If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, or even if you’ve just been on line for any time at all, you’ve probably heard about the importance of your keywords in terms of search engine optimization for your website. In an effort to clear up the confusion, we’ve made a little video that explains what to look for in terms of the right keywords, what makes a good keyword, and how to use them effectively on your website:

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
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It’s official–in just a few weeks, we’ll be launching our latest Small Business Maverick’s product offering: Biz Blogging Basics, Your DIY Kit to Successful Business Blogging. It should come as no surprise that I’m a huge proponent of blogs and all the wonderful things they can do for your business image online, let alone the personality it provides to your customers. That said, a trend I’ve seen a huge surge in recently is online reputation management, with increased requests from clients to help make sure their PR on the Internet is always positive. While a blog is a great start, it’s only one small piece of the larger puzzle.

The buzz around the upcoming launch has been more than we could have hoped for, and in that vein, we’re offering a free report that talks about all the other great tools to help manage your brand reputation in the online world. To the right of this post, you’ll see a sign up for information the launch of the Biz Blogging Basics e-book. If you go ahead and get in on it now, you’ll automatically get additional tools that go beyond blogging to help you become more proficient in social networking and reputation management, completely free of charge! It’s our way of saying thanks for all the fantastic feedback and buzz that’s already growing exponentially every day as we approach our launch day!

This just in from Porter Stansberry of the Stansberry & Associates Investment Newsletter:

“A new United Nations report identifies cattle as the greatest threat to the world’s climate – ahead of cars. According to the 400-page “Livestock’s Long Shadow” report, the world’s 1.5 billion cattle and the methane they… uh… emit… are responsible for global warming, dead zones in the ocean, acid rain, etc. Cow flatulence generates 18% of all greenhouse gases – more than cars, planes, and all forms of transportation put together. Maybe Al Gore will make a new movie… A Very, Very Inconvenient Truth.”

The media loves to make a big deal out of how much we are spending on one of the key principles of government (as determined by the constitution) - that being our military and the defense of our borders

Today I received an e-mail from Taipan Financial News which shows exactly the percentage of our Gross Domestic Product is currently being spent on our military. Being that this is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, I thought this information was timely and very interesting.

Our GDP is almost $12 Trillion annually, which means our current level of military spending ($600 Billion) is just 5%. Put this address in your browser to see the chart: http://www.taipanfinancialnews.com/images/charts/TFNchart12-07-06.gif

I’ll bet you would have guessed that it was much higher, based upon the talking TV heads and the media hysteria surrounding the whole topic.

Always interesting when you see the facts!

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love Google Earth. Today in the Gartman letter I came across a really cool use for the technology that I had never even imagined. As I always say, it’s a great time to be alive!

“In Bahrain… ‘Google Earth’ has played a huge role in deciding how the election plays out. Knowing, almost intuitively, that the Sunni royal family’s fortunes were enormous and that the Royals lived a life quite egregiously beyond the most wild dreams of the Shi’ia general populace, with the introduction of Google Earth on the net, the public finally could see just how utterly fantastic were the Royals’ lives. They ‘googled’ the royal compounds hidden beyond huge walls, and were stunned by what they saw.

“The Khalifa family then tried to outlaw ‘Google Earth’ only to find that the uproar was so severe, and the political ramifications equally as severe, that they had no choice but to rescind that decision. The end result is resounding defeat for the parties loyal to the Khalifa royal family and victory for the radical Shi’ia Islamist parties.”

I realize I’m a bit behind in my discovery having just read the November 20th Wall Street Journal Report, 50 Women to Watch 2006 - but what is amazing is not the quantity of women heading major corporations (it’s barely changed since last year) - what has changed is that women aren’t just heading “girly” companies any more. Andrea Jung’s achievements are tremendous, but everyone expects Avon to have a woman at the helm. Archer-Daniels-Midland, though? Cadillac? Dupont?

What struck me as I read the list of the 50 Women to Watch 2006 were the varied companies that these gals are heading spanning all indudstries. In case you missed the Report, here’s a sampling of the various companies represented in the report: Archer-Daniels-Midland, Avon, Bank of America, BET, BP, Burberry Group, Cadillac, Coca-Cola, Disney ABC TV, Dupont, Ebay, European Union Commission, Genentech, General Electric, Gucci, Hewlett-Packard, J&J, Kraft Foods, Lenovo Group, Lucent Technologies, McDonald’s Morgan Stanley, Nielsen Media Research, NTT DoCoMo, Pepsico, P&G, Rite Aid, SEC, Unilever, Verizon Communications, Wal-Mart, Western Union, Xerox, Yahoo … that’s not the whole list, but it gives you an idea of the variety of industries represented on the report.

As the Report concludes, these women are “breaking sterotypes about what women can and can’t do well, and opening up new opportunities for women who will follow them.”

Is this the end of the Glass Ceiling for women? Weigh-in and tell me what you think!

Announcing the Small Business Mavericks Blog!

Small business owners are plagued by marketing firms, advertising salespeople and consultants who provide advice that is expensive, self-serving and worst of all - doesn’t help them increase their sales or grow their customer base.

At Small Business Mavericks, we believe that the small business owner knows his or her business best, but they feel out of control because they lack the tools to help them successfully market their business and grow their sales.

We’ve been in your shoes! With over 20 years of marketing experience, we’ve battled agencies, consultants and “marketing experts” of all types who were hell-bent on selling us ineffective, over-priced advertising or marketing materials . We know what small business owners need, and we’ve built our company on delivering it.

Small Business Mavericks
Be a Maverick. Take Control. Grow Your Sales!

www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com