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8 Marketing Lessons from RIM’s Slow Death

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago Research In Motion (RIM) was the smartphone leader. Now the joke is that there is nothing smart about a BlackBerry.

It’s also hard to believe that so-called “crackberry users” are now giving up their beloved phones for an Android or iPhone device.

What happened?

A lot, in fact, has happened that allowed RIM to lose its grip on their market. You can learn a few marketing lessons from their failure that you can apply to your business to keep you and your business growing.

Here are 8:

Lesson #1: Control the conversation with social media

In the social media world, RIM has taken a beating in the last several years from its critics…mostly because they’ve sat back and done nothing.

They’ve never used social media to their advantage.

For example, when the new RIM CEO announced his first earnings report…one in which they said they lost money for the first time in seven years…you think they would’ve created some kind of social media campaign to fight back against all the negative attention.

But they didn’t.

The sentiment on Twitter for RIM during that announcement was 59 percent negative and 41 percent positive.

The conversation dominating Twitter looks like this:

‘Sorry! We’re closing this page because it is too large to load.’ —the tiresome, #memory #bullshit refrain from #BlackBerry #RIM #sorry

It’s not like they don’t have a faithful fan base. They have almost 11,000,000 likes on their Facebook page…

…a community they could’ve easily tapped and asked to rally around the company and help fight back against all of the negative sentiment.

Unfortunately they’ve never fostered a community with those Facebook fans, but used it more like a focus group to bounce ideas off of, so the fans weren’t primed to help out in this situation and become brand advocates.

Marketing Lesson: Your social media strategy should involve at least two things. One, create real connections with your customers. And two, build those customers into a loyal base of advocates who can help you engage critics and get greater control over the brand conversation.

Lesson #2: Build a cult…not a company

Apple probably has the most loyal fan base for a company in the world. It’s the most recognized brand. And that’s because people who buy Apple products don’t do it because they need these products…they buy Apple because it says something about them.

Compare RIM to Apple and you see a company who builds a device that is more popular than the company. Search Blackberry and RIM on Google Insights and you will see way more volume for the product than the company.

Here’s a search for Blackberry and RIM…

The blue line is for RIM mentions. The lesson here…the product is way more popular than the company. Do the same thing for Apple and iPhone and this is what you see…

While the iPhone outpaces Apple, you’ll notice that spikes in mentions always coincide…which means people recognize the product and the company…and people talk as much about the company as they do the product.

Marketing Lesson: Build an emotional, almost-cult like connection with your customers by creating experiences and products that enhances those experiences. As I’ve said before, Apple started with the why…and made the why they exist way more important than what they do.

Lesson #3. Create a culture that values user experience

You’ll never be able to build that cult-like connection with consumers if your own people who work for you don’t value input from end users.

RIM failed because they had technical wizards at the helm who never valued the end users input. It was an engineer-driven culture…which worked as long as there wasn’t any competition.

Consumers had to accept what was handed down to them. The BlackBerry Storm, launched in 2008, showed that RIM didn’t understand their consumer.

Then came along Apple and Google who built companies that focused on the end user…and who truly knew their customers by giving them iPhone and Android devices…and ate up RIM’s market share.

Granted, some people still prefer the thumb click wheel and tactile keyboards over the touchscreen, but that market is small.

Marketing Lesson: If your company doesn’t have a culture that puts emphasis on the end user…start a campaign to change that right now. And if you’ve company already has a focus on the consumer…keep it that way!

Lesson #4: Don’t be afraid to listen to employee ideas

To the researchers, engineers and marketers who worked at RIM, they understood that their technology needed to change. RIM management, for whatever reason, refused to listen to them and innovate.

Sure, they rolled out iterations, but nothing that ever drew in new customers. They were making money and didn’t want to mess with the formula. In fact, they looked down at the iPhone as a toy that enterprise customers would never take serious.

Now, because they never thought about a better way to navigate than a thumb click wheel they are hemorrhaging cash.

Marketing Lesson: Never confuse iteration with innovation. Innovation is when you create something that may even destroy your favorite product…but could be another true winner. Create a skunk works in your company…and create a culture where people are not afraid to challenge the status quo.

Lesson #5: Make passion for the product a relentless mission

Being a first mover in a market allows you to dominate for a very long time. But it can also lull you to sleep and people in your company…from the management down…get really complacent.

There was nothing bold or brash about the BlackBerry…it was never sold aggressively or tried to penetrate new markets or drive deeper into current ones. It was satisfied with the status quo…and people started to lose passion for the product, allowing competition to gain market share.

Marketing Lesson: If you have a product that is revolutionary, you need to quickly figure out how to support demand…and aggressively chase new opportunities like DropBox did. Always innovate to meet what customers want. Chase new markets. Keep that passion.

Lesson #6: Maintain your first-mover advantage

RIM’s main problem was that they thought they had made it and beaten their competition. In 2007, they were on top of the world…

They figured that they had so much market share that nobody could beat them. But sales have dropped ever since as has their market share…

What happened?!

They stopped innovating and rolled out boring iterations. They lost their edge and stopped listening to their customers because they thought they had it locked up.

The same thing happened to Kodak and HP. They thought their hold on the market share would give them time to respond. But we’ve seen that markets can change in less than a year when along came Apple and Google to eat their lunch.

Marketing Lesson: Never stop researching your competitors and paying attention to even the smallest players…because they may hold the key to future earnings for you.

Lesson #7: Replace complacent management

RIM’s problem was that their management refused to make any necessary changes. They were constantly bullish about RIM’s position, confident that the money would pour in until the end of time.

They refused to look at Apple or Google as competition to worry about because they felt like as first movers they had locked up the market. Sadly, they never came up with another great new idea since launching the Blackberry.

It was long overdue for a new team of management to be introduced.

Marketing Lesson: Get people into leadership positions that can bring a refreshing perspective to your company and products. Surround yourself with creative thinkers. Never let the complacency of management hold back the company because it will lead to failure.

Lesson #8: ALWAYS Create more than one product

Like I mentioned above, the BlackBerry is more famous than the company. That fame was spread due to so-called “crackberry,” and it seemed that BlackBerry was invincible and would dominate for a long time.

But you can’t survive as a company if you only have one product. It is never enough. The BlackBerry Mobile Fusion was a good step in the right direction for the company…but it may be too late.

Only time will tell.

Marketing Lesson: Surround yourself with people who will continually push for new ideas. Think of Google’s Labs and all of the products that rolled out of there. Its’ people were passionate about creating a better product for end users. Not all the products were a success, but some really major ones, like Gmail, have changed the game. Multiple products allows you to consume from different markets and not really on just one.

Conclusion

Any company can fail to engage customers in the social web and build products that engineers love, but consumers hate…any company can get complacent and ignore the value in their employees ideas to innovate.

What’s happening to RIM can happen to a Google, Apple or DropBox. It can happen to you. That’s why the real marketing lesson in RIM’s slow death is to always be on your toes. Like Intel’s former CEO Andy Grove once said, “Only the paranoid survive.”

12-Apr-12 11:00 AM

Keeping and Leaving a Safe Job Site (During a Landscape Project)

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Key Points

Messy, unkempt job sites are a common cause of occupational accidents, worker injuries, and inefficiency. Worse, if a crew leaves a poorly kept job site, hazards are posed to the client, his or her family, employees, and/or the public. Often, poor job site housekeeping is not recognized as a safety concern until after an accident.

Accidents resulting from untidy job sites frequently involve slips and trips, which the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified as one of nine leading hazards of concern across the entire landscape and horticultural industry. Crew leaders and members can prevent accidents by keeping job sites clean, properly storing equipment and materials, and eliminating, minimizing, or drawing attention to any potential hazards.

Remember your job sites are advertisements of your company to surrounding areas—and those advertisements can be positive or negative. Maintaining a clean, professional-looking job site not only improves safety, but also shows respect for the entire neighborhood or area and can help your company win future business.

Employers’ and supervisors’ checklist

 Assign crew leaders the responsibility of making sure small trash is picked up throughout shifts and removed from job sites daily.

 Ensure employees know cleaning up isn’t just an end-of-day activity. When a job site is a mess, the situation often perpetuates itself because few people will think twice about leaving garbage where it falls.

 Provide containers where employees can put trash, construction scrap, and debris. Make sure they use these containers, and tell them where they can regularly empty them. Packaging is one of the most common types of trash found on job sites, and it creates tripping and slipping hazards. Workers remove it from the material, and then get caught up in placing or working with the material and forget to dispose of the packaging.

 At each job site, designate a crew member to keep dirt and debris off the road, driveway, parking lot, etc. Also, assign someone to reduce airborne dust by lightly misting affected areas with a hose. Airborne dust can cause respiratory irritation and illness, and clings to siding, cars, windows, and plant material.

 Teach employees to properly secure and store any equipment, chemicals, or materials that will be left at job sites.

 Install a sign with your company’s name and phone number at each job site so you can be reached in case of an emergency.

 Communicate your schedule and any potential safety issues with other contractors who will be working at the site.

 Instruct crews to leave the site at the end of every day as if they were not returning for several weeks.

Employee dos and don’ts

Do:

Keep all pathways, walkways, and traffic areas clean and clear of debris and other tripping or slipping hazards.
Wash roads, driveways, parking lots, and other hard surfaces regularly to remove dirt and debris and reduce the chances someone will slip or trip.
Reduce airborne dust by lightly misting areas with a hose when necessary.
Neatly stack and store materials.
Store all tools and equipment neatly in a designated area, making sure they cannot pose a hazard to children. Lock hand tools and power equipment in a secure area to prevent injury and theft.
Park large equipment (backhoes, skid steers, etc.) in low-traffic areas with buckets and attachments down.
Place fuel containers in a locked, ventilated area clearly labeled as containing flammable items. Also, lock storage spaces for fertilizer and chemical products, and attach hazardous-material labels.
Cover and weatherproof exposed electrical wiring and other items that could pose electrical hazards.
Group containerized plants or trees and plants in ball-and-burlap wrap close together, and secure them to prevent them from falling over. Tipped plants pose a tripping hazard and could be damaged.
Mark off with caution tape areas that should not be accessed.
Turn over buckets and other containers that could collect water.
Cover and weatherproof materials with a heavy tarp lined with weights to prevent unnecessary runoff or spillage and prevent tripping hazards.

Don’t:

Drop trash or packaging on the ground or put it anywhere, except an appropriate trash receptacle. If a trash container isn’t available, ask your supervisor to provide one.
Leave holes, ditches, or trenches uncovered. Fill them the same day they are dug, if possible. If you must leave an open excavation, install construction fencing and/or caution tape or cover with plywood.
Leave rebar, other stakes, or irrigation spray heads protruding from the ground without capping their tops.
Wait until the last few minutes of the workday to clean up the job site. Perform housekeeping chores as needed throughout your shift.
Leave any string lines or roping used for layout of masonry or beds at the job site. These can pose tripping hazards.
Create street obstructions (trailers, material, etc.) if you can avoid doing so. If you can’t, place cones or barricades around the obstructions.
Leave security gates open or unlocked.

5-Apr-12 3:00 PM

10 Lessons Seth Godin Can Teach You About Blogging

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel

Ever since I started in business, I’ve always loved Seth Godin. He’s a brilliant marketer and a great writer. In fact, he runs one of the most popular blogs.

Over the years I’ve read many of Seth’s books, listened to his interviews and have even seen him speak on a number of occasions…

And while many people view him as “America’s greatest marketer,” there is a lot to learn from him about blogging.

Let’s explore 10 of those lessons:

Lesson #1: Blog, prune, experiment, repeat

When it comes to creating content for your blog, the conventional method is to analyze the trends, see what your competitors are doing, develop hybrid ideas and, more importantly, give your readers what they want.

Seth doesn’t do any of that.

Instead, over time he’s developed a voice that attracts people. He’s trained himself to write a lot, see what resonates, experiment, prune, and write some more until something grabs people.

He repeats that process endlessly, which takes time.

Lesson #2: Blog once a day

In an interview on Ad Age last year Seth explained his blogging ritual.

Seth blogs once a day and each blog post is an insight into the world of business, productivity or creativity.

It could be a paragraph long or two pages long. That’s a lot of blogging, and an incredible pace to keep up.

So how does he do it?

He writes once a day…but within that day he could write one blog post or fifteen. He then queues up those other posts. What the queuing allows him to do is replace posts he doesn’t love with ones that he does love.

Lesson #3: Avoid comments and Twitter

If you could say one thing about a blogger like Seth Godin is that he is productive.

What is his secret?

Two things: he doesn’t allow comments on his blog and he doesn’t use Twitter.

He avoids Twitter because he knows he would be very bad at it. The power users of Twitter spend an enormous amount of time cultivating a following, researching quality content to share and promoting others.

Seth says he can’t do that very well…or won’t do it.

The thing about the comments is he wants to avoid the rabbit holes that comments can turn into. Rants and arguments can only turn into a downward spiral that distract and burden him.

He does admit that comments are good to help you clarify your thoughts and sharpen your ideas. But for Seth, it turns out to be a waste of time. Or as Seth put it, “An opportunity to stay busy while not actually doing anything, I wonder if that’s a good choice.”

Lesson #4: Don’t watch TV or go to meetings

In an interview with Georgina Laidlaw at Problogger who said that he was “prolific” Seth said that he’s prolific because he never watched television, which…and this is important…was a conscious decision he made.

He doesn’t spend any time doing it. Zero.

Instead, he blogs.

He also admits to being “America’s worst attender of meetings.” Some people do five hours of meetings…cut that out and you’ve just cleared away five hours to do more productive things.

It’s hard to imagine an entrepreneur like Seth never attending a meeting, but he explains in a book his publishing company has recently published Read This Before Our Next Meeting that meetings are very often treated as three or more people talking about problems they can attack.

But if you want to get things done, you only need to talk to one person…which is a conversation and not a meeting.

Seth admits to talking to a lot of people throughout his day…having these conversations…but he is very careful that each one accomplishes something specific.

Lesson #5: Ship, or else it doesn’t count

Another reason he is very productive is his attitude to ship. To get the product to market…no matter what it might be.

For example, a short-order cook gets paid to ship. They’re paid to cook hamburgers. If he or she doesn’t cook hamburgers, they don’t get paid.

The same with a plumber. They get paid to unclog pipes. If they don’t unclog the pipes, they don’t get paid.

Everyone ships for a living, including bloggers, so Seth recommends you get really good at shipping.

Lesson #6: Write like you talk

One tactic that Seth and I share in common, and which many successful bloggers do, is the ability to write like you talk.

This is important because some creative people will say they can only write when the muse strikes. Yet, if you write like you talk nobody has to wait for the muse to strike to talk.

As he puts it, if you wake up and you can’t talk, then go see a doctor.

Writing like you talk will make your copy conversational and as long as you can come up with thoughts worth sharing, then blogging is not particularly hard. You just write down what is on your mind.

Lesson #7: Notice things

You have to wonder where he gets all of his ideas. Let me tell you. He pays attention. And he notices things.

For instance, if he sees something that doesn’t make sense to him or he doesn’t understand…he will try to figure it out. That may turn into an insight that may land on his blog.

The same applies to you. If you are going about your workday and come across a challenging situation…try to figure it out.

If you don’t have time to do it right at that moment, then jot the thought down and come back to it. You will know that you need to definitely return to the idea if you do nothing with it and it sticks with you for days.

It’s worth shipping.

Lesson #8: Use your blog as a proving ground

One thing that I like about my blog QuickSprout is that I can share ideas in a small manner to see what kind of reaction I can get out of people. If the reaction is good, then I pursue it. If it’s not, then I need to either tweak the idea or drop it all together.

This is blogging as the minimum viable product.

Blogging is a minimal investment to see if an idea has wings. The same is true with Godin who floats ideas and watches the reaction.

Lesson #9: Make blog posts, not money

You would be wrong to think that Seth blogs to make money or promote his other businesses like Squidoo. He resists the idea that he has products or that he is trying to monetize blogging.

He’s okay if it monetizes itself, say in speaking fees or book contracts, but even if they didn’t he believes that bloggers should truly blog for the love of it and not the money.

In fact, he thinks people get into trouble when they start to think of their blog as a sales funnel or even a product you can wrap up and sell.

Why?

In our digital world where ideas are abundant creating something that is scarce and worth a price tag is nearly impossible. In other words, the $99 special report is neither special nor a report.

He believes that ubiquity…being everywhere…is a better strategy than trying to create scarcity.

Lesson #10: Establish what motivates you to get out of bed

As you might have guessed, he doesn’t believe people should blog to generate a full-time income. If that’s the reason you are blogging, then you don’t have a passion…you have a job.

So you have to ask yourself, “What makes me get out of the bed in the morning? What am I passionate about?”

In order to be a successful blogger you have to decide what you are passionate about. And the question that Seth says you have to ask yourself is this: “How hard are you willing to push?”

And here’s the thing about becoming the best at something…you need to make it small.

It’s a lot easier to become the world’s best infant heart surgeon than it is to become the world’s most famous scientist.

One is a narrow specialization that allows you repeated practice to get really good…the other one is so broad that you will take a lifetime to get good at even some parts of it…and probably not even make it!

This means if you want to be the world’s greatest SEO blogger, then you should focus on an area of SEO like link building.

If you want to become the world’s best entrepreneur, then you need to pick an industry that you can master…like Henry Ford did with cars.

He didn’t say he wanted to be the best in transportation…he said he wanted to be the best in cars.

And that’s what he did.

Conclusion

The last thing that I need to mention is that you need a plan. Even if it is as simple as writing two or three goals out on a piece of paper, you need to have an idea of what you want to accomplish this year and so on.

Seth Godin didn’t become a brilliant blogger overnight. It took him years of relentlessly trying to master what he was passionate about. And you can do to!

5-Apr-12 2:00 PM

April is National Lawn Care Month

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Lawn Care Tips

Tip #1:	More than 30 million acres of lawns exist in the United States
Tip #2:	A healthy lawn is of utmost importance to our environment. A 50-foot by 50-foot lawn produces enough oxygen for a family of four.
Tip #3:	Lawns cool the atmosphere. Eight healthy front lawns have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning, which is enough for 16 average homes.
Tip #4:	Dense, healthy grass slows water runoff, removing contaminants and trapping soil. Fresh, filtered water returns to the underground water supply.
Tip #5:	Grass converts carbon dioxide to oxygen, a process that helps clear the air
Tip #6:	Well-cared-for lawns can significantly increase your clients' property value.
Tip #7:	In addition to its positive environmental impacts, a healthy lawn can also make a home more marketable, and in this tough housing market, a well-cared-for lawn can make or break a sale.
Tip #8:	Well-maintained lawns and landscapes can add up to 15 percent to a property's value.
Tip #9:	Did you know that a dense, healthy turf is an environmental hero?

Consumer Resources

5-Apr-12 2:00 PM

How to Optimize Your Business For Local Search and Social Marketing

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel

229Share

If you have a local business or one that targets audiences in a specific geolocation, then you will want to move beyond general guides for search and social optimization. This post will take you through several marketing strategies for local search and social media marketing.

Keyword Research for Local Search

Before you can optimize your website, social media profiles, or anchor text for link building, you have to know what keywords you want to use. When it comes to local search marketing, you are not only targeting industry-specific terms, but geo-specific terms as well.

Let’s look at an example of a local plumbing business that might have several locations in Washington. When planning their optimization strategy, the first thing they might do is take a look at some geo-specific keywords + plumbing to see how many times they are searched using Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

While the numbers may not be exact, you can rest assured that, in looking at the above data, seattle plumbing is searched more than tacoma plumbing, but tacoma plumbing is searched more than everett and edmonds plumbing combined. When you start with terms like that, you will also get additional suggestions plus the approximate number of times those phrases are searched monthly.

Want to try some other ways to get keyword ideas? Try typing in your keyword ideas in Google search, then scroll down to the bottom to see the related searches.

You can also take your most popular competitor’s website (the one that ranks highest for your main targeted keyword phrase) and look at the keywords they rank for using SEMrush. A free account will show you 10 keywords they rank well for.

Using a combination of these tools and researching other local competitors in your industry should help you develop the right keywords to use for the local search optimization of your business.

On-Site Optimization for Local Search

Once you have your keywords set, the next thing you will want to do is optimize your own website for local search. Let search engines know what locations you are targeting by including geo-specific information, keywords, and phrases in the following places on your website.

Title and Meta Descriptions

When it comes to search results, people are going to see your website’s SEO title tag and meta description or other related snippet from your website first.

Note that, when searching for air conditioning repair seattle, those keywords are bolded in both the title and snippet about the website. Make these two areas count for local search by doing the following.

Locally Optimized Title Tags – The SEO title tag is still one of the most important elements for on-site optimization, even if Google sometimes chooses alternate titles for search results. Regardless, you should still assume that Google might choose your specified title tag to link to your website in search results. Hence, you will want to make sure it not only includes your primary keywords, but your location as well within 70 characters.
Locally Optimized Meta Descriptions – Again, Google might choose a snippet of text from your website instead, but it never hurts to have an optimized meta description. Make sure it includes your primary keywords, areas your business serves, and phone number if possible within 165 characters.

Local Address & Phone Number on All Pages

Another good signal to search engines is a local street address and phone number on all pages. Most businesses will place this information in their website’s footer. Be sure that it is actually in the text and not in an image. This is good for search engine bots and for people on their mobile phones as your phone number will be clickable!

Location-Specific Pages

Have more than one location but only one website? That’s not a problem. Just create a page on your website specific for each physical location. This way, anyone searching for your business in a particular region, city, state, or country should be directed to the appropriate page.

Embed a Map

If you enter an address on Google Maps, you can get HTML embed code to add the map to your website. Just click on the link icon to get the code.

You can also click on the customize link to choose sizing and other features for your map before embedding it on your website.

This is a great way to help visitors to your website find your location easily and who knows – it might tell a Google search bot more about your location.

Create a Geo Sitemap

Want to make absolutely sure Google knows where you are? Then create a geo sitemap and KML file for your website. Geo Sitemap Generator makes it easy. Just fill in your company details, download the files, and upload them to your website’s root folder.

Then go to Google Webmaster Tools, add your website (if you haven’t already), verify it using your Google Analytics code (other options available), and then add your geo sitemap’s URL under Site Configuration > Sitemaps. Instead of waiting for Google to find out where you are, this will tell them where you are!

Local Search Directories

Once you have optimized your site for local search, you should begin to start some off-site optimization. The first places to begin are applicable local search directories.

The above graphic shows the current landscape of local search directories and how they feed into each other.

The following are seven of the top local search directories.

Google Places

The ultimate goal is to have the best Google Places listing. For local businesses, it could mean having your business show up on the first page above some of the organic search results.

To get started, add or claim your business on Google Places. When you create your profile, be sure fill out as much information as possible and add up to 10 supplementary photos. You can even link five videos from YouTube about your business.

Also note that you can hide your address on your listing by selecting that your business serves customers at their location. When you select that option, you will get a checkbox to not show your address.

This is a great option for home businesses that target local clients. Once you have completed your profile and hit submit, you will need to choose a way to verify your business. Some will have the option to verify by phone immediately – others will have to wait two to three weeks for a postcard by mail to the business address.

Once your Google Places profile is live, be sure to encourage your customers to review your business. Be sure to also monitor your business reviews. You can respond good or bad reviews as the owner – this is a great way to demonstrate your customer service skills publicly!

You can even use your responses as a way to advertise your friendliness to potential customers as the above business has done. And don’t worry if customers review you on other sites as many of them feed into Google Places.

The only unfortunately part is off-site reviews won’t count towards the number of reviews and stars shown in Google search results.

While Google Places one of the most important places to get listed on, you have to also build profiles on other sites to build citations for local SEO. The more consistent listings you have on additional local search directories, the better your local rankings will be.

Yahoo Local

Yahoo Local should be next on your local search listings and citations quest. You can add or claim a basic listing for free which includes the vital information (contact information, link to your website, hours, payment options, email address, products, and services) or you can choose the enhanced listing for $9.95 per month which allows you to add photos, coupons, a 3,000 character company descriptions, and a 150 character company tagline. You can also run a report to see the number of impressions and clicks you have received with an enhanced listing. The nice part about Yahoo Local compared to Google Places is that verification is done on Yahoo’s end and takes a couple of days to go live.

Bing Local

Bing Local allows you to add or claim a free listing with up to nine photos for your business. Their submission system (the Bing Business Portal) is currently in beta and not the most user-friendly compared to Google or Yahoo. Verification is done by mail and can take two to three weeks. One nice thing about their local pages is that they pull in reviews from a variety of other local search sites and, unlike Google, the total number of ratings and stars from all sites are listed in Bing’s local search results.

Yelp

Yelp is one of the most well-known local search directories. You can add or claim your business listing for free and add photos and lots of additional details beyond just your contact information. Business owners can respond to reviews on their page, which is a plus for demonstrating customer service skills. Yelp also offers pay per click advertising within their network so you can get your business listing in front of more people.

Merchant Circle

Merchant Circle is another popular local directory that allows businesses to add or claim free listings with an extended description, profile picture, and link to your website. They also offer free basic statistics about your listing including keywords driving traffic to your listing and the amount of visitors your listing has received in the last thirty days compared to average businesses and the top business on Merchant Circle in your category. You can click on the who is this link to find out who the leader in your category is to learn more about your competitor’s local marketing strategy.

Superpages

Superpages allows businesses to add or claim free listings that include an extended description of their business, multiple categories, a listing of products and services, one related business image, and a link to their website. You can add or claim your business listing here.

Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages allows businesses to add or claim free listings that include an extended description of their business, multiple categories, and a link. You can also add additional photos for the business listing.

Additional Local Directories

Looking for more? You can use tools like Whitespark Local Citation Finder which will help you find the best local directories for your business. You can also search for the names of your main competitors to see what sites they are listed on and make sure you get listed there as well.

Why It Is Important to Claim Your Listings

If a business has been around long enough, there is a good chance that the business is already listed with their address and phone number. With that in mind, is it important to claim your business listing? Absolutely! Many local directories do not have any verification method to prove that someone editing a listing actually belongs to the business.

If you take the initiative to claim your listings on major local directories and networks, it prevents other people from modifying (or even completely removing) your listing.

Getting Local Reviews

Once you’ve claimed your business profiles on local search directories, the most important thing you can do to boost your visibility is get reviews. Having a positive rating can help your elevate your business in search results, especially on sites that allow visitors to sort businesses by the number of positive ratings.

Here are some tips to getting great social local search reviews.

Add Buttons / Badges to Your Website – Let your website visitors know they can rate your business on directories like Yelp by adding links to your business listing on your website.
Encourage Reviews in Your Store – If you have a store or restaurant, encourage local reviews by simply putting a mention or link to your Yelp or other business listing on receipts.
Encourage Reviews via Emails – Does your business have an online ordering system? Do you encourage people who buy from your website to sign up for your mailing list? If so, email people after they should have received their purchase and ask them to rate their experience with your business on the business listing of your choice.
Simply Ask – If you interact with people on a daily basis in your business, simply ask people to add a review on your business listing. Most people will be happy to oblige.

No matter how great your business is, you still might encounter the bad review. As I mentioned previously, many sites like Google Places and Yelp allow business owners to respond to their reviews individually. Be sure to regularly monitor your reviews and respond to them as necessary. Leaving bad reviews unanswered does not make the go away… it just makes visitors to your profile wonder what, if any, resolution your unsatisfied customers received.

By responding to your bad reviews, you show potential new customers that your goal is to make sure everyone is happy no matter what.

Link Building for Local Keywords

Once you’ve built your local business listings up, the next thing you should start doing is building links to your website. Keep in mind that you don’t want to over do things as Google is hard at work on an over optimization penalty as we speak. That said, there are many great ways to acquire links.

Since I’ve already discussed 10 hard-hitting link building tactics and leveraging link blending to maximize rankings, I won’t go into any more general link building strategies here. Instead, lets look at some local linking options including the following.

Related Local Businesses – Look for businesses that are in the same industry, but are not competitors. See if those websites have resource pages that link out to other businesses similar to yours. Then see if you can strike up a dialog with the business owner and convince them why they need to have your link listed as a valuable resource their visitors.
Local Bloggers – Find bloggers that are in your region whose audience might be interested in your business. See if you can arrange to do a guest post for them, or get them to sample your products or services in exchange for a review on their blog.
General Local Resource Pages – Search for local business resources that may not have come up in your local directories search and find out if you can get your site listed.
Competitor Backlinks – Using tools like Open Site Explorer, find out what backlinks your local competitors’ websites have to see if you can get yourself listed on them as well.
Local Events – Be on the lookout for events in your area, such as industry conferences, expos, or shows. Check the event’s website to see if they link to their exhibitors and sponsors. If they do, invest as an exhibitor or sponsor of the event so you can get your link on their site as well.
Local Charities – Give back to your community by sponsoring and donating to local charities. Many will have websites that thank their local sponsors and donors, linking back to the sponsor’s and donor’s websites.

Now that we’ve covered most of the local search marketing bases, let’s take a look at some local social marketing strategies.

Local Marketing on Facebook

With 845 million monthly active users, you’re bound to find some of your target audience on Facebook. Here are some ways to make sure your business gets found by Facebook users in your area.

Optimizing Your Facebook Page for Local

The best way to optimize your Facebook page for a local audience is to make sure it is set up as a Local Business. If you haven’t created your Facebook page, make sure to create your page as a Local Business.

If you have already created it, you may be able to change the category, depending on your number of fans. To check to see what category your page is listed as, go to Admin Panel > Manage > Edit Page and then Basic Information. Here you will see a category and sub-category for your business.

Once your Facebook page is set up as a local business, be sure to enter all of your local details including your street address, local phone number, and business hours. If you don’t want to list your exact street address, you can just enter the city, state, and zip code to give users an approximation of your location.

One thing to mention in regards to the new Facebook pages design is the About information for your business. It will generally show your business category, location, phone number, and business hours.

You can make the area show your website by removing your phone number and business hours from your page’s details. You just have to decide which is more important for your visitors – seeing your phone number on your Facebook page or having the ability to click through to your website. If you do want your local business information to stay intact, you can also add a status update with a link to your Facebook page, then pin the status update to the top of the page so it shows in the top left column.

Connecting with a Local Audience on Facebook

Once your Facebook page is locally optimized, you will want to get your page in front of a local audience. Some simple ways to do this are as follows.

Invite Your Friends – Go to the Admin Panel > Build Audience area and use the Invite Email Contacts option to invite your email contacts to become a fan of your business page. Then use the Invite Friends option to invite friends on your personal profile to become a fan as well. Be sure to invite contacts in your region to get the most targeted audience for your page.
Become a Fan of Local Businesses Pages – Again, you will want to avoid competitors, but become a fan of related local business pages by using Facebook as your page and liking the page. Once you become a fan, you will be able to interact on the local business page as your page in comments on the page’s updates. This will get you exposure with your target audience and will hopefully lead to new local fans of your page.
Target Status Updates by Location – Send status updates only to people in specific locations by changing the dropdown for your status update from Public to targeted by Location / Language. There, you can specify an audience within a particular country, state, and/or city.
Use Facebook Ads – Facebook Ads are a relatively inexpensive way to target Facebook members in your region. Select your Facebook page as the Destination for your ad, and then use the local targeting option to show the ad to only people in a specified country, state, province, city, or zip code.

Local Marketing on Twitter

While Twitter may not have as large of an audience, it does have 100 million active users. It is also much easier to gain followers since you can interact with people without them even following you. Here are some ways to make sure your business gets found by Twitter users in your area.

Optimizing Your Twitter Profile for Local

With Twitter profiles, you don’t have to worry about properly categorizing them from the start to make them local friendly. All you have to do is a few minor edits to your Twitter profile. Be sure that you include a specific location in your Twitter information as well as a local keyword phrase in your Twitter bio.

This will help anyone searching specifically for local businesses on Twitter to find yours easily.

Connecting with a Local Audience on Twitter

As previously mentioned, remember that on Twitter, you can interact with anyone regardless of whether they are following you by simply mentioning their @username in a status update. Here’s how you can grow a local audience on Twitter.

Connect with Local Twitter Users – There are several ways to find local people on Twitter, thanks to Twitter lists and directories. You can start with TwitterCounter, Twitter Grader, and Wefollow to find the top users in your area. Or you can use Twitter directories like Twellow and Follower Wonk to search for users in specific locations by keyword.
Check Out Followers for Local Businesses – Look for local businesses on Twitter in your industry (including competitors), and take a peek at their followers. Chances are, they might be interested in your business as well.
Follow Local Discussions – Use Twitter Advanced Search to monitor conversations based on specified keywords from users near a particular place which can be specified by name or zip code.
Try Twitter Maps App on Bing – Bing offers several apps to enhance the functionality of their maps including a Twitter app. To access this app, go to explore map apps and select Twitter Maps. Zoom into your location on the map and see tweets that are were sent in your region.

Once you find some people that fit your targeted, local demographic, be sure to follow them on Twitter. Don’t just click the follow button though, be sure to actually follow their updates and interact with them. The second part is key if you expect to get any local followers to your Twitter profile in return.

Local Marketing on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the top social network for professionals, therefore it’s the perfect network for business professionals. Here’s how you can grow a local audience on LinkedIn.

Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile for Local

To ensure that your profile comes up for anyone searching for professionals in your area, just make sure you have entered your correct location in your profile’s basic information settings. Then, for keyword optimization, include your location in your profile’s headline. Also be sure to list locations in your current and past job experiences.

Connecting with a Local Audience on LinkedIn

LinkedIn only wants you to connect with people in real life as opposed to networks like Twitter where you are encouraged to follow anyone you are simply interested in. To get more local connections on LinkedIn, be sure to do the following.

Invite Email Connections – The best way to start building your LinkedIn connections is by importing your email connections into LinkedIn. LinkedIn will then allow you to invite anyone who is on LinkedIn to your network.
Connect with Colleagues & Alumni – After you have connected with everyone in your address book, you can then connect with current and past colleagues at your jobs as well as alumni from the college you attended.
Open Networkers Groups – LinkedIn Open Networkers (LIONs) are people who want to connect openly with as many people as possible on LinkedIn. Search for open networkers in LinkedIn groups, join a few LION groups, and then start perusing the member’s list. You will be able to use the group as how you know the person on the LinkedIn connect form. Then just include a private message explaining why you want to connect with them, such as you are trying to make more local connections on LinkedIn.
Local Networking Groups – When searching groups, be sure to also search for local networking groups. After you have spent some time engaging in the local groups, you can start to connect with other members you have interacted with.
Email Your Local Contacts – Remember that LinkedIn contacts are not meant to be spammed. That said, you can go to your connections and filter them by location. Then you can select one or more people in a specific location at a time to email. You should probably email everyone individually and personalized if possible, but if not, this could be a good way to get an important message to lots of local contacts simultaneously.

Local Marketing on Google+

Although Google+ doesn’t have nearly the amount of users as Facebook or Twitter, they do corner the market in influencing search results. There are lots of reasons you should use Google+ such as the fact that businesses that might not normally show up on the first page of results will thanks to having the right Google+ connections.

Google has even incorporated Google+ people and pages above Google AdWords ads for some searches.

If you want to reap the search and social benefits of Google+, here is what you need to do.

Optimizing Your Google+ Profile for Local

If you want your Google+ profile to appear in search recommendations for local searches, be sure to include your current location in your Google+ profile in your Places Lived section. Also be sure to add locally optimized keyword phrases in your profile’s headline, introduction, and occupation.

This should help people find you both on Google’s main search and Google+’s internal search.

Optimizing Your Google+ Page for Local

For Google+ pages, be sure to set up your page as a local business from the start. You can even use your Google Places information to populate your page’s data.

This is especially important now that Google mixes people and pages in their main search results and within Google+’s internal search.

Connecting with a Local Audience on Google+

Google+ is similar to Twitter in the fact that you can follow anyone you choose, assuming that they share public updates. If they do share public updates and have it set that anyone can comment on them, you can comment on them without having to wait for them to follow you! Here’s how you can grow a local audience on Google+.

Make Sure Your Google+ Profile is Publicly Visible – Click on your profile’s Edit Profile button and check to make sure that each section of your Google+ profile is publicly visible. If your profile is not set to public, it will not show up in search results.
Add Local Google+ Users to Circles – Use the Google+ internal search to find local Google+ users that might be interested in your business and connect with them by adding them to circles using your personal profile. Be sure to create a separate circle for local users so you can target status updates directly to them.
Interact with Local Connections – Interact with your local connections regularly. For those that share their public updates and allow everyone to comment upon them, this is a great way to gain additional exposure with a local audience.
Suggest Your Google+ Business Page to Local Followers – Once you’ve built up a good local following, you can suggest your Google+ business page to them through a status update targeted to your local connections’ circle.
Follow Your Local Connections Back on Your Business Page – Show your local connections that you value them on Google+ by following them back as your page. One of the perks to Google+ pages over Facebook pages is that you interact with personal Google+ profiles as your business page once people are following your page. Be sure to use this to gain even more exposure for your business to a local audience.

Local Marketing on Foursquare

Last but not least on the social circuit is Foursquare, the ultimate social network for local businesses. If you have a location that you want to share with the public, you will definitely want to add or claim your business on Foursquare.

Optimizing Your Foursquare Profile for Local

Foursquare business pages are as locally optimized as they get, so nothing to worry about there. Just be sure to take advantage of adding extra details about your business, including your other social profile links and a link to your website.

Connecting with a Local Audience on Foursquare

The best thing you can do on Foursquare is encourage people to check-in to your business. One of the top ways of doing this is by offering incentives such as discounts or coupons for people who check-in often at your business. You can offer perks by creating specials for newbies, friends, swarms (when lots of people check in during the same time period), loyalty, and mayors (the person who checks-in the most at your location).

The reasons check-ins are so powerful is that most of the time, users will not only check-in on Foursquare but also share their check-in with their Twitter and/or Facebook audience. This is great word-of-mouth marketing as people are more likely to go places their friends have been or recommended.

Promote check-ins at your business location by putting a Foursquare window cling on your business’ window to remind people to check-in. Also be sure to advertise your Foursquare presence and specials on your website so people will know they are getting a great deal to check-in when they arrive.

More Local Social Media Optimization Tips

The following are general tips that fit almost any network in terms of making sure your social media presence is locally optimized and you are ready to build an even larger local audience.

Include Social Links in Your Emails – Anytime you send out emails, whether they are to your general mailing list or just regular emails to contacts, be sure that your email signature includes a link to your top social profiles.
Include Social Buttons on Your Website – Add social media buttons or badges to your website so that visitors will be able to connect to your business easily. You can add them in the header, sidebar, or footer of your website.
Add Social Mentions to Printed Materials and Advertisements – Do you have a brochure in your store, business cards, or advertisements in local magazines or newspapers? Be sure to add a simple “Follow us on Twitter” or “Find us on Facebook” to these items (and direct links if possible).
Stay Active – Staying active on your social networks will help greatly in encouraging engagement with your current audience.
Encourage Sharing – If you create content on your website in the form of articles, newsletters, or blog posts, be sure to encourage that your audience shares them socially. This should help lead new traffic to your website and connections to your social profiles.

Looking at Local Analytics

To make sure that your local marketing strategies are getting local results, be sure to check out the following analytics.

Google Analytics

When reviewing traffic to your website, you will want to look in your Google Analytics’ Audience Demographics data.

Here, you will be able to see if local visitors stay on your site longer than other visitors by analyzing time on site, bounce rate, and pages per visit. If you have set up goals on your website, such as when a person makes a purchase or signs up for your mailing list, you can see if people in particular regions are completing these goals more often than others. You might find additional regions that you will want to target your local marketing efforts towards through use of your analytics.

Facebook Insights

Want to see if you are getting likes from the right audience? Check out your Facebook page’s Insights to see demographics information for your page’s likes, reach, and people talking about your page content.

If you notice that you are getting more likes outside of your targeted location, you will need to figure out better ways to encourage audience growth in your desired region such as creating more location-specific content or specials on your Facebook page.

Conclusion

If you follow the steps I mentioned above, you should start seeing an increase in foot traffic to your business. But the thing to keep in mind when doing local search and social optimization is that it takes time to see the results. Don’t expect for miracles in the first 30 or even 60 days. It will take months, if not a year before it really kicks in.

4-Apr-12 1:00 PM

Operating Wood Chippers

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:00:00 GMT

Key Points

Wood chipping operations can be dangerous for those running the chipping equipment, others working nearby, and the public. When employees feed tree limbs into chippers, they are at risk of getting caught in the machine and being pulled into the chipper knives. Flying wood chips from the machine’s discharge chute also pose a hazard to others in the area.

According to the federal OSHA Integrated Management Information System, 39 workers died in chipper accidents from 1996 to 2005. In 78 percent of these accidents, the worker was caught in the chipper. Most of the remaining fatalities resulted from "struck-by" accidents.

Fatal accidents involving a chipper equipped with a winch-line assembly (a "struck-by" accident) and a worker wearing gloves with cuffs being pulled into a chipper prompted federal OSHA to issue a "Hazards of Wood Chippers" safety and information bulletin in April 2008. In the bulletin, OSHA states that "although the hazards associated with chipper use are generally known, awareness of these hazards and the associated safeguards needs to be highlighted and reinforced." Read the bulletin at osha.gov/dts/shib/shib041608.html.

Employers’ and supervisors’ checklist

 Train workers to properly start, operate, and shut down each machine they use. Operating instruction should include use of safety devices, material feeding, and winch lines.

 Since operation of wood chippers, as with all machines, varies by manufacturer and model, make available to employees written operating and maintenance instructions for every particular chipper they could be asked to operate.

 Make provisions in order to properly train and provide information to employees who speak or read little or no English.

 Closely supervise new hires and those new to operating chippers to ensure they safely operate the machines. Reinforce training through regular safety talks and unannounced site visits. When an employee engages in unsafe work practices, take immediate corrective action, including refresher instruction and/or disciplinary measures.

 Provide, at no cost to employees, and ensure they wear the following: eye, face, hand (gloves without cuffs), head, and hearing protection. Also, make sure workers wear non-slip, steel-toed boots, pants (without cuffs), and long-sleeved shirts. Don’t allow employees to wear jewelry, loose clothing, or tree-climbing equipment that could get caught in a chipping machine.

 Maintain the personal protective equipment (PPE) you provide to employees and ensure they maintain their own PPE.

 If your employees will be using chippers equipped with winch lines, train them to recognize and avoid "pinch point" hazards where the winch line enters the winch boom and where the choker connects to the log.

 Have at least one worker stand by the chipper to control the feed handle and to be near emergency shut-off devices. Many chippers are labeled with a decal saying the manufacturer recommends this precaution be taken.

 Rotate your staff throughout the day so workers take turns monitoring and feeding the machine. Also, ensure they keep the work area free of trip hazards. Employees can be exhausted at the end of the day, and tripping near the machine could lead to injury.

January 2012 Safety $ense

 Train employees to shut down and lock out chippers in accordance with federal OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1910.147 before performing any maintenance and when machines are awaiting repair.

Employee dos and don’ts

Do:

Block the tires after detaching the machine from a towing vehicle and ensure the tires are blocked before operating.

Post warning signs to keep the public a safe distance from chipping area.

Make sure the discharge chute is pointed away from people and property and is locked into position.

Keep the work area free of trip hazards such as branches and debris.

Wear appropriate personal protective equipment not only when operating a chipper, but also whenever you are in an area where chipping operations are taking place. This PPE includes tight-fitting gloves without cuffs; eye, face, head, and hearing protection (your employer should provide this PPE at no cost to you); steel-toed boots; pants (without cuffs); and a long-sleeved shirt.

Inspect PPE before each work shift and report any defects or damage to your supervisor. Defective or damaged equipment must be repaired or replaced before you begin work.

Examine the wood chipper according to your training and/or the machine’s operating manual before each work shift. Remove the key from the ignition prior to inspecting the machine.

Test all safety and emergency shutoff devices before operating the chipper.

Disengage the clutch before starting the engine.

Feed the large, cut end of brush and logs into the chipper first.

Stand to the side of the in-feed chute while feeding material.

Stop immediately and check the chipper for damage if there’s any extra noise or vibration.

Cross safety chains under the chipper’s tongue and properly attach them to a towing vehicle before transporting the machine.

Before towing and if the machine is equipped with brakes, ensure the breakaway cable is properly attached.

Shut down and lock out the chipper before performing any maintenance.

Don’t:

Operate a chipper alone.

Wear loose clothing, jewelry, climbing equipment, harnesses, or body belts since they could get entangled in a branch and pull you into the chipper. Also tuck in your shirt.

Use any part of your body to locate or stop hydraulic leaks.

Leave open or unsecured any access covers, doors, fasteners, or locks before starting the chipper.

Put hands or feet in the in-feed hopper area while the chipper is running. Use a wooden push tool to feed short material.

Feed small debris into the chipper. Instead, place it in a trash can or directly in the chip box.

Stand, sit, or climb on any part of the machine while it is running.

Stand in front of the feed table or discharge chute. Be aware the chipper could discharge debris long after feeding has stopped.

Open access covers until the drum or disc is at a complete stop.

Leave a chipper unattended without shutting it down, removing keys from the ignition, chocking the wheels, and applying the parking brake.

28-Feb-12 12:00 PM

The 3-Step Secret to More Quality Links in Less Time

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel

Ever wish there was a way you could speed up the link building process?

I mean, wouldn’t it be nice if you could hunt down hundreds of possible links, evaluate them, and then ask for those links automatically?

Unfortunately, it’s a process that really needs a human at the steering wheel. And that’s something you can’t automate.

Trust me… I’ve spent years and over a hundred thousand dollars trying to figure out ways to make the process more efficient. Whether it was through programming an automation tool to hiring someone else to do the work for me, I tried about everything I could think of.

There really is just no easy way.

But over the years I’ve learned quite a bit from trial and error, as well as from other SEO experts in the space on how to make the process more efficient without compromising quality.

Here are the 3 steps you can take to get more quality links in less time:

Step #1: Use tools to speed up link prospecting

When it comes to getting things done and being more efficient, you should always focus on automating things as much as possible.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

A long time ago a lot of us used to drop hundred links into a program that would retrieve PageRank scores for every link. From there we would drop those results into a spreadsheet and delete any links without a PageRank score of at least 3.

That process in itself would take a minute or two, which is so much faster than doing it manually.

But luckily enough, there are now tools like Majestic SEO and OpenSite Explorer that can compute huge amounts of data, like scoring back link data and giving you anchor text information within seconds. So if you want to speed up your efficiency you should use these tools.

SEOBook Toolbar – use this tool to collect information on search engine rankings. Set your results count at 100 and then carry over the results into a spread sheet.
Ontolo Campaign Manager – find relevant competitor back links by topic or type. You can also brainstorm for content marketing ideas and monitor competitor back links.
Blogscape – Monitor the popularity of any brand, URL or keyword on a daily basis.

Another great tool to use is the Link Building Tool by Ontolo. Once you’ve defined your keywords, asset type, opportunity type and campaign type…

The tool will then generate a list of “link building queries”:

Click on one of those queries and you get a search engine results page with link possibilities:

Of course you’ll have to hand-select the right results, which is hard to automate at the moment, but it is still a great start.

Step #2: Identify the critical components of qualifying links

This part is a lot harder to automate because so much of qualifying needs a human involved. From a broad standpoint, you know so much more about your product, market and the content landscape than a tool will. A tool can’t tell you that links from a sports site will not work for you if you are in the airline industry. Hopefully it will one day, but as of now it just doesn’t exist.

And as you already know that qualifying individual websites isn’t something you can systematize, either. Just because you have a client in one category like mobile operating systems doesn’t mean you can treat a site dedicated to Android apps like you treat a site dedicated to Symbian OS.

Is there any way to automate this process? Well, there are about three places that you can do this:

Prospect requirements – your first step to develop some requirements on prospect links based on scores from PageRank, backlink counts, mozRank or mozTrust. For example, you could develop requirements that a page that is a potential link prospect has to have a homepage PageRank of 5 and URL PageRank as 3. This way you can set a baseline level of value so you know that you are going after established websites. In most cases you are going to have to do this by hand, but you can delegate it to a college kid.
Link relevancy – what makes a link relevant? Topical relevance. Topical relevance is all about finding sites that have relevance to your topic. Using the example above with the mobile OS market, a site on Symbian OS won’t be helpful if you are hunting down sites related to Androids…or vice versa. This is another task you can delegate to an intern or college student.
Human-review – this process will take hours to go through because you are taking each link and opening them up on the web. You can speed things up with the URL reviewer tool that allows you to go through hundreds in an hour.

In the end, link qualification needs the eyes and mind of an expert on it to work effectively. There is just not too much you can automate here.

If you are wondering what I look for when going through a site:

Relevant external links – I only ask sites for links when they only link out to relevant sites. I wouldn’t request a link from a mobile site that links out to dog websites.
High rankings – most people look to get links from sites that are indexed. I look for links from sites that rank high for terms in their title tags. Because if a site doesn’t rank well, the link probably won’t carry much weight.
Good design – if a site looks spammy, it probably is. I like links from nice looking sites.
Fresh sites – links from websites who don’t update their content isn’t as effective as links from sites that constantly are adding new content. Plus if someone isn’t updating their site, they probably won’t add a link to you.
Geographically relevant sites – if you are based in the US and you want to rank on Google.com, then you should get links from sites that are hosted in the US. You can find out where a site is based out of by using Whois.sc.
Good sites – what I mean by “good sites” is ones that don’t talk about porn, pills or casino related topics. I know most website owners don’t talk about that kind of stuff, but a lot of websites have user generated content these days. So even if the website owner doesn’t talk about that stuff, you should do a “site:domain.com bad keyword” search on Google to double check.
Content links – sites that like adding links within their content is better than sites that like adding links to external sites in their footer or sidebar.
Authority sites – sites that are old, have a ton of backlinks, and are well known in a space are authoritative. I love links from those sites.

Now that you know what I look for, lets move onto step 3.

Step #3: Build a template to speed up link acquisition

So once you’ve used some of the techniques above to find great links to prospect, what’s your next step? Send out an email to see if the site is interested in linking with you.

As you know, this takes forever. There really is no easy way to automate this. Well, sure, you could automate this (it’s called spam), but you’ll fail because people will think you are just mass mailing and ignore your email.

Email link acquisition needs a carefully crafted human element. That doesn’t mean you have to write every single email from scratch.

In fact, you can create a template where you personalize just a portion of the email…leaving the rest alone for every email you send.

Always personalize the email – do your homework and get the webmaster’s name and email address.
Introduction paragraph – your first paragraph should demonstrate that you understand their audience and what they are trying to do on their website.
Second paragraph – explain how your website is related to theirs and the benefit their audience will get if they linked to you.
Closing paragraph – tell them you know they are extremely busy so you appreciate their time and attention and you look forward to hearing from them. Unless it’s an outstanding site that you have to have a link from, send the email without saying you’ll follow up. You are simply too busy to do such a thing.

Here are some tips for writing an effective email:

Go heavy on the benefits – do your homework so you understand their audience and then tell them how their audience will get better, stronger or faster from being introduced to your site.
Delegate followups – if you insist on following up on every single email you sent, I suggest you outsource to someone else for really cheap.

If you are wondering what one of these link request emails looks like, here is an example:

Hey Bob, it’s Neil here from KISSmetrics and I wanted to drop you a line and just compliment your site. Nice layout, good info, and I love your detailed guides. Especially the one on “Getting the most out of your Google Analytics”. I’ve been in the web analytics space for over 6 years now and I have to say, you write some of the best content in the industry.

That being said, I also noticed you guys link out to recommend analytics providers. I am the co-founder of an analytics company, KISSmetrics, that provides actionable insights to companies like Amazon, Ebay and Etsy. We are trusted by over 100 Fortune 500 companies and I wanted to see if you would be open to including KISSmetrics in your recommend analytics list.

On a side note, I would love to hook you up with a FREE account that you can mess around with and even use on your blog. I’ve actually took the liberty of registering you… you can go to KISSmetrics.com to login:

USER: bob@bobpatel.com
PASSWORD: QuickSprout

Let me know if you have any questions or need any help with KISSmetrics.

Thanks for reading this email… I know you are busy.

Neil

PS: I hope it’s sunny in San Diego, it’s rainy like crazy here in Seattle.

Conclusion

I truly believe that if you take these ideas and use them in your own link building practices you’ll see a better return on your time, a higher quality of relevant links you generate and an improvement on your search engine rankings.

I know my process isn’t fully automated… but it works. Just try it out.

27-Feb-12 11:00 AM

6 Branding Approaches They Forgot to Teach You in Business School

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:00:00 GMT

Do you have all the basics of branding in place, but you are still struggling to create even a dent in your competitor’s market share?

Most companies don’t get branding… and for the ones that do, it’s often not enough. But if you don’t figure out how to climb out of the clutter and ahead of your competition, your company will fail.

So what can you do? Study the following six companies and the branding lessons they learned as they overcame the obstacles in their markets.

Lesson #1: Start with why

Too often companies start their branding journey by building a product they hope will change people’s lives. They’ve spent thousands of hours in research and development on an idea, but when they ship, the product flops.

Let’s look at Apple to learn why that is. Instead of the typical what-how-why advertising message, Apple has always promoted the why first. They’ve promoted the reason behind why they exist. You can imagine them saying this: “Apple exists to challenge the status quo. We emphasize beautiful design. And we make computer devices.”

That’s totally different than if they said, “Apple makes computer devices. They are beautifully designed. We exist to challenge the status quo.”

One starts with the why…the other one ends with the why. This is one of the reasons that Apple is innovative year-after-year and is one of the biggest companies in the world.

In fact, they’ve been trading places as “world’s biggest company” with Exxon for the last several months.

Apple established a movement based on their why and created a following. They enhance the deal by creating beautiful and useful products… so sales rush in year after year.

The lesson is that when everyone involved… from the founder all the way down to the customer… knows exactly why your company exists, then you create a meaningful way for people to see your brand, instead of just another company wanting to make millions.

So, what is your company’s why?

Lesson #2: Never forget the past

In today’s startup economy, most companies don’t have a lot of history since they are younger than four years or so. But if you’re company is only ten years old, it’s dangerous to forget your past when you are planning for the future.

Let me show you what I mean.

The company Blinds.com tries to stay rooted to their history in a number of ways:

They hung streets signs from the ceiling with the names of the city/street of all their offices. This even includes the addresses of companies they’ve bought.
They named one of their meeting rooms “Laura” since the business started as a brick-and-mortar business called “Laura’s.”
They named another meeting room after their first website they started back in 1996: NoBrainerBlinds.com.
They named yet another meeting room after their first real location. That meeting room is called “The Alley.”
They displayed all of the articles written about the company during it’s 16 years of being in business.

If you are part of a company with history it’s important you understand that history and communicate it to all of your employees.

And don’t forget, that foundation includes the why behind your history—it reflects who you are. Neglect to communicate your history and you threaten to weaken a powerful tool to strengthen your brand.

Lesson #3: Create your own market

Jumping into an existing market can be near-impossible. If it’s a competitive or shrinking market you may never succeed. If you truly want to succeed, you need to create your own market.

Way back when e-readers were nothing but a fuzzy concept, Amazon jumped into the market giving early adopters something to play with:

A lot of people felt like they were stupid for taking such a risky move, but they aren’t saying that now with the rise of the e-reader.

And even though the Kindle Fire didn’t turn out to be as great as people hoped and publishers and libraries continue to give Amazon trouble about their privacy and pricing policies, there is no doubt that Amazon… because they created their own market… will dominate it.

What’s the lesson for you? Look for markets like you were a value investor… find markets that are under-valued but have promising growth.

Lesson #4: Rebrand to avoid confusion

When some companies branch out into two or more business lines instead of one, they often run into problems. The problem arises when their name doesn’t fit the new line of business.

This is kind of what happened to Formspring, a company that launched a popular social media product that attracted a different user base than its form-building product that is more geared to businesses.

It was easy to cause confusion between the two products so the company decided to re-brand itself. That’s not an easy task since the former name was pretty popular among the costumers.

What the company decided to do was create an infographics that taught users how to create the perfect landing page with their new brand.

The key to success was that they made something that educated their customer. In the end, more than 100,000 people shared the infographics through StumbleUpon in the last year.

What can you learn from this lesson? Try to make your products as distinct from each other as possible. And if you do end up with brand confusion, don’t be afraid to re-brand.

Lesson #5: Create an awesome user experience

Most products will be so similar to each other that you need to figure out a way to make them very different. And one of the easiest and less-expensive ways to do that is by creating an awesome user experience. It doesn’t matter if you are selling mopeds or haircuts, you need to make your customers feel like every interaction with you is what makes you different.

Look at the iPhone and how it entered into a crowded market. Cell phones were all basically the same before Apple entered the market. Because Apple’s why is built around “challenging the status quo” they created a user experience that absolutely blew away the competition.

This all started with the iPod. Apple floated a minimum viable product out into the market to see how it would be responded to. People went crazy over the iPod so Apple figured that the iPhone, which would cost more to create, wouldn’t be such a gamble. They were right.

How can you create an awesome user experience? Start by looking at the customers of your competitor and see what they is missing from their experience. And the nice thing about user experience is you can go after big competitors without having their deep pockets.

Lesson #6: Stay edgy

You would never think that a 216-year old whiskey company would try to go after the women’s market, but that’s exactly what Jim Beam did.

The company wants to get more nimble and act like a start-up rather than a huge company. The key to making that change was looking into a market that most of their competitors were neglecting.

What was that market? It was women. Most of the big spirits companies didn’t give any attention to women, even with products like vodka where women made up half of the market. The thinking was to advertise to the men and the women will follow. In order to stay edgy, Jim Beam decided to treat them as a profitable market.

What the company ended up doing was adding more brands to their product lines, including a margarita variety called Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl Cocktails that’s a number one selling brand.

That isn’t exactly what you would think a company with a brand like Jim Beam would do, is it? But it’s helping them to stay edgy, and more importantly, very profitable.

The lesson is that Beam discovered what the customer wanted and gave it to them. In this case, it was flavor and lower-alcohol content.

Conclusion

Sometimes just knowing the basics of branding isn’t enough to build a powerhouse brand… you need to look outside the box, take some risks and try something new like companies such as Jim Beam and Amazon did.

Other times it’s re-inventing yourself like Formspring or using your history to motivate you to greater heights as it did for Blinds.com.

Can you share any branding approaches that are unconventional but have proven to be very successful?

20-Jan-12 3:00 PM

6 Business Lessons You Can Learn from the Rise of Dropbox

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:15:00 GMT

6 Business Lessons You Can Learn from the Rise of Dropbox

by Neil Patel

You can’t go very far without running into Drew Houston’s company Dropbox. It considered one of the hottest tech companies and its rise since 2006 can teach you a lot about marketing and business.

Let’s take a look at six lessons you can learn from the rise of Dropbox.

Lesson #1: Create a profitable model

This seems obvious, but in a world where people are used to getting most things free…running a profitable business isn’t always easy. Just ask Twitter who is still trying to figure out how to make money. Google figured it out, Facebook is on their way and Dropbox nailed it.

Dropbox gives away 2 gigs of storage space. However, enough people are blowing through that storage amount and signing up for monthly subscriptions. For 50 gigs of storage space you can pay $10 a month. If you want 100 gigs of space, then it’s $20 a month.

Dropbox has over 50 million users and a new user is being added every second…but only 4% of those users pay. Yet, because the number of people exceeding their 2 gigs is always growing, Dropbox could go through 2012 without adding a new user and still be profitable.

Takeaway: The earlier you can figure out how you are going to make money the better. Is it through advertising? Subscription model? Product sales? Service fees?

Lesson #2: Being smart isn’t enough to run a big company

Before Dropbox, Drew Houston liked his lifestyle of just “him and the code.” But during his years at college Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence convinced him that you need more than intelligence and a degree to run a big company.

Drew then started to spend his time reading business books, learning how to be a CEO. He then volunteered to lead two organizations at college that amounted to a crash course in project management and getting people to do stuff.

Takeaway: Learn how to be a leader by reading books on business leadership, salesmanship and management. Seek out mentors who ran or are running successful businesses. Ask them to help you grow as a leader. Take some classes or seminars on management and leadership at a local college. And then hustle harder than everyone else.

Lesson #3: Answer a frustrating problem

The reason that Dropbox has experienced such explosive growth is that it’s solved the problem of data being spread across multiple devices like phones, tablets and computers. And that problem happens to affect a lot of people.

Here’s how they fixed it.

Download the Dropbox app, store your files in it and you can access all of your files no matter what device you are using. And if you make a change to a file in one location, that file is updated across all devices. You can even invite others to view these files, making the sharing of huge files easy.

The value is so obvious and simple it’s genius.

Takeaway: Dropbox’s explosive growth is due to their fixing a problem that a giant audience is experiencing. The larger the audience, the easier it will be to grow. Look for opportunities that impact a massive consumer group and present a meaningful solution.

Lesson #4: Make people aware of the problem they don’t know they have

The problem that Dropbox solves, however, isn’t exactly intuitive. In other words, people don’t know that they need a central location to store all their files so they can access them from any device.

This means people aren’t exactly searching for a solution. So Drew and his team had to figure out a way to increase adoption of the product.

One way they tried to advertise was Houston’s co-founder, Ferdowsi, insisted that the home page be nothing but a video telling a simple story of a stick figure losing his stuff and travelling to Africa. People understood the solution Dropbox offered immediately.

The other thing they did was turn their customer base into a sales force. Dropbox told customers that they would give them 250 MB of storage for every referral. The company still gets about 25% of its customers this way.

Takeaway: Use social media, storytelling and your customer base to get the word out about your product. Just because you built it does not mean that the people will come. You have to let them know in a clear, concise and compelling way the problem your customer has and how you are fixing it.

Lesson #5: Stay lean

In the early stages of the company both Houston and Ferdowsi were the sole employees. They did nothing but code day and night, working with contractors on design and development, but never hiring any full-time employees until they got their first injection of VC money of $1.2 million dollars.

In 2008, only after 2 years of starting the company, Dropbox had only 9 employees and 200,000 customers. But this lean mentality allowed them to sail through the economic collapse. By 2010, the number of users jumped tenfold while they only added 2 more employees. Today they have about 70 employees and over 50 million users.

Takeaway: Resist growing too big too fast. Keep salaries low, expenses at a minimum and hire temporary workers to help you stock away cash back into the company. This way you can invest in a solid foundation that can sustain a market meltdown.

Lesson #6: Spend more money staying front and center

The competition surrounding Dropbox is stiff. Not only are big players like Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft interested in the cloud storage market, but smaller players are popping up all the time.

Their biggest threat is Apple’s iCloud with its network of millions of people who own iPhones, Macs and iPads. Google is threatening, too, with a rumored product that could be very effective with the 185 million plus Android phones out there.

How is Dropbox going to handle this competition?

They have to spend an enormous amount of money remaining in the public’s eye. Houston is also spending his time inking deals with phone companies to make Dropbox exclusive cloud storage provider. He is also working with PC and television makers to get exclusive deals with them, too.

Takeaway: Work to keep your company in the public’s eye. Use social media, publicity stunts, marketing dollars, partnerships with big brands and good-old advertising.

Conclusion

Odds are you are not likely to be the next Dropbox. But that doesn’t mean you can’t imitate the things the company has done to achieve the sort of success they know today. Because if you do so, it will increase your odds of succeeding.

So what other business lessons can you learn from the rise of Dropbox?

12-Jan-12 1:15 AM

11 Business Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Me

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel on October 6, 2011

As you’ve probably already heard, Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. He will be remembered as one of the greatest visionaries ever. What he did for the technological as well as entrepreneurial world, will never be forgotten.

Although I’m young and haven’t been following Steve Jobs’ career as intently as others, he has taught me a lot about business in the last 5 years. Here are 11 things I’ll never forget that Steve Jobs taught me:

People Matter, Not Features

Everything Jobs built made life easier for you. It was rare to ever hear him babbling about features he created, instead he focused on how these products made life easier for others.

For example, the iPhone enabled you to talk on your phone, watch movies, record movies, and listen to music. As simple as that may sound, without an iPhone you may have to had to carry around a cell phone, mp3 player, and a video recorder. Because of him your pockets are much lighter.

He taught myself, along with many others to not focus on just adding features or creating products. First and foremost, you need to focus on solving problems that people are experiencing. If you can do that, you’ll stay ahead of the curve.

There’s Nothing Wrong With Pre-Selling

Most companies launch products and then sell them. Jobs didn’t do that with Apple. He let the public know what he was going to sell them, how it solved their problems, and that they could pre-order the product online.

You can do the same thing. Don’t wait for your product or service to be released. Start selling it now! The money you earn today will help cover your costs and it will help solve any cash flow issues you may encounter during distribution.

Keep it Simple, Silly

I switched from a PC to a Mac because Macs are much easier to use. Or at least they are for my dad and 1-year-old nephew. Every Apple product I bought during Steve’s tenure was simple to use.

He also created cool looking devices, but above all else his products were simple to use. For example, the iPad was the first device I was ever able to give my dad that required little to no instruction. There are no shut down or start options, you just click on applications and start using them.

If you want more applications, you just go to the App Store and download them.

Don’t try to make your solutions complicated. Keep it simple… even if that means you have to strip off the bells and whistles. If you aren’t creating usable solutions, it will be harder to gain traction.

Think BIG!

If you are in business, you are there to make money. If not, you shouldn’t be an entrepreneur. If you are going to create a business, create one that changes the world.

Apple isn’t just a technology company, Steve Jobs changed the world! His products are used all around the world and by everyone. This is why Apple is the largest company in the world.

You won’t be able to create a big company unless you solve big problems. Although you can make a nice living off of conquering a small niche, you wont make billions doing it.

Focus, Focus and Focus Some Morre

When you look at Apple’s website, it seems like they have a lot of products, right? Well, for being a hundred billion dollar company, they actually don’t.

Jobs was smart, he always focused his energy on a few big products instead of trying to create thousands of small ones. In other words, he went for big wins instead of looking to hit singles and doubles.

With your business you shouldn’t try to do multiple things. Just focus your time and energy on one product or service. As long as your core business continues to grow, you shouldn’t do anything else. The moment your growth slows down and flattens, that’s when you should expand.

Create an Ecosystem

I never really understood the power of creating a platform until the iPhone was released. When the phenomenon hit the market and companies started to create applications, Apple grew to have a huge ecosystem.

Not only were they selling their products, other companies started to build products on the Apple platform and their customers were encouraged to buy and use Apple products.

By this point Apple didn’t have to sell their products, other companies were doing it for them.

Steve Jobs created an ecosystem and he was able to do it around Apple products. If you want to grow a brilliant idea, you have to create an ecosystem for that idea to flourish.

There’s Always Room for Innovation

The iPod wasn’t the first mp3 player. There were 100s of others that were already out before Apple released the iPod. That didn’t discourage Jobs from entering the space…he just one upped everyone by creating a better product.

These days if you are looking to buy a music player, the first thing comes to your mind is the iPod, right? And what’s the second brand that comes to your mind?

Ummmmm…

That’s right, they demolished all of their competitors. The only other device that I can think of is the Zune, which kind of sucks.

Don’t be afraid to enter a saturated market… you just have to be willing to stir things up. If you can innovate, you will win. If you decide to create another me too company, expect to be crushed.

Be Passionate

Did you know that Steve Jobs had a salary of $1 a year? That’s right, he didn’t care for money and he stated it publicly. He cared about the company, their products, and changing peoples’ lives.

If you love what you are doing, you are going to work harder and be more likely to succeed. Heck, Jobs even worked hard when he was sick… that’s how much he loved what he was doing.

Don’t just do things for the money, do things because you love what you are doing. You aren’t going to live forever, so enjoy your life while you can.

Never Lose Your Investors Money

Although Steve Jobs wasn’t the CEO throughout all of Apple’s history, he always took care of the company. He came back, and turned the company around. In other words, he grew shareholder money and took care of his investors.

As I stated earlier, Apple is the biggest company in the world! It’s very difficult to create a decent size company without taking money from investors… so make sure you take care of them. And if you do so, they’ll always take care of you.

Another great leader who also has a very similar rule is Warren Buffett. If you can take care of the people who are feeding you, they’ll constantly be willing to reciprocate.

You’re Nothing Without Your Team

Apple has a ton of benefits: from on-site fitness centers to tuition assistance, they even have cafeterias with organic food. Why did they do all of this? To take care of their employees.

A big part of being a good leader is realizing that you have to have a good team. It’s impossible to do everything yourself. If you don’t take care of your employees and show your appreciation, you’ll quickly lose them.

If you take care of your employees they’ll put their blood, sweat and tears into your company.

Don’t Forget About Your Friends and Family

As an entrepreneur when you work so hard for so many years, you tend to forget about your friends and family. All you do is live, sleep and breathe business.

At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with that, but you also have to spend time with your friends and family. Money will always be there, but your friends and family won’t.

When Steve Jobs got sick, he left Apple to spend his final moments with his friends and family. He knew what was important to him. You too need to figure out what’s important to you no matter how much time your business or job takes from your life, don’t forget about what’s important.

Conclusion

It’s tragic that Steve Jobs passed away during his prime. He was a great entrepreneur and leader. We’ll never forget what he did for this world.

My condolences go out to his family and friends and may he rest in peace.

6-Oct-11 3:00 PM

40 Under 40 Awards

noemail@earthwormjobs.com — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Press Release June 16, 2008 Lincoln, Nebraska. On May 30, 2008, Jeremy Hunt president of Hunt Irrigation, Inc, and president and founder of Earthwormjobs.com was awarded the prestigious 40 under 40 award by the Lincoln Business Journal along with 39 other young entrepreneurs, executives and professional men and women in the Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska area. When Jeremy Hunt started the irrigation company that bears his name 11 years ago, it was basically a one-man show. With the help of his wife and family, the business has grown to include four full-time employees and six to eight seasonal workers. Hunt Irrigation’s growth was due to his reputation for quality work and water conservation. In just two years of operation Hunt Irrigation was voted Irrigation Company of the Year. Jeremy and Hunt Irrigation, Inc. focus has always been on water conservation, the systems he designs and his company install, along with the components he utilizes conserve between 50,000 and 120,000...

Earthwormjobs.com Adds New Features

noemail@earthwormjobs.com — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:00:00 GMT

March 24, 2008 Lincoln NE. In an effort to continually raise the level of professionalism and overall visibility of the Green/Golf Industry Earthwormjobs.com has added new features to our website. One of the new features is our education page. Earthwormjobs.com now list many of the university and colleges that offer programs and or degrees in the Green/Golf Industry. Along with the listings are program descriptions as well as department heads and their contact information.

Earthwormjobs.com has also began to populate the site with associations from all areas of the Green/Golf Industry, ranging from irrigation and landscape to arborist and horticulture, just to name a few. We hope to have this list compiled by April 1, 2008.

Another great feature is the additions to our certification page. We now host the schedule to some of the industries major certification schedules including the Irrigation Association, PLANET (The Landcare Network) and the Rainbird Academy.

Jeremy Hunt founder of Earthwormjobs.com, states “We are currently looking at adding yet another round of features that will supply the Green/Golf Industry Professional with the information he or she needs to set their company apart from the competition. It is my hope that Earthwormjobs.com will become one of the industry leaders in providing not only the Green/Golf Industry professional a way to find highly qualified employees through our job boards, but also supply them with great information that effects their industry everyday. It is our responsibility to become good stewards of our industry and those natural resources that we use everyday”.

Earthwormjobs.com Begins New Era in Green Industry

noemail@earthwormjobs.com — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:00:00 GMT

Lincoln, Nebraska - On November 2nd, of this year, Earthworm Jobs will launch its premier job hiring website strictly for the green industry, one of the fastest growing trades in the US. This new job-hiring site will boast the most complete and comprehensive all-in-one site on the web bringing together professionals from every aspect of the environmentally friendly Green Industry. The site will feature both the white collar and blue collar occupations within the Green Industry, including manufacturing, distributing, and consulting to each of the individual disciplines. The highlighted disciplines will include everything from irrigation, landscaping and arborist positions, to herbicide and pesticide applicators, just to name a few. It will also offer an array of information on certification programs, career advice, a message board and links to different scholastic formats that specialize in the Green Industry trades. President and Founder of Earthworm Jobs, Jeremy Hunt (CIC, CLIA),...

Irrigation Installer/Service Technician

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Title: Irrigation Installer/Service Technician Description: Full-Time Seasonal position We are looking for a candidate with good customer service skills, professional attitude, and experience in irrigation. Knowledge of the following is required: Design, installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of Irrigation systems. Customer satisfaction and great company perception are our #1 goal. Required Experience: Candidates must possess the following qualifications: At least 2-3 years irrigation installation and service experience Experience starting residential sprinkler systems in the spring and performing fall winterizations Must be able to troubleshoot and repair sprinkler systems Knowledge of pump systems is a plus A valid standard driver's license, and a clean driving record. Experienced with residential and commercial...

Plant care specialist or landscape designer

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:00:00 GMT

Desired Position Title: Plant care specialist or landscape designer Experience: Green Industry Experience The Scotts Company (8 months) - Worked as a temp in both Lawncare and retail divisions. Lawncare Position: Lawncare Technician - Drove to customers addresses and performed turf practices such as seeding, fertilization, weed treatment and insect treatment, and aeration. - Talked to customers and addressed customer concerns - Performed Service calls Retail Position: Vendor and Sales associate - Drove to retailers of Scotts, Miracle Gro and Ortho products - Built displays, unloaded trucks, stocked product - Answered potential customer questions about Scotts products B.E. Landscaping (4 years) Position: Crew Foreman, and Designer - Performed and oversaw landscape projects such as cleanups, installations and general propery maintenance - Performed turf care practices such as mowing,...

golf course/irrigation tech management/construction

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:00:00 GMT

Desired Position Title: golf course/irrigation tech management/construction Experience: Mark F. Huffaker PO BOX 990582 Redding, CA 96099-0582 530-949-4582 mfhuffaker@hotmail.com PROFILE A Golf Course Designer, Builder, Manager, Technician, with extensive experience in private and public golf service industries. Successful at creating and implementing management development and employee involvement programs which resulted in productivity improvement. Works well with all levels of management to create an environment of openness and trust. EDUCATION 2000 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ Mlarch Landscape Architecture 1982 California State University, Chico Chico, CA BA International Relations Minor ...

Water Resource Consultant

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Desired Position Title: Water Resource Consultant Experience: 2008 - Present Water in Motion, Inc. Plymouth, MN General Manager/ Water Resource Consultant High efficiency landscape irrigation design including rainwater collection and ET based irrigation. Construction management. Irrigation auditing Applied technologies and contract-based water management services. - -- Company owned weather stations. 2003 - Present Irrigation Otto Big Lake, MN Owner Full service landscape irrigation design, installation and maintenance service firm. Landscape irrigation design. Irrigation auditing. Irrigation training and curriculum development. 2000 - 2003 Irrigation By Design, Inc. Plymouth, MN Lead Service Technician Troubleshooting, management and maintenance of residential and commercial irrigation systems. Layout and...

Education Week Flyer

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:35:41 GMT

Click on Link to View and Download

Class Itinerary

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:34:57 GMT

Our Partners:

Thanks to all the Vendors, and Instructors for another Great Year!

Also Thanks to all those who Attended Class. We do this all for you, See ya Next Year!

2013 Class Schedule Coming Soon!

Class Registration Page

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:19:51 GMT

Our Partners: eeeeComfort Inn and VCo2013 Class Schedule Coming Soon! Comfort Inn and Convention Center 7007 Grover Street, Omaha, NE 68106

Education Week

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:21:29 GMT

Thanks to all those that attended the 2012 EWJ Education Week!

Click Here to see Pics from our Largest Event to Date

Come attend the Earthwormjobs.com 4^thAnnual Education Week, February 6^ththrough 9^th.

We will again be hosting a wide array of Green Industry classes. Along with our informative How-To classes we will also be featuring a number of Business classes.

Many of the Green Industry classes have been approved for CEU’s. Some of those available are from the Omaha Plumbing Board, State of Nebraska Applicators License, The Irrigation Association and PLANET CEU’s.

Along with our Education Week, we will also be hosting a New Product Show from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Tuesday, February 7^th, then again from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Wednesday, February 8^th. There will be both local and national vendors on hand to showcase their new and innovative products for the 2012 season. Each vendor will also be signing lottery tickets. Visit each booth and you will be entered into the Grand Prize Drawing.

We will also be hosting a silent auction. Auction items will be on view by the registration table. Place your bid on the way in. All proceeds go to our 2012 Scholarship Fund!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Scholarship Application

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:53:04 GMT

2012 Earthwormjobs.com Scholarship Application Download the application as a Word document Download the application as a PDF Third Annual Earthwormjobs.com scholarship. Presented to an outstanding college student for continued education in the green industry. This years essay topic is The benefits and detriments of feritgation and your essay must be more than 1,000 words, but less than 1,500 words. CRITERIA Scholarship applicants must be enrolled in a college or university that meets the following criteria: Has an accredited green industry program Is a partnering member with Earthwormjobs.com Is an active user (job seeker) of Earthwormjobs.com REQUIREMENTS In order for your scholarship application to be accepted, it must include: Your most recent transcript A minimum of 1 letter of recommendation from either a professor or the dean of the college ...

Christmas Around the World

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:56:51 GMT

Christmas celebrations around the world It is interesting to see how different countries celebrate Christmas. We asked some of our friends to explain what happens in their countries. This is what they told us: Belgium On the sixth of December Sinterklaas or Saint-Nicholas is celebrated, which is an entirely different holiday from Christmas. Santa Claus in Belgium is called de Kerstman or le Père Noël and he does come around on Christmas day to bring children presents. There are different cultures in Belgium, the Northern part being Vlaanderen (speaking a Dutch dialect), the Southern part being Wallonie (speaking a French dialect) and the Eastern part speaking German. Small family presents are given at Christmas too, under the tree, or in stockings near the fire-place, to be found in the morning. Christmas breakfast is a special sweet...

How FDR Changed Thanksgiving

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:14:35 GMT

Jennifer Rosenberg U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a lot to think about in 1939. The world had been suffering from the Great Depression for a decade and the Second World War had just erupted in Europe. On top of that, the U.S.economy continued to look bleak. So when U.S.retailers begged him to move Thanksgiving up a week to increase the shopping days before Christmas, he agreed. He probably considered it a small change; however, when FDR issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation with the new date, there was an uproar throughout the country. The First Thanksgiving As most schoolchildren know, the history of Thanksgiving began when Pilgrims and Native Americans gathered together to celebrate a successful harvest. The first Thanksgiving was held in the fall of 1621, sometime between September 21 and November 11, and was a three-day feast. The Pilgrims were joined by approximately 90 of the local Wampanoag tribe, including Chief Massasoit,...

Press Release

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:01:30 GMT

Earthwormjobs.com Announces the Promotion of

Sonya Smeal Hunt and Danielle Bauer

Lincoln, Nebraska, September 4, 2011 – Earthwormjobs.com is proud to name Sonya Smeal Hunt as the President/Executive Director and Danielle Bauer as the Chief Officer of Operations/Treasurer of Earthwormjobs.com. Sonya Smeal Hunt and Danielle Bauer have both been working for/with Earthwormjobs.com since its inception 4 years ago and have been a key part in its success. We feel they are well equipped to handle their new positions.

Founder Jeremy Hunt will continue to be a big part of Earthwormjobs.com as the vice president; however Sonya Smeal Hunt and Danielle Bauer will be taking care of the day- to-day operations.

Earthwormjobs.com specializes in Education and Job Facilitation for the Green Industry. For more information contact Sonya at Sonya@earthwormjobs.comor Danielle at Danielle@earthwormjobs.com

We congratulate Sonya Smeal Hunt and Danielle Bauer and look forward to the prosperous future of Earthwormjobs.com under their guidance.

Excel Example

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:31:02 GMT

Click on Link - Hope this will help!

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:48:12 GMT

Be Proactive. Get Noticed. Build your Brand. Strengthen your Bonds. Build your Business. Mark your calendars. Earthwormjobs.com 4th Annual Education Week will be held February 6th thru February 9th at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Omaha, Nebraska. As is in the past we will be offering classes in Irrigation, Turf, Nursery, Pumps, Backflow and Lighting. However, this year we have added Business classes. Earthwormjobs.com is also proud to announce that we will be offering a trade show again this year. The trade show will be held Tuesday, the 7th from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm, and will resume Wednesday, the 8th from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm. We will be sponsoring a Vendor Appreciation immediately following the tradeshow Wednesday, February 8th. Position your company with Earthwormjobs.com, its members, and fellow green industry professionals in the Central Plains. The Earthwormjobs.com membership is a diverse group of green industry professionals...

Earthwormjobs New Site

noemail@earthwormjobs.com — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:00:00 GMT

Objectives: This is a test Survey to see how it functions and to track the results.

Release Date: 24-Sep-07 1:00 PM
Expiration Date: 23-Oct-07 10:00 PM
Select you best response.

Lorem ipsum survey

noemail@earthwormjobs.com — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:53:45 GMT

Objectives:

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