Although the term “cloud” is seeing increasing use, it’s necessary to clarify what portion of “the cloud” is of interest to a particular audience. For small and medium businesses (SMBs), there are generally two areas of relevance in the evolution of IT services to the cloud. The first is the application layer, commonly referred [...]
By Hostway
Search engine marketing covers all the activities you do to drive search engine traffic to your Web site. It isn’t difficult, but it requires a great deal of attention to detail. We’ve created a checklist to help you plan or manage all the pieces of your SEM strategy. continue »
By Hostway
There are many reasons to write a blog: to share your experiences, offer support to others facing the challenges you face, drive traffic to your business or to build a personal brand. But what about turning your blog into your business? continue »
By Hostway
WordPress is one of the most commonly used blogging tools on the Web today. It’s a powerful , open source publishing platform with an administrative interface that doesn’t require a lot of experience to use—making it one of the more attractive blogging options on the market. continue »
By Hostway
If you’re like most businesses, you know that customer retention is important, but you just haven’t found the time to create and implement a strategy. You can bet that your customers are comparison shopping online, but even small efforts can make a big difference when customers are weighing you against your competitors. Here are some simple ideas you can use to start a customer retention plan for your online business. continue »
First conceived by Google Cofounder Larry Page during his days at Stanford University, PageRank is a critical piece of Google’s success story. Google was able to return higher quality search results by adding PageRank to other, existing criteria such as keyword relevancy to gain the competitive edge it needed to propel itself to the top of the search industry. continue »
More people than ever are reading blogs. According to a 2007 eMarketer study, 94 million people— half of all Internet users — read at least one blog post a month. The company forecasts that 105 million people will read at least one blog post per month in 2008, and by 2012, that number will jump to 145 million people, or 67 percent of all Internet users. continue »
If your blog is part of your Web site and optimized with relevant keywords, it can help your site rank higher in search engines. Remember that the most important goal of your blog is to create interesting content. Artificially inserting keywords will turn readers away, and you might be penalized by search engines. So write as you would speak, and fit your keywords in naturally. continue »
If done right, a blog is the perfect place to learn interesting things in an entertaining way. Read on for 10 tips on writing a blog that people will want to read regularly. continue »
Hundreds of millions of people have already created accounts with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and thousands more are signing up every day. Chances are good that your target market is using those sites as a way to connect with people and brands. It’s a great time to create a profile for your business and use these sites to your advantage. continue »
Word-of-mouth marketing has taken on a new form with social media Web sites, but the concept behind it remains unchanged. A successful word-of-mouth campaign establishes relationships with influencers in a target community and gets them to praise your Web site to their networks. continue »
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