Happy 4th of July from the team at Howard SEM Group!!! We hope everyone out there has a wonderful and safe Independence Day celebration with their family and friends. We will be enjoying the traditional barbecue & picnic theme while watching the wonderful fireworks show where the music is choreographed with our local radio stations 93.9 FM  The Lake & 1490 AM KOWL …. We are also looking forward to listening to a few commercials we have out with those great stations to ensure our local businesses know we are here, and can help them succeed on the web.

You can listen here Howard SEM Group – Radio Commercial – 4th of July 2010

If you are needing help ensuring your business is found on the Internet and succeeds, give us a call at 1-877-4EZ-RANK or 1-877-439-7265  or visit us at www.HowardSEMGroup.com

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

A Few Free Tools That Might Help Your Small Business

In this economy no matter how strong your small business may be it never hurts to save money with tools that are free or of very low cost. Here is a small list of some of the tools we like to use on a regular basis. Would love to here your comments on the tools you use for business online.

Google Analytics

A tool we use regularly that is free, easy to use and has shown sustainable endurance in web analytics. This tool allows you to look into your web traffic for your site, and verify marketing effectiveness.  When using it to analyze your traffic data and where your visitors are coming from, entering and exiting your site, it can aid in making the correct changes to your site, marketing campaigns etc. It’s better to know, than not know, and wonder.

Google Webmaster Tools

A tool we have a love hate relationship with as the data it provides are usually snippets of the full amount it finds, though it is extremely informative on any issues Google might be having while viewing our site. One of the easiest ways of being informed and receiving data from Google about how they see our site. A must have in your arsenal of tools.

Mikogo

A tool we just began using recently which we LOVE.  Mikogo gives you the ability to opportunity to share any screen content or application over the Internet. Perfect for online meetings, web conferences, product demonstrations, web presentations, remote support, and the list goes on. This tool allows you to have 10 participants online at a time all while never leaving your desk.  As for usability, it cannot get much easier than this. Another must have. Recommended!

Free Conference Call

This site is a money saver. Instead of paying for numerous  attendees to a toll free conference call, this site will set you up with a FreeConferenceCall.com account. Then give you a regular standard number to call (not 800 number) where close to  100 callers can join in for up to 6 hours in conversations. Callers will get charged whatever there normal long distance rates are to call in, but most everyone these days use cell phones with free long distance and long distance fee’s are minimal compared to toll free charges with 800 numbers. We love it.

Log Me In

This tool we have used for quite some time, as it allows you to work remotely on another computers desktop just by logging in. Has been great thus far though no file transfers are included with the free version, the payed version does allow file transfers. This tol has been very dependable though we see ourselves using Mikogo much more in the future. Good tool.

Fax Zero

This tool allows you to upload and send a 3 page fax twice a day for free. Now that is pretty good, though they do include a small ad on the cover page it still is great in a bind. For a very small fee you can be rid of the ad and faxing many more pages…We thought it was worth the mention. Another tool we like for free.

Just a few of the many

Well we could go on, and on with many other tools we use and have used that are free or very low cost, but we would be writing for a very long time. We will definitely provide more tools we like in the near future, we hope you find some of these as useful as we do!

We would love to hear about any tools that you use on a regular basis that are free or of very low cost, so please send us your comments…

Why should you start your home based business today

As the new world of downsizing continues to make news and the Internet makes telecommuting even more productive, more and more entrepreneurs are discovering the benefits of running businesses out of their homes. If you are looking to get out of the rat race, to spend more time with family and friends, and to live a more sound life, a home-based business may be the right decision for you. According to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration the average American spends 348 hours each year commuting. So you can imagine, with a home-based business, you have those extra hours to have power over your personal life. Plus, there are no bosses, no dress code, no set work schedule, and no office politics to maneuver. All you need is, discipline, personal drive, and time-management skills. Just think you don’t have to wait for a raise or a promotion. The harder you work the more money you get to make. Also, you save so much money on the little things like food and gas. You will find yourself eating what you want and not what you just have time for. That usually means a happier and healthier life for you.

Along with having more time, there are also many tax advantages of having your home and business under the same roof.  These advantages include; a percentage of your mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and/or the expenses of household maintenance. Now that sounds exciting. Another thing to think about is if you have kids, you can set your own hours to tend to them if they are sick or have a school function that you don’t want to miss. Life is too short to miss out on.

“An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.” –Stephen Covey

Google PageRank Update, What That Means To You?

Google, the most popular search engine on the web uses a tool called PageRank, which was believed to be named after Larry Page co-founder of Google, Inc. to help determine their view of the popularity, authority or quality of a web page. Using numerous terms, filters and variables PageRank determines a numerical value for a specified page. Taking into consideration other pages that link to your specific page and those links/page value as well, it will determine a PageRank between 1-10,  ten being the highest. Simply thought of like a popularity contest, the more web pages that point a link to your web page, it’s reasonable to concur it is like a vote for your page. The more votes (links) to your web page, the more popular you are considered, thus aiding the PageRank increase in your favor. Now don’t get me wrong it is much more complicated than that, as there are many, many other variables that are considered like the value of the page that links to you for instance.  “PageRank” itself is a known trademark of Google, and the process in which it operates has been patented (US Patent 6285999). Though this will give you a basic idea…

April 2010 PageRank Update

As some of you that might keep track have noticed, Google performed a PageRank update in the beginning of April 2010. This seems pretty standard for Google’s trending MO (method of operation) as it seems to have happened around the same time in the last few years.  This update looks to have happened on April 2nd, so if you notice a slight increase in your page rank that is why. With these possible increases can also come a negative decrease in page rank depending again on their algorithm, and how they determine your web page to rank depending on their findings. Link Farms and other sites known to sell links have been known to have their pages PageRank decreased or penalized severely by Google. A black hat practice that should be avoided at all costs.

Why Is It Good To Have High PageRank?

For small businesses the value can be enormous as PageRank is considered to be involved in organic search rankings. Meaning if your small business web page has a high PageRank combined with its relevance determined by Google for a specific keyword or phrase it can equal very high rankings within the organic search results used by most folks to find information, a product, or a service depending on their needs. This high visibility will increase the visitors/consumers that frequent your web page or site equaling in increased interaction, sales, leads & targeted consumer traffic. I consider this to have enormous value as it can essentially make a business! Think of it like:  A customer wants to buy a baseball bat and in driving down the freeway to a sports store they get lost, or cannot find one until they see this HUGE billboard pointing them to your sports store that sells baseball bats. By having a high PageRank and a high relevance for a certain term related to your business that can lead to a high ranking in the search results which will show your billboard helping folks to find you on the web.

There are also many businesses out looking to advertise on blogs and websites with high PageRank and visitors to expose their brand, product or service. So there are different values for your business that can increase your overall value and monetization of your website to be considered when thinking of the value of PageRank. Though the true value and results of PageRank has been debated within the Internet Marketing industry over the years it is still a strength, and / or weakness of a site that can be changed to help monetize your small business site.  You can find out what your PageRank is by downloading the Google Toolbar for your browser. Also you might want to seek the help of an experienced SEO Firm or SEO Consultant to aid you in increasing your PageRank.

Tell us if your PageRank has moved at all with the April update???

How Can SEO Help Your Small Business online?

SEO services and techniques are very important for any small business. With the advent of the Internet, more and more people are searching things online, whether it’s products, information or services.  You want your site to be found! So many believe all they have to do is build a website, sign-up for Facebook, Twitter and a few other social sites and they are good to go, unfortunately 6 months later they find that is the farthest from the truth. So how do you catch the attention of your online customers? How do you ensure people can find your website? SEO & Internet Marketing is the answer…

First of all, you need a good website.  Your website is the interface between your business and your online customers. A good website is the one which has fresh, original content as well as good SEO optimization. When looking for an SEO services company or consultant, check with their references, past clients, etc. to ensure they can provide results. As there is a lot of promotional talk and advertising but the fact is , if they can’t provide proof  of their results over and over again then you are better off seeking services elsewhere.  Ask  just to make sure they have worked with websites in your same niche/industry before hand, to ensure they are not learning as they go.

SEO – search engine optimization

So many ask the simple question of  “What is SEO” –search engine optimization? It is a combination of art & science that use numerous processes to increase the amount of visitors to a website or page, and increase the quality of the traffic to that site or page. This type of optimization uses techniques that involve cleaning the website code to ensure spiderability by the search engines, and engaging in attracting one–way links from others sites to your own to show a sort of popularity, and most importantly ensuring the content and usability of the site is ideal for your customers and search engines alike.

This means that when a prospect comes online looking for some products or services that are provided by your website, your website will be visibly and easily found, ranking high within the search engine results. An SEO firm can achieve this targeted goal for you. There is a never ending increase thus far in the amount of businesses spending for SEO & other Internet marketing services year after year. If your not doing it yourself, don’t get left behind.

Studies prove that a person is more likely to pick the results from the first page listings of search engines for that searched keyword or term.  So if your website is among the first page results provided by the search engines, it has higher chances of being chosen.  More people visiting your website, mean more customers for your business, more leads, more sales, etc.

One of the main and most important techniques in SEO is choosing the right keyword/terms for your site. A skilled professional will be able to assist your site in choosing the perfect terms to target and not waist your money. Good SEO attracts search engine bots & spiders that scan your site to index data into the search engines, though your website needs to be ultimately aimed for the visitor, not the search engine.  An SEO Consultant can ensure that your site is targeted for the user not the robot. After all it is ultimately the prospect, and not the bots, which will increase your sales. For this reason, choose the services of good SEO consultants or Firm if you have no experience in professional SEO content writing.

If you are thinking about developing a web site for your small business, it is advisable to consult an SEO services provider. If you already have a business website but are not getting the traffic or sales you need, or no one can find your site, consult with a reputable SEO firm that will work within your budget. If you don’t have the patience and time it takes to learn SEO (search engine optimization) yourself, it is better that you leave it to the experts so that you can focus on your business.

Having your site rank high in the SERP’s (search engine results pages) resulting in a large increase in targeted high converting traffic, when properly optimized will increase sales, leads and brand recognition naturally and organically. Not like the typical advertising that stops providing, when you stop paying.

Remember, if you see an ad for “TOP Rankings in 14 days for $199.”  If it feels too good to be true, it probably is. Many reputable SEO Consultants and firms charge between $600 – $20,000+ per month depending on many, many variables with an average campaign running anywhere between 6-12 months.

Don’t forget about Us!  Howard SEM Group specializes in affordable SEO for small and medium sized businesses. Contact us today for a FREE, no-obligation quote/proposal.