Archive for June, 2009
Is SEO Really Worth The Effort!
Latent Semantic Indexing is all the talk now among Webmasters trying to keep up with the everchanging Google indexing for sites.
First of all what is Latent Semantic Indexing? Well it is a complex mathematical formula but it is being used by search engines to help them determine what is the theme of the site.
It is now known that Google especially are giving more importance to websites that are closely themed and this can be very effective for achieving a good position in search engine results.
With the major search engines like Google Yahoo and MSN seemingly changing their algorithms on a regular basis it sometimes feels like you’re fighting a losing battle trying to keep up with them. We’re all constantly tweaking our websites and chasing links in a desperate attempt to grab or hold on to that elusive spot on the first page of results for our chosen keywords so is SEO really worth the effort?
Well firstly if you have optimized your site well both through onpage and offpage optimization and manage to obtain top rankings in the search engines then you can get a great deal of free traffic to your site depending on how popular your keywords are that you are ranking well for. So yes of course in this instance SEO is most definitely worth spending time over.
The problem however is that if you are launching a new site and plan to get the bulk of your traffic from search engines you may end up being disappointed because it can take many months before you even get close to achieving high rankings. This is particularly true of Google and Yahoo. MSN is easier to rank highly for but this is negated by the fact that a lot less people use MSN than Google and Yahoo.
This is why when I now launch a new site I’m focused more on receiving traffic from other sources and concentrating almost solely on building my own list of subscribers. There are endless ways to start getting immediate traffic to a new site and start building your list.
I personally like to post in forums write and submit articles to article directories and relevant ezines pay for advertising in these same ezines write and submit press releases promote a squeeze page on traffic exchanges if my site is related to making money online creditbased safelists free safelists are a waste of time and other listbuilding services. I also like to write free reports and ebooks containing links to my site which can be freely given away and rebranded for greater distribution creating a viral effect.
I still carry out the standard onpage search engine optimization techniques and offpage techniques such as getting keywordrich text links from directories and other related sites but I now no longer base my whole future profit model on obtaining top search engine rankings. My thoughts are that if they come they come but whatever happens as long as I keep building a list of subscribers for each of my sites I know that I can always achieve good profits regardless of where I rank in the search engines.
It also eliminates any stress that can occur when the leading search engines change their algorithms. I’ve seen many instances of longestablished websites whose entire livelihood relied on the traffic they received as a result of being at the top of the search engines but who suddenly saw their sites disappear from the first few pages of results wiping their profits out almost immediately. Some of these sites had no mailing lists either so they had no alternative profit model in place.
Hopefully you can see that while everyone wants top search engine rankings it’s not the be all and end all and certainly shouldn’t be used to base your whole business model on. There are numerous successful websites online who couldn’t care less about SEO and indeed are nowhere to be found in the search engines. They rely on other trafficgenerating techniques such as viral marketing joint venturing or recruiting affiliates for example to build and grow their online business.
To conclude while it’s important to spend some time optimizing your website and obtaining links for SEO purposes spending several hours a day tweaking every page of your site just to please the search engines is not a productive way to spend your time. Instead you should be focusing on building your list of targeted subscribers using other more immediate trafficgenerating methods where you can see results very quickly and not have to wait several months before you’re ranking highly in the search engines.
Just keep adding good quality content to your site and providing a reason for your visitors to return to your site. This should have the effect of boosting your search engine rankings anyway without having to spend hours on SEO because other sites will start linking to you automatically and the search engines will generally reward your site with a higher ranking if it is constantly updated with good content.
In this article I discuss whether it is really worth spending hours on SEO and examining whether there are other equally important aspects of your online business you should be focusing on.
Google when it visits a web page will not only look at the keywords included on a page but will look at all the content to see the relevance of the content to the keywords.
This will help search engines to better understand the overall theme of the page.
Assuming you have done some keyword research using one of the keyword tools available I personally recommend Wordtracker as I find the results more reliable. What is the next step to make website pages more closely themed?
The answer is to try to use as many of the results returned from the keyword tool in your content. This of course needs to be done so that the pages reads well of course.
Using this method search engines are in no doubt as to the theme of the web page.
Google uses LSI to associate words for classifying pages as opposed to depending only on the keywords of the past.
Another use of latent semantic indexing is in helping Google in assessing the write type of adsense ads to display on web pages.
To see what words Google thinks are related to a keyword for example just do a search for any word with the tilde key first. It is possible to get a list from Google of related keywords.
Use their keyword tool it may provide new words that haven’t been returned by the keyword tool you have used.
A list of results will be returned that Google say are related to your keyword.
Now to get top positions in search engines it will be important to consider latent semantic indexing because of the close theming of pages will result in higher rankings in search engines.
There is nothing complicated with using latent semantic indexing for your web pages it is a question of having closely themed sites with content that is related to one theme so there can be no doubt as to the pages topic.
Another important point to consider is to make sure that you have the anchor text the words in the hyper links should vary. It is a good idea to use different words related to your main keyword.
Do not have all the incoming links pointing to one page. By varying the anchor text this will not only get more pages indexed but will also help with the theming of websites.
For example if your main keyword is seo you could use anchor text like search engine search engines search engine optimization.
First of all what is Latent Semantic Indexing? Well it is a complex mathematical formula but it is being used by search engines to help them determine what is the theme of the site.
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10 Helpful Tips On Helping Middle Class America To Regain Their Life Back
It is a known fact that a few percent of the population controls over 90 percent of all the money in the USA. Middle class has been hit the hardest from this down turn of the economy the stock market was betting on the housing explosion in the late 90′s. Housing prices went through the roof. People thought that this was going to be a long lasting situation. Mortgage companies were giving mortgages with almost nothing down.
Banks gave some people 2 mortgages one for their down payment and another long turn mortgage for 80 percent or better. With rates coming down people were refinancing some once twice even three times to enjoy the drop in rates. People were encouraged to take some of the equity out of their homes for remodeling additions investments buying a summer home for other properties. People leveraged themselves to make more money. Nobody really thought the gravy train would end.
Then out came the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Offering even lower rates BUT very few people read the fine print about the rate only being there for 2 to3 years then jumping to prime rate plus 567 percent or higher. Some loans turned into out of control balloon rates.
When people went to try to refinance rates were higher people couldn’t afford their homes any longer. People started to panic the stock market started to drop consumer confidence fell foreclosures started. People panicking caused them to pull money out of the Stock market causing even more turmoil. Banks started foreclosing.People started losing their jobs homes dropped in value. ALL the people who refinanced their home to 125 now had to give money back to the bank because their homes were not worth as much.
Unscrupulous mortgage and loan companies jumped in and acting as a friend to the consumers signed them up in short mortgages but unknowingly were trying to steal people’s property. People who over extended themselves financially with other properties started a domino effect while losing property after property. When the federal government finally saw what was happening it was too late. People were losing their jobs and their homes and the economy was in deep trouble. This economic down turn started a global recession.
The major car manufactures General Motors Chrysler and Ford who were selling vehicles with 0 financing showed how much they are hurting even before this collapse.
People that have been dealing with the same bank for several years which they had their life savings and retirement money where many were able to save 200000 to 400000 or more during their life they ended up losing most of their money when the banks closed. Their life savings was just about gone!
In December of 2008 over a half a million jobs were lost. Major companies with massive layoffs banks like Washington Mutual and Wachovia were taken over by Larger banks like Chase Manhattan Bank and Wells Fargo.
Citi Bank got financial help from the federal government in the tune of 62 Billion dollars! They are still cutting jobs but they are trying to stay afloat. I have to give credit to the upper management and CORPORATE OFFICERS that refused to take their yearly bonus in 2008.
Unlike some financial institutions that received several billion dollars for help and what did they do with the government money? THEY TOOK THE MONEY FOR THEIR YEARLY BONUSES!
When the big 3 car manufactures went to congress for help. They drove down to Washington. Who are they kidding? Their private jets are still their waiting to fly off into the wild blue yonder.
Corporate America is part of a very big piece of this puzzle. The money they spend on their corporate images could save a lot of jobs. Even Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has not been paid not that he needs the money but he truly contributes a lot of money to charities. I respect what he does. There should be more people like him. Corporate Offices should take a lesson.
MIDDLE CLASS AMERICA NEEDS HELP.
Here are 10helpful tips.
Mortgages now are extremely hard to get. The Federal Government is finally stepping in to oversee what is happening.
1.Watch out for deals that are too good to be true because they are usually a scam. There are still scam artists out there. Make sure a competent attorney reads over ANY financial contract. A woman in California that owned her home that was in her family for generations needed 30000. She found a lender but WITHOUT KNOWING the lender they sold the house right from under her.
2.Get legal representation with all your financial situations. Make sure the attorney is someone that you know or a friend knows or who has a good reputation that can be verified. DO NOT USE AN ATTORNEY SUGGESTED BY ANY FINANCIAL INSTITUTION. Watch your back
3. If you are lucky enough to have several hundred thousand dollars saved you can go to any bank that will have a FDIC program that will protect your money in a CD or some checking accounts and they will GUARANTEE your money up to 250000. If you have more a husband can open one account and a husband and wife can open another protecting 500000. IF there is more money to protect use your kids and put it in trust but PROTECT YOUR SAVINGS!! If it is a Brokerage account with Fidelity you are protected up to 500000. Call the FDIC and make sure on any of these programs. You can get the telephone number or contact number through most banks. BE CAREFULL THIS DEAL IS ONLY GOOD FOR THE YEAR 2009. I am sure there will be other deals coming out this year.
4.On the Brightside an economy EVEN SUCH AS THIS MILLIONAIRES ARE MADE. The market is low. I still believe it will go lower. Property is low but it will go lower.
5. You can pick up tax lien properties as an investment. Read about them DON’T investin them unless you know what you are doing and what you are looking for.
6. The bond market is not the place to be at this point I would wait until interest rates go up. If you can try to keep your credit card bills down to nothing. Some credit cards charge anywhere from 25 to 30. Find a bank that will offer you a balance transfer. Some of you can extend to 60 or 72 months with a rate of fewer than 5 percent rate.
7.There are some good investments out there but make sure the company you are investing with is financially secure and make sure they are not in debt and have a CASH surplus.
8. Property investment is good BUT you will have to pay taxes and support the property until you sell it.
9. The internet is a great research center. You can make money on it. BUT there are plenty of scams to. Be very careful. We have discovered a solid business with residual income to create retirement for many years to come..
Network Marketing as endorsed by Donald Trumpas a way out of all financial problems starting a home based business andfollowing a system of successto ensure your family’s income is “recession proofed”.
10. If your car is in good shape keep it well maintained. If you take care of it the car will take care of you. If you do need a new car there are very good low or 0 finance deals out there but remember when buying a new car as soon as you drive it off of the lot you just devalued the car 2025. It may pay to buy a Two Year old car still with a factory warranty.
Keep a positive outlook on things. It is tough now but things run in cycles. Look for the up swing try to save some money and make wise investments.
I hope the year 2009 is going to be a good year for everyone. Remember this a cycle and there is a way down and then a way back up again. Even when this economy becomes strong again be careful not to over extend yourself. Spread the wealth around. Put it in different banks and watch what the FDIC is doing.
About the writer: Joshua Feinberg is the author and editorial director of the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course which helps computer consultants VARs integrators solution providers and managed services providers get more of the best steady highpaying small business SMB clients.
Setting Up Quickbooks Part Two: Taxlines
Setting Up Quickbooks Part 2What to Do with the Tax Lines
By David Roberts
Introduction
I can remember real well what my grandmother would say when her guests would load up more on their plate than they would eat. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” Or “His eyes were bigger than his stomach.” When I planned this article I knew there was a lot of information but doing all of it may have been biting off more than I could chew’. So I am going to break this article up into two so that I can be fair to each and every one of you who may be struggling to figure out what to do with that last line in the edit accounts window. The first article will cover the Schedule C Income and Deductions part of the tax line and the second will examine the K1 and Balance Sheets along with the M1 and the 8825AE forms.
Remember that this is what I do for a living so I have to know this information I have to get excited about it yes I know I need a hobby because it’s a big part of my practice. Don’t feel bad if you happen to nod off in the middle of information about this or that section number I will attempt to make this as informative and entertaining as the subject of taxation will allow. The IRS doesn’t like it when we have fun discussing taxes!
II. Schedule C Income and Expenses.
Depending on the version of Quickbooks you have you may or may not see the description Schedule C’ in the tax line information. Regardless this is the place that you would put income and expenses for your business.
1. Gross Receipts or Sales You may have as many income accounts as necessary and assign this tax line to them. Whether you call the accounts daily sales or Credit Card sales it is revenue brought in to the business by your daily activities.
2. Returns and Allowances When you purchase items for your business sometimes it becomes necessary to return them to the vendor. You can’t delete the original entry or purchase information but you can record the return using this tax line because technically though it is not revenue it is income because your money is being returned to you.
3. Other Income This covers income not generated through sales or returns interest on your business checking account not investments that is another line. charges that you pass on to your clients bounced checks late fees etc. This will help you distinguish what your business is generating on a regular operating basis and will help give you a more accurate picture of your finances.
4. COGS Cost of Goods Sold Purchases for those businesses that must purchase materials to construct or build products for their customers. A stool manufacturer for example must purchase the legs the seat the cushions separately and sometimes from different vendors. A retail store must purchase goods for resale. This is where those purchases must go.
5. COGS Cost of Labor These are not salaries these are the costs of getting the product built and out to the customer. Subcontractors’ labor etc would go here.
6. COGS Additional Section 263A Costs This involves the capitalization of certain items of inventory in the possession of the company owner. The good news is that unless the business is producing more than 10000000 a year chances are this won’t apply to you.
7. COGS Other Costs If it costs your business to get the item shipped to you or shipped to your customers that’s where this expense goes. Shipping marketing materials or items for use in your business does not go here.
Deductions
8. Compensation of Officers/Shareholders If you have your business set up to pay you a regular salary that amount would go here. The good news is that most business owners who initially started their companies if they have put a sizable investment in can draw out some of their pay’ in a Distribution to Shareholder category which means you will only be taking out part of which you put in and thus it is not taxable personally to you. A lot of small businesses do not even pay out to the owners until the business is on more solid footing.
9. Compensation of Other Officers Same as above without the Distribution option unless the other’ officers are partners who invested in the corporation too.
10. Salaries and Wages This is of course where you put in what you paid your employees not the 1099 vendors but the weekly hourly workers.
11. Repairs and Maintenance This one is self explanatory just make sure that your accountant is depreciating your machinery correctly so that the costs of repairs doesn’t escalate beyond the useful life of the asset.
12. Bad Debts What is a bad debt? When you sell goods or services on account be aware that some clients won’t pay you. Be prepared to either confiscate the goods sold or continue to bill for services. At what point does the debt become bad? I’d say probably past 180 days and your chances of collecting are close to zero. There are two ways of handling bad debts in your accounting. One the Allowance for Bad Debts account. This assumes that a certain percentage of your Accounts Receivable will turn bad. .5 2 You create the account in QB and estimate that a certain percentage will never pay and you put it into this account. Two only count those who have indicated that they will not pay or cannot pay and add them to the Bad Debts account after 180 days. Keep in mind that if a bad debt does get paid in a following year you have to make a reverse entry to take that amount from the bad debt account and put it back into accounts receivable.
13. Rents Office space warehouse space storage space all goes here.
14. State Tax These are NOT state sales taxes these are state taxes you pay to operate your business.
15. Local Property Tax County City Parish etc charges that you pay for to own property in that particular county city or parish.
16. Payroll Taxes Quickbooks puts the appropriate payroll taxes here automatically when you subscribe to the Add on service of Assisted Payroll. see the article entitled “Using Add On Services” for more information If you are not subscribed to QB payroll you have to enter in the correct information as to employee and employer contributions to Social Security and Medicare.
17. Other Misc. Taxes In Northern states that seem to tax residents and businesses out of existence things like parking taxes etc would go here. Have you considered moving to Florida?
18. Licenses Each occupation legal ones that is requires a license to operate. These are usually paid to the county separately from the county taxes. Those fees would be in this tax line.
19. Interest Expense Are you paying interest expenses? Again this is self explanatory.
20. Depletion This is the natural resources version of Depreciation so unless your business owns forestry land oil reserves or farms you won’t have to deal with Depletion.
21. Advertising Experts say that unless you are spending 10 of your revenue on advertising you are not spending enough. However you have to be wise about it. Any kind of marketing from yellow pages ads least effective to radio television and bench ads would go here.
22. Pension/Profit Sharing A deal you might make with potential employees is to pay less hourly and pay bonuses based on performance. This keeps a sort of ownership’ attitude amongst the employees and the bonuses would be put here.
23. Employee Benefits Insurance packages etc would be put here.
24. Meals and Entertainment When going about your daily business you have to eat. Remember that only 50 of these expenses are deductible however if you have a staff party and pay for a meal for all of them it is all deductible. Oh and the IRS isn’t stupid you can’t have a staff party every day.
25. Other Deductions If you are unsure of the category and it doesn’t seem to fit anywhere above use this one and be sure to ask your accountant later where it would go.
About the writer: Homesoon Accounting servicing Kissimmee St. Cloud and Southeast Orlando offers help in tax preparation Quickbooks consultation and fraud prevention management with ten years experience in helping individuals and small businesses with their tax issues and bookkeeping. Since this is a home based business we don’t have to pay rent on an office for 12 months with a 4 month income like the national franchise offices do and we pass that savings on to you.