Leading Search Engines Baidu and Yandex to Speak at International Search Summit Seattle
Leading Chinese and Russian search engines Baidu and Yandex will be speaking at the International Search Summit @ SMX Advanced in Seattle on June 9th.

(Vocus/PRWEB) March 30, 2011

While many small businesses rush to use the power of the net to gain new online visitors and customers through Search Engine Optimization, an SEO specialist wonders if all these hasty Search Engine Optimization steps are leading to a disaster.

To the uninitiated, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website in search engines and often small businesses employ the services of SEO Consultants to improve their site’s ranking online, so that traffic and sales from search engine users can follow.

As Kishore shared, “Last week I was sitting with a friend whose retail-business had collapsed because his website had disappeared from the front page of a major search-engine, when I realized how vulnerable small business sites were. Like many small business owners, he had fallen prey to a smooth-talking SEO expert who promised him quick ranking on all search engines.”

Kishore added, “The sad part of the situation was that the unethical SEO consultant that my retail business friend had used, did manage to catapult his site to the top of Google, Yahoo and Bing. As soon as the site reached the front page of all 3 search engines, my retail friend’s business was flooded with new orders, and in his delight he made the mistake of shutting off all other marketing channels.”

“Many small business owners have no clue about SEO,” Kishore explained, “and don’t realize that artificial ranking can be achieved through black-hat techniques like blog commenting, bookmarking, video blasting and backlink farming. But Search Engines have smartened up and sniff out such sites quickly. By the time the Small Business owner realizes his site has been de-indexed or pushed out by the search engines, he would have invested a lot in his SEO effort or come to rely on online channels for sales. Both can be fatal for a small business.”

“The only way to retain consistent top ranking,” says Kishore, “is to provide relevant information and true value to customers. If you know what your customers want and can cater to their needs, your site is automatically qualified to be on the front page. All search engines are trying to provide their users with relevant information and if your site is the one that is most relevant to their user, your site has a good chance to take the top position.”

When done with scientific precision, SEO can outrank every other channel of marketing and yield amazing results within short periods. Search Engine Optimization is particularly effective for businesses that need to acquire customers at a very low cost.

To know more about powerful SEO strategies and how it can explode small business profits, visit instantSEOsystem.com or reach Kishore Dharmarajan directly at (+97150) 698-6164.

For media inquiries, please visit instantSEOsystem.com/media-room for immediate download of the Instant SEO System media kit.

ABOUT:

Kishore Dharmarajan is an SEO Specialist and author of 3 books including the upcoming ‘Sniper Marketing’. Besides working with diverse companies as Search Engine Optimization consultant, Kishore holds seminars and has spoken in front of thousands of people on topics as SEO and Small Business Marketing. instantSEOsystem.com

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Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) will attempt to offer his bill to delay the implementation of the Federal Reserves debit interchange rule as part of a bill to fund the Small Business Administration currently being discussed in the Senate.

If it is allowed to be offered, the amendment, which has 16 co-sponsors, would likely require 60 votes to pass, as Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), who sponsored the original amendment to mandate that the Fed write a rule, has said he will filibuster attempts to weaken it.

Testers decision comes in the wake of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernankes announcement that his agency wont have the final rule in place by the April 21 deadline because of the more than 11,000 comment letters it received. He wrote lawmakers that the central bank plans to have the regulations completed by the July 21 deadline for them to take effect.

According to the proposed rule, the allowable costs for interchange would be limited to no more than the issuers allowable costs divided by the number of electronic debit transactions on which the issuer received or charged an interchange transaction fee in the calendar year. Or the issuer could receive debit interchange capped at 12 cents per transaction.

According to the provisions of the financial overhaul bill passed by Congress last year, the final rule was to be approved by April 21 and in effect by July 21. Testers bill would delay implementation by two years and a companion bill introduced by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) would delay it by one year. Both bills call for a study of the issue by several banking regulators, including the NCUA.

To read the Senate bill, S. 575 or the House bill, H.R 1081, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov

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updated: 3/29/2011 6:34:21 PM

Small Business Loan Program Extended

InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report

Small businesses in Indiana have an extended chance for debt refinancing. The US Small Business Administration has removed a deadline for its 504 refinancing program, allowing owners with eligible commercial real estate mortgages to secure long-term financing. The Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation says it will work with local lenders to assist with the process.

Source: Inside INdiana Business

Despite New Regulations It Is Still Hard To Get A Small Business Loan

By
Alex Warne on March 28, 2011, 7:46 pm

For small businesses, loans from the SBA through either these new Advantage Loan programs or options like microloans are still available and could be helpful for businesses looking to either establish themselves or begin growing in the hopes of becoming more profitable, but there are also indications that private business loans and options from lenders like credit unions are becoming more available too, as many see the economy and businesses to be in a more positive position than it was last year.

Contractin Field

The contracting field has faced a more unpredictable market in recent months as federal officials have halted and reworked dozens of federal IT projects so they can be executed in smaller pieces. The government is pushing for greater use of more cost-conscious contract structures, such as fixed-price contracts that cap the total price, and is trying to bolster its procurement workforce to better oversee projects. The high-tech funding has long been a priority of St. Louis-areabusiness groups and high-tech incubators, who note that Missourispends far less on state seed capital than most of its neighbors.That in turn makes it more likely that medical and biotechcompanies must leave Missouri to attract the kind of privateventure capital they need to grow. This federal money is a chanceto start to change that, Nixon said.

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A new report from Intuit shows Arizona is among national leaders in small business job growth in March.

The Intuit Small Business Employment Index found that nationwide, small businesses added about 50,000 jobs in March for a monthly growth rate of 0.2 percent. In Arizona, that rate was higher, at 0.4 percent.

The index is based on figures from the country’s smallest businesses that use Intuit Online Payroll, of which there are more than 1,000 in Arizona.

The report also found that nationwide, small business hourly employees worked an average of 107.7 hours in February, translating to a 24.9-hour work week. That’s a 0.1 percent increase from the revised February figure of 107.6 hours.

Average monthly pay for all small business employees was $2,614 per month in March, or just $1 less than the previous month. This translates to wages of about $31,400 per year, which is part-time work for many employees.

“There is no sign of any pressure on small businesses to pay people more,” said Susan Woodward, the economist who worked with Intuit to create the index. “This should not be a surprise given the high unemployment rate, especially among unskilled workers.”

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Bank of America Corporation (BAC – Analyst Report) recently stated that the company has hired 110 small business bankers in the Greater Los Angeles area. This is a part of the companys previously announced plan to hire more than 1,000 small business bankers across the country this year.

Additionally, BofA also commented that more 70 small business bankers will be hired in Southern California and 21 in the San Fernando Valley by the end of this year. Los Angeles, Dallas and the Baltimore-Washington, DC area were the first three markets where hiring started.

To oversee and manage the hiring, BofA appointed Lynn Fernandez as Small Business Banker executive for the Pacific Southwest region, including Los Angeles. In this role, she will supervise the small business banker sales force.

There are more than 49,000 small businesses throughout the Los Angeles region, according to the California Employment Development Department. These small business owners often face unique and complex financial demands. Hence, these demands require customized guidance and attention from a small business banker, who can understand their unique needs. Therefore, BofA is hiring small business bankers in order to tap the huge demand for personalized help in the region.

Through a relation with BofAs small business banker, a small business owner will be able to access local expertise and a dedicated resource who properly understands its exclusive needs. The small business banker will evaluate the business owners credit, deposits and cash management needs besides providing guidance. This will enable these businesses to manage their finances in a better way and run their business more efficiently.

During 2010, BofA extended credit worth $18 billion to small businesses compared with $16.5 billion in 2009. This is a part of the ongoing commitment made by the company. Since August 2010, the company has provided $10 million in grants to nonprofit lenders to access federal micro lending capital.

In June last year, BofA had announced that it will increase its spending on small and medium-sized and diverse businesses. The company pledged to buy $10 billion of product and services from these companies over the next half-decade, with a 5% increase in spending every year.

Apart from these, BofAs efforts to help small businesses include improvements in the companys small business credit cards (such as no penalty rate hike) and development of the Advisor AllianceTM retirement plan platform (serving more than 900,000 people from about 40,000 businesses).

Apart from BofA, JPMorgan Chase amp; Co. (JPM – Analyst Report) is also committed to help small businesses. During 2010, the company continued to contribute to the economic recovery of small businesses. The efforts included more than $10 billion of credit provided to over 250,000 small businesses, an increase of more than 50% over 2009.

Though BofA is poised to benefit from its large scale operations, prudent capital management, non-core asset shedding and improving credit quality, concerns related to rising expenses, pressure on net interest yield and limited claim experience for non- government-sponsored enterprise (GSEs) will resist bottom-line expansion in the near term. However, the latest hiring spree will enable the company to provide assistance to these small businesses and would enable the company to improve its top line.

Currently, BofA retains a Zacks # 5 Rank, which translates into a short-term lsquo;Strong Sell rating.

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The New York Times launched its paywall globally today, and Ive been putting the barrier through its paces. Visits from search engines like Google, for convoluted reasons, are limited to five per day. But as it turns out, visits from any Google site search or not appear blocked.

To test how the new paywall works and interacts with search engines I triggered it for myself in Firefox. At first, I had no luck. After clicking on well past the allowed 20 views per month, I couldnt get the wall to appear.

Restarting my browser (I was in Firefox) finally got the paywall to trigger. As was promised, I was still able to get past this when I came from links on social sites such as Twitter. In addition, I was able to get past the paywall when I came from an ordinary link, such as from River Of Times, which is a collection of New York Times links.

Blocked From Google, Yahoo amp; Bing

Search engines are also supposed to let you past the paywall, if youve hit it, but only for up to five visits per day. Thats a barrier that the New York Times has erected against whatever it considers to be a major search engine.

To discover which search engines got this special attention, I went to the Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com, Ask.com and Blekko.com, found five stories from the New York Times in each of them, and clicked through.

When I tried to view more than five, I was blocked when coming from these:

I wasnt blocked when coming from Ask and Blekko. In addition, I wasnt blocked when I came from any of these country-specific versions of Google that I tested:

With Google UK (google.co.uk), I specifically tested to see if I could view more than five articles, in case the New York Time was perhaps applying a different limit for each version of Google. This doesnt appear to be the case. I was able to view more than five pages, when coming from Google UK.

Blocking Google Reader

Next, I wondered if the New York Times was only metering Google search-related visits (which is what the New York Times said it would do) or instead metering visits from other Google services. As it turns out, any Google service may get blocked.

For example, I subscribe to the RSS feed from the New York Times in Google Reader. Once the paywall was triggered, I could no longer view articles from Google Reader without a paywall block coming up.

This shouldnt happen. For one, the New York Times has said that links from social media sites wouldnt be blocked, and Id say Google Reader qualifies as a social media site. But more important, the New York Times has also previously said that ANY link from another site will let visitors through, unmetered, except in the case of search engines.

Google Reader isnt a search engine, but the New York Times is treating it that way. More crazy, if I subscribed to the RSS feed in my browser, the New York Times consistently let me view whatever I wanted.

Blocking Google Buzz

Few would argue that Google Buzz isnt a social media outlet. It might not be anywhere near as popular as Facebook or Twitter, but it is clearly a social media service. But in my testing, I wasnt able to view an article I shared on Google Buzz, because Id hit the paywall limit.

Again, this shouldnt have been the case.

Blocking Gmail

I tried another test. I emailed myself a link to a New York Times article to my Gmail account, which is run by Google. Again, I got blocked. The same thing happened when I clicked from an emailed link sent to my Yahoo Mail account.

Im pretty sure that if Id clicked on these links from an email account not also run by a major search engine that Id have gotten through but that really shouldnt be the case.

Postscript: HTTPS To Blame?

After I wrote my story above, a reader wrote suggesting that perhaps the secure connection (https) that Google provides for services like Google Reader, Buzz and Gmail might be to blame. The connection might not be passing referrer information that indicates someone is coming from these services, and so the paywall goes up.

I dont think this is the case, but its worth noting. I did some further testing on the morning of March 29, the day after I wrote this. I found:

I also found clicks from Twitter, even from a secure connection, were allowed through the paywall. So, theres more going on. Secure connections can pass referrer information, if they want, to my understanding. Its also possible that the secure connection might redirect a click in a variety of ways to pass on different referrer information.

More Paywall Observations

The paywall is pretty leaky. Its not going to stop anyone who wants to get past and knows even a little bit about the internet. Aside from admitting people via any link, you can also get through by:

There are other tips, too, such as those Mashable has compiled.

Youre Blocking Search Engines Why?

The purpose of me writing about this isnt to encourage people to avoid the paywall. Heck, the New York Times is deliberately going out of its way to keep it from triggering for many people who come to the site.

Instead, its to revisit the absurdity of how search engines ended up getting slapped with one of the few limits out there. It all started with the New York Times trying to keep limits that Google allows publishers as part of its First Click Free program, limits that make little sense when pretty much its Any Click Free now at the New York Times.

After questions were raised about why Google was getting singled out, the New York Times then had to concoct a story about how all major search engines would get blocked, with a confusing message suggesting that the New York Times was using tools that the search engines themselves provide for this.

They dont. The blocking and metering is all done by the New York Times itself and done so poorly, right now, that it is inadvertently blocking non-search services from these companies. Personally, I think the search engine limits should just get dropped.

Further Background

My article below covers more background on the New York Times blocking of search engines and the confusing statements it has made:

Over at my personal blog, I also did a send-up of the pricing plans for digital subscriptions (in short buy a print subscription. You get digital access, should you really think you need it, for a much better price)

And below are some further background articles on search engines and newspaper sites.

Related Topics: Featured | Top News

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The bill requires employers to create a work area for non-smokers, and to create physical barriers and ventilation systems to protect them from areas where smoking is permitted.

When Connecticut passed the workplace smoking ban in 2003, businesses with less than five employees were exempted as a concession to small businesses who said that this ban would hurt them, said Patricia J. Checko, chairwoman of Mobilizing Against Tobacco for Connecticuts Health, one of the groups supporting the bill. But according to data provided by the Small Business Administration, there are 75,000 employees subjected to smoke in the workplace. We dont see a reason for them to have any less protection than employees of larger companies.

The bill covers a single person who is self-employed working in rented space, regardless of whether another employee was working with that person. Checko said this was necessary because clients often visit workplaces and could be affected by second-hand smoke, and many self-employed people also work in space shared by other self-employed workers.

Republicans on the committee objected to this provision, saying that it was too intrusive and impossible to enforce.

Government should not protect us from ourselves, said Sen. Robert J. Kane, R-Watertown, the deputy minority leader of the state Senate. If you choose to smoke alone or jump out of an airplane, thats up to you. This is just another case of government trying to get inside our lives and overstepping its bounds.

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Local interest in a new round of federal cash to boost small-business lending has surged, with a range of banks considering it despite lingering concerns about murky requirements.

The initial application deadline for the US Treasury’s $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund is March 31, and several Middle Tennessee banks — from publicly traded institutions to private, rural lenders — are applying or at least considering it.

“In today’s world, capital is very, very important,” said Richard Herrington, president of Franklin Synergy Bank, which plans to apply. “When the economy strengthens we’re going to see that there are a lot …

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