Archive for May, 2009

Article Title: Avoid These Common Mistakes

May 30th, 2009 admin

Every site you submit articles to may have different editorial style guides. Here are some helpful tips to help you get your EzineArticles submission accepted faster:

1. Double-check spelling and word usage in your article  title.
2. Commas are allowed, but only in the middle of a title.
3. Do not put a period at the end of your article title.
4. All colons (:) and semicolons (;), long and medium  dashes, pipes (|), and slashes (/) are to be replaced  with two short dashes (–), or changed to word  equivalents.
5. Ampersands (&) and parentheses () are allowed.
6. Quotation marks are allowed to emphasize a part of  a title, but not the entire title. Please remove quotes  around the entire article as they are superfluous and  of no benefit to the author or reader.
7. Microsoft Smart Quotes: Please remove them. They break  RSS feeds, emails, etc.
8. Never put an article number in the title of an article.
Example: [Wrong] Dog Grooming Tips-Article #3
Example: [Right] Dog Grooming Tips

Tip: The reader is most likely not privy to how  many articles you may have written on a  subject. It also creates useless title bloat.
9. Never purposefully use commonly misspelled words in  your article title to try and gain traffic from humans  who misspell words in their searches. WHY?

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Some Sanity on Health Care

May 29th, 2009 admin

A great push is under way to get government more involved in health care, with taxpayers picking up ever larger portions of the tab. This path, however, will only lead to higher costs, and eventual rationing of care and price controls.

But in the marketplace, many businesses are capitalizing on positive health care reforms. The May 29 Charlotte Observer, for example, reported on the use of health savings accounts. The Observer pointed out:

The future of health insurance likely lies in personal spending accounts rather than traditional copayment plans, business leaders said Wednesday at a health care summit hosted by the Charlotte Chamber.

Though still making up a small percentage of medical insurance plans, health savings accounts and health reimbursement accounts are gaining in popularity as Charlotte-area businesses of all sizes look to cut costs.

Health savings accounts allow people to save money in an account designated solely for health care expenses. Employers often pay into the accounts as part of a benefits package, but all money in the accounts is owned by the individual…

About 8 million people nationwide are enrolled in health savings account programs, up 31 percent since last year and a seven-fold increase since 2005, according to the America’s Health Insurance Plans association.

That’s a positive trend – a little sanity in the otherwise insane debate over health care in this nation.

The Observer also noted:

There is a chance that national health care reform that President Obama has promoted could eliminate these kinds of health coverage.

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Workshop: Learn Small Business use of Facebook,Linkedin,Twitter etc.

May 29th, 2009 admin

Learn about:

  • Social networking
  • Create a brand in the new media
  • Acquire the tools to stay ahead of the ever-changing web

When you embrace Social Media you have to learn how to plant your magic beans and watch your business grow!

Details
June 26 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
University Club
1301 Riverplace Blvd., Jacksonville, FL

Advanced Purchase Pricing:
$160 for a Corporate Table of 8
$25 per person / $20 for University Club Members
*Advanced purchases must be made by June 23rd

Continental Breakfast is included
Each attendee will receive a free E-Book of the presentation

For more information or to register here or call 904.240.4910

Presented by CIME4,NewMediaJax and the Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida

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How Do You Keep Your Customers Happy?

May 29th, 2009 admin

Keeping customers happy is a one by one task, there’s no mold or formula. What keeps one customer happy most likely will not keep another one happy.

I find it best to listen and understand what makes your customer tick and then addressing their needs individually. Always understand and be able to view the big picture ….. their side vs your side.

Remember, when Communication breaks down so do relationships.

At the end of the day, actually DO all the things you say you are going to do.

If strategic planning has been made, insure all benchmark steps and commitments have been met.

Don’t leave questions unanswered. You know, the ” I’ll get back to you on that.” Respond to them before they call and ask again.

Be proactive. If they were supposed to get back you on something and they don’t, call them and follow up.

Be honest. Work with them to solve problems and forge ahead.

Don’t worry about keeping your customer happy, focus on the tasks at hand. Utimately if the goals are met, it’s productive, and the overall expereince is good, they will be happy.

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Forecast from Business Economists

May 28th, 2009 admin

On May 27, the National Association of Business Economics came out with its latest survey results of economists on where they see the economy heading.

Key points:

• Economic activity is expected to continue to decline during the second (current) quarter, “making for the most severe economic contraction in over half a century.”

• “The near-term weakness is largely due to a sharp retrenchment in business investment.”

• Positive growth generally is expected in the second half of 2009, but at a sub-par rate.

• The unemployment rate is expected to climb to 9.8 percent by the end of the year.

• Real GDP growth is expected to return to its historical trend in 2010, and “inflation is expected to moderate.”

Economic growth should resume sometime in the second half of 2009 or in early 2010. However, given the anti-growth public policy climate, growth should be underperforming – particularly private sector real GDP growth – for some time. For good measure, the rapid increase in the money supply eventually will push inflation higher.

The nation desperately needs pro-growth tax and regulatory relief, along with monetary policy geared to maintaining price stability. Unfortunately, we are getting none of the above.

Raymond J.

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Phil Geist, UNF SBDC:Don’t Panic!

May 27th, 2009 admin

Check out Phil’s presentation from May 14, 2009 “Dont panic over where the economy is right now.” Dr. Philip R. Geist, a Certified Business Analyst with the Small Business Development Center of the University of North Florida, in Ocala, Florida, discusses the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009, the Recovery Act, funding for small businesses with stories and information for easy understanding. This edited recording is a portion of a speech presented at the Citrus Lodge, in Herando, Florida, funded by the Recovery Act.
Video produced and edited by Jannet Walsh, Workforce Connection, Ocala, Florida Workforce Connection © 2009

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Software Mandates?

May 27th, 2009 admin

It’s striking how often presumably swashbuckling, freedom-loving leaders of high-tech companies wind up going to the government with their hands out.

There is, of course, the periodic cry for government antitrust action from companies that fail to compete with bigger rivals in the marketplace. Just consider that AMD went to European Union antitrust regulators, with chip competitor Intel getting socked with a $1.45 billion fine as a result earlier this month. What’s broadly missed in the antitrust equation is that private businesses serve customers, not politicians and government appointees, and those that serve their market best gain market share.

And then there is the mandate game? That is, why not get the government to issue a mandate that will boost your business?

Consider the open source software movement. While proprietary software is owned by an individual or company and licensed accordingly, open source software is free, with users able to use and alter the code with minimal, if any, restrictions. Open source software has expanded choice and competition in the marketplace, with open source companies making money from offering various applications, services and support.

There are large, established firms, and small entrepreneurial businesses hard at work in either the proprietary and open source realms, or in both.

When it comes to the federal government, according to a May 7, 2009, story from NextGov.com, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the General Services Administration are using open source software.

More broadly, a May 26 Boston Globe article noted: “In a September 2008 survey conducted by Forrester Research, 56 percent of companies that use open source software named cost as the primary motivation.

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Guide To Writing Keyword-Rich Article Titles

May 27th, 2009 admin

Example 1: “Car Audio”

* This article title is too short to get any hooks and the reader has to guess what your angle to the topic will be about.
Example 2: “Car Audio and Electronics”

* This is better, yet it does not explain why someone should read the article.
Example 3: “Car Audio and Video That Will Make Your Friends Envy You?”

* Now we have picked up a 2nd keyword, “video” and a reason why to read the article.
Example 4: “Car Audio Components, Subwoofers and Tweeters-7 Tips to Amp Up Your Stereo”

* Here you see multiple high value keywords, gave a reason to read the article and even used a high value keyword as a verb, “Amp.”Tip: Use a keyword tool such as GoodKeywords, Google Suggest, or Wordtracker to help identify keywords for your article titles.
Also, ask yourself this question: “Do the first 3 words of my article title introduce the topic of the article?”

1. Start your article title with your article subject.
2. Avoid starting with ‘junk words’ or conjunctions, such as “a” or “the.”

3. It is acceptable to start your article title with a verb and then roll directly into a dense keyword relating to the subject of your article.
4. Consider using two article topic hooks in your article title.

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Is The Economy Recovering And The Recession Almost Over?

May 27th, 2009 admin

I am an optimist by nature, but also a pragmatist.

And so I am still a bear on this market.

While a 25% bear market rally is not unheard of, I think this is simply irrational exuberance gone mad again. Share prices bear no relation to expected future earnings when you still have the likes of Microsoft laying people off.

Also, with US unemployment at 8.9% and rising, the real jobless rate in US is about 16%, according to Labor Dept. today, if you tally those who have stopped looking and those who can only find part-time work.

Almost 6 million people have lost their jobs in USA and house prices are still plunging with foreclosures still rising.

How anyone realistically expects any reasonable return to business profits until 2010 is beyond me.

Further ……

A recession is simply defined as consecutive periods of deflation… it’s an economic observation so it would be hard to challenge it’s existence.

The “End of the world” recession that doomsayers are touting the world over seems a little far-fetched… yes there are people doing it tough, there are countries struggling and companies failing…

But the real question is…

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Small Business Link of the Week:City-Data.com

May 27th, 2009 admin

We promised we would start doing this on our 100th post(which was loaded with links), and here it is. Our featured link this week is City-Data.com. It is an invaluable data base that anyone who is involved in business planning can appreciate. Here is what they have in store for you as summarized by their staff:
We’ve collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create as complete and interesting profiles of all U.S. cities as we could.  We have over 67,000 city photos not found anywhere else, graphs of latest real estate prices and sales trends, recent home sales, home value estimator, hundreds of thousands of maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment…), geographical data, state profiles, crime data, registered sex offenders, cost of living, housing, religions, businesses, local news links based on our exclusive technology, birthplaces of famous people, political contributions, city government finances and employment, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, air pollution, latest unemployment data, time zones, water systems and their health and monitoring violations, comparisons to averages, local poverty details, professionally written city guides, car accidents, fires, bridge conditions, cell phone and other towers, mortgage data, a forum and a social network with 500,000 registered members and 8,000,000 posts, blogs, 5,000 user-submitted facts, 16,000 exclusive local business profiles with photos, and more demographics.
 If you ever need to research any city, zip code, or neighborhood for any reason, from considering a move there to just checking where somebody you know is staying, this is the site for you.
For a direct link to City-Data. com Jacksonville information, go here.
Submitted by CBA Paul Arrington.
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Jacksonville Advantage, A New Small Business Publication, is Born

May 26th, 2009 admin

There is a new publication in town called Jacksonville Advantage, and it is targeting small businesses. Below is their first newsletter. It looks like this is going to be a nice asset to the Northeast Florida business community. Here is a little on the publisher of Jacksonville Advantage, Brian Barquilla. 
Brian Barquilla, founder and publisher of Advantage: the Handbook for Small Business, is an expert in privately owned small businesses. In addition to being publisher of Advantage, he also is the chief facilitator of Executive Advantage, a professional- and business-development group for area CEOs. The Executive Advantage provides a forum for growth through coordinated discussion and exposure to expert speakers.

To further help business owners and presidents achieve maximum business and personal success, Brian has also developed the BMLS (Business Metrics Learning System), a user-friendly, peer-reviewed roadmap for success.

Acknowledged by his business peers as a leader in strategic business development, Brian has become known within the business community by speaking at many events and has been featured in a number of business publications.

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CEOs, the UN and Emissions

May 26th, 2009 admin

The May 26 Wall Street Journal ran one of those news articles that tells the world – in this case, the business world – to give up. Specifically, emissions caps are coming in the name of fighting so-called manmade global warming, so either get on board or be left behind.

Naturally, some business executives are more than willing to get onboard for various reasons, ranging from fear to politics to foiling current and/or future competitors to calculation they can make some money off of government dictates.

The Journal article declared:

Chiefs of some of the world’s largest companies are urging global leaders to cut a strong deal this December to curb pollution, saying they need certainty on emissions targets to be able to make long-term investment decisions.

The World Business Summit on Climate Change, which brought together more than 500 business leaders, is being seen as a crucial milestone on the road to December’s meeting here, at which governments will try to hammer out a successor agreement to the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol. Many of them said a global deal would provide the regulatory certainty and price signals they need to invest in renewable fuels and low-carbon technologies…

In a speech to the summit Sunday, U.N.

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