your keyword list crated, you will try to use them as much as possible, in order to let them gain relevance in your page weight.

Next you will have to prepare your site pages in order to be “search engine friendly”, there are several techniques for doing that, we will just give a quick overview of them here.

Title tag is often considered with very high relevance by most search engines, you should place a title that contains the keywords you selected.

There is also another kind of tag, which purpose is just for search engine purposes, those tags are named META tags, meta tags are tags that offer info about your data, the data contained in the pages, you set then information like author name, date published, and other relevant info you want search engines to see.

A good practice is also to add to images their proper text description for the alt attribute, which is not used generally but is very important when search engines examine your site.

As mentioned before, search engines do not just wait for you to notice them about your site, they continuously check the web for the sites in there, for that purpose they use programs named robots (or bots), those programs are crawler programs that automatically browse the web going from one site to another and examine site content in order to be able to rank them.

In order to “communicate” with those bots, your site can be prepared in several ways.

Most bots, when they reach your website, they look for a file named robots.txt, that file when available, is placed in the root folder of your site, and should contain info for the robots to know about your site, what your site contains, keywords etc.

When, for some reason robots.txt is not possible to be added to your root folder, you can add robots meta tags (as mentioned before) in order to accomplish that communication.

But this are all generic rules, search engines are all different, they use more or less the same basic principles but they differ a lot, and that’s the reason of existence of more than one search engine, so, the dare is not just to prepare your site for search engines but to prepare it for as many search engines as possible.

As the internet grows, the power of search engines grows too, and the importance of being top ranked increases dramatically, for that reason, there is a new kind of technical expert named SEO officer, they specialize in positioning your site with major search engines, for small business or personal sites it won’t worth to hire one, but if you are developing a medium or big size site you should definitely think about hiring one.

In the other hand, there are some good tools available there that helps you to optimize your site yourself, those tools work by thinking like the search engine and analyzing  your web site accordingly, after doing that, they generate reports with the advices to follow in order to make them more search engine friendly, I have used them and I can guarantee they do work pretty well.

Another thing you have to take care of is dynamic content, if your site generates content dynamically that will be very hard (if even possible) for search engines to read and index, so you should consider that when planning your SEO strategy.

Ok, now you have your site build, you went trough the process of optimizing it for search engines, now you submitted it  and you want to see the results !

Ok, stay calm, the process of being listed and repositioned usually takes from 1 to 2 months depending on the search engine.

As a last advice, I have seen many clever tricks trying to cheat search engines, like adding “invisible” text with keywords by setting foreground color the same than background color, adding the same tag (like title) several times, resubmitting pages or any other kind of tricks.

Believe me, people working at Google or Yahoo, are 8 hours a day, 5 days a week dedicated to that, so it’s VERY hard to fool them, in the best case, what you will get is your site being banned from search engines and all your effort might be useless.

So, just play within the rules, try to learn or get expert help if you do not have the time.

Lastly,  being top ranked is not a one day work, and also, once you reach the desired position is not ended,  you will have millions of competitors trying to beat your position, so it’s a never ending story you  will have to deal with.

Traffic - The Lifeblood Of Every Site!

Let’s face it. For a website to rake in sizable profits, let alone survive in the Internet jungle, it needs to attract a *ton* of traffic on a daily basis. Without a constant stream of visitors, your site is NOT going to survive! To better understand this, take a look at the following formula:

NO Traffic = NO Profits = Website Shutdown

Whether you are an online marketing newbie or a seasoned marketer, your No.1 priority should be to drive traffic to your site. OK, it’s easier said than done, considering the fact that many of the popular traffic generating programs out there, come with hefty price tags! Fortunately though, you do get plenty of avenues whereby you could attract people to your site as easily as a swarm of bees!

Hint: A few smart Internet marketers employ discreet, under-the -radar killer techniques, to attract an avalanche of traffic to their sites…..all without paying a single red cent!

Now before I share with you some of these very tactics, you need to keep in mind one vital tip: *Always, always make sure you continuously update your site with cutting-edge, high quality content.* If visitors to your website see the same old stuff week after week, they are going to flee from it like the plague! Look, people surf the Internet, hoping to find top quality, useful information that’ll help them solve a problem, make money, etc. If they visit your site and see what they like, they are bound to come back again and again.

However, if you don’t bother to update your content, you’ll be losing thousands of potential visitors, which in turn, could lead to a drop in profits. So do make sure you *refresh* the content on your site regularly, to draw in the hordes!

All right, now that we’ve finally got *that* out of the way, I’m about to reveal to you 4 killer tactics that’ll generate *free* traffic to your website. And no, these aren’t the same old, run-of-the-mill traffic secrets! So why not grab a cup of tea, choose a quiet corner and get ready for an absorbing read!

Killer Secret #1 is,

Drum roll please……

Getting listed on Yahoo’s ‘Full Coverage’!

You probably know that Yahoo has ‘full coverage’ pages on almost every topic under the sun! And under those topics, they list a number of useful sites. (not to be confused with the same listing in the Yahoo directory) Well, all you’ve got to do is find a suitable Full Coverage area, for example:

dailynews.yahoo.com/fe/Tech/AOL/ and then simply click on the link ‘Submit Links To Full Coverage’. If your content is worthy enough for a Yahoo editor, well then, you could happily look forward to a swarm of traffic to your site! Other great advantages of using this tactic are:

01. It instantly enhances your credibility.

02. Since the link is from Yahoo, it’s great for algorithms like Google, which often
gauges link popularity by how important the referring site is.

Killer Secret #2 (This one’s a biggie!)

Use Social Bookmarking And Attract A Ton Of Traffic To Your Website!

Firstly, what on earth is social bookmarking? Well, to put it simply, it’s a public list of all your favorites you’d like to share with others. When you list a site in your bookmark list, someone else looking for that same type of information, could easily perform a search at the bookmark site and find the sites you’ve already bookmarked. The great thing here, is that it’s just like a search engine, only minus all the trash! A site’s popularity automatically gets boosted, when more and more folks bookmark it. So here’s what you’ve got to do to get started:

01. Go to each and every bookmarking site I’ve listed below and register for an account. (And oh, did I mention it was *free*?)

01. del.icio.us (PR
02. furl.net (PR
03. connotea.org (PR 7)
04. backflip.com ( PR 6)
05. spurl.net (PR 6)

Once your account is set up, you can go ahead and start listing your site. By the way, make sure you add the proper tags to your listing! Also for added measure, write a brief description about your site, using some of your tag words. Please keep in mind, that as with anything that is worth doing, this may take you a while to get it all set up and running, but the final result will be well worth your effort, guaranteed!

Killer Secret #3

Using Your URL As Your ‘User Name’

This one’s a no-brainer and could easily generate quite a lot of traffic to your site! The next time you sign up as a member to all those forums, chat rooms and auction sites out there, instead of your real name, use the URL of your site as your user name. For example, you might want to sign up as www.mysite.com.

Then, when you post your comments and exchange ideas, your username (URL) will be constantly displayed to all other members. And if you offer some sound advice and are well-liked, well, then a whole bunch of folks are definitely going to click on your URL and take a peek at your site! This could generate a tremendous flow of hits depending on the number of members at any given time.

Killer Tactic # 4

How To Generate *Free* Traffic From Search Engines Without Ever Getting Listed!

This one works like magic! Just implementing this technique alone, could bring an avalanche of hits to your site. What’s more, unlike other traffic generating methods, this one’s *highly targeted!* Here’s what you’ve got to do:

1. Select keywords that your target market would most likely search for, and do a
quick search for it on Google/Yahoo.

2. Carefully go through *each* of the top 10 listings, and jot down the contact
details of the webmaster for all of these sites.

3. Next, send each person a customized email, offering a JV (joint venture), a free report or an ebook that they can distribute free! They’ll only be too glad to accept it!

4. Imagine how much exposure just *one* of these top-ranked sites could bring you if you strike a deal with them…..! It’s fully worth the initial set-up time!

Remember, the key here, is to convince these websites to either accept your JV offer, or distribute your free ebooks. It’s that simple! This will automatically create a viral effect that would continuously drive tons of traffic to your site!

In addition to *all* of the above killer tactics, you could also submit articles, sign up with free traffic exchanges, safelists and auto surf exchanges. This would help generate an incredible stampede to your site over and over again! For a website that is trying to attract traffic, it just couldn’t get any better than this!

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“How To Get Repeat Web Traffic Effortlessly!”

Is your site generating a healthy percentage of repeat web traffic? If not, then you should definitely consider drawing up a blueprint to focus on this important aspect. Remember, if you don’t act on this fast, you could easily be losing thousands of potential customers, which in turn could lead to a drop in profits for you!

Given below are 4 great techniques you could implement NOW to gain tons of repeat web traffic. Best of all, they’re *free!*

01. Make your site content-rich and update it often.

*Content is King* on the Internet. Most of the time, people aren’t surfing around looking to buy products: more often, they’re looking for interesting, high-quality information. Give them what they want and your site will quickly become their no.1 reference haven! Not only will this keep them eagerly coming back, you will also gain plenty of linking to your site, so others can read your content as well.

Ideally, you need to create your own content, so it would be exclusive to your site *only* and nowhere else. If this isn’t possible, you could always publish some great articles by browsing through a couple of article sites. Remember, the point here is to keep your site fresh and updated, so visitors will want to come back again and again.

02. Why not offer a customized toolbar?

This is a novel idea that is definitely worth implementing! Now, you’ve probably seen (and maybe downloaded too) the toolbar offered by Google, Yahoo and other popular sites that stay at the top of your browser window, for quick and easy reference. Ever wondered why these sites dish them out for free? Well, it’s with the sole intention of keeping their brand in front of their customers, so they remember them when they need to use their service.

Yes, you too can have the same effect by offering *your* customers a free customized toolbar, along with other tidbits of useful information. You’ve got to keep in mind your toolbar has to provide *value* to customers, otherwise they probably will not download it.

03. Run weekly or monthly polls and competitions on your site

People simply love to voice their opinions, so why not provide a platform for them to do so, by conducting a poll? If you pick topics that have wide appeal or are somewhat controversial, visitors to your site would definitely be interested in checking out the results. This could be a great way to keep them coming back - especially if you combine it with online competitions. People also love to win prizes and if you run fun competitions on a regular basis, you’ll soon find visitors flocking in hordes to your site!

04. Create an informative dictionary or glossary

This is the type of content most people prefer referring to, on a regular basis. In addition, webmasters are more than likely to link to your site as reference. You can easily gain even more leverage from this idea, by enabling other sites in your niche market to syndicate your glossary or dictionary.

Well, in addition to *all* of the methods discussed in this article, there are plenty of other techniques you could easily use to attract repeat web traffic to your site. Stay tuned, as I plan on writing another article on this same topic sometime in the near future! Until then, good luck!

How To Sell Your Business Successfully

Are you looking to sell your business but just don’t know how to go about it? Well, you needn’t worry anymore! The purpose of this article is to provide you some useful insight into the entire process of selling a business successfully. So let’s jump right in, shall we?

First up, here are some of the reasons that may contribute to your decision to sell your business:-

You wish to realize the true value of your stake, in the venture that you set up.

You’d like to reward key and faithful members of your staff, by expanding the ownership of your company.

Sometimes, the necessity to find a larger and more well-established partner may have provided the impetus to sell your business.

The Fine Art Of Valuation

All business owners have at one time or another pondered the question –

‘Exactly how much is my company worth?’

Valuation is, of course, an art influenced by several personal, macroeconomic and institutional factors.

The 4 most popular valuation techniques in use today are:-

Comparable Company Analysis: - This particular technique is employed to measure value, by analyzing the market values of public companies possessing similar qualities to your business, as benchmarks.

Comparable Transaction Analysis:- This one is pretty similar to the previous
technique, except companies that have been recently bought or sold, are those companies that have been used as models.

Discounted Cash Flow:- The actual worth of a company is often based on the total amount of cash (after deduction of taxes) it can generate for the benefit of its shareholders.

Liquidation Analysis: - This is used to determine the value of a company, when all liabilities have been satisfied, and all assets sold.

The Market *Does* Matter!

When preparing to sell your business, you need to assess fair market value, and take into consideration the impact of the current market environment. If your company is in a highly popular and lucrative industry, a substantial premium may be offered by prospective buyers. On the other hand, however profitable your business may be, if it’s in an industry which is not exactly ‘hot’, it may actually carry a fair market value *lower* than that of an unprofitable company in a popular market.

Here are some other market factors that can influence fair market value:-

Availability of sufficient funds
Interest by foreign companies
General economic conditions
Positioning of company in a sale process

Preparing For That All-Important Sale!

By now, you may be having a pretty clear idea of why you want to sell your business. The million-dollar question is: ‘How?’

To put it in a nutshell, a typical; sale process can be easily broken down into 4 broad phases.

Preparing for the sale
Promoting your company
Negotiating the deal
Sealing the transaction

Every effort should be made to ensure you sell your business successfully the first time. Here are some general grooming points you may find useful to maximize the value of your business:-

Sales and Profitability: - Since you are planning to sell your business, you want to focus on re-examining your market and customer base to see if higher-selling prices and margins could be achieved. Some even consider it a good idea to successfully re-position their company in the marketplace, before any proposed sale. This could then leave you in a better position when the time finally comes.

Operating Costs: - If you regularly review your operating costs, then that’s great! However, you want to make sure you pay *extra* attention to this aspect, when preparing to sell your business!

Profit Trends: - Potential buyers will be hoping to see stable and profitable growth of your business, in the run up to the sale. So, when planning to sell your business, try avoiding risky and long-term contracts that may prove detrimental to your company.

Management Team: - The person/company, who ultimately purchases your business, will most probably hope to inherit a quality management team as well. Hence, when you are ready to sell your business, it may be worth reviewing the structure of your company. This will ensure that respective job titles and role descriptions sufficiently reflect the contribution that your management team makes to your business. A prospective buyer will also like to know if the management team supports your decision to sell your business. May be you should even consider talking to them – who knows, one of the guys could be interested in buying the business for himself!

Tax Planning: - Make sure that your Corporation Tax, PAYE and Vat returns and payment are all up to date.

Timing: - Planning the time to sell your business is often a difficult, but crucial call to make. Some of the factors you need to take into account are:-

Present state of the economy,
Tax implications,
Changes in legislation that could have an impact on your industry.

Tip: Sell your business on past tracks and results. Not only are they a proven track record that you can point to, they will also boost your confidence, and give you a much stronger platform to negotiate on.

What Is A Memorandum?

A major point to consider when planning to sell your business, is the preparation of a descriptive memorandum. This document can range from anywhere between 25-100 pages. It is essentially, an initial compilation of key factors about your company that could be distributed to potential buyers. A memorandum should typically focus on marketing your business. It should accurately describe your company, its history, products, markets, staff and existing facilities and financial performances, in a way that highlights your company’s strengths and potential. In short, a memorandum should be able to vividly describe the *unique benefits* a buyer can gain from purchasing your business.

Target Potential Buyers

You want to compile a list of potential buyers to target, so as to effectively enhance your marketing campaign. Possible buyers usually fall into one of the following categories:

Direct competitors
Suppliers
Investment companies
Companies serving the same customer segment
Companies employing similar technology
Customers looking to capture channels of distribution
Companies with countercyclical products

The initial list of interested buyers should be as accommodating as possible.

Hint: You should also try incorporating international buyers to whom you could sell your business to, as some of them could offer you far higher and lucrative premiums than local companies.

Contacting Potential Buyers

One of the most frequently-asked questions by owners considering the sale of their business is: ‘How am I going to contact potential buyers?’ Well, there are many ways out there that you can use to get in touch with interested buyers, but the following method is a very popular technique that you might find useful and effective:-

Prepare an introductory letter, (highlighting the key benefits of acquiring your company) mail it to your prospective buyers, and follow up with calls. You could also try to sell your business through a combination of auctions and negotiated sales.

Site Visits

Plant and management visits are often a crucial component, when it comes to selling your business. You need to inform your staff beforehand, of any site visits by potential buyers. Keep in mind that critical information such as plant operating systems, future plans, R and D programmes, etc. are regularly discussed during site visits. On the other hand, this could be your sole (and also ideal) opportunity to convince buyers that investing in your business is full of potential.

What You Should Know About The Letter Of Intent

A letter of intent, or LOI, is a document containing the general terms and conditions of a transaction that a buyer and seller agree to. Some basic areas that all LOI s usually cover are:-

Purchase price
Future payments
Conditions for closing the sale, etc.