This describes the merger of all the European currencies into one currency Europe-wide called the euro. So far, the United Kingdom has not yet decided whether to join the party. Joining the EMU has far-reaching consequences: no more British pound, no more independent Bank of England. In theory, it’s a good thing to belong to this: benefits include belonging to a powerful single market and easier cross-border trading conditions. The same advantages apply to businesses as well as individuals. But to quote Orwell, ‘All animals are equal. Some animals are more equal than others’. At the time of writing it is hard to envisage how several countries with quite different economic prospects and profiles can all be squeezed comfortably under the aegis of one currency and a ‘onesize- fits-all’ interest rate policy.
Judging whether or not a neighborhood offers enough other families for your family members to interact with is only part of choosing a great neighborhood to purchase a home in. Another very important element when it comes to neighborhood selection is the school district your children will be placed into. This is especially important for families that are planning to send their children into the public school system. If you opt to go with a private school, you will want to go ahead and find one in the area, close enough so that you can provide your child with timely and reliable transportation, that you will be happy with. This should be done even if the prospect of school is still years away for your children. It’s also wise to have more than one good option for your child’s education available in the area just in case your financial situation, your child’s learning needs, or the available of the school or program that you are interested in enrolling your child in happens to change.
One website to check out if you are looking for information on the school systems in particular areas is www.Homes.com. They have information regarding the number and type of schools located within a specified zip code, the student population of those schools, and other pertinent information. If you have young children, or may have one in the future, you will also want to look into child care options as well as early learning centers and preschools. More and more parents are discovering the benefits that come from enrolling their young children into educational and social programs prior to kindergarten and you will want to be well versed on your options and alternatives as far as that is concerned. These types of programs should be looked into well before you will require their services as, depending on the area and program, some tend to have extensive waiting lists that can be months or even years long.
Don’t forget about the importance of a good security system in your new home, such as ADT. To learn about some great packages for protecting you and your family, check out ADT for the best in home security.
One more thing to think about as you’re choosing your domain name is how URLs will be structured as you begin to put your site together. Some URLs are very long and seem completely random. For example, take a look at any given product page URL for Amazon.com. If you copy and paste that URL into a document, it could be two or three lines long, and it won’t mean a thing to you after the Amazon . com part.
Ever notice how Amazon . com product pages rarely (if ever) seem to turn up in search rankings? That’s because the pages are dynamic, and a URL that exists on Amazon today may not exist there tomorrow. Dynamic URLs change. Often. And for a variety of reasons. Sometimes dynamic URLs are used on product pages, but they can also be used when content is drawn from a database on a visitor-by-visitor basis or when visitor tracking information is included in the URL.
Typically, search crawlers can’t effectively crawl sites that have dynamic URLs because the crawler can’t trigger the dynamic URL the way a user does. One way to deal with dynamic URLs is to use a program that rewrites them.
URL rewriting is a common practice in SEO, especially since Google stated that it can’t effectively crawl dynamic URLs. Unfortunately, even URL rewriting comes with a set of drawbacks. For example, because even a rewritten dynamic URL tends to be very long, they often wrap — or become two lines — in error messages or when used in blog posts or forums. The result is sometimes an incomplete URL that can’t be followed.
URL rewriting also introduces the possibility for errors, especially if the rewriting is done manually in the coding for a web page.
A better option is to use static URLs. Static URLs remain the same all the time. You can see static URLs all over the Web. Even blog posts have a temporary dynamic URL, but then once the post goes into archives, the URL becomes static and doesn’t change again. It helps to more effectively rank web pages that change temporarily and then become permanent.
Another advantage of static URLs is that, when used, these URLs can contain keywords that are meaningful not only to search crawlers, but also to the people who visit your web site. Static URLs are easier to read. They usually contain mostly words, with few numbers, and they never include randomly generated identifiers.
As you’re putting your site together, consider how it’s going to grow and how you’ll be naming the pages that you add to it. Part of that consideration is entirely site design and will be determined by the programming language that you use to create your site; but much of it involves forethought about how such matters will be handled. Discuss with your web site designer how you would like to have the URL structure handled. The designer will know how to ensure that your URLs are as usable as the rest of your site.
Again, it’s important to realize that domain naming is only one facet of SEO strategy. It won’t make or break your SEO, but it can have some effect. Therefore, take the time to think about the name you plan to register for your site and then how you plan to structure your URLs as your site grows.
If you can use a name that not only reaches your audience, but also lands you a little higher in search results and makes it easier to create useful URL structures, then by all means purchase it; but if no name really seems to work in the SEO strategy for your site, don’t get discouraged. You can make up for any domain-naming issues by implementing solid keyword strategies, tagging strategies, and other elements of SEO. Do try to keep your URL structure simple, though, even when your domain name might not be your first choice.
The question of what to name a web site is always a big one. When selecting a name, most people think in terms of their business name, personal name, or a word or phrase that has meaning for them. What they often don’t consider is how that name will work for the site’s SEO. Does the name have anything at all to do with the site, or is it completely unrelated?
Have you ever wondered why a company might be willing to pay millions of dollars for a domain name? The domain name business.com was purchased for $7.5 million in 1999 and was recently thought to be valued at more than $300 million. Casino.com went for $5.5 million and worldwideweb.com sold for $3.5 million. What’s so important about a name?
Choosing the right site name
Where SEO is concerned, the name of your web site is as important as many of the other SEO elements that you need to consider. Try this test. Use your favorite search engine to search for a topic, perhaps ‘‘asphalt-paving business.’’ When your search results are returned, look at the top five results. Most of the time, a web site containing those words will be returned in those top five results, and it will often be in the number one slot.
In other words, if your company name is ABC Company but your business is selling nutmeg graters, consider purchasing the domain name NutmegGraters . com, instead of ABC Company . com. ABC Company may not get you in the top of search rankings, but the very specific nature of your product probably will; and both the content of your site and your domain name will attract crawlers in the way you want. Using a domain name containing a keyword from your content usually improves your site ranking.
A few more things that you should keep in mind when you’re determining your domain name include the following:
- Keep the name as short as possible. Too many characters in a name mean increased potential for misspellings. It also means that your site address will be much harder for users to remember unless it’s something really startling.
- Avoid dashes, underscores, and other meaningless characters. If the domain name that you want is taken, don’t just add a random number or piece of punctuation to the name in order to ‘‘get close.’’ Close doesn’t count here. Instead, try to find another word that’s relevant and possibly included in the list of keywords you’ll be using. For example, instead of purchasing www . yourwebsite2 . com, try something like www . yoursitesubject . com.
- Opt for a .com name whenever possible. There are a lot of domain extensions to choose from, such as info, biz, us, tv, names, and jobs, but if the .com version of your chosen domain name is available, that’s always the best choice. Users tend to think in terms of .com, and any other extension will be harder for them to remember. Com names also tend to receive higher rankings in search engines than web sites using other extensions, so if your competition has www . yoursite . com and you choose to use www . yoursite . biz, chances are good that the competition will rank higher in search results than you.
Try this: Choose a random term and then use your favorite search engines to search for that term. Looking only at the top one or two pages of search results, how many of those sites have an extension other than .com? If you do see extensions other than .com, they’re likely to be .org, .net, .gov, or .edu—and you probably won’t see many of those. That’s how prevalent .com is, and it illustrates why you should try to use it whenever possible.
Images or graphics on your web site are essential. They’re also basically ignored by search engines, so what’s the point of putting them on your site? There’s a good reason that has nothing to do with SEO. Without images, your page is just boring text. You’re not going to be happy with using plain text instead of that cool, new logo you had designed for your company, and neither are your users. They want to see pictures.
If images are a must on a web site, then there should be a way to use those images to increase your web site traffic or to at least improve your site ranking. And there is.
One technique that will help your SEO make use of graphics on your site is to tag those graphics with alt tags inside the img tags. The alt tags are the HTML tags used to display alternative text when a graphic is present. An alt tag should be a short, descriptive phrase about the image, which includes the keywords used on that page when possible.
The img tags are the tags used to code the images that appear on your web site. Here’s an example of what an img tag, with an included alt tag, should look like:
<img src=”pic1.jpg” alt=”alternative text”/>
Here’s how that tag breaks down: <img src=”pic1.jpg” is your image tag; alt=”alternative text”/> is your alternative text tag. The alternative text tag is where your keywords should be included if at all possible.
You want to tag your images as part of your SEO strategy for two reasons. First, crawlers cannot index images for a search engine (with an exception, which is covered shortly). The crawler ‘‘sees’’ the image and moves on to the text on the page. Therefore, something needs to take the place of that image, so the crawler can index it. That’s what the alternative text does. If this text includes your keywords, and the image is near text that also includes the keywords, then you add credibility to your site in the logic of the crawler.
The second reason you want to tag your images as part of your SEO strategy is to take advantage of image-based search engines, such as Google Images. These image-based search engines are relatively new, but they shouldn’t be undervalued. Just as a search engine can find and index your site for users searching the Web, image-based search engines find and index your images. Then, when users perform a search for a specific keyword or phrase, your image is also ranked, along with the text on the pages.
Image searches are gaining popularity, so crawlers like the one Google uses for its Google Images search engine will gain momentum, and image searches will add to the amount of web site traffic that your SEO strategies help to build. Conversely, while not discounting the value of images, don’t overuse them on your web pages either. As with any element of a web page, too much of a good thing is not good strategy.
Creativity, innovation, and continuous improvement are all intertwined concepts that aim at moving an organization forward on the road to perfection. Although the ultimate destination is elusive, the process of getting there nevertheless continues. It is particularly important that leaders focus on incremental improvements and create the climate and processes for this to occur.
Innovation and creativity are similar but different. Innovation leads to improving an existing product or service, adding to it, making it perform better, more quickly, and/or at less cost. Creativity, on the other hand, causes something unique to come into being—an original idea.
- As a leader you have a special responsibility to provide the climate for new ideas to percolate up, be examined, and be implemented, if justified. Consider the following issues as clues to whether you have done so.
- Do you challenge (stretch) people when setting goals rather simply
being satisfied with past achievements? - Do people have a measurable degree of freedom to pursue new
ideas? - Are employees given time to try new ideas during work hours?
- Would you describe your environment as trusting and open, allowing
people with different perspectives equal opportunities to access resources
and influence decision makers? - How do you deal with conflict? Do you prefer to sweep it under the
carpet? Do employees personalize the issues and beat up on people
whose ideas are different from their own? Or do you respect all
ideas, listen to them, and consider their merits, trying to find them
from a variety of sources? And do you welcome conflict, knowing
that it is permissible—and important—to have a variety of opinions,
because they produce a better outcome?
- Do you challenge (stretch) people when setting goals rather simply
- Take active steps to promote new initiatives.
- Involve employees at every level. They all bring a variety of ideas to
work, some of which could have big payoffs. Leave idea boards and
flip charts around the workplace to encourage people to record new
ideas as they come to them. Then examine these ideas at ongoing
meetings. - Set aside time at each meeting specifically for new ideas. Let the
more outlandish ideas percolate before dismissing them, since someone
else may be able to add to the idea, turning it into a winning
proposition. - Seek out ideas from outside the organization. The NIH (not invented
here) syndrome has little merit. Copy ideas from different industries
when the product or service may provide added value to your clients. - Bring in experts when needed, especially from the outside. These
people are likely to have a different perspective and will tend to see
more opportunities than obstacles. And many obstacles are more
about perception than reality. - Establish and communicate criteria for new ideas. Cost ceilings,
payback periods, and discretionary spending for innovation should
be known to all. In this way a host of new ideas can be fairly quickly
whittled down to the best prospects. - Set targets for new products and services. Establish goals for each
area of your organization to make people aware that innovation is
important. Challenge and reward individuals and teams that bring
new ideas to fruition. - Measure your efforts and successes. In your matrix of measures
include indicators that track the organization’s abilities in this area.
Possible indicators include:- number of new ideas generated per period
- percentage of new ideas implemented
- average evaluation time for new ideas
- number of new ideas per employee per period
- revenue growth from new services and products
- number of patent submissions per period
- climate for innovation, as measured by a survey comprising questions
about whether the atmosphere encourages or discourages
innovation
- Involve employees at every level. They all bring a variety of ideas to
Post these measures so that people are aware of them and can observe trends indicating improvement or deterioration.
- Institutionalize the creation of new ideas. Without creating a bureaucracy or sole ownership for innovation, ensure that dedicated resource people are working on new projects that will keep you one (or more) steps ahead of the competition.
- Set up programs to encourage new ideas. Especially if your organization is spread around the world, provide opportunities—such as
knowledge-sharing fairs—for people to get together and share best practices. - Celebrate failures. Acknowledge the effort and initiative even if an idea does not pan out the way everyone would have liked.