If you plan on reading this to help you make a decision whether or not your small business should accept credit cards, read no further, because we don’t know either. This blog post is to express our indecision whether or not the All-American Fencing Academy, as a small business, should accept credit cards.

Let’s face it, I hate it when I go to a business that doesn’t accept credit cards. I feel so inconvenienced. I mean, c’mon, how hard is it to take credit cards? It will only benefit you! But, as a small business owner, I’m still struggling with the “will it benefit me”, as I am such a strong penny pincher. Yet still, the All-American Fencing Academy does not accept credit or debit cards as a form of payment.

Ok, first a little background about the All-American Fencing Academy if you aren’t already familiar with us (Why would you be?) or if you haven’t been following our accolades on Idea Café’s blog. Th

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Small businesses are at a loss as to what to do in order to prevent theft from both the thieves trying to break into their location as well as from employees. It seems there is a need to constantly watch over the property. Seeing as you have other things to do other than stay at work all day, it becomes necessary to find other ways to keep an eye on the place. Calling the manager at the location to inquire about the security is a good way to upset your manager and make them feel as if you do not trust them.

One thing which many companies have started turning to as a way to maintain constant watch over their company is through the use of surveillance systems. The systems which are installed can be hooked up in such a way that they are viewable from an internet connection or through monitors you might have at home.

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While Google often gets the accolades and the spotlight, Microsoft’s Bing has really become over the last couple of years a highly respectable and capable search engine. While many SEO and SEM professional focus enormous resources on Google, it may well be worth the effort to also focus on Bing as well. Here are some of the reasons why you should optimize for Bing and some tips on doing so:

Bing Offers a World Class Search Engine – It’s true; Bing does offer a world class search engine that in many ways is on par with Google. In addition, Bing has been playing catch up ever since it switched over from MSN Network. Playing catch up does have its benefits for consumers and it has definitely showed with the many innovations that Bing rolled out over the years including a great user interface, one of the best image searches available, being able to play videos on the results page and viewing a site’s text before visiting it- to ensure it has the information you are looking for.

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As the Internet becomes more ingrained into everyday lives, Web sites and search engine play an integral role in the reputation of businesses and entrepreneurs to their clients and future clients.

As consumers tend to decide on services by the information found online, owners should be careful of information that is available online and work on building an online image.

The important thing to remember while thinking about an online reputation is the amount of control a single individual can have on the web content on your business. Here are a few ways an online reputation can be well maintained:

Be aware A business owner should be aware of information being spread online about their business. Using search engines to look up your business name or owner name can lead to blogs, comments, and other posts made by authors online.

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When it comes to search engine optimization and search engine marketing, Google is definitely the site most professionals are trying to attract attention from.  With the vast majority of the population using Google’s search engine and vast array of other services to find information, research products & services and ultimately make purchases, there is no doubt that Google absolutely has a big say on whether a business or site succeeds on the web.  This is why, it is important not only to keep up to date with what Google deems acceptable web behavior, but to look closely at their guidelines to ensure that your site/business doesn’t do anything that can cause the Big G to flag and penalize you.

It’s Easy to Find Google’s Guidelines

Sometimes I hear from web developers and webmasters that it’s so difficult to know what Google wants when it comes to building and running a website.  This is actually not true; Google has spelled out in enormous detail exactly what it is looking for.  Yes, while Google won’t let you know what their secret sauce is, using Google’s vast amount of resources, just about anyone can figure out what Google is hoping for.  For those looking for Google’s repository of information on how to optimize your site and what exactly are Google’s guidelines, simply visit Google’s Webmaster Central and click on webmaster guidelines found at the following link:  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/

SEO 101

Obviously, many of us are SEO & SEM professionals that have been in the industry for countless years.  However, Google and the web move at the speed of light and while the basics may stay the same, you will be amazed at how many tools and resources Google offers that can be helpful to many SEO & SEM professionals.

Helpful Resources

For instance, with mobile search growing in leaps and bounds, Google offers resources on how to configure mobile sites so that they can be configured accurately.  You can also find info about creating a mobile sitemap: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=8493

In fact there is a whole series of resources and tools regarding mobile search and their guidelines at the following link:  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=72462&from=40348&rd=1

Obviously, there are many more resources than just those that focus on mobile sites.  You’ll find resources on topics for sites that are local businesses:  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92319

Also, and perhaps more importantly, for how to promote your business locally using Google:  http://www.google.com/support/places/?hl=en&rd=1

As we can see, Google has vast amounts of information that (with just a tiny amount of effort) can easily help web developers and SEO/M professionals keep on the cutting edge of their craft.

Besides Resources Keep an Eye on the Guidelines

Google gives out enormous amounts of information to be used by web developers and SEO/M professionals.  However, it should be noted that not only does Google want web users to use their sites/services and tools effectively, it also does this so that it can set up guidelines for proper use.  Like it or not, what Google thinks are appropriate for SEO, development and marketing techniques do have a lot of say on whether your business/site succeeds; so it makes sense to keep track and stay within the guidelines.

Easy to View Guidelines

As mentioned, Google offers a wide range of guidelines for its users.  You can find guidelines on designing your site, creating content for your site, guidelines for publishing images, videos, using robot.txt files, and for what Google considers white hat SEO.

Google lays out a wide range of guidelines to ensure that the quality of the site does not use deceptive or manipulative behavior to rank higher or snare traffic from other sites.  This includes the way one builds links, cloaking or creating sneaky redirects, having pages with hidden keywords or duplicate content, creating doorway pages just for search engines and creating sites or pages that install malware or Trojans – among a wide range of other subjects.  You can find more information regarding these guidelines at: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

Additional Resources

Would you like to contact Google over a problem such as removing a page or site from Google or about an issue you might have with spam?  Once again, there is a broad range of additional resources offered by Google.  In fact, if your site was recently removed by Google, due to a hacking or other incident where your site spewed out spam or Trojans, you can request a review by Google and have your site possibly reinstated.  Additionally, you can report copyright infringement and request take down from Google as well.  You will find all of these resources organized efficiently at the following link:  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=70896

Whether you are new to the SEO/SEM industry or a veteran, understanding Google’s current guidelines and having easy access to the many tools and resources Google offers makes business sense.  I invite you to browse Google’s enormous collection of resources; I’ll bet you will find something that you can utilize immediately.

As well over 90% of people now turn to the Internet as their primary information source, it’s crucial to your bottom line to ensure that your Web presence is as effective as possible.

Yet 95% of the more than 5,000 Websites that I’ve reviewed since 1995 were leaving money on the table, sometimes a lot of it – and often in ways that could be easily avoided or rectified.

Many of these issues are caused by one of more of these factors:

* Lack of strategic planning and consideration of the full range of visitor types to the site, their needs, and likely emotional responses. * Lack of clear positioning and navigation elements that drive visitors around the site to ensure that they see relevant content. * Lack of cohesion between the Website and the organization’s social media presence. * Lack of coordination between departments to maximize leverage of content and calls to action – sometimes this is inadvertent, but sometimes it is deliberate.

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