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In a world of bland, corporate buildings...
thank goodness for those architects & designers who express their individuality. They brighten up our world. From works of art to the downright wacky, here is a list, some of which I have been fortunate to see in the flesh.
10. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain
No list is possible without the architect Frank Gehry. Built alongside the Nervion River, the curves are typical Gehry and were designed to catch the light. The museum, opened to the public in 1997, exhibits Spanish and international artists and the unusual design made it an important tourist attraction for the town. Gehry wanted the design to resemble a ship in honour of Bilbaos status as a port. The building is made of limestone and glass, and titanium panels made to look like fish scales.
9. Dali Theatre and Museum
Figueras, Spain
Another Spanish art museum, this houses the largest collection of Salvador Dalis artwork in the world. Figueras was the artists birthplace and he wanted to rebuild the old theatre from the ruins left by the bombs of the Spanish Civil War. The museum opened in 1974 and was expanded through the 1980s. Dali supervised the design, which matched the eccentricity of his paintings and sculptures, particularly in the giant eggs on the roof. Dalis crypt is in the basement.
8. Turning the Place Over Liverpool
This is an art installation contained within a derelict building, which has served as an attraction during Liverpools tenure as European City of Culture. Sculptor Richard Wilsons creation surprises passers-by. An oval shaped 8-metre diameter section of the wall was cut and made to spin round on a pivot to reveal the interior of the building.
7. The Mushroom Tree House Cincinnati, Ohio
This other worldly construction looks as if it was transplanted from a children's picture book. It doesnt appear to have been built at all and looks like it sprung up from the ground. The effect was achieved by the former Professor of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati, the late Terry Brown. Browns students helped with the project and were graded for it. It can be found in the Hyde Park district of the city.
6. Ripleys Believe It Or Not Building Branson, Missouri
The Branson museum is one of a chain of museums, housing the bizarre artifacts owned by the Ripley franchise. The building was designed to commemorate the devastating earthquake, which registered over 8.0 on the Richter Scale, in 1812 in New Madrid, Missouri. The crack across the building gives the impression that it has just survived its own earthquake. The Ripleys Believe It Or Not Museum in Orlando, Florida is designed to appear as if it is sinking into the ground.
5. The Robot Building Bangkok
The robotic design, by the architect Sumet Jumsai, houses the United Overseas Bank headquarters. Located in the Sathorn business district, it was completed in 1986 when contemporary design was in vogue. Its a friendly looking robot with lidded eyeballs for windows. The architects remit was to design something that made a statement about the modern, computerised nature of banking.
4. Sagrada Familia Barcelona, Spain
Many visitors go to Barcelona just to see the work of the architect, Antoni Gaudi. He didnt like straight lines and he avoided them whenever possible! His most ambitious construction, the Sagrada Familia Roman Catholic Church is still to be finished. Gaudi worked on it from 1852 until his death in 1926. It is scheduled to be open to the public for worship in 2010. Its towers are the most iconic image of Barcelona and it looks as if it belongs in a fairy story. The church is full of Christian symbolism, dedicated to the saints. Gaudis other famous Barcelona landmarks include Casa Mila and Park Guell.
3. The Basket Building Newark, Ohio
Not many people get to work in a replica of a hand woven gift basket! This environment is headquarters to the Longaberger Company, a successful basket manufacturer. The founder, Dave Longaberger, wanted all his company buildings to be in the shape of a basket but his daughters countered his wishes following his death. However, this 7-story replica of one of the companys products is not the only giant Longaberger basket in the area. Dave had also instigated the Apple Basket in Frazeysburg, the house sized Picnic Basket in Dresden, and the Big Easter Basket in Lorain.
2. The Crooked House Sopot, Poland
The architectural firm of Szotynscy Zaleski took inspiration from fairytale illustrations and from the designs of Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi to design this remarkable construction. The roof is covered with bluish green enamelled shingles that look like dragon scales. The interior is conventional and contains bars, shops and cafes.
1. The Dancing House Prague, CR
Tourists from all over the world come to marvel at the beautiful churches and other historic buildings in Prague, so they are surprised to find this contemporary gem. It houses the Nationale-Nederlanden insurance company and was designed by Vlado Milunic and Frank Gehry. Construction was between 1992 and 1996 and was endorsed by the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel. A French restaurant occupies the roof, affording magnificent views over the city. Other nicknames for the building include the Fred and Ginger, and the Drunk House.
Source: Anne Iredale
With the explosion of Consumer Generated Media (CGM), ongoing monitoring of your personal or professional reputation has become a must. Consumer Generated Media consists largely of social networking websites; blogs; photo, audio and video sharing sites; discussion boards; and any other website that allows users to share their experience, opinion and knowledge.
Facebook, Twitter, BlogSpot, WordPress people update and write about anything, anywhere, anytime. In fact, they might be writing about you. You can imagine the devastating ramifications of negative word of mouth about your company or yourself. However, you can be proactive and monitor online reputations before disaster strikes. You can monitor your name, product feedback, services, company, competitors, employers, even enemies. The sky is the limit and the tools are easy to set up and free to use, so take advantage of them.
Here are ten free basic tools to monitor online reputation:
Monitor the external links to your blog, corporate website or personal web page through Yahoos Site Explorer. This free tool allows you to check who is linking back to your site. There is a very high probability that people who post negative comments, also provide a link to their source of disappointment.
Google SideWiki is a very useful browser plug-in that allows any Gmail user to annotate or post comments on any website. This web annotation feature also allows the website owner to leave an owners comment on their Sidewiki. It will appear at the top of all other listings. It is very important to regularly check your SideWiki entries to prevent spam and abuse or to address negative feedback. Dont be offended if there are some legitimate negative comments, but make sure you address them: contact the complainer, post a comment letting the person know youve contacted them directly, and take the conversation offline.
This tool will check the availability of your personal/corporate name or username on over 400 popular social networking and bookmarking platforms. Knowem is a good way to discover if someone is posing as you or if its just a coincidence. Checking usernames is becoming essential also for trademark protection and to protect yourself and your business from identity theft.
Delicious, the worlds premier social bookmarking service, is another handy tool. Almost everybody is bookmarking nowadays, so start discovering web bookmarks that mention your name, services, or competitors. Use the search box or the Delicious tag page to monitor your online reputation.
If you have been facing online reputation problems and you want to keep an eye on a particular website, Versionista monitors any change of the web page of interest, visually showing the exact words and sentences that have been added or removed. It alerts you by sending email notifications.
5. SamePoint
SamePoint is a useful social media search and analytic platform that allows you to analyze millions of user-generated conversations and monitor online reputations. It is easily accessible, simply type your query into the search box and analyze the social tone: whether it is positive or negative. The Social Tone feature indicates how many negative/positive words have been found in the post. Remember to subscribe to your tracking feed.
SocialMention allows you to easily monitor and measure what people are saying about you, your organization, a new service, or any topic across the online social media landscape in real-time. According to SocialMention, the tool monitors 100+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc. You can create various alerts (similar to Google Alerts) based on your choice of search phrase.
Twitter is one of the most popular and powerful social networking services. Conduct a search for your target keyword and then subscribe via RSS to get fresh search results. The TwitterSearch plug-in will help you find people by name, if you dont know their Twitter account. It is a great plug-in. Type in toptenz and you will see for yourself. You can subscribe to the feed of your search query.
Technorati is a leading search engine of the blogosphere. It indexes millions of blogs in real time. Technorati is probably the best tool to monitor blogger conversations. Conduct a search using the Technorati search box and if you are not happy with the returned results, try using quotation marks, for example: toptenz. Subscribe to the RSS feed and check it periodically.
One of my favorite free tools is, of course, Google Alerts- a powerful content monitoring service. Its a great way to stay informed. Google Alerts monitor both social and traditional media. You will receive email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your search term. If your Web search query contains two or more words, use quotation marks around your phrase to tell Google Alerts exactly what to retrieve. For instance, a Google Alert for online reputation software works better with quotes. Heres a great trick: use negative keywords. If your name is similar (or the same) to another organization or another person, use the search phrase your name characteristic of the other company/person as an alert. Using the negative keyword, Google Alerts will exclude almost all results about the second one. Lets say that my name is John Smith and I am a Human Resources Manager but Johnsmithsport.com is the corporate website of a Spanish designer. The search phrase John Smith -johnsmithsport.com will eliminate results related to his website from my alert. The Google Alerts service has several other settings to help you customize your updates.
What free online tools do you use to monitor?
source: Timeea Vinerean
There are many different types of buildings all throughout the world, and occasionally a building is built that captivates a city or even a nation. Over time these buildings become the defining pinnacle of the greatness of the city they improve the skyline of. This is a list of buildings that the world wouldnt be the same without.
10. Hagia Sophia
Built on the site of a 4th century church, of which nothing remains, the Hagia Sophia has been a focal point in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) ever since. The great church is now a museum but it wasnt always so: for centuries it served as a pillar of the Greek Orthodox Church and then as an Islamic Mosque. The second church was destroyed by a fire during the Nika Riots in 532, although remnants of it can still be seen today. The Hagia Sophia that can be seen today was built between 532 and 537 and is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture. The biggest draw to the ancient church is the impressive 102 foot diameter dome which reaches 182 feet into the sky. Other stunning characteristics of the Hagia Sophia are the countless mosaics, the Loge of the Empress, the Marble Door, the Sultans Lodge, Mahmut Is Library and the Marble Jars.
Who built it?
The first church was built on the spot where a pagan temple had stood, by Emperor Constantine himself in 360. In 405 the second church was built by Constantines son, Theodosius II. The third and final Hagia Sophia was built by Justinian in 532. In 1453 Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople and turned it into a mosque, and subsequent sultans have made various additions since then.
9. The Louvre
One of the most easily recognizable museums in the world, the Louvres Palace and the recently added glass pyramid are as beautiful to those who visit as the priceless works of art that it houses. But it wasnt always a museum, it was originally built in the 12th century as a museum but in the 14th century it was converted into a royal residence. In 1750 Louis XV turned it back into a royal museum to house parts of the royal collection. During the French Revolution it underwent another transformation, this time from royal to public museum. Throughout the years it has been added to by Napoleon I and restored by Louis XVIII and Charles X. Today the Louvre holds 380,000 pieces; 35,000 of which are on display, including such important works as The Mona Lisa and The Venus de Milo.
Who built it?
Philip II built the Louvre Palace as a fortress somewhere between 1190 and 1202, although most of the original structure has been destroyed. The Salle Basse (Lower Hall) is all that remains of the Medieval Louvre.
8. The Burj Al Arab
In a city famous for its architecture, the Burj Al Arab defines the Dubai skyline. The newest building on a long list of architecture built on a grand scale, the Burj Al Arab was built in 1994 and is one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. Perched on a man-made island in the Persian Gulf, it was built to mimic the sail of a dhow. The hotel features a 590-foot tall atrium, a large seawater aquarium, two restaurants (one of which was voted in the top 10 restaurants in the world by Conde Nast) and 202 luxuriously appointed suites.
Who built it?
The Burj Al Arab was designed by Tom Wright and built by Atkins for Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts. It is currently the second largest hotel in the world.
7. Sydney Opera House
Rising out of the Sydney Harbour, the Sydney Opera House is not only the center of the arts scene in Australia but also stands out as a must see to anyone visiting the area. In the late 1940s Eugene Goossens, the Director of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music lobbied for a new venue for large productions. In 1955 a design competition was held by NSW Premier Joseph Cahill, and by 1958 construction had begun. The winning design features several concrete shells and houses performance spaces like the concert hall, the opera theater, the drama theater, the studio, the Utzon room, the forecourt as well as a recording studio, five restaurants, four souvenir shops and a guided tour operation.
Who built it?
The winning designer was Jrn Utzon, an architect from Denmark. When Cahill insisted on radical changes to the design, Utzon resigned mid-construction and the project was finished without him. In the 90s, the Sydney Opera House Trust reconciled with Utzon, naming him a design consultant for future work but he died in November of 2008.
6. Empire State Building
Once the tallest building in the world, no film or television show set in New York is complete without including a shot of the grand Art Deco skyscraper. Originally the site of the Waldorf-Astoria, construction of the Empire State Building began on St Patricks Day 1930. 410 days later construction was finished and it won the title of worlds tallest building, surpassing both 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, which were being built around the same time. The opening of the building coincided with the Great Depression so it sat almost empty for the next 20 years. This wasnt the only challenge the building has had to face: there was a 1945 plane crash, shootings in 1997, and more than 30 suicides. Through it all the Empire State Building has endured as a timeless monument of New York City.
Who built it?
The Empire State Building was designed by William F. Lamb, based on the designs for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem North Carolina and the Carew Tower in Cincinnati Ohio. Because of this, the staff of the Empire State Building sends a Fathers Day card to the staff of the Reynolds Building every year.
5. Taj Mahal
The crowning jewel of India, the Taj Mahal is a testament to one mans love for his wife. It looks like a palace, but it was actually built as a tomb for the Emperors favorite wife. Construction began one year after her death in 1632 and the mausoleum was completed in 1648 with the surrounding buildings and gardens taking another five years to complete. The construction took 20,000 workers and craftsmen that were recruited from all across northern India. Soon after the Taj Mahal was completed, the Emperor was deposed by his son Aurungzeb and put under house arrest. When the Emperor died in 1658, he was buried beside his wife inside the Taj Mahal. During world War II the Indian government erected scaffolding around the Taj to mislead German and Japanese bomber pilots. Today the Taj Mahal is under a different threat: acid rain and pollution from the Mathura Oil Refinery has begun to turn its white marble yellow.
Who built it?
The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan when his third wife Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to their fourteenth child, Gauhara Begum. He exchanged a large palace in the center of Agra with Maharajah Jai Singh for the three acres of land where the Taj now sits.
4. Eiffel Tower
Towering high above Paris, the Eiffel Tower was built between 1887 and 1889 and acted as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle, which marked the centennial of the French Revolution. The tower was only supposed to stand for 20 years but it was a valuable communication tool and remained as an unmistakable element of the Paris skyline (especially as buildings in the city cannot surpass seven stories). During the German occupation of Paris during World War II, the lift cables were cut forcing German soldiers to climb the stairs to the top to hoist the swastika. Within hours of the Liberation of Paris, the lifts were back in working order.
Who built it?
The Eiffel tower was designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel who had originally submitted the design to Barcelona for the Universal Exposition in 1888 but they refused. When it was built, he engraved the names of 72 French scientists, engineers and other notable Frenchmen.
3. Big Ben
One of the worlds most famous clocks, Big Ben is actually the name of one of the bells but over the years it has come to be used for both the clock and the tower as well. It was completed during the restoration of the Palace of Westminster in 1858. The tower stands 316 feet tall, each clock face is 23 feet square with 4 foot numbers and the great bell is seven and a half feet tall and weighs 13 tons. Nobody knows exactly whom Big Ben is named after but common theories include Sir Benjamin Hall (who oversaw the installation of the bell) or English Heavyweight Boxing Champion Benjamin Count.
Who built it?
Charles Barry designed Westminster Palace, however, Augustus Pugin created the clock tower. Pugin fell into madness and died in 1852 and Big Ben was the last building he would ever design. The clock itself was designed by Beckett Denison.
2. The Colosseum
The largest Roman amphitheater ever built, the Colosseum is one of the greatest architectural feats ever achieved by the Ancient Romans. Construction began between 70 and 72 AD and was finished in 80 AD. It was capable of seating 50,000 people and was usually used for gladiatorial games, but could also be used for public spectacles, mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, reenactments of battles, and dramas based on Classical Mythology. During the medieval era its entertainment purposes ended and it has since been used as housing, workshops, a fortress, a quarry, quarters for a religious order, and a Christian shrine. Today the Colosseum is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Rome and attracts thousands of visitors every year.
Who Built it?
The Colosseum was imagined by Emperor Vespasian who used the vast treasure seized during the Great Jewish Revolt in 70 AD to fund its construction. It was built up to the third story when Vespasian died in 79 AD, but his son Titus finished it and inaugurated it in 80 AD.
1. The Giza Pyramids
The oldest buildings on this list, the pyramids on the Giza plateau have intrigued mankind for centuries. Not only have they stood the test of time, but the accuracy with which they were built is impressive even by todays standards. They were built as tombs for three separate pharaohs during the Third and Fourth Dynasty. It is also the only surviving wonder of the ancient world and was the tallest building in the world until 1300 when it was surpassed by the Lincoln Cathedral. Despite their long history, or perhaps because of it, mysteries have swirled around the pyramids since they were found by the Ancient Greeks thousands of years ago. How were they built? How many people worked on the project? How long did the construction take? What was the Egyptians understanding of astronomy, mathematics, and geography? And even crazy questions like: did aliens help in their construction? While these questions go unanswered, all we are left to do is marvel at a culture who were master builders even before the invention of the wheel.
Who built it?
The oldest and largest of the three pyramids was built by Khufu between 2551 and 2531 BC. The second was built by Khufus grandson Khafre between 2558 and 2532 BC. And the third pyramid belongs to Khafres son Menkaure and despite not knowing the exact date of the construction many believe that it was finished somewhere around 2490 BC, several years after his death.
Source: TopTenz.net
In the past 12 months, there has been a lot of changes in the world of web design...
Growing popularity in the mobile device space including smartphones and tablets like the iPad have refined the way many users access and interact with content.
Likewise, the formal adoption of web standards like HTML5, web fonts and CSS3 by browser makers means that more and more users are now able to take advantage of the latest and greatest features on the web.
Its often tough for small businesses to stay up on the latest web design trends because of the cost involved with redesigns and the necessity of being accessible by a broad range of users. Still, there are some great web design trends from 2010 and leading into 2011 that small businesses should consider incorporating into their sites.
Weve already written about some of the aesthetic web design trends that small businesses should keep an eye on, so this list is more about some of the technological trends taking place in the world of web design.
1. Lose the Flash
Regardless of where you stand in the war over Flash, the fact remains that more and more sites and web developers are moving away from Flash-only solutions for video, animation and navigation.
Flash still excels when it comes to building fully interactive designs and Rich Interactive Applications (RIAs), but for small business owners who arent showcasing or providing that sort of experience, trading Flash for HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 might just make more sense.
The fact is, Flash is not accessible on most mobile devices. Even the mobile devices that do support Flash dont support each element reliably. As a customer, there is nothing worse than visiting a website from my mobile phone and finding out I am unable to access the contact information, list of products and services or location information because the navigation or core content was built in Flash.
Flash is a great tool for certain types of work, such as sites that can capture audio or video, do complex animations or run web games. If youre still using an old circa-2005 Flash template, 2011 might be a good time to upgrade to something more modern.
2. Web Fonts
Typography is an important I would argue crucial component of any web design. Historically, customizing the typography you use on a website has been a complicated and headache-inducing process. As a result, most designers were reduced to either using the small selection of web-safe fonts or using workarounds like text images or Flash as text replacements.
The good news is that in the past 12 months, the situation with fonts and the web has improved quite a bit. Thanks to services like TypeKit, Fonts.com Web Fonts and Google Web Fonts, its now possible to use web fonts on your own site with very little effort, for either free or very nominal costs.
You can also check out some of the latest trends in web fonts.
3. Mobile Compatible/Optimized Sites
More and more websites big and small are taking the time to make their sites small screen friendly. Having a mobile compatible or mobile optimized website means that not only will your site load faster over cellular data connections but that content will be better formatted for the screens of smaller devices, making it easier to access and understand.
As smartphone adoption continues to soar, more and more of our online time is spent on our phones. For small businesses, making sure that that experience is fast and pleasant can be a great way to improve your websites effectiveness.
There are a slew of tools and services that make it easy to optimize your website for mobile devices.
4. Inspired By Tumblr
The popular microblogging platform Tumblr () is a great way to quickly & easily post updates, share content and garner direct visitor feedback. Tumblr has become a really popular platform and more and more small businesses are using it for their own company blogs or sites.
And while Tumblr has some great themes geared toward small business users, Tumblr itself is also having a pretty big impact on web design as a whole.
Even if you dont use Tumblr for your company website or blog, you can incorporate elements of the Tumblr style distinctive icons for post type, big, beautiful typography for titles and headings, and a minimalist layout.
5. Touches of the Future: HTML5 & CSS3
As stated in the introduction, it can be difficult for small businesses that arent in a design-related field to adopt many of the cutting-edge web design trends for fear of shutting out parts of their potential audience.
And while it is true that there are still some corporate networks and a smattering of home users using old, decrepit and nearly extinct browsers, the latest versions of the major web browsers Internet Explorer (), Firefox (), Google Chrome (), Safari () and Opera () all support CSS3 and HTML5 features and elements. Additionally, practically every modern smartphone supports advanced CSS3, JavaScript and HTML5 features, too.
At this stage, its OK to experiment with HTML5 or CSS3 elements on your small business website.
The great thing is, its possible to use techniques that will offer an enhanced view on modern browsers but degrade elegantly on systems that dont support the latest and greatest. There are even some great projects that make it easier to get started.
source: CHRISTINA WARREN, MASHABLE
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You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path. And, that will make all the difference. -Steve JobsEntrepreneur, Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer Co. in his familys garage, when he was just 21 years old. Within four years his love for technology and innovation helped him revolutionize the personal computer. Jobs, the college dropout from humble beginnings, became a multi-millionaire, and a well-respected voice in the business world. But then he was fired. After he was publicly let go from the company he created, Steve Jobs picked himself up, and continued to create great businesses (like NeXT and Pixar) and products, which eventually led Apple to hire him back as its CEO. With Steve Jobs at the helm for the second time, Apple continued to push the limits of what was possible, and brought innovative products like iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iWorks, iLife, and iPad to consumers all over the world. Throughout the years, Steve Jobs has shared his remarkable story and business insight through speeches, interviews, and keynote addresses. The team here at BrandMakerNews compiled ten inspiring bits of wisdom from Steve Jobs to encourage you to follow your heart as you build your own business empire.
Here Are 10 Bits of BUSINESS WISDOM From Steve Jobs:1.
Embrace the opportunity in every situation. Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, and less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
2.
Commit to doing great work and never settle. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you havent found it yet, keep looking, and dont settle. As with all matters of the heart, youll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking, and dont settle.
3.
Make every day count. Remembering that Ill be dead soon is the most important tool Ive ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
4.
Dont miss your moment. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Your time is limited, so dont waste it living someone elses life. Dont be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other peoples thinking. Dont let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
5.
Keep your priorities in check. Manage the top line, which is your strategy, your people and your products, and the bottom line will follow. My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each others negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one person. Theyre done by a team of people.
6.
Attract remarkable people. Building a company is really hard. It requires the greatest persuasive abilities to hire the best people and to keep them working at your company and doing the best work of their lives. Weve been lucky to have great partners and to have attracted great people. Everything that has been done has been done by remarkable people.
7.
Choose the right horse to ride. Apple is a company that doesnt have the most resources. The way weve succeeded is by choosing the right horses to ride really carefully. We try to pick things that are in their Spring. If you choose wisely you can save yourself a tremendous amount of work, instead of trying to do everything. Sometimes you just have to pick the things that look like theyll be the right horse to ride.
8.
Dont stressit will all work itself out. If the market tells us were making the wrong choices, well listen to the market. Thats what a lot of customers pay us to do, to try to make the best product. And if we succeed, theyll buy them, but if we dont, then they wont. And it will all work itself out.
9.
Move on to the next great thing. If you do something and it turns out pretty good, you should go out and do something else wonderful. Dont dwell on it for too long, just figure out whats next.
10.
Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Much of what Id stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
By BMN News Team | Published September 20, 2010
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Referrals are the lifeblood of small business.
Long-standing agents will find that repeat & referral business amounts to 60-70% of their business.
Events hosted by professional associations, college alumni groups and your local chamber of commerce are the perfect opportunity to expand your network of professional contacts.
Networking leads to a direct increase in the number of referrals you receive for new customers, earning you new business.
Yet, small business owners rarely take the time to attend networking functions.
Here are 3 key reasons why networking for referrals makes great business sense (don't forget to thank/gift your referrer):
1. Referrals come to you pre-sold.
When a network contact sends you a referral, theyve already done a good part of the selling for you.
This is a fantastic concept if you dont enjoy prospecting for new business...but, if need be, force yourself to prospect.
With every networking event you attend, have a focused goal of meeting new people whose business contacts complement yours.
With a robust network, youve got your own pro-bono sales force enthusiastically working for you seven days a week.
You couldnt build a better sales team than that!
2. Trust is built a lot faster with a referred client.
A key buying motivation with every consumer is reducing risk/gaining trust...
No one wants to feel theyve made a poor buying decision,
A prospect who has been referred to you sees you as a friend of a friend, so you are instantly viewed as trustworthy,
A referred customer feels more comfortable during the buying process.
The social aspect of networking events is designed to build trust, rapport, and friendships among business contacts.
When attending functions look for ways to assist others in their business-growth objectives, and youll find yourself surrounded by professionals eager to send business your way as well.
3. Referrals clone more referrals
For long-term revenue growth, nothing beats the multiplying effect of referrals bringing new business directly to you.
Your reputation for quality and integrity grows with each new generation of referred business.
The loyalty factor helps protect you against the fads and gimmicks of your competitors.
Remember that each new referred client has their own circle of influence representing a new door of networking opportunities for you.
Find out what professional or social groups your new clients are involved in and offer to provide a short seminar, presentation, or article content
for its newsletter.
Your valuable insight will win you the enviable reputation of expert in your field within that group. When they need assistance, youll be the one they call.
The time you spend building relationships within your professional network pays off better in long-term revenue growth than any other marketing strategy.
Thinking of networking events as an opportunity to put more money in your pocket (increase revenue).
The old adage, Work smarter, not harder, certainly applies when it comes to networking.
To find great networking opportunities, keep an eye on the schedules published by your local professional association, chamber of commerce and business newspapers.
Once you are at an event, talk to as many people as possible about your business; it may surprise you how often they need your services or know someone else who does.
Dedicate time each week to meet with others in networking activities, and youll see your referral business grow in ways you never thought possible.
source: CEOConsultant
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Its long been a saying on the Internet that content is king. But why is content so important?
Providing valuable content keeps people coming back, increases trust in you attracts links to your site. Keeping people coming back is good but the real benefits are increasing trust and attracting links. and
Increasing Trust
Its very important on the Internet to gain peoples trust. Providing valuable content shows people that you know what you are talking about.
Its easy to have a Web site selling a product or service. When you add valuable content about that product or service it shows that you have a deeper commitment and separates you from the people that just sell boxes. This helps you to make a personal connection with your customers and become someone they want to do business with.
Attracting links
Attracting links to your site should provide you with more visitors, so more people to sell your services or products too. Not only that, but if you get links from important sites it can boost your search engine ranking.
With the rise of Twitter, Facebook and other social media, it is becoming easier to share links to great content. If you provide great content and make it easy to share with links via social media sites, you can get your article to millions of Internet users. Next time they are looking to buy your product or service, chances are they will remember your article and come to you first.
Google uses links to your site as a voting system when deciding on the order of search engine results. Its not quite as simple as just getting lots of links to your Web site, Google uses a system called PageRank and this is what actually matters. When a site links to you it passes on part of its PageRank to your site. So the idea is to attract links from sites with a higher PageRank than your own. The best way to get links from these high ranking sites is by having high quality content.
What is valuable content?
So now we know why its important, what kind of valuable content can you provide?
The most valuable content is probably non-commercial articles related to the product or services you are selling. For example if you sell window blinds, you could write an article about how to clean window blinds. This will not directly help you to make sales, but provides something useful to existing and potential customers.
Here are some other ideas for valuable content you could provide:
- Top Ten lists
- Best of (e.g. blogs, articles, downloads)
- Checklists
- How to
- History of
- Interesting statistics
- Quick tips
SEM Wisdom
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A search engine optimization campaign can easily be divided in three fundamental stages:
- Choose the right keywords (keyword optimization)
- Optimize your pages for your selected keywords (web page optimization), and
- Get quality inbound links to your pages (off-site factors).
In the next few pages, we will teach you how to follow a systematic approach to complete these three steps, using free tools available on the net.
PART I: Keyword Optimization
The first step in a search engine optimization campaign is to choose your keywords or keyphrases for each of your web pages. Keywords are the terms that search engine users type in the search box to conduct a query. The right keywords are those that:
- clearly describe the purpose and content of your site, and,
- allow your site to show up as close to the first results page as possible.
A good position doesn't depend only on your choice of keywords. It also depends on how well do you position those keywords in your web page, and how many quality external pages link to you. However, choosing the wrong keywords can throw off your entire search engine optimization strategy, so you need to invest a few hours and make sure you do it right.
Let's start with your homepage. Look at it carefully and write down the words and phrases that best define your site. Try to form two or three word phrases, since competition for one-word keyphrases is fierce, and it is virtually impossible to get a top position for them. That is why, from now on, we will talk about keyphrases, not keywords. Once you have developed your list of potential keyphrases you are ready for the next step: to analyze the demand and supply for those keyphrases, and choose the best ones (those with good demand and not enough supply).
We will first check the demand for your selected keyphrases. For this, we will go to Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Overture is a popular pay-per-click search engine. You will then type each of the keyphrases you selected, and see how many people search for those terms. This tool will show you only those searches conducted in Overture (and only in one month time). However, the relative popularity of each search term will be very similar in other search engines as well. In addition to telling you if your selected keyphrases are popular, this tool will show you other keyphrases that you may not have thought about, which may even be more relevant to your site.
For example, if your first keyphrase was "Italian Restaurant", the Search Term Suggestion Tool will also display other popular search terms, like: "Gourmet Italian Restaurant", "Northern Italian Restaurant", "Italian Restaurant Pizzeria", "Italian Restaurant Miami", etc. You may also try other keyphrases, for example: "Italian Cuisine", and come up with more specific keyphrases, like: "Fine Italian Cuisine", "Italian Cuisine Miami", "Northern Italian Cuisine", "Italian Cuisine Fine Dining", "Gourmet Italian Cuisine", etc.
What you have done is to validate and enlarge your pool of popular, in-demand, potential keyphrases for your web page. The next step is to check the supply, or, in other words, to see how much competition there is for your selected keywords. Naturally, you want to focus on keyphrases where competition is less fierce. For example, choosing "Italian Restaurant" alone will certainly hurt you. There are so many of them that your chances of showing up in an advantageous position within the search results are pretty slim.
Having said that, get your list of keyphrases, go to Google ( http://www.google.com ) and type-in each of them in the search box. Enter your keyphrases within quotation marks (to filter-out less relevant results), and see how many results each individual query produces, making a note of those with a relatively small number of results (less competition). You will stick with the keyphrase that:
- Best describes the topic and content of your page
- Is a popular search term according to Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool.
- Generates a relatively small number of results after performing the Google search.
If "Gourmet Italian Restaurant" is the keyphrase that best meets these three criteria, it will become your primary keyphrase. To get even better results, you can choose a second keyphrase to make your page more relevant to an even more specific niche. For example, if your restaurant is in Miami, you can consider "Miami" a second keyphrase. Once you have chosen the keyphrases for you homepage, do the same for the other pages on your site.
After this, you will take your selected keyphrases and optimize your pages heavily for them. This involves placing them in strategic locations in the title, headings and body of each page, as we will see in Part II: Web Page Optimization.
PART II: Web Page Optimization
Once you have chosen your keyphrases, the next stage is to optimize your page for those keyphrases. You do that by positioning your keywords in strategic locations within your page. What follows is a checklist of tips and steps you must follow to optimize your page:
- Keyphrases in the web page title:
- Create a descriptive title for your page: Your web page title is very important because it is what the search engines display as link text as the result of a search. The title must include your main keyphrases, while at the same time it must describe your business very well and should entice readers to click on it.
- Unless your business is big and well known (like Microsoft or Coca Cola) don't start your page title with the name of your company. Start your title with the words search engine users will most likely use (your keyphrases)
- Put your main keyphrase at the beginning of your page title (keyphrase prominence) and keep your keyphrase together (keyword proximity).
- Put your second keyphrase somewhere else in the title.
- Make the title short (8 words or less).
- Keyphrases in your Keyword Meta Tag: Search engines rarely use the Keyword Meta Tag any more (Google completely ignores it). However, place a list of your main and secondary keywords in the Keyword Meta Tag of your page, just in case search engines decide to use them again in the future.
- Keyphrases in your Description Meta Tag: The Description Meta Tag is still important, since some search engines use them to elaborate on the results link. Remember to:
- Include your keyphrases (main and secondary) in your Description Meta Tag.
- Make your description 'descriptive', concise and professional. Avoid using hype.
- Make it short (25 words or less).
- Don't make your description sound just like a collection of keywords.
- Keep your keyphrases together.
- Keywords in the body of your page: It is important to use your keywords heavily on your page, since this will help the search engine determine the topic of your page. Follow these tips as much as possible, since they will help search engines determine your page's relevance to your chosen keyphrases:
- Use your keyphrases several times, and place them as close to the top of the page as possible.
- Place your keyphrases between Header Tags (H1, H2 or H3) in the first two paragraphs of your page.
- Place your keyphrases in bold type phase at least once.
- Repeat your keyphrases often to increase your keyphrase density. Repeating your keyphrases between 5 to 10 times for every 100 words in your page is considered effective.
- Since you have to repeat your keyphrases often, you must be especially careful not to make your text sound awkward. Your visitors should be able to read your page fluently and effortlessly. Remember that ultimately it is your readers who will decide if your page is worth the time they spend on it. A pleasant experience will make them more likely to come back.
A good resource on how to write search engine friendly copy without losing readability is this special SEO writing report by Jill Whalen.
- Other Web Page Design Considerations:
- You must make your page easy to navigate by the search engines. Search engines heavily favor text over graphics, and HTML over other editing formats.
- Use text heavily, especially in your navigation bar. Avoid placing text in graphic format since the search engines won't be able to read it.
- Avoid frames. Search engines have trouble following them, and they may index only the framed content page and not the navigation frame.
- Avoid Flash and JavaScript: search engines don't follow either one. If you use flash, make an HTML version of your site available to your readers and the search engines. If you use a JavaScript navigation menu, include an alternate text menu at the bottom of the page, so it can be followed by the search engines.
- Create a Site Map that includes all the pages in your site, and place a Site Map link close to the top of the homepage. When the search engine follows the site map link, it will find and index all the pages in your site!
- If you use a left navigation bar, the search engine will read it before the body of your page. Make sure you include your most important keywords there, too.
- Make sure that all your internal pages link to your homepage.
- Don't try to describe all your products or services in one page. It will confuse the search engine and dilute your page's relevance to your selected keyphrase. Instead, create different very focused pages, each with its own content and keyphrases, and optimize them too.
This is pretty much all you have to do to make sure that your page is optimized for your chosen keywords. The next and final step to increase your site's ranking is to get as many links to your site as possible, from quality sites that have a topic related to yours. This is what we will see in Part III: Off-Site Factors.
Part III: Off Page Factors
Once you have selected your keyphrases and optimized your pages for them, the last step is to make sure that you get linked from the best directories, and from lots of quality sites with a topic related to your site's. The best search engines, and in particular Google (who alone can deliver 80% of the search engine traffic to your site) "crawl" the web looking for links to your site. They interpret a link to your page as a vote, and the more links (votes) you have coming from quality sites the higher your page rank will be, and the higher the possibility that your page will achieve a good position in the search results pages. It's that simple. Following these four steps is the best way to get the quality links you need:
- Get listed in DMOZ: The Open Directory Project ( http://www.dmoz.org ) is the world's largest directory. It is maintained by voluntary editors who review your site prior to inclusion. Being listed in this directory is important because it is used by Google and America Online to build their directories. Getting listed is free, but it may take a few weeks or even months to get listed, which can be a bit frustrating. However, there is a strong believe among search engine optimization experts that an Open Directory Project listing can significantly increase your page rank in Google, so you must take the time to submit your site and do it right (list your site in the right category and strictly follow their submission guidelines). For how to get listed in the Open Directory Project go to: http://www.dmoz.org/add.html .
- Get listed in Yahoo!: Submissions to Yahoo! are no longer free for commercial sites (your site can be reviewed in about a week for a fee of $299 although inclusion in the directory is not guaranteed. However, if you do get accepted, the $299 fee will be due every year if you want your site to continue to be listed). A link from Yahoos directory is still one of the best links you can get, and it is worth the money you spend getting listed. For tips on getting listed in Yahoo! go to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ .
- Submit articles: There are many sites where you can publish articles in your field of expertise. This is a great way to establish yourself as an expert and to drive quality traffic to your site. The key is to include your resource box at the end of your article. A resource box is a small paragraph with a brief description of you and your business, where you include a link to your site. This way, every time somebody picks up your article and publishes it in their website or newsletter, your link will be there for readers and search engines to see and follow. For tips of getting traffic by writing articles you can visit: http://www.theinternetdigest.net/archive/write.html .
- Exchange links with reputable sites: You must try to find quality sites that are compatible to your site's topic (not direct competitors), and ask the webmaster for a link exchange. This will give you highly targeted traffic and will improve your score with the search engines. For tips on a good link exchange campaign, visit: http://www.theinternetdigest.net/archive/inboundlinks.html. If you liked this article and feel inclined to learn more about Search Engine Optimization, you may want to check out Aaron Wall's SEOBook.
source: TID
Can Twitter actually help my business or is it a complete waste of my valuable time?
This was the very question I asked myself only a few months back.
Perhaps youve pondered the same?
When people I respect started singing the praises of Twitter, I decided to give it a go. At first I just didnt get it. However, after a short while I was shocked at the level of access to high profile individuals I was able to achieve.
This article reveals how bestselling authors and business professionals use Twitter to grow their businesses and reveals ideas you can employ to achieve Twitter success.
In fact, I used Twitter (and LinkedIn) to source much of what you see here!
What is Twitter?
Twitter is instant messaging made available to the public, stated talk show host and author Hugh Hewitt.
I think thats a fair starting point. Ive heard others call Twitter a micro-blogging platform.
Heres what you need to know. According to the State of the Twittersphere report, each day 5 to 10 thousand new people join Twitter. Current estimates of total users top out around 5 million. Thats a lot of opportunity.
Twitter allows you to post updates (called Tweets) as often as you want (and limited to 140 characters). When you follow other people on Twitter, you see their tweets. When they follow you, they see your tweets.
Its a constant stream of communication. The good news is you can turn it on or off as often as you like. Twitter also keeps a public record of all updates, which can be mined with Twitter Search.
Why High-Profile People Use Twitter
Twitter is not just a fad. When very high profile folks begin evangelizing Twitter, its worth closer examination. Heres what some of those gurus told me:
Duct Tape Marketing founder John Jantsch identified 3 BIG advantages of Twitter
(1) I get great insight when I ask questions,
(2) lets face it, I get traffic, and
(3) people on Twitter spread my thoughts to new places.
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com said, Weve found that Twitter has been a great way for us to connect on a more personal level with our employees and customers. We use it to help build our brand, not drive direct sales. Itd be like asking how does providing a telephone number for customer service translate into new business when they are mostly non-sales-related calls. In the long term, Twitter helps drive repeat customers and word of mouth, but were not looking to it as a way of driving immediate sales.
Bestselling author David Meerman Scott said, I have personally connected with hundreds of people I otherwise wouldnt have, and I booked an interview on NPR and a big daily newspaper using Twitter.
Copybloggers own Brian Clark said, Twitter Search is an amazing way to see what people are saying about your products or services. For example, Ill do searches for Thesis Theme and people will be asking questions about our WordPress Theme. Ill use the reply function to answer the question, which has led to direct sales. Plus, my answer creates awareness of Thesis for others that follow me. Its a form of constructive promotion.
Be sure to check out this Business Week article that surveyed 18 CEOs and how theyre using Twitter to help their businesses.
Practical Ways Twitter Can Help Your Business
This is where it gets interesting. A lot of people are doing some very innovate things with Twitter. Heres some of their stories.
The Twitter Plan
Cindy King, an international sales specialist, saw a huge boost in business inquires by implementing a strategic Twitter plan.
Following the right people on Twitter was key. There are some people very gifted at building relationships on Twitter. As I followed these online community builders, I realized that some of them are also excellent direct response copywriters. They get their Twitter followers to take action, said King.
Light bulbs went off, and I spent a weekend putting together a tweet marketing plan and entered in 6 weeks worth of tweets, 5 a day, using TweetLater. I used a mindmap, created categories, varied times on tweets and used BUDurls so I could track results and improve my tweet plan the next time around. That was a month ago, explained King.
When King finds a spare minute between projects, she logs into Twitter and watches what folks are talking about. When she Tweets, about 90 percent of the time she presents useful information and resources to her followers. The remaining tweets are surveys and questions. Following this strategy, King saw an 800 percent increase in inquiries about her business after she setup her Twitter campaign.
Getting In Front of High Profile People
B2B copywriter Terri Rylander took a much different approach. At first she was very skeptical of Twitter. I looked at it but couldnt figure out why people would continually send out messages about the size of a text message, unless they were a teenager. Twitter was for sending updates they said. I dont have time for updates, and besides, who would care? said Rylander.
She later came across a peer in her industry that was using Twitter and suggested Rylander follow her on Twitter. Thats when I discovered Twitter as a business tool. Ive been in my particular niche for over 10 years and know who the players are (though they dont know me). When I checked who she was following on Twitter, there they all were! It read like a Whos Who list.
Rylander joined Twitter and began following and interacting with the people she respected. Other than a cold call on the phone or e-mail, I would never have the chance to get my name in front of vendors, industry analysts, and industry experts. Ive had a number of Twitter conversations that have also led to personal conversations.
To stay top of mind with experts, she offers interesting links, responds to tweets, and posts her thoughts for conversation at least a few times a day.
Getting Traffic & Leads
Pam ONeil, VP of Marketing at BreakingPoint said, Twitter has all but replaced our PR agency as a large percentage of our followers are press and analysts. A writer for ZDNet wrote about us and linked to us based on something we tweeted and that resulted in a huge spike in web traffic and at least one deal with a major service provider.
Mike Damphousse of Green Leads said, Twitter is new to us. That said, in a few short weeks weve had definite increase in all sorts of traffic. Out of the normal inbound leads, the number has increased 15% and two of the inbounds are now active pipeline opportunities. Weve found one extremely valuable partner relationship. We are also building PR relationships, although finding the contacts is a bit of a chore.
Are you beginning to see the potential here?
A Few Tools to Help Your Twitter Experience
Twitter has a whole world of available support applications you can employ to gain the most of the service for your business. Heres a few of my favorites:
TwitterFox: This Firefox web browser plugin allows you to view Tweets within your web browser (in a popup menu). This is very handy and eliminates the need to constantly go to Twitter.com.
TweetLater: This powerful service allows you to schedule tweets (much like you would schedule emails). Another very powerful feature is the ability to receive email digests of keyword activity in the Tweetosphere. This allows you to join a conversation or track topics and trends.
Ping.fm: If you have accounts with many services, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, this amazing site allows you to post updates across ALL of your social media sites in one single step.
Twitter for Facebook: If you are on Facebook, this application forwards your Twitter updates directly to Facebook as status updates.
And just in case you get addicted to Twitter, heres some advice from one of the leading authorities on Twitter. Chris Brogan says, Most people who see Twitter the first time either flat-out get it, or they say, why bother? Heres what people miss. They believe one should read every single update that rolls across your screen of choice. Dont. Just let it roll past like a stream.
So what are you waiting for? Go check out Twitter and report back here with your experience.
Has Twitter already helped your business? If so, tell us your story.
source: Michael Stelzner
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