Posted by Samantha Martinez on November 26th, 2011
It only comes around once every four years, but unlike most other sporting events it’s an event that seems to grip the nation. This year it’s the World Cup and currently you can’t move for all the hype surrounding it.
Great news if you’re a football fan, but possibly bad news if you’re an employer looking at four weeks of coverage and a group of employees desperate to tune in.
While most of the matches in the early stages are shown in the evenings over here, there’s still the problem of absence based on the repercussions from the night before – mainly hangovers.
So what, as a business, can you do to manage any advance requests for time off and any absences taken during this time?
The Federation of Small Businesses recommends that businesses have a policy in place that offers guidance for employees over the month-long tournament.
It su
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Posted by Paul Thompson on November 24th, 2011
Posted by Samantha Martinez on November 17th, 2011
Cyber Monday is traditionally the day in which consumers kick-off the holiday buying season with online purchases. Cyber Monday however may become Cyber Weekend this year because online retailers and merchants have largely invested in E-commerce, online ads and ramping up their website infrastructure throughout 2011. More and more emphasis is being placed on online purchases versus in-store. It’s easier, more cost-efficient for the seller and completely convenient for the buyer. With this year’s holiday buying season right around the corner, we are seeing online merchants and retails committed to making it a weekend-long buying experience versus confining the mad-dash to just one day.
A year ago, Thanksgiving Day online sales rose 14% and Black Friday online sales were also up 15.9% over 2009. Cyber Monday saw an increase year-over-year but not nearly as dramatic as online sales stretching over the weekend. Is Cyber Monday becoming a weekend-long buying experience?
2010 represented the most significant increase in online buying by consumers. In present, considering the fact that businesses are increasing their online advertising 29% through 2011 and devoting an average of 14% more resources on E-commerce solutions, online buying is expected to start on Thanksgiving Day and extend through the end of ‘Cyber’ Monday. It is also expected that online merchants will offer weekend-long deals, versus just Cyber Monday deals.
The proof is in the pudding when Google recently posted a 33% Q3 revenue spike, 23% of which was due to online ad-spending. WebiMax, who maintains roughly 100 E-commerce clients, also reported revenue is up 400% over 2010 in large part due to companies investing more resources into search engine marketing, E-commerce and improving website infrastructure to handle increased traffic. In mid-September retailer Target, Inc. experienced a web
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Posted by Paul Thompson on November 15th, 2011
Some of the biggest companies in the world have been unable to get their blogging recipe just right. Then there are those that have figured out that sometimes the best sell is the soft sell. Here are three corporate blogs worth reading on a regular basis.
Visit: http://www.wegmans.com/blog/
Wegman’s blog, dubbed “Fresh Stories,” is designed to keep customers informed and engaged. What makes the blog interesting is that you get an inside look at the journey food takes before it hits supermarket shelves, and eventually your table. Everything on the website reinforces the Wegman’s brand. You can learn about products, get recipe ideas, monitor the progress of store openings, and even pick up health tips. This is all done without beating readers over the head. The blo
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Posted by Paul Thompson on November 11th, 2011
Small Business of the Day: Happy Tails Dog Packs
Who: Janet Vigallon, 47,@htdogpacks
What: Backpacks for dogs to wear when walking
When: January 2011
How: Vigallon was inspired to make her own pack for her family’s rescue dog to wear when going for walks. She wanted a pack that allowed her dog Daisy to carry water vertically and still have for other toys and bags.
“I didn’t like what I saw online or in stores,” she said.
So, she took some fabric and created her own dog pack.
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Posted by Samantha Martinez on November 9th, 2011
In your ever-evolving quest to improve your small business SEO, there is a seemingly never-ending list of strategies. One SEO strategy that has become clear just within the last few years is the leveraging of inbound links.
Inbound links are found on other websites that point their visitors to your website. Google has made it clear that this type of “recommendation” from other websites is important to their algorithm system. Thus, inbound links should be a major part of your small business SEO strategy.
However, not all inbound links are created equal. A link to your site from a small web page that gets 5 hits a week is low priority in Google’s eyes – but so is a inbound link from a large website that contains totally unrelated content and completely different keywords and terms. Especially since the last Panda update, who points to your website can make a tremendous difference in whether your website is categorized as first-page quality or spam.
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Posted by Paul Thompson on November 5th, 2011
Australian Telecommunications Giant Telstra Renews Contract with Bay Areas Jamcracker
Buy.com today reported sales over the last two days grew by double digits year-over-year (as of 8 p.m. PST on Friday, Nov. 25).