The Rare Gang

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

A number of idea selection methods can be used. For a comprehensive evaluation, it is advisable to use all methods. Considering the costs of Research and Development and the added cost of re-engineering products when flaws are discovered, it pays to conduct in-depth valuation before large investments in that idea are given a GO status.

Some of the idea selection methods include:

a) Comparing the type of idea with those types of ideas that have previously been most successful.

b) Judging whether the idea fits well with the firm.

c) Analysing the likely practical impediments that may prevent successful commercialisation.

d) Knowing how and when the GO or KILL decisions will be made when an idea is in the idea funnel.

e) Knowing how the consumer will benefit.

Additionally, there are benefits to failure. Whilst an idea may be judged as being commercially unsuccessful, the firm, team or individual may learn valuable competencies that will increase the chances of the next product being successful. Ridley Scott had limited commercial success with Blade Runner, but went on to make some of the most lucrative movies ever.

These topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com.

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com.

If you’re at all familiar with Article Marketing, then you know that the main thrust behind your articles is the bio box or resource box. This is where you put a link to a significant website that you’re trying to promote.

But that can be a real problem when you’re attempting to promote a product that isn’t your own.

Affiliate links can be long and rather ugly, not to mention obvious. So it becomes pretty difficult to get your readers to see you as an expert when your links have all those “=”, “?” and long arrays of numbers and codes in it.

To add to the problem, most of the article directories now strip out html coding in both the article body and the bio box and hyperlink your URL instead.

So hiding your long affiliate link behind some coded text is pretty much out of the question too. Which leaves you to post your articles with your affiliate link hyerlinked in your bio box. And as you probably know, it’s awfully hard to hide something that’s neon blue against a background of black and white.

There are, however,a few things you can do to hide the fact that you’re promoting an affiliate product. Some of them have some potential drawbacks, but when you’re desperate, anything is better than nothing.

1. URL Shrinkers:

Pros: These are usually free to use and can quickly change any link to a much smaller, cloaked link. You just have to paste your long affiliate link in the box and click one button to get a mini link that will take visitors to the same site.

Cons: Your new URL will have the link shrinker’s domain name. If they are a popular service you might find your links timing out when their servers get over worked.

Seasoned marketers usually know what a shrunken URL means (affiliate link).

2. PHP Script Rerouters:

Pros: Allows you to create alternate links directly on your own domain. Good for Article Marketing because they usually have you place the script in a folder named “recommends” or something similar. So your link looks like . . .

“yourdomain.com/recommends/theirproduct”

Cons: You have to manually tweak php files and upload them to your server. Then you have to have a system where you can keep track of all your real affiliate links, what you’ve renamed them and where they are on your server.

3. Desktop Link Management Programs:

Pros: You fill in a few lines on a form, click a couple buttons and your new links are created and uploaded to your server for you. Your real affiliate links are stored in the system along with the name and location of your rerouted links. Plus you’re able to easily modify the whole process.

You can create hundreds of links for one product, which is a big plus for article marketing because if you use an article submission program you can load all your different links into different bio boxes, which solves the html code stripping problem in the directories.

Cons: They don’t come free. There’s a price to pay for ease, speed and efficiency. Prices vary, but expect to pay at the lowest around $40.

In any event, there are ways to successfully turn an Affiliate Marketer into a high powered Article Marketer. Affiliate links don’t have to look like affiliate links anymore, which opens things up for Affiliate Marketers to use this highly effective marketing venue.

Ken Nadreau and Hubert Daul are experts in the field of Article Marketing. Their article submission software, “Article Submitter Pro” has been called “the best product on the market” by some of the most successful Article Marketers online. Their latest software tool, “Affiliate Link Wizard” is also in a class by itself.

affiliatelinkwizard.com

Eating is one of the most primal activities for dogs. They love it, and they have respect for whoever gives them food (the leader in the pack). You can use your “power” of being pack leader to enhance your dog training efforts — every day.

The following suggestions will help you establish your role as pack leader and reinforce dog obedience, deferment to your leadership, dog training techniques, and overall attitude and disposition (yours and your dogs).

1. CONSISTENCY

A good habit to have in feeding your dog is consistency. Dogs love routine and food is a very important subject to them.

For example, feed your dog at approximately the same time(s) each day (some modification is fine for weekly schedule changes.) If feeding two times a day, pick two windows of time that you can be consistent with, for example, between 7:00 and 8:00 am and then again between 5:00 and 6:00 pm.

Having a window of time helps prevent anxiety in a dog expecting to be fed at a specific time each day (5:15 pm — yes, dogs can zero in on a specific time of day like 5:15).

This is a very real concern for dogs and some dogs can fall apart emotionally and physically if they are expecting food at that time and don’t get it. Ever hear of the dog that is panting and spastic and throwing up or having diarrhea? This dog is anxious. Setting a window of time and sticking to it will help your dog remain calm. Practice the same routine every day.

2. NO RUNNING BUFFET

A big mistake is to offer up the running buffet, where food is available around the clock. This is actually a pretty common feeding program in many homes because it’s simple for the humans — add food as needed.

So why not do this? Because it leads to an obese, lazy dog who doesn’t listen to your commands, respect your leadership position or adhere to rules you’ve set forth in your dog training.

3. MEALTIME IS DOG TRAINING TIME

Wonderful things happen at mealtime — for you and Fido. You get the opportunity to have your dog perform (reinforcing all that dog training you’ve done) for his meal. This could be sit, down, come, place.

So what, you say? Well, this is the easiest way you have of getting your dog’s affirmation of you being the leader and reinforcing dog training. If you aren’t the leader, guess who is. It will be the demanding, obnoxious dog bossing you around for a meal.

What exactly does it look like? Hold the food bowl in your hand. Your dog may be spastic, jumping, yipping, and pawing at you for the food. This is another dog training opportunity for you — teaching him to be calmer at mealtimes.

State your command once and wait (good to start with a sit, which is usually the easiest). Your dog sits and the bowl of food goes to the floor with praise for a good sit and a release “OK” that they can move to get the food.

When your dog complies with your command, he has just deferred to your leadership in the pack. (When beginning this program, you may need to help your dog with completing his command and praise warmly and then give food.)

Once your dog has the program down, you can introduce other feeders such as spouse, responsible children, etc to gently let your four-footed family member know her position in the pack.

CONCLUSION

By changing your dog’s feeding routine, you change so much more. You get to reinforce all the dog training and dog obedience you’ve worked so hard on — and it feels effortless. You get increased respect from your dog for providing the important commodity of food and for being a consistent provider. The more you establish yourself as leader of the pack, the more your dog will want to please you and dog training will be a snap.

O’Neal Hendrix is a premier professional dog trainer in Atlanta, GA. For many years, she has “worked miracles” with dogs and their owners. Check out her Trainer’s Pick dog toy recommendations for all dog breeds and temperaments!

Have you hit the ‘brick wall’ yet?

No? Well it won’t be long.

I started tinkering with the internet at the start of 2003, then finished my property maintenance business towards the end of that year and went full time online.

In the two years since then I’ve hit ‘the wall’ about once a week. What do I mean when I say ‘hitting the wall’? I’m referring to that point where you get so frustrated that you feel like throwing your hands in the air and packing it all in.

I’ve seen it in action on eBay when I was starting out selling eBooks and software. I found this guy on there and he was selling all of his information products for one pence each. Within the listing he gave a link where you could download all of his products for free.

He sent everyone to his ‘about me’ page where he proceeded to tell his life story - how he was trying to stop his wife leaving him because all of his dreams of online success had failed and she was no longer prepared to accept him sitting in front of the PC all day while there was no money coming in!

I felt really sorry for him for a while until I hit the wall myself later that week and started to feel sorry for myself! Don’t be fooled - this is no easy business to be in.

There are many reasons why working online/being self employed can be very challenging but here are two that I have identified as regular ‘frustrators’ -

Frustrator 1.

You can do wonderful things with technology - when it works! In other words EXPECT things to go wrong regularly. So you’ve got a mailing list script, multiple email addresses, multiple websites, auction accounts, autoresponders etc. Do you really expect all of these to integrate perfectly? Forget it.

As an example, the other week I was experiencing difficulties with my broadband connection - it was very slow. The first problem was that I needed to identify whether the problem was due to my broadband connection or whether it was the router (for my wireless laptop) or whether it was the PC that was slow.

The second problem was that because my connection/router/PC was slow about 70% of the web based solutions that I use to run my business were unaccessible. I could log in but they would crash and I would sit there staring at the blue bar, cursing my PC and wanting to smash it to pieces! This took three days to resolve. That’s about a 1/100th of my working year ruined because of one single problem.

Frustrator 2.

Everybody talks BIG on the internet. A tiny minority of people have rapidly achieved great wealth on the internet. If you had just arrived from another planet and you decided to surf the internet you would get the impression that millions of us are now retired with huge wealth while a tiny minority of blithering idiots still struggle to make money.

The truth is the opposite. The amount of people who have found wealth very quickly on the internet is so tiny that in reality their stories are hardly worth considering. It’s almost better to put them entirely out of your mind.

Unfortunately though we need to study and learn. We need to surf the internet to do this. Consequently we are going to be bombarded with stories of massive success, of people working for five minutes a day to maintain their multiple streams of income which flow like rivers into their bank accounts.

How many times have I read of the joy of these people who sit in front of their PC’s - never touching the keyboard, just watching their paypal email account going “Ping!Ping!Ping!”

Then they explain how all that we have to do is to copy their proven, secret system and buy their software for $50 and we too can enjoy a stress free life.
Seriously, even though it’s plain utter BS, after being subjected to this monologue day after day it has an effect.

It makes it easier for us to give up. When we hit the wall and look at our PC that never seems to work properly and add up the crazy hours that we have slogged away for and realise just how different our lives are from these imaginary Gods who are so blessed then it becomes really easy to tell ourselves that we will NEVER be like those people.

They must have perfect computers that never fail - and if they do then due to their success they just buy a new one and then….

STOP! STOP! STOP!

Reality check - those people don’t exist. They were made up to try and motivate us to buy a product. There is NO easy money. NOONE is finding it easy to make a living. If you know someone who says they are then there are only two reasons that you need to consider.

1. They are lying - many people do.

2. They are the exception that proves the rule. In other words there may just be someone, somewhere who actually finds it easy to make money - now. But have they always been in that position? It is possible (but not very common) to work really hard and do all of the groundwork and then find yourself in a position where it seems easy to make money. But I’ve never met anyone in that position.

I read in one of Robert Kiyosaki’s (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) books that out of 100 business start ups 99 will fail and 1 will succeed. These are the sort of statistics that we need to be studying regularly to remind us of just how difficult self employment really is. We need to get these motivational items and fill our lives with them JUST to combat what the internet will shower us with.

If you randomly surf the internet you will find overblown success stories that will eventually tear you apart and help you to fail. To find positive, helpful encouragement you have to seek it out. It takes a commitment and it takes hard work. But it’s an important resource that we need to pursue.

I currently work alone (except for the company of my loyal assistant - my dog, Scooby Doo) and consequently there is noone around to -

1. Bounce my ideas off
2. Pat me on the back
3. Lift me up by my coat tails when I’m down
4. Tell me I’m still doing the right thing even when the bills are piling up and everything is going wrong.
5. Do all of the domestic tasks involved in surviving when I decide to work for 22 hours solid.

I could continue this list but I hope that you get the point. To summarize, if you find that you are hitting the wall and questioning whether to quit and go back and get a J.O.B. - ask yourself these questions first -

1. Have you really given yourself a fair chance or have you (understandably) allowed frustration to get the better of you?

2. Have you gotten so determined and so involved in your work that you have secretly and subconsciously said to yourself,”I’m going to put everything into this one last time and if THIS doesn’t work…….” - what could be referred to as the s*** or bust syndrome?

Solution - Stop yourself in your tracks. You need three things now -
some time, a pen and some paper. Write down everything about what you were trying to achieve up until today. List goals, action plans and anything else that you have been using up until this point. Next decide that you are going to rewrite the whole thing based on everything that you have learnt.

As you try to work out what it is that you want to achieve today (note - not yesterday, today) bare in mind one particular thing that can help. As you have come to a crossroads and may be at the point where you come up with a really good revised plan - try to find the areas in the old plan where you followed the herd and did what you thought was right because OTHERS were doing it. Then take those areas and redesign them to suit exactly what YOU would do. Make it YOUR plan, not someone elses.

Go back through the list marking which areas are still suitable for your NEW plan and which ideas need to be changed and which ideas were non starters. If necessary take some time over this and even do something else unconnected with work and then come back to it - (this will allow your subconscious to do some of the work for you.)

While you are looking at where you may have made mistakes it is now a lot easier to see if you were beating yourself up for making these errors. If so simply make a list of all the things that you got right and all of the things that you have achieved - however small.

If you do this in the right way you will quickly realise just how far you have come. Just how much information that you have absorbed and utilised. Just how much closer to your goals you have become - the hardest parts are the early steps and you may have gone way past that point already. Hopefully, if this is working you will end up shocked and embarrassed that you even considered giving up.

So many times in my life I have walked away from something that was the equivalent of a house that was 99% completed. It just required one last brick to be laid but I walked away. Maybe I just like the ’starting from scratch’ feeling. Maybe I’m scared of success. But one thing I have learnt is that the more I make this mistake the less likely I am to do it again.

Therefore if every time you look at your current situation you just see failures - then you should be pleased at how far you have come. The more failures you can see that you have made then the closer you are to achieving success.
It may sound back to front but many times life works like that.

You can either try and turn the world inside out so that it suits your view of ‘the way things should be’ or you can take the easier path and accept that failure now, means increased possibility of success in the future.

Of course, there is one ‘get out’ that you can use if you really are determined to quit. To be really successful it has been said many times that you must love what you do. Ideally, you would do it anyway even if there was no money in it because you love it so much. This is true.

If you get this far and decide that you don’t really like working online then please don’t let me encourage you to stay in a dead end. Just be careful that the frustration isn’t making you feel like you don’t like online work. Try to imagine how you would feel if things were going a little smoother.

Remember to think outside of the box. This is important when you are trying to brainstorm new ideas but is also useful for other things. For example, recently I hit the wall and was questioning whether this actually was the dream career I had been searching for and for so long had believed it was.

In the back of my mind I knew that I had been working so hard that I had neglected all of the other things that were important. But due to my immense determination I simply couldn’t get this thought to the front of my mind so that I could accept it and act accordingly. I kept pushing it further back in my mind hoping that it would go away.

So there wasn’t much chance of me doing less work and relaxing to solve the problem - I was far too ‘wired’ and desperate for some success. So I did some reading which encouraged me to approach it from outside the box.

Do you know what solution I eventually found? I tidied up my house! I had been working flat out on some projects and at that point in time I could not see any way that I could slow down. By cleaning and tidying my office, my kitchen and my bedroom (all of the areas I use while working) I got on top of the clutter and mess.

This led to a ‘mental’ environment where I could clearly think about the tasks at hand. Without me realising it while I had been working away my mind was secretly stressing about all of the things that I was neglecting which were starting to get in my way. Without really knowing it, every time I used the bathroom and noticed all the cleaning that was required this was bringing me down and stopping me from concentrating on the work task at hand.

I tried thinking outside of the box. Instead of looking to the computer to find answers to my computer related problems I looked to the vacuum cleaner - and it worked! A greater example of thinking outside the box I have yet to hear. And boy did I pat myself on the back that night!

I was studying some old sayings and quotes online the other day (a great way I find to motivate and rejuvenate myself - if the saying ‘hits home’ then it gives you the comfort of knowing that someone, somewhere back in time was struggling the very same struggle as you) and I’d like to close this article by leaving three quotes to emphasize what I have been trying to get across. Here they are -

‘Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’

Harold Whitman

‘All my life I’ve wanted to be somebody.
But I see now I should have been more specific.’

Jane Wagner

‘To have striven, to have made an effort, to have been true to certain ideals — this alone is worth the struggle. We are here to add what we can to, not to get what we can from, life.’

Sir William Osler
Canadian Physician and Teacher

I’m not an internet ‘guru’. I’m just an average ‘Joe’ who likes to write. If you want to learn more about Roger Davis and my growing list of websites please visit my personal website.

There were 550 serious accidents last year where the driver was over aged 70 and where driver was either killed or badly hurt, reports the Institute of Advanced Motoring . That statistic represents 8% of the national total of 7,035 similar accidents. That means that the over 70’s’s have more, very serious accidents per mile than any other sector of the population. This view is supported by the Association of British Insurers whose research shows that drivers aged over 70 are 13% more likely claim on their insurance than the drivers aged between 40 and 50.

As the number of elderly drivers will double during the next ten years, this represents a problem for elderly drivers and their families - not to mention the insurance industry, police and indeed all of the emergency services!

You can probably predict the response from the insurance industry. Many insurance companies already reckon that drivers over 80 are as high a risk as the under 25’s - and charge premiums to match! Some are even progressively loading premiums once the driver reaches 60. Then at 70, you’ll find that many insurance simply refuse to offer cover. Norwich Union and Esure won’t quote after 70 and by the time the driver reaches 80, the field narrows to specialised insurers who insure elderly drivers. Help the Aged and Age Concern both market policies that have no upper maximum age. Cornhill only accepts new policyholders up to 84 but if you’ve been insured by them for a few years, there’s no upper age limit. RIAS and Saga are also pleased to consider older drivers.

As the price of car insurance is based on historical claims experience, a 75 year old male driver can expect to pay at least 33% more than if he were aged 50. By the time the driver reaches 80 the premiums hit boy racer levels! So if you’re in your early 50’s keep smiling at the lowest premiums you’ll ever experience - they won’t last forever!

And the fairer sex fare even worse. Whilst younger women are renowned for their safe driving, they become more accident-prone as they get older. Whereas male drivers improve with age. (Where have we heard that before!) As a result, elderly women drivers pay the highest rates for car insurance.

It’s a biological fact that eyesight and reaction times worsen as age creeps on. And with traffic becoming heavier and road networks ever more complex, elderly drivers can more easily become disorientated and confused. Even a fraction of a second’s delay can make the difference between an accident and a near miss. Insurers are reacting by insisting that more elderly drivers take a medical before agreeing to provide insurance. The best advice is to build up a no claims record and as soon as possible and buy No Claims Protection. This protection cost a bit more but it’s well worth the money. Then make sure you pay for any small bumps yourself.

But there are some simple steps that older drivers, and indeed all drivers, can take to reduce the likelihood of them having an accident and thereby making themselves more insurable. It’s often more about those little things and being alert to likely problems. For example, car parks are a breeding ground for small accidents. Knowing that take more care. Before you get back into your car, walk round it to see how much room you’ve got. Then edge out carefully making sure that other drivers in the car park aren’t driving into the area you’re moving into. Then, if advancing years has stiffened you neck and all-round visibility is a bit more difficult, take special care at junctions and when reversing. Remember to move you head and swivel your shoulders - that way you’ll increase your sweep of vision.

Many of the policies for older motorists contain special provisions designed to assist them. On Saga’s policy for example, ex company car drivers can use any no claims record they’d built up and if a couple are insured and the main driver decides to quit driving, then the spouse can take over the no claims record. Other policies also provide full insurance cover for anyone who takes over driving in an emergency. Cornhill will even payout £250 if the DVLA stops you from driving for health issues associated with age.

In moves to diminish the numbers of accidents involving the elderly, the UK Government is investigating the issue of deteriorating health amongst elderly drivers. It seems to be considering the idea of obligatory health checks for elderly motorists. At the same time some local councils are introducing initiatives of their own. Torbay council has launched a scheme to encourage families and GP’s to take more responsibility for encouraging elderly drivers who are not really fit drive, to give up. A road safety spokesperson for Torbay council said, “The problem is that the elderly can’t always see themselves when it’s really time to give up driving so those closest to them must take responsibility for that.”

In the meantime, a survey carried out by the Institute of Advanced Motorists confirms that older motorists are aware that they represent an increased accident risk. Seven out of ten older drivers surveyed said they would like to take a refresher course for motorway driving skills and six out of ten wanted to improve their performance at junctions and on unlit roads. In response to these issues, the Institute has extended its advanced tests to older non-members to encourage them to improve and build up confidence. The tests also help spot any serious problems that should encourage the driver pack up driving.

Michael Challiner writes for Brokers Online, a large Uk finance portal who specilise in Life Insurance Quotes but also offer most other UK financial services including Car Insurance.

Why become a Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) in California?

California legal assistants or paralegals are ranked among the top 100 occupations. Employment is following a fascinating trend, with projections showing growth at higher than average rates when compared to other California jobs, and also when compared to paralegals throughout the US. To distinguish yourself from other job applicants, you might think about obtaining one of the two voluntary certifications:
• Certified Legal Assistant (CLA)
• Registered Paralegal (RP)

Most people in California typically utilize the CLA exam.
After both passing the two-day CLA exam offered by the Certifying Board of Legal Assistance and fulfilling all the criteria set down by the National Association of Legal Assistants, you are allowed to use the CLA title.
There is a Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) classification in California. You can acquire the CAS certification by sitting for and passing a four-hour test in a field of specialty of your choice.
You must make your selection from the following 5 specialty areas: Business and Organizations, Estates and Trusts, Family Law, Civil Litigation, and Real Estate.

Remember that you must renew your certification every 5 years. Within a five-year period, you need to prove that you effectively completed 70 hours of applicable continuing education credits in the legal field, or your certification will not be renewed.

In the early period of the nineteen-hundreds Formula One Motor Racing got underway with shaky motor vehicles & older gentleman drivers, even though the genuine Formula 1 Motor Racing Championship did not start until the nineteen-fifties. Whilst the many years went by & the sporting competition developed, it hastily became understandable that F1 Racing was the pinnacle for motor sport. The motor vehicles were the speediest, the knowledge was the most sophisticated and the drivers were at the pinnacle of their wellbeing coming from foreign countries all around the globe.

With the beginning of sponsorship, Formula 1 Racing took on its more universal appearance & can without doubt lately be perceived as being big business ? with finance reaching millions and even billions of dollars with tremendous ease. With very big success arrives politic affairs & at times it is the contacts you are friends with and how much money you possess that gets you what you want. Formula 1 Motor Racing is scrambled with conspiracy theorists ? I will own up to being one of them ? but depending on how wrapped up you yearn to get in the Formula 1 Racing world, that area of things is painlessly discounted. What in reality matters is what crops up on the race track.

Trekking from corner to corner across the world for almost eight months of the year, Formula One Racing stays different countries large & small, rich and underprivileged, with colourful surroundings, glamorous tourists & lots of local stories to be soaked up. Covering Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a Formula 1 weekend is a difficult journey, from early testing, to the dying laps of the Formula 1 motor race.

The essential configuration contains a race every fortnight. At times the F1 calendar is changed with a little bit & there are Formula One races on one after another weekends, or at times you have to go a few weeks before even seeing the recognizable Formula 1 drivers again. When it is time for the next Formula 1 motor race, you can scan the news for your much-loved team as they appear at their destination. Friday is made up of practice periods, Saturday is for qualifying and Sunday is the actual race. If you are looking for drivers and constructors Formula One Merchandise, then F1Tribute.com, is your first place to visit!

When Yahoo went live in 1994 it was purely a directory of websites. Until the late 1990s Yahoo’s directory was still the most popular way to find information on the web however with the massive amount of new pages being added daily it was becoming extremely inadequate.

Then along came Google which indexed the massive amounts of new pages being added to the internet. So now instead of praying that Yahoo will include your site in their directory the focus has now shifted to search engine optimization - the art of enhancing your website to increase your listing on search engines for various keywords.

To get a greater feel for how Google and Yahoo index the internet I’ve included a few simple tips on how to optimize your site for maximum traffic in an effort to understand how information is indexed.

Check your Title Tags and your Description Tags

For search engine optimization your website’s title and description tags are essential for free traffic.

The Title tags should be short, to the point and different for each page on your site. Creating unique titles for each of your pages will enable the search engines to direct traffic to not only your main page but also to these back pages. Allowing searches to be directed to these pages will result in visitors finding exactly what their looking for without getting lost via your homepage. The fewer clicks a visitor has to perform to get the information they need the more satisfied they’ll be with your site.

Please Note: Resist the urge to create long winded Title tags. Numerous keywords or phrases will dilute their effectiveness and quality.

The description tag should be more descriptive and also repeat the main phrase of your Title tag - in this case “market research.” It is also very important for this term to appear in the body of your website for that particular page.

Both the Title tags and the Description tags appear in search results for Google (and other search engines) and have become far more important these days than the tag. Do not limit your title tag to just your firm’s name since chances are it’s not one of the more popular search terms on the internet. However for branding purposes it’s a good idea to start your Title tag with your firm/site name.

Keyword Ranking Tool

To view the popularity of any word on the internet I recommend using Overture’s (Yahoo) Keyword Selector Tool at http://inventory.overture.com.

Please Note: The most popular terms will not always send the most amount of free traffic since they are highly competitive terms.

Include Keywords in the Body of your Website

Search engines such as Google index every word (and link) on your site so it’s very important to include descriptive keywords and phrases in the body of your site. In the case above the phrase “market research” from the Title and Description tag should also be listed in the body of your page. Unique descriptions, words or phrases are especially important to include on your site since they are less competitive and will drive a targeted audience to your site - however they’ll probably send less traffic.

Add a Site Map

Search engines index the web by moving from link to link and therefore giving them a map to your site is extremely important. A site map should contain the Title of every page on your site and links to those pages. This will ensure that every page on your site has been indexed.

To view an example of a site map please visit Research Connect’s at:
http://www.researchconnect.com/site_map.asp

Please Note: Don’t forget to create a link to your site map from the main page of your website. The search engines need to be able to find the map before they can follow it.

Submit your Site to Google

Once your Meta Tags have been updated, your keywords have been added and your site map has been created it’s a very good idea to submit your site to Google. You can do this by visiting http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl

It may take a few weeks to a month for the Googlebot to visit your site but please remain patient and don’t submit your site again for a number of months. The Googlebot will eventually get to your site. Pages that have a page rank of 5 or greater automatically get updated on a more frequent basis.

Please Note: Don’t over submit your site to Google and only submit the main URL. Over submitting will not expedite your listing and could potentially be harmful.

There are other search engines (Yahoo, MSN, AOL) that you can submit your site to but Google is king. For example, on any given day ResearchConnect.com receives approximately 700 visitors from Google whereas the other search engines send under 10 each.

Increase your Google Page Rank

Google ranks every page on a scale from 0 to 10. To view the page rank for any site on the internet download Google’s toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com/.

One way this PR is determined is by the quality and quantity of websites that link to your site. If your site has a PR of 1 and a similar site with a PR of 7 links to your site then that increases the quality of your site in Google’s eyes. The higher your PR the better your placement will be on their site and thus the more traffic you’ll receive.

To increase your PR scour the internet for websites and search engines that will link to your site all while paying attention to their PR. I would stay clear of sites and search engines that require you to pay for that link. The only site that you might want to consider paying for is Yahoo but please note that none of these links will send you a lot of direct traffic. What they’ll do for you is increase your site’s quality in the eyes of Google and thus lead to more traffic via their search engine.

Please Note: Google consistently keeps people on their toes and no one is truly able to figure out how they rank websites. These suggestions will definitely help over time but are not the only criteria Google uses for ranking websites.

** O’Keefe works with new and established websites to maximize the amount of free traffic they receive from search engines such as Google.

For an evaluation of your site please contact O’Keefe at 617-947-8071 or via tom[at]tomokeefe.com.

Tom O’Keefe is an internet business consultant and the founder of Research Connect, Inc., a market research database. O’Keefe works with small businesses and start-ups to help develop an affordable and effective online strategy to maximize traffic and exposure via search engine optimization, internet marketing and web development.

For a website evaluation of your site please contact O’Keefe at 617-947-8071 or via tom[at]tomokeefe.com.

Research Connect is an integrated market research database and research service which connects leading researchers and consultants with the corporate and investment community.

Copyright © 2004 Ted Borgeas, All Rights Reserved Ted
Borgeas, Author, 35 years Self-Coaching Yourself. Helps
people get insight on Career & Life’s Transitions. E-zine:
> SELF-COACHING YOUR INTELLIGENCES. E-mail:
> ted@atborgeas.com website: www.atborgeas.com
Phone: 619-235-9393, PO Box, 3022, La Jolla, CA
92038-3022,

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Word count 653

Beyond the Hype! Aren’t you really in Partnership with
Yourself?

Most of us think of partnerships as being a two-way street
that is with another person or an entity. I am referring to
partnership within yourself. What better partner can you get
to know, understand and trust than yourself?

Here are some criteria that may help improve your Self-
Partnership.

1. “If you don’t know who you are you or where you’re going,
any path will take you there”. Sioux Proverb

“Men don’t change. The only thing new in the world is the
history you don’t know.” Harry Truman, American President

“I’m an idealist: I don’t know where I’m going but I’m on my
way.” Carl Sandburg, American poet.

The better you understand your vision as to what you want the
better your partner will cooperate. It would be easier for your
partner to follow your road map than to try to think and guess
what’s on your mind.

“The first rule for any successful strategy is to think.”
EvanDudik

2. “The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to
keep on being a success.” Irving Berlin, American
Composer, Theater arts 1958

If you’re going to partner in a successful way you better have
commitments, trusts, distinct understandings, and clear
picture of your plans.

“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.”
Linus Pauling

3. “Genius is that superior alchemy that changes the vices of
nature into the elements of destiny” Pierre Emmanuel (Noel
Mathieu) French writer, Buadelaire.

The old storyboard technique of Walt Disney as explained by
Mike Vance, of placing all of the animations and succession
on the wall may not be a bad idea so your partner can see
what you’re thinking. This technique of sequential picturing
will stimulate other ideas.

4. Stick to your knitting”, Tom Peters

” Generally, the theories we believe we call facts and the
facts we disbelieve we call theories.” Felix Cohen.

If you’re going to be innovative with your partner you better
have a better understanding his or her limitations and
perceptions. Don’t create a losing situation with false and
unreal expectations.

5. Always think down board” Carl Segan

“Creativity in science could be described as the act of putting
two and two together to make five.” Arthur Koestler, British
Philosopher, The Act of Creation.

Don’t try to out guess your partner. This isn’t a chess game it
is a sharing game. Have a clear understanding of the shot
and long-term goals. In order to understand your partner
better and how he or she reacts, initiate more short-term
goals and see that response from the partner.

6. Tell me and I will forget; shown me and I may remember,
involve me and I will understand.” Chinese proverb

“Give a man of fish and he eats today. Teach him how to fish
and he will never go hungry.”

In order to become empowered with confidence it is a matter
of sharing responsibilities and delegation. Since you must
take equal risks that your partner then it behooves each of
the share all experiences. This includes the trauma and
rewards.

7. A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the
world” John LeCarre

“Basic research is when I’m doing what I don’t know I’m
doing.” Wernher Von Braun, German Scientist, in The Faber
Book of Aphorisms, 1964

Don’t get stuck behind the desk or you’ll lose total contact
with your partner’s world.

8. I have a dream” Martin Luther King

” A creative person needs a certain amount of insecurity to
maintain that fine edge. You don’t have any control over it.”
Walter Egan, American rock musician.

Are you in sync with the dreams, visions, innovations,
creativity, expectations, perceptions, strategies and a host of
other thoughts of your partner?

9. No organization functions in a vacuum” Leonnd Goodstein

” It is explained that all relationships require a little give and
take. This is untrue. Any partnership demands that we give
and give and give and at the last, as we flop into our grave
exhausted, we are told that we didn’t give enough.” Quinten
Crsip, Bristish writer, How To Become a Virgin 1981.

In a world of desensitization and the dehumanizing of human
contact you better have direct contact and understanding in
person with your partner. The competition is vicious and
evasive enough without creating the feeling of isolation with
in the partner

10. Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance”
unknown

” Time is a circus always packing up and moving away.” Ben
Hecht, American screenwriter.

We have heard the comment location, location, location.
There’s also the concept of timing and timing. This is critical
in a global transitional exploding world of change. Change is
so dramatic and quick that strategic partnerships must be in
total command and responsive mode at a moment’s notice.

If this criteria frightens you this is the first positive step
towards successful partnerships with yourself.

“Most of us live in a cage and if we are lucky we can reach
out beyond the bars and touch somebody” Marcus Aurelius

How did this stimulate a business? Continuous division and
multiplication of meanings stimulates innovation. How?
Instead of sticking to the one definition given to a word you
allow the expansion in your thinking and stimulate the
entrepreneurial creativity within you.

One company grew and divided rapidly used this technique
which allowed each separate division to become ultimately
independent. To set it’s own business format instead of one
prescribed formula, used by the parent company. After all
one formula for success does not fit everything.

A second concept of smallness was to allow room for rapid
advancement and managerial growth, further stimulating
enterprise.

A third concept was keep departments small and
sharpened to one direction and activity or product. This
allowed for closer relationships with management, workers
and customers, instead of a massive over burdened
corporation.

Then finally a fourth premise was the distribution of authority.
Instead of having to go to a hierarchy as in some
corporations it is was only confined to this separate
company. This avoided inter-company factions and
competition since it was a separate entity free to compete in
an open market, thus no inter-departmental or division rivalry
or even envy. The interesting point is when this separate
company expanded then a new cell company was formed
from the main component, thus the continuous process of cell
division.

About the Author

Ted Borgeas, Author, 35 years Self-Coaching Yourself. Helps
people get insight on Career & Life’s Transitions. E-zine:
SELF-COACHING YOUR INTELLIGENCES.
E-mail:ted@atborgeas.com
website: www.atborgeas.com
Phone: 619-235-9393, PO Box, 3022, La Jolla, CA
92038-3022,

Legislators in Washington, D.C. are considering several credit-related consumer protections as outlined in The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (H.R. 2622). If approved, consumers could benefit from the most wide-ranging changes to the rules covering consumers and credit in decades.

One of the most important changes would be the right to receive a free annual copy of your credit report, upon request, from the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Currently only six U.S. states offer their residents this form of consumer protection. Federal law requires that a consumer may obtain a free copy of their credit report only if they have been denied a loan or credit based upon information contained in their credit reports.

Other highlights of The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 include:

• special notifications whenever excessive inquiries (credit checks by potential lenders and creditors) are lowering your credit scores significantly;

• notification by creditors whenever they are sending derogatory account information to any of the national credit reporting agencies;

• blocking negative credit information caused by an identity thief from reappearing on credit reports;

• mandating creditors to establish guidelines to prevent them from issuing credit deemed likely to be fraudulent;

• the disclosure of credit scores used in connection with loan application decisions and an explanation of the key factors that were used to determine that score;

• requiring the disclosure of the name, address, and telephone number of businesses that supply information to credit bureaus.

At first glance this bill appears to offer valuable credit protections for consumers. However, there are others who feel this legislation either doesn’t do enough or even reduces consumer rights. The proposed federal law could replace tougher laws already in place in some states and that has consumer advocates concerned.

For an in depth analysis of H.R. 2622 by leading consumer advocates, visit http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/HR2622Analysis.htm

Lawmakers and consumer groups agree that changes need to be made to better protect consumers and their credit rights. Whether or not The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act can address these concerns remains to be seen.

About The Author

© 2003, www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com

James is editor of “To Your Credit” a FREE weekly newsletter for consumers. You can subscribe at http://tinyurl.com/bgo9; jimdim815@aol.com