by: Bryan Edwards
i
“I know that you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”
RICHARD NIXON
According to the Radicati Group an estimated 183 billion emails are sent every day. That’s around 2 million emails every second sent by 1.2 billion email Users! Moreover, there are an estimated 516 million business email boxes worldwide. That’s a heck of a potential for mis-communication, misunderstandings, angry words, bad feelings and loss of productivity if the messages go wrong.
Communication experts say that email is good for INFORMATION and CONFIRMATION. However it’s not good for EMOTION or PERSUASION. It is very difficult to convey enthusiasm, empathy or sincerity via email. You can type the words, but one doesn’t get a sense of the way the words are conveyed, and therefore the message can be misinterpreted.
Here are some tips on email etiquette.
When sending:
•In character, e-mail is somewhere between an informal telephone call and a formal letter, but an e-mail can be easily kept as a permanent record – a phone call is more difficult. Avoid slang, careless writing, thoughtless comments, too many dots or exclamation marks.
•Consider the recipient – who really needs to know? Is it ‘nice to know’ or ‘essential to their job to know’? Consider using group names very carefully – it may save you time but does everyone on the group list really need that message?
•Talk to your boss about the types of information he/she needs to be copied in on.
•Beware of humour and sarcasm – unless you know the recipient very well.
•Where is the recipient? If they are in the same office area, why not talk to them instead? Think of how long it takes to ‘talk’ the message compared to having to write it out.
•Don’t use email as an excuse not to talk to somebody. Barriers in communicating with difficult people can be broken down by hearing your voice, or perhaps seeing you, to build better rapport.
•Never email in anger. Calm down first, or consider an alternative method – email can never convey emotion. Face to face can be a much more effective way of getting how you feel across to an individual.
•Indicate the subject of the e-mail, and the purpose, in the subject header, to help the recipient e.g. ‘Leadership Training: Joining Instructions below’.
•Keep to business issues, avoiding personal e-mails and gossiping.
•Include ‘pleasantries’ at the start of the email e.g. ‘Hope you’re having a good week’ or perhaps a ‘Thanks for doing that last project so quick’ before you launch into your reason for emailing.
•Emailing bad news can be seen as ‘the coward’s way out’ because you don’t want to face the reaction. Also you can’t guarantee when they’ll read the bad news.
•Re-read the message before sending, putting yourself in the recipient’s shoes – what is the tone like? What unintended messages could the recipient see? Am I being succinct enough?
•Be careful about criticising people and organisations by email. A hasty remark by phone will be forgotten, on email there is a permanent record.
•Avoid writing in capital letters (to some this is the equivalent of shouting, and it makes it more difficult to read) and be carefully about emboldening words.
•If you classify all your e-mails as urgent, people may gradually stop treating them as such.
•Be careful about copying the message to the recipient’s manager – some people may view this as untrusting and underhand.
•Break the email ‘tennis’ – it’s far quicker to pick up the phone than reply with an email.
When reading:
•Deal with e mail at set times of the day ONLY– two or three times per day is a good guide. The tendency is to open email as soon as one arrives – if it was that urgent, the sender would have picked up the phone.
•Turn off the automatic ‘incoming email alert’ facility.
•Remove unwanted e-mails regularly – one user had 350 e-mails in his inbox after 3 days holiday! Always question WHY you keep an electronic copy?
•Set regular times e.g. last day of the month, to review and delete your e-mails.
•Set up folders for recipients. Important people such as the boss, the boss’s boss, and key customers could go into one folder that you check more frequently.
•If you feel emotional after reading a message, give the sender the benefit of the doubt and assume there has been a misunderstanding. Have you read the message carefully? Are you quite sure you’ve understood?
•If it’s about a complicated topic, or it’s a request for ideas or opinions, consider replying by phone, or meet up with the person.
•If you are out of the office for a few days, set up an automated ‘out of office reply’, giving an alternative person’s name who may be able to help.
•Send joke emails to your home inbox for reading later.
Kamis, Januari 21, 2010
Software Development in an Offshore Destination
by: David Jackson
i
India is a country of color, of unity in diversity and of culture. It’s a land of the saints and seers. It’s a land where languages change every six miles. At the behest of a technically demanding world, India has now also turned into a trusted destination where software development firms have invested in millions and results have already been quite satisfactory. Abundance of human resource, good connectivity with all global destinations and investment friendly environment make India a top choice for foreign firms for outsourcing. Offshore development India firms working on behalf of parent European countries now offer all types of software solutions at really attractive rates. Hence, growth and investment have shown a decent merge.
Software development firms in India work on all types of software projects. Industry and firm specific custom software development projects are also brilliantly handled by the India outsourced software companies. An offshore development company India also boasts of satisfying regular back-office, helpdesk and supports processes. BPO and call centers for software as well as travel and other segments have also been set up to serve to the global clienteles. Offshore software development company in India offers various services such as ASP.net and PHP software development and also helps clients’ dependency on Manpower which otherwise may have cost them a whale.
Software development is a specialized task and it generally involves big investments and specialized workforce. Outsourcing the same to an India based software development firm, a company can easily get web based products/services developed at lower costs. Some of the major advantages of software development outsourcing to an offshore destination are as follows:
Access to specialized labor at low costs
Cutting operational costs
Research and development can be done at reduced costs
Reducing training costs
Reducing expenditure on software
Apart from India, other Asian countries like China and Philippines have also been top choices for outsourcing these days. So, the outsourcing scene is quite lucrative in Asia!
i
India is a country of color, of unity in diversity and of culture. It’s a land of the saints and seers. It’s a land where languages change every six miles. At the behest of a technically demanding world, India has now also turned into a trusted destination where software development firms have invested in millions and results have already been quite satisfactory. Abundance of human resource, good connectivity with all global destinations and investment friendly environment make India a top choice for foreign firms for outsourcing. Offshore development India firms working on behalf of parent European countries now offer all types of software solutions at really attractive rates. Hence, growth and investment have shown a decent merge.
Software development firms in India work on all types of software projects. Industry and firm specific custom software development projects are also brilliantly handled by the India outsourced software companies. An offshore development company India also boasts of satisfying regular back-office, helpdesk and supports processes. BPO and call centers for software as well as travel and other segments have also been set up to serve to the global clienteles. Offshore software development company in India offers various services such as ASP.net and PHP software development and also helps clients’ dependency on Manpower which otherwise may have cost them a whale.
Software development is a specialized task and it generally involves big investments and specialized workforce. Outsourcing the same to an India based software development firm, a company can easily get web based products/services developed at lower costs. Some of the major advantages of software development outsourcing to an offshore destination are as follows:
Access to specialized labor at low costs
Cutting operational costs
Research and development can be done at reduced costs
Reducing training costs
Reducing expenditure on software
Apart from India, other Asian countries like China and Philippines have also been top choices for outsourcing these days. So, the outsourcing scene is quite lucrative in Asia!
Software Development: Outsourcing is the New Mantra for Success
by: David Jackson
i
They say profit maximization is the prime goal for any management team and those managers are successful enough who are capable of controlling their subordinates. In today’s web driven world, the role for managers has increased manifold. A project manager is not only responsible for bringing good amounts of projects, but also need to look after it besides making its final delivery to clients. The software industry has been going under severe competition presently and in order to sustain in the retrace, project managers are conceiving new strategies so that business goals can be achieved on the behalf of the organization without compromising on quality of deliverables. Most of the companies have chosen outsourcing as a means of achieving targets at without investing much on cost. In a recession hit economic scenario, outsource software development firms are still shoeing good amount of courage thus retaining clients.
Software development firms generally need huge investments. Resources are getting costlier and all are asking for huge pay hikes. In such a scene, outsourcing has turned into a nice way of meeting the clients’ project requirements without spending much on labor cost. Outsource software development India is now one of the biggest and most trusted software development destinations in the entire world. Compared to the USA or the UK, labor comes cheap here and companies can earn significant amount on profits keeping quality of work intact. Apart from India, China, Philippines and Thailand have now emerged as good venues for outsourcing for the European software firms.
Outsource software development firms are the best choices for all types of software development products. They have also proved to be reliable and less costly resorts for custom software application development projects. So, be it industry specific software development or application development for iPhone, outsource custom software development service providers are here to stay for a long time for sure. In the coming days, their offers and reach would be multiplied – that’s a guarantee. You just watch and see!
i
They say profit maximization is the prime goal for any management team and those managers are successful enough who are capable of controlling their subordinates. In today’s web driven world, the role for managers has increased manifold. A project manager is not only responsible for bringing good amounts of projects, but also need to look after it besides making its final delivery to clients. The software industry has been going under severe competition presently and in order to sustain in the retrace, project managers are conceiving new strategies so that business goals can be achieved on the behalf of the organization without compromising on quality of deliverables. Most of the companies have chosen outsourcing as a means of achieving targets at without investing much on cost. In a recession hit economic scenario, outsource software development firms are still shoeing good amount of courage thus retaining clients.
Software development firms generally need huge investments. Resources are getting costlier and all are asking for huge pay hikes. In such a scene, outsourcing has turned into a nice way of meeting the clients’ project requirements without spending much on labor cost. Outsource software development India is now one of the biggest and most trusted software development destinations in the entire world. Compared to the USA or the UK, labor comes cheap here and companies can earn significant amount on profits keeping quality of work intact. Apart from India, China, Philippines and Thailand have now emerged as good venues for outsourcing for the European software firms.
Outsource software development firms are the best choices for all types of software development products. They have also proved to be reliable and less costly resorts for custom software application development projects. So, be it industry specific software development or application development for iPhone, outsource custom software development service providers are here to stay for a long time for sure. In the coming days, their offers and reach would be multiplied – that’s a guarantee. You just watch and see!
My Experiences with HP9000 Printheads
by: Matthew Theobald
i
HP9000s Head Replacement
Although we have found this printer to produce a good quality print and to have been reliable, there is a question mark over the longevity of the printheads and also the high cost of replacing them. You will find, in this article, my experiences dealing with these issues and I hope you will find some inspiration for dealing with your own problems.
If you own or operate one of these printers you will be aware of the cost of replacement of the printheads and may also be aware of the relatively short life-span reported by a number of owners. Hopefully, if you read on, you will find the confidence to attempt the replacement yourself and save up to £400 per head in doing so.
When routinely printing the IQ test print to confirm that the quality of print from each head was acceptable, we noticed that the L Magenta swatch had a scratchy appearance. We were advised that this was an indication of a head that was wearing out and that it would need replacing soon.
Just in case the engineer had been mistaken we decided to give the head a physical clean using a fine cloth and some wiper fluid. Repeating this a number of times resulted in the print quality returning to its original quality.
Over 2-3 days, however, the IQ print became somewhat 'scratchy' again - although the majority of prints were of an acceptable quality the problem was particularly apparent on large regions of single colour using the light magenta.
We continued in this manner for 2-3 months with reasonable success but eventually the amount of up-time deteriorated to a level where the machine could print no more than a few feet before needing a headclean, so the decision was taken to replace the suspect printhead. The price that we were given was around £1800-£2000 for parts and labour. A maintenance engineer was arranged to attend on the Tuesday following the weekend to double-check that the head needed replacing.
In order to improve the head as much as possible before the engineer came to confirm the need for replacement we switched the printer off - this seats the printheads in a bath of ink and is recommended in order to soften any congealed ink and aid cleaning.
When Monday arrived we switched the printer back on and gave the heads a purge in anticipation of the engineer arriving the next day.
When the engineer arrived he ran the IQ test to ascertain the state of the print quality and found that all 6 heads were printing scratchily. The heads did seem to recover a little after a number of strong purges but it was not consistent and still did not produce a useable print quality.
After a significant amount of further cleaning it was decided that we would replace the Magenta and Light Magenta Head under a scheme run by HP for out of warranty machines where they agree to sort out any problem (including changing up to 2 heads) for a 1 off charge of £1000 (I’m not aware if they are still running this scheme)
When a second engineer came to change the heads he noticed that there was an air leak into the ink reservoir. Once this had been fixed and the heads cleaned a number of times, the prints being produced were of an acceptable quality and the IQ prints appeared to be improving a little each time they were printed.
We were concerned, however, that once the engineer had gone, if the heads deteriorated we would have missed our opportunity to have them replaced as part of the HP scheme. We persuaded the engineer to leave the 2 heads with us so that they could be installed as part of a follow up call and we would only have to pay for the call out and not for the parts.
Almost inevitably, the day following the engineers visit, the light magenta and magenta heads deteriorated significantly. The earliest that the engineer could return was in three days so we decided to investigate replacing the heads ourselves.
We parked the head assembly, switched off the printer and removed the plastic covers. Next the printhead assembly covers were removed to allow access to the printhead themselves. Using a sharp implement such as a knife blade or screwdriver blade, score a positional mark into the fixing plate in order to record the heads position of the head prior to removal. Using the caps supplied with the new printhead, seal off the ink flow and remove the connector for the electrical feed. Take a small socket driver and undo the screws which secure the head to the fixing plate.
We then removed the printhead from the storage packet and carefully placed onto the head fixing plate, lining it up with the marks previously made. Next connect up the ink supply tube as before and press-on the electrical connector. Replace covers and run the ink system purge routine in the maintenance menu to fill the printhead with ink and run the head alignment routines to fine tune the alignment.
This was repeated with the second printhead both of which continue to print well. All the other heads have improved with use (and regular cleaning) and are printing well.
We have since been made aware that the use of an ultrasonic cleaner can return the heads to a good condition when they have been clogged with ink.
i
HP9000s Head Replacement
Although we have found this printer to produce a good quality print and to have been reliable, there is a question mark over the longevity of the printheads and also the high cost of replacing them. You will find, in this article, my experiences dealing with these issues and I hope you will find some inspiration for dealing with your own problems.
If you own or operate one of these printers you will be aware of the cost of replacement of the printheads and may also be aware of the relatively short life-span reported by a number of owners. Hopefully, if you read on, you will find the confidence to attempt the replacement yourself and save up to £400 per head in doing so.
When routinely printing the IQ test print to confirm that the quality of print from each head was acceptable, we noticed that the L Magenta swatch had a scratchy appearance. We were advised that this was an indication of a head that was wearing out and that it would need replacing soon.
Just in case the engineer had been mistaken we decided to give the head a physical clean using a fine cloth and some wiper fluid. Repeating this a number of times resulted in the print quality returning to its original quality.
Over 2-3 days, however, the IQ print became somewhat 'scratchy' again - although the majority of prints were of an acceptable quality the problem was particularly apparent on large regions of single colour using the light magenta.
We continued in this manner for 2-3 months with reasonable success but eventually the amount of up-time deteriorated to a level where the machine could print no more than a few feet before needing a headclean, so the decision was taken to replace the suspect printhead. The price that we were given was around £1800-£2000 for parts and labour. A maintenance engineer was arranged to attend on the Tuesday following the weekend to double-check that the head needed replacing.
In order to improve the head as much as possible before the engineer came to confirm the need for replacement we switched the printer off - this seats the printheads in a bath of ink and is recommended in order to soften any congealed ink and aid cleaning.
When Monday arrived we switched the printer back on and gave the heads a purge in anticipation of the engineer arriving the next day.
When the engineer arrived he ran the IQ test to ascertain the state of the print quality and found that all 6 heads were printing scratchily. The heads did seem to recover a little after a number of strong purges but it was not consistent and still did not produce a useable print quality.
After a significant amount of further cleaning it was decided that we would replace the Magenta and Light Magenta Head under a scheme run by HP for out of warranty machines where they agree to sort out any problem (including changing up to 2 heads) for a 1 off charge of £1000 (I’m not aware if they are still running this scheme)
When a second engineer came to change the heads he noticed that there was an air leak into the ink reservoir. Once this had been fixed and the heads cleaned a number of times, the prints being produced were of an acceptable quality and the IQ prints appeared to be improving a little each time they were printed.
We were concerned, however, that once the engineer had gone, if the heads deteriorated we would have missed our opportunity to have them replaced as part of the HP scheme. We persuaded the engineer to leave the 2 heads with us so that they could be installed as part of a follow up call and we would only have to pay for the call out and not for the parts.
Almost inevitably, the day following the engineers visit, the light magenta and magenta heads deteriorated significantly. The earliest that the engineer could return was in three days so we decided to investigate replacing the heads ourselves.
We parked the head assembly, switched off the printer and removed the plastic covers. Next the printhead assembly covers were removed to allow access to the printhead themselves. Using a sharp implement such as a knife blade or screwdriver blade, score a positional mark into the fixing plate in order to record the heads position of the head prior to removal. Using the caps supplied with the new printhead, seal off the ink flow and remove the connector for the electrical feed. Take a small socket driver and undo the screws which secure the head to the fixing plate.
We then removed the printhead from the storage packet and carefully placed onto the head fixing plate, lining it up with the marks previously made. Next connect up the ink supply tube as before and press-on the electrical connector. Replace covers and run the ink system purge routine in the maintenance menu to fill the printhead with ink and run the head alignment routines to fine tune the alignment.
This was repeated with the second printhead both of which continue to print well. All the other heads have improved with use (and regular cleaning) and are printing well.
We have since been made aware that the use of an ultrasonic cleaner can return the heads to a good condition when they have been clogged with ink.
Implementing New Business Management Software: 7 Ways To Make It Smooth and Seamless
by: Robert M. Callanan
i
As a small business or a business just getting started, you might be using an entry level accounting system where the investment in training and configuration is minimal because the product is fairly easy to use. Often these systems are ideal until your business begins adding more users and your business processes become more complex than what the system can support.
When a small business decides to implement a new accounting or business management system, it cannot shut its doors or stop day-to-day responsibilities to install, configure, and test a new system. Also, it cannot expect to start using a new system without investing time to consider potential improvements to existing business processes or train end users and migrate historical data.
This is where the role of your solution provider or consultant is critical. Top solution providers efficiently transition you from your old system to your new system with minimal downtime for your staff. In addition, your solution provider will continue supporting the solution for you as your business grows and evolves.
When choosing a new system, your choice of a solution provider should carry as much weight as the product itself. Here are a few things to look for when choosing a solution provider:
1. Understands Your Business and System Needs
A software provider should understand your business and business processes to interject which processes can be more efficient. The provider should listen to you, give good examples of how the system should work, and ask good questions, not just about software, but also how your people work, who they are, their skill sets, and how they would use the application.
2. Exhibits Exceptional Knowledge About Their Product(s)
It is a must for your software provider to thoroughly understand the functionalities, capabilities and intricacies of their solutions and coherently explain those to your end users so you optimize your investment and use the business management system to its fullest potential for your organization.
3. Knowledge of Other Products and Solutions
A good solution provider makes sure you understand what you are looking for and know ahead of time what the expected returns and benefits will be. If you do not know what you need to do well versus what a business management system does well, you can get trapped into buying a system because of something it does that is not important to you. System selection prepares the client for the sales cycle, gets their information together, and allows them to quickly eliminate inappropriate systems.
4. Proven Approach to Implementing
Entry level accounting systems can often be implemented by following the software vendor’s checklist. However, mid-level systems require more planning and testing because there are many different configuration options to make it adaptable to your business processes. The top solution providers have developed and can explain to you their approach to implementing the system. The approach should include options for functional design, pilot testing, data migration planning, a cut-over strategy and ongoing support.
5. Communication
When evaluating systems, many businesses are first introduced to a salesperson and may not have the opportunity to assess the communication skills of the consultants who will eventually be assigned to the project. A top solution provider will have an approach for communicating with the client regarding project status and budgets. Also, your solution provider is often preparing deliverables to you, including procedures documentation, end user training guides and more – a top solution provider can provide sample documents that demonstrate their ability to communicate in these areas.
6. System Cut-over
When your company starts using the new business management system, your comfort level must be established by the solution provider. That can take anywhere from 30 days to six months, depending upon the client and how significant the changes are in IT and business processes. During this time, your solution provider should still pay attention to you, check in to make sure things are working the way they were expected, and provide any additional support and training your end users need.
7. Ongoing Support
Many businesses begin realizing a positive return on their investment in a new system within the first 12 to 18 months. The project and your relationship with your solution provider should not end there. As your business grows and evolves, you want some assurance that your solution provider is always looking after your business – recommending improvements to business processes, assessing new modules or tools and their impact on your business, or offering user groups where you can interact and share ideas with other end users. The top solution providers make these and other services available to you for as long as you own the system.
i
As a small business or a business just getting started, you might be using an entry level accounting system where the investment in training and configuration is minimal because the product is fairly easy to use. Often these systems are ideal until your business begins adding more users and your business processes become more complex than what the system can support.
When a small business decides to implement a new accounting or business management system, it cannot shut its doors or stop day-to-day responsibilities to install, configure, and test a new system. Also, it cannot expect to start using a new system without investing time to consider potential improvements to existing business processes or train end users and migrate historical data.
This is where the role of your solution provider or consultant is critical. Top solution providers efficiently transition you from your old system to your new system with minimal downtime for your staff. In addition, your solution provider will continue supporting the solution for you as your business grows and evolves.
When choosing a new system, your choice of a solution provider should carry as much weight as the product itself. Here are a few things to look for when choosing a solution provider:
1. Understands Your Business and System Needs
A software provider should understand your business and business processes to interject which processes can be more efficient. The provider should listen to you, give good examples of how the system should work, and ask good questions, not just about software, but also how your people work, who they are, their skill sets, and how they would use the application.
2. Exhibits Exceptional Knowledge About Their Product(s)
It is a must for your software provider to thoroughly understand the functionalities, capabilities and intricacies of their solutions and coherently explain those to your end users so you optimize your investment and use the business management system to its fullest potential for your organization.
3. Knowledge of Other Products and Solutions
A good solution provider makes sure you understand what you are looking for and know ahead of time what the expected returns and benefits will be. If you do not know what you need to do well versus what a business management system does well, you can get trapped into buying a system because of something it does that is not important to you. System selection prepares the client for the sales cycle, gets their information together, and allows them to quickly eliminate inappropriate systems.
4. Proven Approach to Implementing
Entry level accounting systems can often be implemented by following the software vendor’s checklist. However, mid-level systems require more planning and testing because there are many different configuration options to make it adaptable to your business processes. The top solution providers have developed and can explain to you their approach to implementing the system. The approach should include options for functional design, pilot testing, data migration planning, a cut-over strategy and ongoing support.
5. Communication
When evaluating systems, many businesses are first introduced to a salesperson and may not have the opportunity to assess the communication skills of the consultants who will eventually be assigned to the project. A top solution provider will have an approach for communicating with the client regarding project status and budgets. Also, your solution provider is often preparing deliverables to you, including procedures documentation, end user training guides and more – a top solution provider can provide sample documents that demonstrate their ability to communicate in these areas.
6. System Cut-over
When your company starts using the new business management system, your comfort level must be established by the solution provider. That can take anywhere from 30 days to six months, depending upon the client and how significant the changes are in IT and business processes. During this time, your solution provider should still pay attention to you, check in to make sure things are working the way they were expected, and provide any additional support and training your end users need.
7. Ongoing Support
Many businesses begin realizing a positive return on their investment in a new system within the first 12 to 18 months. The project and your relationship with your solution provider should not end there. As your business grows and evolves, you want some assurance that your solution provider is always looking after your business – recommending improvements to business processes, assessing new modules or tools and their impact on your business, or offering user groups where you can interact and share ideas with other end users. The top solution providers make these and other services available to you for as long as you own the system.
Blog Optimization
by: Victoria Phee
Search engine optimization is the process done to generate traffic through search engines. It became a need for websites because 80%-90% of visitors come from major search engines. Higher rankings mean greater number of visitors. The same concept applies to blogs. However, many blog owners are not aware of their chances of being more visible on the web. They just update it once in a while and that's it. Considering the great number of blogs on the net today, from personal to corporate blogs, all their efforts will just go to waste if they do not optimize it.
Yes, blogs can be optimized, too. It should be done for the benefit both of your readers and search engine spiders. Although the process is quite similar with the standard website search engine optimization, it is a bit different. Here are some tips that you can do to start:
Consider the Design
It is not advisable to use the default template being offered by blog publishing sites. You wouldn't want to bump into a girl in a party wearing the same dress, do you? Same thing goes to blogs. You can hire a designer to do the work for you. If running a tight budget, you can always look for free templates offered by web design companies and you can customize it a little to make it unique.
Optimize the Tags
Use the most substantial phrase for your blog in the hard code of the title tag. Also, you have to double check that each entry's title appears on the tile tag. This is sometimes overlooked.
Keywords
You should always use your keywords in the blog post titles and categories. You can also use many categories in one entry if appropriate.
RSS Feed
It is best that you have RSS subscription button available on your blog. This would be more convenient to your readers because it will publish your recently updated work. If your blog publisher don't have RSS automatically available, there are RSS feed button creation tool on the net. But make sure that you place it where the readers can easily see them. You can put it in your sidebar. It is already on the blog owner's prerogative if he/she wants to full or partial RSS.
Use Email
Because there are some people who are not familiar with RSS feeds, go the extra mile and offer them something else with the same benefits. I'm talking about You can have your blog post via email. Free tools are also available online to do this.
Compelling Introduction
Introduction about the blog post is sent out via RSS feed. Make sure that it is compelling to enough to make your readers want to have more of it so that they would click the “more” button and read the entire article. Therefore, it should be interesting.
Check you CSS
It is common that blogs come with overwhelming amount of CSS or Cascading Style Sheets. The solution to this is to place it in an external CSS file to avoid clutter in the main template and for the main entry not to go further down.
Keywords-rich Anchor Texts
In placing links in other sites/blogs and even in putting internal links, make sure that you are using keyword-rich anchor text. Remember that it is always better to use your keywords than “click here” or “more”. It would benefit you when search engine spiders crawl your blog.
Keep Your Posts Bonded
If your blog post is somehow connected to your previous posts, link them to each other. The idea is that if your reader is interested in this particular topic, then he/she probably can also be entertained of a different story with the same subject matter. You can use Related Posts Plugin for this.
Do the same in other blogs. If you see a blog entry or an article on the same issue, make them knowledgeable of your existence by placing a link going to your post.
Purchase a Domain
We all know that blog hosting companies will only be around for such a time. Once they close their business, they will be closing your blog as well. If that happens, where will your loyal followers find you? Or there are change in the domain of your blog host, it will surely affect your rankings.
In case you have limited resources and can only settle to free hosting companies, look for those who offer to display your own domain rather than displaying their own like Wordpress and Blogger.
Proper URL Naming Convention
It is always a bad idea to use dynamic URLs whether on websites or blogs. You should always take advantage of any chance you have to use keywords, without keyword stuffing, including this one. Meaning, instead of using “www.xyzblog.com/?246”, you can consider “www.xyzblog.com/blog-post-keywords-here”. When you cannot do anything about it, use mod rewrite.
Good Navigation
If your blog is just a part of a website, it is not ebough that you a have a link going to your blog's main page. Use the sidebar to syndicate your new posts because the visitors of the website might get interested in your articles if they see the titles.
Fast Page Load
The amount of time involved for a page to load all depends on your host. There are some blogs that takes about half a minute just from the snippet of RSS feed to the full article. You can lose a lot of readers just because of this reason alone.
Moderated Trackbacks and Comments
Spammers are everywhere. They always find a way to abuse your blog by putting non-sense comments with links going to their website. It is annoying and it can also affect your rankings. There are numerous tools available online which you can use to moderate and avoid comment and trackbak spam.
Don't just create a blog to share great information or to prove that you know a lot about the field you are into. Do not settle on the number of followers your blog has. Start to optimize now and see the great changes on the next few months.
Search engine optimization is the process done to generate traffic through search engines. It became a need for websites because 80%-90% of visitors come from major search engines. Higher rankings mean greater number of visitors. The same concept applies to blogs. However, many blog owners are not aware of their chances of being more visible on the web. They just update it once in a while and that's it. Considering the great number of blogs on the net today, from personal to corporate blogs, all their efforts will just go to waste if they do not optimize it.
Yes, blogs can be optimized, too. It should be done for the benefit both of your readers and search engine spiders. Although the process is quite similar with the standard website search engine optimization, it is a bit different. Here are some tips that you can do to start:
Consider the Design
It is not advisable to use the default template being offered by blog publishing sites. You wouldn't want to bump into a girl in a party wearing the same dress, do you? Same thing goes to blogs. You can hire a designer to do the work for you. If running a tight budget, you can always look for free templates offered by web design companies and you can customize it a little to make it unique.
Optimize the Tags
Use the most substantial phrase for your blog in the hard code of the title tag. Also, you have to double check that each entry's title appears on the tile tag. This is sometimes overlooked.
Keywords
You should always use your keywords in the blog post titles and categories. You can also use many categories in one entry if appropriate.
RSS Feed
It is best that you have RSS subscription button available on your blog. This would be more convenient to your readers because it will publish your recently updated work. If your blog publisher don't have RSS automatically available, there are RSS feed button creation tool on the net. But make sure that you place it where the readers can easily see them. You can put it in your sidebar. It is already on the blog owner's prerogative if he/she wants to full or partial RSS.
Use Email
Because there are some people who are not familiar with RSS feeds, go the extra mile and offer them something else with the same benefits. I'm talking about You can have your blog post via email. Free tools are also available online to do this.
Compelling Introduction
Introduction about the blog post is sent out via RSS feed. Make sure that it is compelling to enough to make your readers want to have more of it so that they would click the “more” button and read the entire article. Therefore, it should be interesting.
Check you CSS
It is common that blogs come with overwhelming amount of CSS or Cascading Style Sheets. The solution to this is to place it in an external CSS file to avoid clutter in the main template and for the main entry not to go further down.
Keywords-rich Anchor Texts
In placing links in other sites/blogs and even in putting internal links, make sure that you are using keyword-rich anchor text. Remember that it is always better to use your keywords than “click here” or “more”. It would benefit you when search engine spiders crawl your blog.
Keep Your Posts Bonded
If your blog post is somehow connected to your previous posts, link them to each other. The idea is that if your reader is interested in this particular topic, then he/she probably can also be entertained of a different story with the same subject matter. You can use Related Posts Plugin for this.
Do the same in other blogs. If you see a blog entry or an article on the same issue, make them knowledgeable of your existence by placing a link going to your post.
Purchase a Domain
We all know that blog hosting companies will only be around for such a time. Once they close their business, they will be closing your blog as well. If that happens, where will your loyal followers find you? Or there are change in the domain of your blog host, it will surely affect your rankings.
In case you have limited resources and can only settle to free hosting companies, look for those who offer to display your own domain rather than displaying their own like Wordpress and Blogger.
Proper URL Naming Convention
It is always a bad idea to use dynamic URLs whether on websites or blogs. You should always take advantage of any chance you have to use keywords, without keyword stuffing, including this one. Meaning, instead of using “www.xyzblog.com/?246”, you can consider “www.xyzblog.com/blog-post-keywords-here”. When you cannot do anything about it, use mod rewrite.
Good Navigation
If your blog is just a part of a website, it is not ebough that you a have a link going to your blog's main page. Use the sidebar to syndicate your new posts because the visitors of the website might get interested in your articles if they see the titles.
Fast Page Load
The amount of time involved for a page to load all depends on your host. There are some blogs that takes about half a minute just from the snippet of RSS feed to the full article. You can lose a lot of readers just because of this reason alone.
Moderated Trackbacks and Comments
Spammers are everywhere. They always find a way to abuse your blog by putting non-sense comments with links going to their website. It is annoying and it can also affect your rankings. There are numerous tools available online which you can use to moderate and avoid comment and trackbak spam.
Don't just create a blog to share great information or to prove that you know a lot about the field you are into. Do not settle on the number of followers your blog has. Start to optimize now and see the great changes on the next few months.
Just Twitter FIND IT!
by: i80 Equipment
On their website, I 80-Equipment invite the online truck shopper to “Just say FIND IT!” (http://www.i80equipment.com/locator.html) and they promise to help you find whatever you’re looking for. It’s only a matter of time before twittering truckers adopt this on Twitter too.
Remember two months ago, when people asked what Twitter was. Now if you’re a business and you’re worth your salt, you want to be Twitterin’.
For any business though, it is a calculated decision to twitter. You don’t want to start Twittering until you’re sure that you’ll have followers. It’s probably a costly mistake in the business world, to be seen Twittering with only 5 followers in tow. You want to start twittering when you’ve got a solid client-base who would do repeat business with you, if the need arises, and who will happily follow you, if invited.
Twitter is a great tool if you want to give your clients and potential clients a forum for a dialogue, and even more importantly if you want to let them see what you’re up to. The logic of Twittering is if you like being well-informed as to what’s happening in your industry, you keep your client-base and other people in your niche market in the loop, and gather a following. And then, at some point, your following will do a 180 degree turn. You’ll start attracting the ‘big fish’ in your industry. Like-minded professionals, who have interesting business partnerships and deals to offer, will approach you because of your following. This is where Twitter is miles ahead of other social networking platforms. Twitter acknowledges that it’s all about your following. “If you have the numbers, let’s talk” is the attitude.
Most people get that Twitter is a social network. But ask them about micro-blogging, and you might get a few raised eyebrows. But that’s what Twitter is about – it’s micro-blogging. And in this era of information overload, micro-blogging is the freshest, user-friendly alternative to blogging.
If you want to be with the top players, hang out where everyone is hanging out. Twitter ranks as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide. You’ll be looking for elbow space alongside 6 million monthly visitors, and close to 10 times this number of monthly visits. It’s where people who are going places go.
I 80 Equipment, based in Colona, IL has earned the reputation of being #1 Supplier of Quality Bucket Trucks Digger Derricks and Cranes. I 80 Equipment also have a sales hotline service, and they are always happy to walk you through any aspect of a truck purchase, be it choosing the right truck for your company, ensuring your drivers know what they need to know, or getting financing.
I-80 Equipment has earned themselves a strong reputation for the quality trucks they offer, their 77 point inspection and their financing solutions. And their name is known nation-wide as well internationally. They sell boom trucks, bucket trucks, crane trucks, digger derricks, and other heavy equipment for many different industries. They Twitter.
On their website, I 80-Equipment invite the online truck shopper to “Just say FIND IT!” (http://www.i80equipment.com/locator.html) and they promise to help you find whatever you’re looking for. It’s only a matter of time before twittering truckers adopt this on Twitter too.
Remember two months ago, when people asked what Twitter was. Now if you’re a business and you’re worth your salt, you want to be Twitterin’.
For any business though, it is a calculated decision to twitter. You don’t want to start Twittering until you’re sure that you’ll have followers. It’s probably a costly mistake in the business world, to be seen Twittering with only 5 followers in tow. You want to start twittering when you’ve got a solid client-base who would do repeat business with you, if the need arises, and who will happily follow you, if invited.
Twitter is a great tool if you want to give your clients and potential clients a forum for a dialogue, and even more importantly if you want to let them see what you’re up to. The logic of Twittering is if you like being well-informed as to what’s happening in your industry, you keep your client-base and other people in your niche market in the loop, and gather a following. And then, at some point, your following will do a 180 degree turn. You’ll start attracting the ‘big fish’ in your industry. Like-minded professionals, who have interesting business partnerships and deals to offer, will approach you because of your following. This is where Twitter is miles ahead of other social networking platforms. Twitter acknowledges that it’s all about your following. “If you have the numbers, let’s talk” is the attitude.
Most people get that Twitter is a social network. But ask them about micro-blogging, and you might get a few raised eyebrows. But that’s what Twitter is about – it’s micro-blogging. And in this era of information overload, micro-blogging is the freshest, user-friendly alternative to blogging.
If you want to be with the top players, hang out where everyone is hanging out. Twitter ranks as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide. You’ll be looking for elbow space alongside 6 million monthly visitors, and close to 10 times this number of monthly visits. It’s where people who are going places go.
I 80 Equipment, based in Colona, IL has earned the reputation of being #1 Supplier of Quality Bucket Trucks Digger Derricks and Cranes. I 80 Equipment also have a sales hotline service, and they are always happy to walk you through any aspect of a truck purchase, be it choosing the right truck for your company, ensuring your drivers know what they need to know, or getting financing.
I-80 Equipment has earned themselves a strong reputation for the quality trucks they offer, their 77 point inspection and their financing solutions. And their name is known nation-wide as well internationally. They sell boom trucks, bucket trucks, crane trucks, digger derricks, and other heavy equipment for many different industries. They Twitter.
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