Or maybe you’re like most people who know just enough to be dangerous.

In either case, don’t feel bad; you’re in good company. In fact, there were even times when I fell into each of those categories.

Whether you’re planning to learn about search engine optimization so you can optimize your own website, or you just want to learn enough so that you can make an informed decision when you hire a search engine optimization company, by the end of this article you’ll have an above-average level of knowledge on the subject.

I’ll share the basics of search engine optimization, some of the common myths and even the tools that are worth investing in and which ones are a waste of money and time.

What is exactly is search engine optimization?

Simply put, search engine optimization is a collection of activities that seek to improve a website’s ranking for particular keyword phrases. At its foundation, this is made up of on-site and off-site factors.

Pretty simple so far, right?

Well, it gets a lot more complicated real quickly.

On-site factors

The on-site aspect of search engine optimization is rather simple, relatively speaking.

It consists primarily of:

• Unique and effective title tags. Ideally each page should have a unique title tag that is short and memorable. Most search engines can index a title tag over 1,000 characters, but will only display about 65 characters in the search results.
• Unique content added on a regular basis. The more unique content your website has, the better it will perform, and if you can add multimedia, such as video or audio, you can usually expect even better results.
• Fast-loading pages. Google has already admitted that the speed of your website is a factor in how well it ranks, but think of your visitors too – they’re more likely to spend more time on your website if the pages load more quickly.
• Original content that keeps visitors on your website longer. It’s speculated that the amount of time a visitor spends on your site has an impact on your ranking because it indicates the quality, or lack of quality in your content.
• Descriptive and relevant image names and alt tags. Images help draw in people with shorter attention spans, which is most everyone on the Internet these days. Relevant file names and alt tags help the search engines understand what the images are about since they can’t identify the contents on there own.

Off-site factors

Off-site search engine optimization is where it starts to get complicated.

The search engines are mostly looking at links pointing to your website and citations about your website, though the latter carries far less weight. It’s not as simple as just getting more links than the next guy though, because there is an algorithm that analyzes your link profile, looking into every data point you can imagine, and then some, for example:

• Anchor text. The clickable portion of the link (for example: widgets) is the anchor text, and it plays a large role in the value that the search engines place on that link as it relates to that particular keyword phrase.
• Rate of link acquisition. Link building (also known as link marketing) isn’t based only on the volume of links attained. The major search engines also consider historical growth. If you’re website used to get a few links each month, but then suddenly starts getting hundreds of links in large bursts, followed by periods of no new links, the search engines will quickly be able to tell that something shady is going on, and those links will have far less impact. It may also raise red flags that could cause a manual review and get your website penalized.
• Quality of links. One good link from a trusted website is almost always going to have more impact on your ranking that hundreds of links from questionable article directories.
• Link decay. Over time, some of your links will disappear. Websites may get shut down, editors may remove links and pages may be deleted, all of which result in your website losing a valuable backlink. Another form of link decay is when you spam links where they don’t belong, such as blog comments, forums and social networks to name a few. Some link decay is to be expected, but massive link decay is a sure sign to the search engines that you’re engaging in questionable link building techniques, as with the rate of link acquisition, this could raise red flags and cause a manual review that gets your website penalized.
• Citations can sometimes have the same effect as links. For example, if CNN mentions your company by name, that is a sign of trust from a reputable website. Even without the actual link, this can improve your TrustRank and thus, your organic ranking.

SEO myths

I could probably write an entire book on SEO myths, but we’ll keep it short here.

• Buying AdWords has a positive influence on organic ranking. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you think that Google or any other search engine is going to alter their organic results just because you spend a few hundred dollars per month, I’d like to talk to you about a bridge I have for sale.
• Linking to the search engines helps your ranking. Nope. Not one iota. The search engines already have plenty of exposure and a link from your website isn’t going to motivate them to rank your website any higher.
• Trading links is a great way to improve ranking. Maybe if this was 1995, but the practice of reciprocal linking has been dead for over a decade now.
• Optimizing meta tags is important for SEO. Meta tags were once used to tell search engines what a particular web page was about. Then they got abused so the search engines moved on to other, more effective ways to determine what a web page was about. The meta keyword tag has absolutely no value at all. The meta description tag still has value, but not from a ranking perspective. Instead, it’s used to provide a short description to potential visitors as they scan the search results.
• Repeating a keyword phrase improves ranking. This is yet another outdated technique that just won’t die. There once was a time when repeating a keyword phrase over and over (called keyword stuffing) would help get you a higher ranking. Those days, thankfully, are long gone. When you write web copy, write the same way you would write an article if search engines didn’t exist.

Tools and resources

In my opinion, most of the “so-called” SEO software is worthless. If a piece of software claims to tell you how to

• optimize keyword density
• optimize title, keyword, description, heading or alt tags
• build reciprocal link partners

then you should avoid it like the plague. If you simply write for your visitors, not the search engines, code your HTML properly (W3C valid) and keep your text to code ratio low, you’ll already be far ahead of most websites in terms of on-site search engine optimization.

And don’t waste your time building reciprocal link partners – that ship has long since sailed. It was a technique that worked about ten years ago but has little to no effect today. Instead, focus on link bait and guest posting.

So what tools and resources are worthwhile?

Well, you’ll need a solid SEO foundation to work from, so following the SEOBook and SEOMoz blogs is a great place to start. Both offer some of the most up to date information on the world of search engine optimization.

One thing you’ll want to check for and fix right away are any broken links on your website, and the best tool for that is Xenu’s Link Sleuth, which is 100% free.

You’ll want to be sure that the content you write for your website is something that visitors are actually looking for, so you’ll need to do some keyword research. A few great tools for this are Google’s keyword tool, and Wordtracker. Another option is to look for the keywords that competing websites are ranking for using SEMRush.

Next, you’ll need to track your results. Here at Wildfire, two of the tools we use everyday are Google Analytics and Aaron Wall’s Firefox Rank Checker plugin. You can also do a pretty good job of tracking your inbound links using Open Site Explorer from SEOMoz, although it’s data isn’t quite as complete as the now deceased Yahoo! Site Explorer used to be, it’s still an incredibly valuable tool that is constantly growing and improving. Majestic SEO is another great tool for tracking your inbound links.

Share your thoughts in the comments below, and if you’ve found this article to be useful, please share it or link to it :)

Do you think that if you dropped your prices just a little, all of those problems would go away and new business would start rolling in?

The good news is that you’re not alone. Lots of smart entrepreneurs have thought the same thing. The bad news is that they (and you) are dead wrong.

Today you’re going to learn that your prices are causing unimaginable damage to your business. More importantly, your going to learn why (it’s not the reason you think) and how to fix it right away. I’m even going to share some pricing mistakes I’ve made in our company, how it impacted us, and how we fixed it. That lesson alone worth it’s weight in gold, and you get to enjoy the benefits without the pain, hard work or lost profits we had to go through.

The race to the bottom is fast and painful

No matter how low you drop your prices, there will always be someone willing to sell for less. Many of those companies may not be around in a year or two, but there will be plenty of new companies lining up to take their place. And even if their quality and service is inferior to yours, to the customers who just shop for the lowest price, you’re just the same as everyone else.

To add insult to injury, the customers who chose you because of your price will jump ship as soon as someone new offers them even a slightly lower price.

Eventually, you’ll end up selling your products or services so cheaply that you’ll make little to no profit and your begin to hate your own business and resent your customers. Along the way, you’ll damage your company’s brand because people will associate it with cheap, inferior products and poor service.

A few years ago, I made this same mistake. I dropped our prices by 60% during a particularly rough patch in our company’s history. Did we make up for the loss of profit by an increase in volume?

Not even in the slightest.

In fact, our volume remained almost exactly the same. What changed was the type of client who contacted us.

Instead of getting calls from peoples who were interested in value, we were contacted by people who were only concerned about the price. Even though our prices were at rock-bottom, we were repeatedly asked for discounts and payment plans because the people who contacted us had the wrong mindset. To make matters worse, many of the clients we did work with during that time couldn’t afford to finish the projects they started.

You’re known by the company you keep

The success of your business depends on the type of customers you choose to work with. Another way to look at it is that the type of customers you turn down can have a greater impact than the ones you choose to work with.

When money is tight, it’s easy to fall into the trap of taking on any customer who is willing to spend money with you. Most entrepreneurs, including myself, have made that mistake.

The problem is that you then become know for working with that type of client and end up getting more of the same.

Imagine a real estate agent who sells only luxury waterfront property, but she has a slow couple of months, so she takes a listing for a small home in a bad neighborhood. She does everything right and sells it quickly at a fair price. Her client loves her so much that they refer their friends and family to her. Not being one to turn away business, she helps them too.

It’s admirable that she was willing to help these people, but now she doesn’t have the background that the seller of a beautiful and expensive waterfront home is looking for in a listing agent, so she’s stuck selling more homes in bad neighborhoods.

Success breeds success

My company has worked with small start ups, Fortune 500 companies and everything in between, and that’s taught me that usually, the higher up the food chain you go, the easier the customers are to work with and the more realistic their budgets and expectations are.

Many solo entrepreneurs are brilliant, dedicated and ambitious people, but they can often difficult to work with because they’re so used to doing everything on their own. Because of that,they’re often less willing to part with their money even though it would mean seeing better results faster than if they did the work on their own. They also like to have a lot of control over every tiny detail.

On the other hand, executives of larger companies who are comfortable delegating are more than happy to let you do your job your way while they focus on the end result. There is far less hand holding and your profits are usually higher.

That’s great, but my business is different

I’m sure you like to think of your business as a unique and beautiful snowflake, but it’s not.

Unless you’re selling a commodity, dropping your prices is a short term solution to a long term problem. You might get an increase in new business, but it’s not the type of business you want, and your profits will suffer.

The choice is yours. You can either turn a profit while you enjoy working with reasonable clients who have realistic budgets and expectations, or you can work at a loss while you’re miserable working with unreasonable clients who are simply looking for the absolute lowest price.

What’s the solution?

The difference is whether you choose to focus on the value that you’re bringing to the table, or on the price.

When we dropped our prices in response to a slow economy, we began attracting the wrong type of prospect. So the obvious solution was to raise our prices. In fact, we raised them even higher than they started off at.

To most people, it probably seems counter intuitive. How can the solution to a slow period be to raise your prices? That can’t work, can it?

Indeed. It can, and it did. And it will work for you too, if you do it right.

That’s not to say it wasn’t “keep you up all night” scary. It was, and initially, I fought the natural urge to go back.

But instead, I stuck with it and focused on the value that we provided. We spent more time qualifying our prospects – we were interviewing them just as much as they were interviewing us. And since our profit margins were higher (though still very reasonable) it allowed us to only work with the clients who were the best fit and turn the rest down. As a result, our clients got better results, we made a decent profit, and everyone was a lot happier working together.

Are you ready to make that sort of dramatic change in your business?

Grab a note pad and make a list of all the benefits you bring to the table, then raise your prices by 50% or even 100%.

You’ll still be reaching the same number of people with your marketing dollars, but their perception of your company will change, so the type of people who you speak to will be drastically different. They will be more concerned with the value and the outcome they’ll receive from working with you instead of just your price.

And for any small business owner, what Christmas would be complete without a mad dash for some last minute profits before the height of the festivities?

You’re probably wondering “Is it even worthwhile to ramp up my marketing during the Christmas Season with so many people focused on holiday parties, shopping and travel?” The answer is “Absolutely!”

A well though-out out marketing plan can transform your December from a slow and possibly dismal month into one that breaks old records and sets you up for a rocking new year. Here are a few ideas to get you going…

Don’t be Afraid to Say Merry Christmas

In today’s politically correct world, everyone is afraid of offending someone, but is that really justified? In my opinion, it’s ridiculous, but it turns out that statistically speaking, at least in terms of email, people actually respond better to the phrase “Merry Christmas” than they do to “Happy Holidays.”

Send Out Dimensional Mail

Dimensional mail always works better than traditional mail, but it can have a tremendous impact at Christmas time because a promotional item and your company’s literature wrapped in festive wrapping paper with a bow on top is sure to be received and opened by your prospect rather than intercepted by a gatekeeper.

This is a sure-fire way to get noticed, remembered, and more often than not, make direct contact with a decision maker. The key is laser focus on a small, very specific list of prospects because your cost per piece is going to be higher than traditional direct mail, but your response rate is going to be higher – often exponentially.

Offer a Christmas Sale

Sales and discounts can often be counter-productive pricing strategies unless there is a very valid reason behind them. Fortunately Christmas and the end of the year are very valid reasons to hold a sale or offer a discount – just make sure it’s seasonally-themed so that everyone understands the reason behind it; more importantly, they understand that there is a limited window of opportunity to take advantage of your special pricing.

Hold a Christmas Party

Most companies hold some sort of holiday party but fail to use it to really promote themselves. A good way to do this is to hold a raffle where the winner will receive certain products or services for free. This is a great way to showcase some of your offerings to all of the attendees without coming off as being overly self-promotional.

Be sure to invite clients, AND prospects. It will give them a chance to meet and talk about your products or services, which will help build your credibility.

Send Gifts to Your Clients

Everyone wants to know they’re appreciated – especially your clients. Sending them a gift is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to do that while staying on their mind and setting yourself apart from the competition.

A well written (and designed) resume and a killer portfolio are tools that can slice through any competition and should be considered weapons of mass destruction. Your resume is the “first date” of the interview process and you only have a few seconds to catch the eye of a potential employer. Do you know who you are? Creating a brand for yourself is probably one of the hardest things you’ll ever do as a designer. Set yourself apart with a logo that visually sums up who you are. Next, incorporate your brand into a layout that is visually stunning, but doesn’t overwhelm the rest of your resume. Get straight to the point. Kill that annoying objective statement. We all know that you want a “challenging job in graphic design.” Try a summary section instead. For example: “Graphic design graduate with experience gained through an internship at a local non-profit organization. Excels in fast-paced, deadline-driven office environments. Advanced knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.” This lets the potential employer know what your strengths are right off the bat. Use a combination resume. Don’t just list things as they happened. You could have a section for graphic design skills, managerial skills, etc. Don’t feel like you need to omit other jobs just because they have nothing to do with graphic design. Employers want to see that you have a wide range of skills and can handle working in various environments.

Like I said, your portfolio is a weapon of mass destruction. Choose only the BEST pieces for your portfolio. Don’t be afraid to let others critique your work. I don’t mean getting your grandma or your best friend to do it. They already think you and everything you do are awesome. Let your professors critique your work. Even if you’ve already graduated, they’d love to have you stop in and look at your progress. Let non-designers critique your work. You might not think they know anything about design, but they do know what catches their eye. They’re the average consumer. Make sure your portfolio is cohesive with your brand. Your resume and portfolio should all flow together naturally with the brand you’ve created for yourself. You should have paper portfolio AND a web portfolio. You have stronger chance of getting hired if employers can view your work before the interview.

Be TENACIOUS. Don’t be fooled by a “bad economy” or a job market that looks less than promising. I can’t tell you how many of my classmates ended up taking a job that they’re unhappy with because the school loan payments were due. There’s nothing wrong with that, but don’t lose sight of the prize. You’re a graphic designer and you want—no, NEED a graphic design job. When I first graduated from school, I asked my former boss to give me a day off each week to look for jobs, work on new projects, and really hone my portfolio. Surprisingly, he agreed. Not doing what I went to school for wasn’t an option. I looked for jobs through my school’s career services department, job posting sites like SimplyHired, Indeed, and LinkedIn. Look for jobs in companies that aren’t in the design industry. You might be missing out on a job opportunity just because it’s not out in the open for everyone to see. Don’t be afraid to dig. Another suggestion is to narrow down the type of company you’d like to work for. Know the difference between an ad agency, a marketing firm, and being an in-house designer. If you know where you’d like to work, job hunting won’t seem like a wild goose chase.

Be a self-starter. Turn anything into a design project. While you’re looking, continue to work on your portfolio. Building your portfolio is a continuing process. If you’re not currently working in field, you need to keep your skills sharp. Do see an obnoxious billboard on your morning commute? Redesign it! Do you hate that menu from your favorite Chinese restaurant that STILL hasn’t changed since 1985? Redesign it. Everything can be a potential piece for your portfolio. Stay on top of the curve and ahead of your competitors.

Network like there’s no tomorrow. You know the saying, “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.” This is definitely true when searching for a graphic design job. Employers in this industry want to give the job to people they know. Trusting someone with a brand or a particular style of work is a big deal. Designers don’t want to give jobs to strangers who barely know them or their company. If you can, join the local chapter of your ad federation. Search for events in your area. A great tool for finding events is meetup.com. Meetup helps you find a group for whatever you’re interested in. There are meetup groups for graphic design, Photoshop, InDesign, and the list goes on. If you’re an introvert like me, Facebook is a great networking tool. It allows you to talk with people and share your ideas without feeling like the biggest wallflower at a networking event. I’m not telling you stay on your computer and become a recluse. We all need help with our people skills—but it can be a beginner’s guide to networking before you hit the big leagues.

Ok, now you’ve got some calls coming in. This is your first interview. How do you NOT blow it? Relax. Make sure your research the company you’re interviewing for. Know its main functions and know what your desired position requires. One of the first things an interviewer will ask is, “What do you know about us?” Be ready with a clear, concise answer. Ask your own questions. Employers want to see you take an interest in their company. Don’t be afraid to ask about the details of the desired position. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. If there’s an area that you’re lacking in, be honest and emphasize the fact that you’re willing to learn. Be confident, you’ve already won half the battle. The fact that your resume made them call you says something. Be courteous. Always send a thank you note after an interview. Let the employer know you appreciate the time they spent meeting with you. That’s actually how I got my first graphic design job. I sent my interviewer a hand-written thank you note and on my second interview she couldn’t stop saying how much she appreciated it.

You’ve got all the tools you need to land your first graphic design job. Make sure you know who you are and what you have to offer. Sharpen your skills. Hone your resume and portfolio by creating extra projects for yourself. Let others be the judge and critique your work—there’s always room for improvement. Be tenacious. Determination will always outsmart a bad economy. Network. Network. Network. Let people know who you are on a professional and personal level. Now, go forth and take the job market by the horns. You’ve got this one in the bag.

Maybe you’ve been through it yourself, and maybe, like many other business owners, you’ve experienced your share of headaches. Shoddy work, unprofessional designers, missed deadlines…the list goes on. Or maybe you’re getting ready to hire a web designer and are terrified by the horror stories you’ve heard from friends and associates.

The good news is that by following a few simple steps, you can avoid the problems that so many people run into, and enjoy a smooth, painless web design process with the designer of your dreams.

Step 1: Know your goals

If you don’t know what you want to get out of your website design project, how do you expect any web designer to meet your expectations? Start of by figuring out exactly what you want your new website accomplish for your company. Are you looking for a more professional looking brand? A more user-friendly shopping cart? Better conversion rates? The more time you spend mapping out your goals, the better you’ll be able to communicate them to your designer and the better they’ll be able to create a website that helps you accomplish them.

Step 2: Have a realistic budget

The fact that your nephew may be willing to design your website for $200 doesn’t mean that any professional should be expected to do the same. A true professional usually has years of schooling under their belt, along with real-world experience that enables them to deliver results that an amateur simple can’t deliver. You might find yourself wondering what a realistic budget would be. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, but a good starting point is a few thousand dollars for a completely custom website design. I can tell you that at the time of writing this, our website design services start off at $3,500, and go up from there depending on what’s needed in our client’s website. I’ve also seen websites priced as high as $70,000 when working with Fortune 500 companies, so it’s a pretty wide price range.

Remember, you’re not just paying for someone to physically design, code and test your website — you’re also paying for their knowledge of what will and won’t work in achieving your online goals. And that knowledge is priceless.

Step 3: Have a realistic deadline

Designing a website takes time.

There is the initial consultation, where your designer will take time to learn about your company, goals, challenges, competitors, etc., followed by a significant amount of time invested in planning how to make the most of your situation and help you achieve your online goals. This research and planning, which you’ll probably never even see, can often take a full day or more – and that’s before a single pixel is placed on the screen.

Next is the initial design, which is usually presented to you as a .jpg image to illustrate how your new website will look. This is where you begin to request any changes, and after the appearance has been finalized, your designer will begin coding your website. Depending on the complexity, the coding could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or sometimes longer.

Once the coding is complete, your designer still has to test it in multiple web browsers to make sure it displays and functions properly in most environments.

That being said, a basic website can usually be completed in about 30 days, but the more complex it is, or the more pages it has, the longer it will take.

You have to account for time to do the actual work, in addition to communication back and forth, fitting into the work schedule, technical delays, etc.

Step 4: Choose a designer that can align with your core principles

If you need a website for your brand new oil company, it’s probably best to steer clear of the web designer who swears that oil is pure evil, not because there’s anything wrong with that designer, but simply because you aren’t going to see eye-to-eye on most things so you won’t be able to work well together. When your designer shares your belief structure, you’ll just work better together and the web design process will be much smoother and easier on both parties.

Step 5: Review their porfolio

A web designer’s portfolio says more about their work that anything they could ever tell you. Spend time carefully reviewing the websites they’ve designed for past clients and see if their style of work fits your company.

Step 6: Talk to their previous clients

Any decent web designer should be willing to provide you with a list of previous clients who you can ask about the work they received from the designer. Don’t be alarmed if they haven’t worked with the designer in quite some time though, because many companies simply update their website and then don’t make any further changes for years.

But don’t just ask if they were happy with the final results. instead, dig deeper and find out what they thought about the process, whether deadlines were met, was communication effective and timely, or if there were there any surprise charges or costs. You want to get a picture of the entire process from start to finish.

I am, and I’ve bought hundreds of them over the years. Most of the time, it was because I wanted the traffic or ranking they already had. Other times it was because it was just a damn good name.

The thing about buying an existing domain is that you’re hardly ever going to be able to buy it for the standard registration fee because even if it’s just an expired domain and the owner didn’t actively try to sell it, the registrar will almost always auction it off. You can easily spend anywhere from $20 to well over $10,000 but usually, you’re going to pay a few hundred dollars for a domain with a respectable amount of existing traffic and/or ranking.

More than a few times, I’ve watched my investment sour pretty quickly. Rankings dropped like a rock. Traffic disappeared. The domain became worthless to me.

After a couple of experiences like this, I was able to see a few common factors and realized how Google was able to tell that the ownership of the site had changed. Once they did, they reset it to zero. It was basically being treated like a brand new domain with no trust. Its age and back links no longer carried any weight.

So let me save you some headaches (and money) by sharing what I’ve learned along the way so that you can buy existing domains without the painful experience of watching your investment go down the drain.

1. Get the website back up ASAP

If your recently acquired domain was down for any period of time during the bidding/buying process, it’s critical to get it back up and running as quickly as possible. Especially if it was displaying a placeholder page from the registrar or web host. If Google indexes these pages, it’s a pretty sure sign that the domain is about to change ownership, and that puts it at risk of being penalized.

I once bought a domain that I had great plans for, but because of my schedule at the time, couldn’t put any time into it. A few weeks later, my once fantastic domain had lost all ranking and traffic because all that Google could find was a single place holder page. Don’t make that same mistake.

2. If possible, leave the hosting where it is

Google knows which host and IP address your domain used to live at, and changing that, in conjunction with other signals, can alert them that something’s up. If you have the option to maintain the previous hosting, by all means, do so. If not, at least try to stay at the same hosting company.

3. Keep the subject of the site the same

Nothing screams “I just bought this domain to abuse it” like a complete change in subject matter. Buying a domain about knitting and then filling it with content about Mesothelioma is a sure sign to Google that your only intent is to make a quick buck with AdSense.

There’s nothing wrong with changing the content of a site over time, but you have to treat it like dating – take small, slow steps at first. Ideally, you should replace as much of the old content as you can first, which you can often find at Archive.org, and then slowly introduce new content over a period of months.

4. Keep building links using the previous anchor text

Another sure sign that a domain has changed ownership is a drastic change in the anchor text pointing to it. Imagine this…for years, the anchor text to the home page of your recently acquired domain has been “The South Tampa Sentinel” but now new links are popping up all over the place with the anchor text “blue widgets.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that something is out of place. Keep that up and you can watch your ranking and traffic plummet faster than the stock market.

Instead, keep building links using the same anchor text as the previous owner, and slowly begin introducing new anchor text while adding new content. This will make a more natural transition.

What else should I know?

Change is usually good, but when it comes to acquiring a domain, slow and steady is always better. Over time, you can change everything, but it has to take place in increments. Think about it like buying a company. You’d rarely come in and completely change course. Instead, you would leave things the way they were and let the dust settle, then slowly begin implementing new policies hiring new employees and letting the unnecessary ones go.

Treat your new domain the same way and you’ll be on the path to success.

You could hope that people will see your website address on your marketing materials and type it into their browser, which is infinitely more likely than them remembering it from your radio or television commercials and typing it into their browser, but neither are going to drive very many people to your website. The fact is, most people are just too busy (or too lazy) to put in that much effort.

But what if there was an easy way to get them there, maybe even just by clicking a button? That’s simple enough and even the most distracted person could manage to stay focused long enough to do that, right?

That’s where QR codes come in. Anyone with a smartphone can simply use an app to snap a picture of the QR code on your marketing materials, and your website will pop up right on their screen!

An inexpensive way to start using QR codes is on your business cards, but there’s no reason to stop there. You can use them on all of your printed marketing materials, like brochures, car wraps and even billboards. You’re only limited by your imagination!

Don’t Do It Alone

You may have the entrepreneurial spirit and innate business savvy, but when starting your own company, don’t do it alone. Learn as much as you can from people who have done what you’re trying to do and have been successful. Find a mentor or counselor who can help you through the process, preferably someone who has a similar company. Get as much training as possible. Thousands of organizations help people just like you who have a vision for starting their own business but need the tools to know how to do it. Some training you can do completely online, while seminars and workshops must attended in person. If you don’t have the funds to attend organized training, just go online and research. You will find loads of information for free on various web sites.

Create a Strong Plan

Start with a strong plan if you want your company to be successful. First, brainstorm business ideas and identify the perfect opportunity for your skill sets, resources and available market. Clearly define your business objectives. Second, identify your target market. Who is going to buy your product or services and what are their characteristics? Your target market will help you determine your location. Will you have a storefront in the community where you live, a nearby city, or will you have to relocate closer to your market? Is your company going to be solely online?

With this information, you have begun to create your business plan. Business plans come in all shapes and sizes and, for a little help, you can find numerous templates and outlines online. Follow one that you feel fits your company. As you develop your business plan, you will need to determine the form of business ownership (sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), corporation, S corporation, nonprofit or cooperative). Spend considerable time in the beginning crafting your business plan before you get too excited because it is the backbone of your company. Also, lenders and investors will expect a strong business plan before they will consider investing in your company.

Raise Start-up Capital

Now that you have a strong business plan, you are ready to raise capital. Hopefully, you have at least a small amount of personal funds that you can invest to give you a start. For the rest, you will have to choose between equity financing and debt financing or possibly a combination of both. If you choose equity financing, you can get a business partner who has money to invest, incorporate the company and sell shares of stock or find venture capitalists that are looking to invest in promising start-ups. If you’re lucky or if you’re starting a non-profit organization, you may even be able to raise donations. Debt financing is a completely different route you can take with various options: friends and family, credit cards, royalty financing and small business loans and grants. Research all of the types of small business loans available (specialty loans, bank-term loans, asset-based loans, and SBA-guarantee loans) and determine which is best for your company.

Make it Legal

Before you get too far, legalize your company. Don’t do it alone. Hire an attorney to ensure that you do everything correctly. You certainly don’t want to mess up the legal portion of your company. Make sure the name you have chosen is original and register it. Then, get your tax ID number. Since you have already chosen the form of ownership for your company, now make it legal. Get all the licenses and permits required for your type of company. Get business insurance as it can help you immensely in the future.

Market, Market, Market

As you develop your business plan, you should also start to develop a marketing plan. You started your marketing plan earlier when you determined your target market. Now, delve deeper into your market’s characteristics and consumer behaviors. If possible, pay for market research to get the most accurate data. The information you gather will guide you in your marketing strategies and tactics. Determine what you want the consumer to do and how you will encourage them to do it using the most effective channels and messages for them specifically. Avoid mass marketing as it will waste your money and be less effective than direct marketing. Before you start, develop a strong brand and stick to it in all of your marketing and advertising. Your potential customers need to easily recognize your company and know what they can expect from you.

Now you have a broad idea of what you will need to do to start up your start-up, but the most important thing you can do is research. Don’t just jump into the process without first having a strong backbone (business plan), sufficient capital, legal framework and a marketing plan that will bring you the business you need for success.

About the Author: Megan Freemont is a freelance writer for Adobe. Adobe provides graphic design software for individuals and companies in the graphic design industry.

So without further ado – here we go:

Remove ANY website from Google

James Breckenridge found a gaping security hole in Google’s Webmaster Tools so wide, even Evil Knievel wouldn’t dare try to jump over it. This bug allows ANYONE to instantly remove ANY website from Google’s index by simply passing a modified URL to Google while logged into your Webmaster Tools account. Depending on certain technical factors, this technique could remove a website from Google for a few days, or forever, but the good news is that it’s already been fixed.

The Truth About Scarcity Online

Pat Flynn shows visitors what direct-response television marketers have known for decades – scarcity sells! He does a great job of outlining the human psychology behind why it helps marketers sell more, and gives you a few case studies showing the tactics and results.

Repositioning SEO Copy with Jquery Sliders

Everett Sizemore offers some great advice on how to use Jquery sliders to get more “bang for the buck” from SEO without sacrificing design aesthetics. His tips are especially useful for ecommerce websites, and he even shows a couple of real-world examples.

Building and Growing Your Email List

Ethan Waldman tackles a problem all marketers face at some point – building a responsive email list. In his article over at Problogger he shares everything from the fundamentals to more advanced details on building, growing and getting the most from your email list. I especially liked the fact that talked about split-testing and shared how he improved opt-ins by 18% simply by trying out different sign-up boxes.

Other noteworthy articles:

1. Day old news is fresh enough
2. Kim Kardashian suing Old Navy for hiring lookalike model
3. 20 Websites Making The Most Money
4. How Important is Your Online Reputation?

If you’re afraid of speaking in front of a crowd, you’re not alone. According to a Bruskin/Goldring Report, more Americans are actually afraid of public speaking than they are of death!

But what if you had a more motivating factor, a positive one that would make public speaking tolerable, or maybe even enjoyable? A factor that would far outweigh the fear? Would you consider it then?

Here’s the secret – public speaking is an outstanding way to grow your business.

I’ll tell you why:

It puts you in front of potential customers

Public speaking gives you the chance to flaunt your expertise in front of people who are interested in what you have to say, and build rapport with your audience. That’s the first step in the sales process.

If you choose your topic and venue carefully, you can fill a room of any size with a captive audience of potential customers. The key is to choose a topic that educates your audience rather than one that blatantly tries to sell them on your products or services. Chet Holmes does a great job of explaining how to do this in his book The Ultimate Sales Machine.

It positions you as an expert

You may not even realize that you’re already an expert. Think about how often friends, family and associates seek your advice on matters that you deal with every day, and you probably have an answer right off the top of your head. Could you do that if you weren’t an expert?

You have more than enough knowledge and experience to educate people outside of your industry. You can use that to position yourself as the go-to guy (or gal) which then leads to both media and potential customers seeking you out instead of the other way around.

It builds your confidence

Most people are deathly afraid of public speaking, and that’s exactly why you should do it!

When we take action in spite of our fears, it builds our confidence. Think about how you felt when you first learned to ride a bike without training wheels, or the end of your first day of school or resurfacing after your first trip off the rope swing at the lake. You were probably terrified at first, but afterward, you felt like you were on top of the world and couldn’t be stopped.

As adults, we tend to settle into our comfort zones because it’s the easy thing to do. We avoid taking risks and trying new things. The downside is that we rarely grow by any significant measure.

Change that today! Get in front of a crowd even though you’re scared as hell, and speak. Afterward, when the endorphins kick in, you’ll realize that you’re walking a little taller, looking people in the eye and are more sure of yourself than just a few minutes ago.

Remember, people like to buy from people they like and people they want to be like.

It improves your skills as a presenter

If you can speak effectively in front of a group of people and keep them engaged, imagine how much easier your one-on-one sales presentations are going to become! You’ll go from lots of “nos” and half-hearted “maybes” to lots of enthusiastic “yeses.”

You’ll want to pay special attention to reactions you get from the members of the audience. Anything you can learn from a one-on-one sales presentation, you can learn ten times faster speaking in front of a group of people because exponentially more reactions to learn from.

When you first start out, you’re probably not going to be very good at public speaking, but like a manager I once worked for said “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you get good at it.”

Practice until it becomes second nature. Then practice some more. Speak in front of any group can; at networking events, trade shows and anywhere else you’re given the opportunity. If you’re giving a particularly long speech, don’t be afraid to jot down some notes on index cards, or even use a teleprompter. And if you make a mistake here and there, don’t get to worked up about it – you’ll probably be the only one who notices. Just make a mental note and do it better next time.

It won’t take long before you’re an expert presenter, and that means more informed customers, a smoother sales process and of course, more sales.