So I'm working on a website for a client and I needed some images. I have a few sites that I go to regularly but you know after search through a site so many time I just need something different; A different layout, a different color schemes, and most of all different images. So I decided to check out some graphic design blogs and see what others are using.
Well I found exactly what I was looking for, Powstock and BlueVertigo.
Both of these sites are directory of sites offering free or cheap stock images and much more.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Cool Email Marketing sites
Please note that any site or resources that you see here on my blog are here because I think they are great resources. I am not affiliated with any of the businesses or products found here.
No matter what business you are in email marketing is a great way to get the word out about your business, events, and an even better way to find out what your clients think about your business. There are 2 really good products out there you should check out:
Constant Contact - They offer everything you need to run a clean spam free email campaign and online surveys. They offer a full access free 60 day trail.
Spongecell - This is an event marketing software. They offer widgets and add to calendars. It's free to enroll but there is a small fee for email mailers.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Today on Startup Nation (my new favorite small business community) I came across this article
Clarity of Vision - The Difference Between the Status Quo and Achieving Success
It's an inspirational article that discusses how clarity and focus translate to opportunities, strategies, people and ideas that can help us meet our goals. It's a great article check it out!
Here is another cool site for entrepreneurs, The Personal MBA, DIY Business Education: Mastering Business Without B-School
Clarity of Vision - The Difference Between the Status Quo and Achieving Success
It's an inspirational article that discusses how clarity and focus translate to opportunities, strategies, people and ideas that can help us meet our goals. It's a great article check it out!
Here is another cool site for entrepreneurs, The Personal MBA, DIY Business Education: Mastering Business Without B-School
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Do-It-Yourself SEO: A Beginner's Checklist
If you have your own internet business (or plan to start one in the near future) you know how important SEO is to driving traffic to your site. I came across this article by John Metzler outlining 4 very basic , but amazingly effective do-it-yourself SEO tips . Thanks John!
As text link brokers and mass link networking decrease in value and use in social media increases, it becomes more important for companies to have an internal approach and awareness of search engine marketing. Don't get me wrong; outsourcing to SEO firms is still a smart option. That said, making the most out of Web 2.0 usually requires some level of cooperation between SEO firm and site owner. You don't need to be an expert to know the basics of good SEO practices, and that added knowledge will be a great advantage whether you're working along side an SEO team, or promoting your own site in your spare time.
So if you're on a "need to know" basis with SEO, the following points should illustrate what an overall plan should include:
1. Create Search Engine-Friendly Content
Unique web content is your most valuable asset, and ensuring search engines can read it is crucial. Text embedded in images or Flash cannot be read, so make sure you use important keywords, headings, and hyperlinks in plain text form. Instead of using images as navigation links, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easy to format those links to look more like 'buttons', thus creating powerful anchor text as well as making it visually appealing. Use heading tags properly and don't try to hide keywords or text by making it the same color as the page background or shrinking it so it can't be seen. Make sure the keywords you wish to rank high for are used frequently in the page copy but within reason.
Now that you've created good content, is it actually being crawled? Copy and paste a page's URL into a search engine to see if it has been indexed. If you've just created the page, it may take a few days to show up. Aside from age, many factors can lead to web pages not being indexed by search engines, such as duplicate content (ie. a printer-friendly version of a page might be indexed and the normal version not, or vice versa); links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML; poor site architecture (ie. using too many sub-directories); lengthy, dynamically generated URLs using special characters; and orphaned pages.
2. Choose Your Keywords Wisely
One of the first steps of SEO, this one needs to be done properly the first time or all your future efforts and promotion could end up being wasted. Start by writing down general terms that describe your products, services or web content. Use keyword research services to investigate word and phrase variations. Wordtracker, KeywordDiscovery, and the Google AdWords suggestion tool are good starting points. The goal is to find those niche phrases that your target market uses to find sites just like yours and optimize your site for them. If the phrases do not get enough use by searchers, your profits from ranking for them will be low. At the same time, stay away from general terms that are tougher to rank for (ie. like "art", "computers", "business", etc.) as a great portion of the traffic will be irrelevant and you'll break the bank attaining such competitive phrases.
3. Get Others to Link to Your Site
In theory there are countless ways, some traditional and some quite innovative, to get other web sites to link to yours. In practice, it can be easier said than done. Google defines a link as it pertains to rankings and SEO as a "vote" from one site to another. The more quality votes your site receives, the greater chance you have of rankings well. If a well established site links to yours, that link carries more weight than one would from a mom & pop shop or less reputable page.
If your site has useful content and is doing something unique, you're already ahead of much of the competition. People need a reason to link to your site, as very few will do it out of the goodness of their heart. Trading links can work, but link exchange networks have decreased in value and won't be of much use in competitive fields. Buying links, if you haven't heard, is a big Google no-no. While entire articles could be written on this topic, here are a few popular methods of acquiring incoming links:
- issuing company press releases with a link back to your site
- submitting to reputable business directories such as Yahoo! and Business.com
- be active on related blogs by commenting and exchanging ideas
- if you have clients with web sites, ask if they would mind adding your link in a "partners" section
- participate in relevant forums and discussion boards with a link in your signature
- write and submit original articles to web publications in your field with a link in your bio
- get involved in social media and bookmarking
4. Join the Social Media Revolution
The collaboration between Internet users and the development of online communities is at an all-time high. Social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Furl, Reddit, and Technorati offer users a way to store their favorite pages and media online, and share it with others. These services also provide a way to promote your own content or create a buzz over a product or service. Creating a Myspace page or Squidoo "lens" is also a way to network and share information.
However, if your goal is to generate sales then you must offer something without the promotional hype. The reality of social media is that popularity is based almost entirely on public interest. If your information or media isn't unique or of interest to anyone, you cannot force success using social media communities.
The key to using social media and bookmarking sites to your advantage is to not be shy. Getting your entries and content to the popular pages on these sites requires some hard work. Network with other users, bookmark and share useful content, create eye-catching titles for your entries, and tell your friends and co-workers about the content you have on these sites. However, don't force your employees to vote your entries up - this is social media fraud. If you have great content and simply share it with as many people as you can, it will see success naturally.
These four points are a general guideline to follow for SEO. Search engine optimization experts and firms are a good outsourcing option in competitive markets, while the DIY attitude can yield great results for web site owners with smaller marketing budgets. If you're in the latter group, hopefully this helps get you started.
Do-It-Yourself SEO: A Beginner's Checklist
There have always been do-it-yourselfers succeeding at web promotion and search engine optimization. In fact, many of the established businesses offering web services today came from humble beginnings, perhaps nothing more than a college student with a laptop, an internet connection, and too much free time. The Web evolves as the result of the innovation and experimentation of individuals. The sharing of knowledge. The do-it-yourself attitude.As text link brokers and mass link networking decrease in value and use in social media increases, it becomes more important for companies to have an internal approach and awareness of search engine marketing. Don't get me wrong; outsourcing to SEO firms is still a smart option. That said, making the most out of Web 2.0 usually requires some level of cooperation between SEO firm and site owner. You don't need to be an expert to know the basics of good SEO practices, and that added knowledge will be a great advantage whether you're working along side an SEO team, or promoting your own site in your spare time.
So if you're on a "need to know" basis with SEO, the following points should illustrate what an overall plan should include:
1. Create Search Engine-Friendly Content
Unique web content is your most valuable asset, and ensuring search engines can read it is crucial. Text embedded in images or Flash cannot be read, so make sure you use important keywords, headings, and hyperlinks in plain text form. Instead of using images as navigation links, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easy to format those links to look more like 'buttons', thus creating powerful anchor text as well as making it visually appealing. Use heading tags properly and don't try to hide keywords or text by making it the same color as the page background or shrinking it so it can't be seen. Make sure the keywords you wish to rank high for are used frequently in the page copy but within reason.
Now that you've created good content, is it actually being crawled? Copy and paste a page's URL into a search engine to see if it has been indexed. If you've just created the page, it may take a few days to show up. Aside from age, many factors can lead to web pages not being indexed by search engines, such as duplicate content (ie. a printer-friendly version of a page might be indexed and the normal version not, or vice versa); links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML; poor site architecture (ie. using too many sub-directories); lengthy, dynamically generated URLs using special characters; and orphaned pages.
2. Choose Your Keywords Wisely
One of the first steps of SEO, this one needs to be done properly the first time or all your future efforts and promotion could end up being wasted. Start by writing down general terms that describe your products, services or web content. Use keyword research services to investigate word and phrase variations. Wordtracker, KeywordDiscovery, and the Google AdWords suggestion tool are good starting points. The goal is to find those niche phrases that your target market uses to find sites just like yours and optimize your site for them. If the phrases do not get enough use by searchers, your profits from ranking for them will be low. At the same time, stay away from general terms that are tougher to rank for (ie. like "art", "computers", "business", etc.) as a great portion of the traffic will be irrelevant and you'll break the bank attaining such competitive phrases.
3. Get Others to Link to Your Site
In theory there are countless ways, some traditional and some quite innovative, to get other web sites to link to yours. In practice, it can be easier said than done. Google defines a link as it pertains to rankings and SEO as a "vote" from one site to another. The more quality votes your site receives, the greater chance you have of rankings well. If a well established site links to yours, that link carries more weight than one would from a mom & pop shop or less reputable page.
If your site has useful content and is doing something unique, you're already ahead of much of the competition. People need a reason to link to your site, as very few will do it out of the goodness of their heart. Trading links can work, but link exchange networks have decreased in value and won't be of much use in competitive fields. Buying links, if you haven't heard, is a big Google no-no. While entire articles could be written on this topic, here are a few popular methods of acquiring incoming links:
- issuing company press releases with a link back to your site
- submitting to reputable business directories such as Yahoo! and Business.com
- be active on related blogs by commenting and exchanging ideas
- if you have clients with web sites, ask if they would mind adding your link in a "partners" section
- participate in relevant forums and discussion boards with a link in your signature
- write and submit original articles to web publications in your field with a link in your bio
- get involved in social media and bookmarking
4. Join the Social Media Revolution
The collaboration between Internet users and the development of online communities is at an all-time high. Social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Furl, Reddit, and Technorati offer users a way to store their favorite pages and media online, and share it with others. These services also provide a way to promote your own content or create a buzz over a product or service. Creating a Myspace page or Squidoo "lens" is also a way to network and share information.
However, if your goal is to generate sales then you must offer something without the promotional hype. The reality of social media is that popularity is based almost entirely on public interest. If your information or media isn't unique or of interest to anyone, you cannot force success using social media communities.
The key to using social media and bookmarking sites to your advantage is to not be shy. Getting your entries and content to the popular pages on these sites requires some hard work. Network with other users, bookmark and share useful content, create eye-catching titles for your entries, and tell your friends and co-workers about the content you have on these sites. However, don't force your employees to vote your entries up - this is social media fraud. If you have great content and simply share it with as many people as you can, it will see success naturally.
These four points are a general guideline to follow for SEO. Search engine optimization experts and firms are a good outsourcing option in competitive markets, while the DIY attitude can yield great results for web site owners with smaller marketing budgets. If you're in the latter group, hopefully this helps get you started.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Benefits to Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses to Outsource to a Virtual Office or Assistant
This article by Melissa Vokoun tells clients all they need to know about VA's and the benefits of hiring one.
Today more entrepreneurs, small businesses, and home-office professionals need the support of highly-trained personnel to efficiently handle administrative, marketing, clerical, concierge, and financial tasks.
The majority of corporate employee cutbacks directly affect the ability to accomplish these critical assignments without draining time resources from mission-critical professionals.
The emergence of the Virtual Assistant – Virtual Office support professional can fill that gap. The Virtual Assistant takes the role of office temp and elevates it to the status of entrepreneur. Because the Virtual Assistant is self-employed, bills the client only the hours worked or assignment completed, and is dependent on steady workflow from existing clients and referrals, this is the perfect solution for the busy professional.
The Virtual Office Ensemble – Virtual Assistant offers several advantages over a paid employee. When you hire a virtual assistant, you get all the benefits of outsourcing – no burden with employee taxes, insurance, retirement plans, vacations, or sick pay. This savings in financial resources is coupled with the loyalty and steadiness of a company employee because your trust and work is vital to the success of their company.
Hiring office temps often does not work out for several reasons. They are a transient solution and are very expensive with the associated fees of the hiring agency which they are employed through. A temp can be more costly than their worth with the cost of training and supervision added into the equation. Also, most temps are looking for full-time employment and even if you find a person who seems to exactly fit your needs, they are not always available when YOU need their services or they have been hired full-time elsewhere!
Paid employees or temps come with a host of related expenses. You must provide a desk, computer, phone and necessary facilities. Most agencies WILL NOT allow temps to work in your home due to insurance restrictions. A Virtual Assistant – an entrepreneur – not only has a virtual office with computer, phone, printer, fax, and client-specific essentials, but is more than willing to meet and work with you in home-office or small-office environments.
Industry estimates the cost of most support employees is nearly triple their annual salary when all factors are considered.
Statistics provided by the United States Bureau of Labor determined the “true cost” for an experienced in-house administrative employee is currently $45.54 per hour.
This does NOT include the expenses related to office space and equipment required for them to perform their job.
On average, the Virtual Assistant industry estimates the starting rate for a Virtual Assistant is $40.00 per hour. This professional entrepreneur is responsible for taxes, benefits, space and equipment.
5-hours of in-house administrative labor will cost a company $212.70 versus $175.00 for retaining an Independent Virtual Assistant for the same time period.
A reputable Virtual Office or Assistant has the expertise and tenure to handle administrative, marketing, basic financial and concierge support services.
The Benefits to Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses to Outsource to a Virtual Office or Assistant
Today more entrepreneurs, small businesses, and home-office professionals need the support of highly-trained personnel to efficiently handle administrative, marketing, clerical, concierge, and financial tasks.
The majority of corporate employee cutbacks directly affect the ability to accomplish these critical assignments without draining time resources from mission-critical professionals.
The emergence of the Virtual Assistant – Virtual Office support professional can fill that gap. The Virtual Assistant takes the role of office temp and elevates it to the status of entrepreneur. Because the Virtual Assistant is self-employed, bills the client only the hours worked or assignment completed, and is dependent on steady workflow from existing clients and referrals, this is the perfect solution for the busy professional.
The Virtual Office Ensemble – Virtual Assistant offers several advantages over a paid employee. When you hire a virtual assistant, you get all the benefits of outsourcing – no burden with employee taxes, insurance, retirement plans, vacations, or sick pay. This savings in financial resources is coupled with the loyalty and steadiness of a company employee because your trust and work is vital to the success of their company.
Hiring office temps often does not work out for several reasons. They are a transient solution and are very expensive with the associated fees of the hiring agency which they are employed through. A temp can be more costly than their worth with the cost of training and supervision added into the equation. Also, most temps are looking for full-time employment and even if you find a person who seems to exactly fit your needs, they are not always available when YOU need their services or they have been hired full-time elsewhere!
Paid employees or temps come with a host of related expenses. You must provide a desk, computer, phone and necessary facilities. Most agencies WILL NOT allow temps to work in your home due to insurance restrictions. A Virtual Assistant – an entrepreneur – not only has a virtual office with computer, phone, printer, fax, and client-specific essentials, but is more than willing to meet and work with you in home-office or small-office environments.
Industry estimates the cost of most support employees is nearly triple their annual salary when all factors are considered.
Statistics provided by the United States Bureau of Labor determined the “true cost” for an experienced in-house administrative employee is currently $45.54 per hour.
This does NOT include the expenses related to office space and equipment required for them to perform their job.
On average, the Virtual Assistant industry estimates the starting rate for a Virtual Assistant is $40.00 per hour. This professional entrepreneur is responsible for taxes, benefits, space and equipment.
5-hours of in-house administrative labor will cost a company $212.70 versus $175.00 for retaining an Independent Virtual Assistant for the same time period.
A reputable Virtual Office or Assistant has the expertise and tenure to handle administrative, marketing, basic financial and concierge support services.
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