The Art of Doing Business

Creating content

2009-06-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Often the hardest thing about blogging is thinking up content. Obviously, if you are launching a new product or service - there's plenty to blog about. But, what if you are just working away - what can you possibly write about?Events and happenings in your industry or consider creating a calendar for your industry.Use Google Alerts to stay on top of relevant keywords and comment on media

Getting creative

2009-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

When times get tough, entrepreneurs need to get creative.Industry conferences and seminar can be expensive, but they are also great ways to network and stay abreast of what's the newest trends. In tough economic times, our marketing budgets can't always support the ticket price. However, many conferences will let you attend if you volunteer some hours to the conference.For the cost of a couple

Blogging matters

2009-06-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

For those of you following our little traffic ranking exercise - When we started this exercise (9/22), Dohertyassoc.com has a Alexa traffic rank of: 3,740,178. In October, it had a traffic rank of 1,969,422, January 2009 was 1,183,946, April we had gotten to 869,376. Currently Doherty's traffic rank is 1,696,815So what happened? We got busy, and let the website slide and lo and behold - no new

April Update

2009-04-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

Like every small business - when we get busy we tend to market less - bad, bad bad! We know, it has been crazy!! Here is a quick update on just a few of our projects:SF Business Services is updated weekly with the latest SF Business News and Events.FitBizTools has been busy with a large eCommerce project providing the customer an opportunity to market to numerous channels from a single database

Internet Strategies

2009-03-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

It’s not about building websites - it’s about building online businesses . . . How many of you have a website? Uh huh. How many of you have updated it in the last month? Exactly. What is your page rank?, your Alexa ranking? or even your link building strategy? Not sure, call us we can help!Internet Strategies

Are keywords dead?

2009-03-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't say they are dead. I like what Scott said. "They're not feeling well". Content is key when engineered properly for search engine optimization. Keeping in mind your title and descriptions in both the code and content do play a major role in your search engine optimization. Izzy Macaluso · Keywords are not dead, but content is far more

What do you do different?

2009-03-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

I teach business planning to entrepreneurs. What do you do different? This is always the first question I ask. Are you faster? Cheaper? Better? Understanding how we differentiate ourselves in the market is key to developing a successful marketing strategy and ultimately a successful business. If your customers have three options (or some amazing multiple thanks to the Internet) why do they

Keyword Density

2009-03-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

Keyword density is how often your keywords show up in the text of your site. If they never show up - then the text and the keywords seem unrelated - if you over do it then it's just a spam site.But as poor Goldilocks found out - it's not always easy to get it just right. No more then 2-3% of you text should focus on one variation of a keyword or keyword phrase. Some people debate this and will

Search Engine Ranking Factors

2009-03-02T15:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a great analysis of many SEO topics which shows the most important factors as ranked by a group of 37 experts. Check it out - it might just be a good refresher http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

Social networking sites - what works for you?

2009-02-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

We asked, here’s what you told us – LinkedIn is my preferred professional networking site, followed by xing.com and then by Twitter and Plaxo. Facebook is only used for private networking to stay in touch with family and friends. Oliver SchmidI don't like Twitter at all! LinkedIn works for me - just have to sift through the spam which can be frustrating and time

Ten Common Website Mistakes

2009-02-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

Not enough inbound links - it is the the #1 way to build page ranking and increase visibility in organic search. Develop an link strategy to increase your rankings.Every title is just the name of your company - search engines read the title tag to get a sense of what the page is about.Pictures are not named - use Alt Tags to identify picture content, so searchers will find them in Google image

How often should I update my blog?

2009-02-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

This probably the question we get the most. We recommend that you update your blog at least once a week. That ensures there is fresh content for both your readers, as well as the search engines. We write our business blogs because we want potential customers to do something – hire us, buy from us, etc. Make sure there is a call to action in everything you post – such a “Contact Us to Learn

How do you come up with fresh content for your blog?

2009-02-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

We asked, here’s what you told us – I would suggest having guest bloggers and interviewing people for you blog. Doing so will give you exposure to their following and they benefit from the exposure to yours. Paul Castain Consolidated GraphicsKeep looking at related websites and news for ideas. Do not write long posts or don't try to write everything under one heading. You

Small Business Survey

2009-01-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

From SB Cal -Last week I sent you our annual survey and the response has been a bit slow as we have just under 100 responses. Please take a few moments to complete the survey and forward to other small business owners. This is our chance to tell legislators and the Governor what small business is thinking and what are our concerns.The results of the survey will be sent to every legislators and

Small Business Advocate

2009-01-22T20:27:00.001-08:00

We recently had a chance to sit down with Scott Hauge - President of Small Business California. Mr. Hauge has been a leading advocate in paving the way for small and medium sized businesses. He has introduced government legislation that has affected business on local, state and national levels. He is considered one of the insurance industry’s leaders in setting guidelines and has received

Is your website working?

2009-01-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

The web design is pretty - but is there anyone visiting? Do you know your bounce rate? We can help.Send an email for a free 10 point analysis info@ dohertyassoc.com

January Update

2009-01-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

Back in September, we promised to update you as to what we were doing to the site and its impact on our ranking.At the time (9/22), Dohertyassoc.com has a traffic rank of: 3,740,178. In October, it had a traffic rank of 1,969,422, and currently Doherty's traffic rank is 1,183,946.In the last month or so, we went through and updated the look of the site. Doesn't matter what the site ranking is,

SF Business Services

2009-01-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

We recognize that it takes much more than financial support to get a company off the ground, thus we provide assistance in every aspect along the way allowing you to develop and grow a profitable business. Our team offers basic business services including bookkeeping, notary public, inventory management, e-Commerce solutions and more. SF business services

We do it so you don't have to . . .

2009-01-04T10:15:00.001-08:00

OK, actually we do it so that we can pass along our experience to you -We tweet, there we said it. First step is acknowledgment, right? I like Twitter. It allows us to post links and messages when we update the blogs. We can be found there as FitBizTools.New to Twitter - these Ten Top Twitter Tips should help you get started.It seems to be the "gadget" of the moment - MySpace is so 2007!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-29T10:45:00.000-08:00

Wishing you and yours all the best this winter season!

Feeling the Love, NOT!

2008-12-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

Part of my morning ritual is sipping coffee and glancing through the blogs, as I try to jolt myself to consciousness. It’s a good way for me to keep up with what my competitors are up to. So, imagine my surprise when I realized I was the main topic of a competitor’s blog and that he hated me. Seriously, he wrote that he “hated” me and went to go on to say he hated all SF bloggers. And get

Internet Strategies

2008-12-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

We assist clients in making the most of their web presence. Internet strategies are more than putting a website online and hoping for the best. Internet marketing includes web site design, communication plans, branding, search engine optimization, e-commerce solutions, pay per click and integration with existing business tools for inventory control and financial reporting. We emphasize

SEM or SEO?

2008-12-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

After awhile all the letters start sound alike.Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the broad term used to describe the efforts to drive traffic to your site. While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are tactics to make your site more web search friendly to increase organic (non paid) rankings, SEO is a subset of SEM.In addition to SEO, SEM includes Paid Inclusion -Banner AdsPay Per ClickThe advantage

Increasing Alexa rankings

2008-12-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

The two tools we use most to monitor our web efforts are Google Analytics and Alexa.com. The folks over at SiteProNews have done a good job sumarizing 10 Free and Easy Ways to Improve Your Alexa Ranking, check it out.To be successful you need to be constantly measuring your progress towards your goals. Regularly measuring your website data will tell you what's working, what needs to be changed

Is it working?

2008-11-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

Many of our clients have impressive websites and blogs on which they have lavished huge amounts of money, time and love. So I ask, “Is it working?”Typically, we get an answer along the lines of: "I think so." "And how do you measure your website's success?" No response.In business, we measure and analyze everything. We pour over receivables and agings, we slice and dice sales data but our