SMO, Rules of Social Media Optimization

A new phrase starts taking force in the world of Internet marketing. As well as it is common to talk about the importance of the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in a web life; with the emergence of increasingly dynamical social applications and sites, there arises also the importance of optimizing the web social communication, this optimization is known as SMO (Social Media Optimization).

The appearance of social communities, web portals 2.0, mashups, RSS and millions of blogs interacting, are changing the classic Internet traffic distribution. Before, traffic was provided almost only by the portals – seekers, now on the other hand many visits come for references. To close our eyes before this change, would be a great mistake.

For it, Rohit Bhargava started outlining the first directives to optimize the Web social communication, which they have been increasing and here I summarize.

Rules of Social Media Optimization

1. Increase your linkability: The first one and more important. The web has to stop being “static” as possible.

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11 ways of optimizing an URL

11 ways of optimizing an URL it is an article published in seomoz that seems to be very interesting, it shows really valuable information. The especially part that called my attention was point 6, since the web make fashionable spam seekers with subdomains. Here I left you part of the article.

11 advices to achieve successful URLs

1. Describe your content

An URL who says everything is a magnificent URL. If a user can read the URL and understand exactly the content of the page before at least seeing it, you will have done your work. Remember, these URLs are copied, shared, sent for email, annotated and even approved by the search engines.

2. Keep it short

Briefness is a virtue, remember it always. If you make a shorter URL, it will be easier to copy and paste, to read rapidly, to write it in a presentation card or to use it in hundreds of other slightly common ways, everything which gives it major utility.

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Tips for Creating Good Website Designs

A lot can be said about Internet advertising and online commerce but there is no doubt that they are quite profitable business activities. Advertising on television or in print is less effective than promoting a company on the Internet. But to make a good online commercial targeted to millions of potential clients you need very good website designs. There is nothing more important than good website design when marketing a product online is concerned. You no longer need flashing three sentence ads in giant text on a white screen. Simply said, good website designs are high tech and eye pleasing. They actually resemble a television commercial.

Of course, only the good ones do. There are many websites which are not high tech and could not certainly be taken for good website designs. Personal pages could be loud and very colourful but it comes as a big surprise that many companies still rely on old school early 90’s type of web design. There are two possible reasons why they don’t have good websites designs. The first one is that they don’t fully realize the importance of the good design in marketing and advertising on the Internet. The second reason might be for they don’t consider Cyberspace as a major source of income. Though, it is certain that online business will keep on blooming in the years to come.

I suppose the major factor when designing a website is usability. A site with good usability means that not only is the site easy to use but it is also comprehensible for the potential customers. This is the bases for any good website designs.

Other important factors are good content and originality. A reader should have lots of information on display; they should be able to review discussions of a product and service. The content should be informative and interesting but professional, as well. Even though looks matter, good website designs are more about content that graphic production.

However the importance of graphics should not be underestimated. This includes colour, style of text, image and design graphics. You can give a more professional look to a website with a single line or a bullet well placed. Good website designs contain all these things. It is vital not to turn off customers by putting any pictures (whether of people or nature) if inappropriate to the setting. It is also important that graphics have good quality but low file size because if they don’t meet these requirements then the customers might grow impatient while waiting for the file to load.

Other things which should be taken into considerations are compatibility and navigation. Apart from Internet Explorer there are people using Netscape or Firefox as their usual web browser. Thus it is important that the site is compatible with different web browsers or computers. Of course, this will make the designing of the web site harder but it would be worth it.

It might sound easy to have a good website but remember that good website designs are hard work and a billion dollar industry.
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Why Is Management Needed

To achieve objectives, managers need to maintain the balance among the conflicting demands of the stakeholders of an organization. Stakeholders are all those, who have a stake in an organizational success, including employees, owners, customers, creditors and others. Owners seek a satisfactory return on their investment; employees want good pay and comfortable working conditions; management must also please its customers, for without them the company will have little purpose; creditors, suppliers, trade associations should also be considered. So, management must balance the interests of different groups.

Management is also needed to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is the ability to get things done correctly. An efficient manager is the one who gets higher output relative to the inputs (labor, materials, money, machines and time). Effectiveness is the ability to choose the most suitable goals and proper steps to achieve them. That is, effective managers select the right things to do and the right methods for getting them done.

Management is a process of managing people. Any manager has some functions. He performs planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Planning is choosing an organizational mission, and then determining the courses of actions (programs, projects, methods, systems, strategies) to achieve them. All other functions depend on this one, for they cannot succeed without sound, thorough planning and decision making.

Organizing determines what resources and alternatives are required and it also delegates the authorities to employees, who are to carry out managers instructions.

Plans and organization are useless without the function of leading. Leading is getting employees to do the things the manager wants them to do. Therefore, the leader’s qualities, style and power are very important. This function can be performed in the face-to-face manner or through written orders and job descriptions.

All the previous functions are ineffective without the last one- controlling. Controlling is ways of assuring that planned action is really performed. Forms of control commonly used by managers are inspections, progress reports and financial statements. Again, effective control cannot be performed without successful planning, organizing and leading.
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Benefits of Online Shopping

When it comes to shopping, more and more of us are letting our fingers (and our mice) do the walking.

Online sales are expected to hit $211 billion this year. That is a rise of 20 percent over last year and comes just three years after the industry hit the $100 billion milestone, according to the 2006 State of Retailing Online report from Shop.org and Forrester Research. Here are seven reasons it makes sense to shop online:

1. Lower prices. Online shopping can reduce overhead costs in a variety of ways, which can translate to lower prices for you. In fact, one 2004 study found online prices to be 6 to 16 percent lower than offline prices.

2. More savings with online coupons. Many times, shoppers can save even further with an online coupon or coupon code. According to a 2005 Bizrate/Shopzilla report, 71 percent of online shoppers said they were able to find better discount offers and sales online, as compared to shopping through a catalog or traditional retail merchant. Online retailers may issue a button or text link that will apply an automatic savings to your order, or they may issue a specific coupon code to be entered at checkout.

3. Research capabilities. The Internet allows you to easily compare products and prices, so you can be sure that the item you purchase is the exact item you want. Online merchants can publish much more information about their product on a website than they could affordably publish in a print catalog. And online stores give you the ability to share information and reviews with other shoppers who have firsthand experience with a product or retailer. As Internet connection speeds continue to increase for larger segments of the population, these types of interactive features will become even more important. Zappos.com, a leading shoe retailer, for example, allows you to view most shoes from as many as eight different angles, including a close up.

4. Increased selection. Warehousing logistics can be much simpler for an online retailer, and many of the online superstores have a staggering inventory to choose from. Plus, as a consumer, you can avoid the inconvenience of physically traveling among online stores to comparison shop. A simple online search can lead you to the right product at the right price, fast.

5. Convenience. An online store allows you to shop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So you can shop at your leisure, regardless of your time zone. This is particularly important for those of us who are limited in our ability to get to a brick and mortar store. The elderly, as well as parents of young children, for example, may have a more relaxed shopping experience in front of the computer screen.

6. Saves time. So much of the vast variety of products and product information is easily searchable. Plus, there is no traveling, parking, and walking involved.

7. Environmental Benefits. Recent studies are showing that shopping online leads to reduced fuel consumption and air pollution, because so much of our car travel is dedicated to shopping. Plus, shopping online reduces the need for print catalogs and excess packaging. And downloadable items purchased online eliminate the need for any kind of material goods at all.
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