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Fall Protection

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:45:00 GMT

Key Points

Falls are one of the leading causes of occupational death, accounting for 8 percent of all occupational fatalities from trauma, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

In our industry, the chances of suffering a fatal fall are even greater. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, approximately 22 percent of deaths among landscape services workers and their first-line supervisors in recent years were falls. Installing/maintaining green roofs, trimming and felling trees, stringing holiday lights, and working from scaffolds, buckets, or aerial lifts as part of interior or exterior landscaping tasks put crew members at risk for falls.

In addition to the potential for serious injury and tragic loss of life, falls can cost companies millions of dollars through insurance premiums, liability claims, and lost productivity, according to CNA Risk Control. These costs can threaten the future of a business.

Employers’ and supervisors’ checklist

 Set up the workplace to prevent falls and provide employees with appropriate fall-protection equipment, as required by federal OSHA and any state or local regulations that apply to your company.

 Know that, depending on the type of work your employees do, your company is subject to fall-protection rules under federal OSHA’s general industry standards and/or construction standards. General industry standards require fall protection any time a worker is at a height of 4 feet or more; construction standards require protection at 6 feet or higher. Learn more about fall protection and OSHA standards for construction and non-construction work here.

 Develop a written fall-prevention plan.

 Train employees in general fall prevention and protection. Federal OSHA requires this.

 When conducting your pre-work hazard assessment of each job site and during daily walk-around inspections, identify all fall hazards and provide safety devices and equipment to protect employees. This equipment can include full-body harnesses with lanyards attached to anchor points. Train workers on the specific fall hazards identified and on the required personal-protective equipment.

 Ensure fall-protection equipment is appropriate for the task, is in good condition, and is used properly.

 Provide daily checklists for crews working from heights, including those who use ladders.

 Know how federal OSHA’s fall-protection requirements apply to fixed and portable ladders. Fall protection must be provided whenever the length of climb on a fixed ladder equals or exceeds 24 feet, and cages, wells, ladder safety devices, or self-retracting lifelines must be provided when the top of a fixed ladder is greater than 24 feet. Fall protection is not required for workers using portable ladders. However, the agency stated in a January 2000 interpretation letter that although it does not require fall protection for workers on fixed ladders below 24 feet or on portable ladders, it encourages employers to provide additional protection.

 Document in writing that workers who use buckets or aerial lifts have been trained to safely operate that equipment.

 Retrain in safe practices employees who do not regularly perform tasks from heights (such as stringing holiday lights).

Employee dos and don’ts

Do:

Attend and make sure you understand your company’s fall-prevention and fall-protection training.

Use fall-protection equipment when it’s required for the job. Ensure such equipment is right for the task, fits properly, and is in good condition.

Inspect fall-protection equipment (harness systems, for example) and devices (guardrails, tie-off points, etc.) before each use.

Make sure floor holes, skylights, and open shafts are protected by sturdy guardrails or covers.

When working on rooftops without parapet walls or fences around the edges, install orange plastic fencing or another high-visibility barrier to remind you where the edge is.

Keep your feet firmly on the platform of a boom lift and tie-off at all times.

Use the correct ladder for the task, and be sure it is in good condition. Check for surrounding hazards, stable footing, and proper angle. For additional ladder-safety tips, see the August 2011 Safety $ense newsletter.

Take precautions to avoid accidentally cutting safety equipment while trimming trees.

See the January 2010 (Safely Installing/Maintaining Green Roofs), May 2012 (Interior Plantscaping), October 2009 (Holiday Decorating Safety) and December 2009 (Safely Pruning/Removing Trees) issues of Safety $ense for further guidance.

Don’t:

Work from heights until you have been trained in fall prevention and fall-protection devices and fully understand this instruction.

Perform tasks from heights if the appropriate fall-protection equipment is not available. Notify your supervisor or company owner.

Use fall-protection equipment with excessive wear or damage. Do inform your supervisor about the condition of the equipment.

Use scaffolds, lifts, or ladders without receiving specialized training beforehand.

Work from a scaffold without full planking, stable footing, and appropriate guardrails.

19-Jul-12 1:45 PM

15 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting My First Company

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel

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From a very young age I loved the idea of starting a business. It helps that I grew up in a family full of entrepreneurs, so there’s no surprise that I launched my first company while I was in high school.

Since then I’ve launched several businesses…some succeeded, but most failed. While I made and lost a lot of money, each success or failure always led me to learn something new. So, looking back over my career here are the 15 things I wish I’d known before I started my first business.

Lesson #1 – Swing for the fence

Here’s the deal…it takes as much effort to create a small company as it does to create a large one, so you might as well swing for the fences.

What does that look like? Well, the first question you have to ask is this: are you are a slugger or a base hitter? In other words, what is your tolerance for risk versus reward?

Employees are base hitters. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, can be sluggers. While CEOs can make big money, most of the millionaires in America are entrepreneurs.

So the question is, where do you want to be? It takes a much effort to create a small company as it does to create a large one. If my business partner and I focused all of our energy on our first business and tried to swing for the fences instead of creating a lifestyle business, we would have made much more money than we both currently have.

Lesson #2 – Create a simple product

Some of the best products are simple. Take the iPad, for example. I bought my dad one and was about to tell him how to use it. He grabbed it from me, looked at it (the iPad was on already), and started swiping away. He didn’t need a degree in rocket science. The same is true for products and services like Google and Amazon.

Unfortunately I entered the business world thinking that great products were complicated. They had every gadget and cool feature imaginable. The thing with complicated products…even if they do solve great problems…is that 94% of people abandon them because they find them difficult to operate .

When I first started out as an entrepreneur I used to try to create products and websites that had every single feature that you can imagine…boy do I regret it.

A good example of this is VeriSign , the ecommerce authentication company, is kind of complicated. People don’t understand right off the bat what the company does, which is why the company struggled until they figured out a clear and concise slogan: “The driver’s license for the internet.”

Now people instantly understood what VeriSign does, which is to help a business website gain trust with online customers. So, in the end, avoid making your products complicated. Keep them simple .

Lesson #3 – Solve a problem

Crazy Egg was my real first success in business because my business partner and I started with a problem instead of a product. Once we figured out what that problem was, we started making the product.

And think about this: when you offer a product that solves a customer’s problem, it’s so much easier to sell. Just get them to admit there is a problem, and then offer your product as the solution.

Now, being simple to use and solving a problem is not the only thing that makes a product great. Here are two more:

Make the technology disappear – Whether it’s a Pixar movie or the iPhone, Apple products are great at using technology to solve problems, but they are also great at making you forget you are using it.
Make it personal – A product like Jittergram allows you to stitch together intimate moments into one stop-action movie. Facebook allows you to hook up with old friends. If you can make it personal, people will love it.

Lesson #4 – Know your market’s price tolerance

The very first real job I had was selling vacuums door-to-door, but these vacuums were really expensive and I was also really young, so even though I was looking forward to the challenge of selling these vacuums, I didn’t really know what to expect.

Part of my presentation was to shampoo and clean their carpets, which I did for free. This got me in the door, and once in the door I figured I could persuade them to buy. However, only one person bought a vacuum, and they eventually returned it because they got buyer’s remorse the following day.

I learned pretty quickly that I needed to be in a business where I sold something that people could afford. It’s a temptation to think that if you sell a high-end product that the customers will come, but that’s not always true. You have to know your market and what their price range is for your product value.

For instance, it took some time to figure out what the market would tolerate with KISSmetrics . After some testing, however, we found the optimal pricing strategy.

Lesson #5 – Advertising is a must

At one point in time I got fascinated with Monster.com’s business model. They made a ton of cash, and I wanted part of that, which is why I built a similar product I called Advice Monkey.

I poured a ton of energy and over $10,000 into Advice Monkey. I launched it and watched it go nowhere. What was wrong? I needed to market it or it was going to fall flat.

After hiring and firing three Internet companies, and watching my money get wasted, I decided I needed to learn how to do Internet marketing.

The unfortunate thing was I couldn’t do credit card transactions, so despite the buzz in the media over the product I eventually had to close it.

None-the-less if you want to create a successful business you can’t just rely on word of mouth. You have to understand marketing and learn how to drive eyeballs to your website.

Lesson #6 – Payments should be easy

While it might sound obvious, if you don’t make it simple for people to pay you, you will struggle. Here are a few examples to prove my point:

Street vendors and food trucks have been at a huge disadvantage for not taking credit cards until Square came around with their product that accepts credit cards on the iPhone or iPad.
Fast food companies accept credit cards for a reason…just about everybody has one, and the transaction is pretty seamless. Sure, there is a charge, but that is worth it when it comes to the time it saves.
PayPal allows big and small businesses and consultants to get paid immediately, no matter where their client is in the world.

This is why it’s always best to figure out how you are going to accept money. And make sure you don’t have any roadblocks in the way of you making money…such as requiring too many form fields on your checkout process. I used to do this because the more information you collect the lower your credit card processing fees are, but I realized that reducing the fields increased my conversions which more than made up for my extra credit card fees.

Lesson #7 – Be patient

Since Crazy Egg was popular from the get go, my business partner and I thought our ship had come in and it was just a matter of time before all the money started rolling in.

I mean, we had a simple product that solved a lot of people’s problem and tons of bloggers were writing positive things about the company. It was just a matter of time before the offers to buy the company for would start coming in.

That never happened.

We eventually had to focus on profitably and now the company does great and we get inquires all the time to acquire the business. It just took us 5 years to get there.

You have to be patient. Don’t expect miracles to happen.

Lesson #8 – Premium prices have advantages

There is a temptation when you are starting out in business to keep your prices low so you can attract more clients. I tried that for a little while, but quickly learned that those who liked lower prices also liked to complain a lot…especially in the world of consulting.

It’s not worth it.

On the other hand, charging premium prices has these four benefits:

You appear like an authority – Charging premium prices must mean you are an expert in your field.
You will get fewer complaints – Companies that have the money to afford you won’t make comments about the amount of money they are paying.
You deliver excellent customer service – When you are only focusing on a small number of clients, you are able to deliver way better service.
You’re reputation grows – Your clients will start bragging about you because of the excellent service you deliver.

This is exactly what founder Matthew Wensig of StormPulse figured out . His company had a lot of small paying customers, but changed their focus on big organizations like the White House. This narrowed their customer base but raised their revenue.

Lesson #9 – Free work can lead to lucrative work

Do you freak out when you hear about doing free work? I mean, do you believe me when I say that doing free work can actually lead to more money?

Let me explain.

Every client you have could be an introduction to a bigger client. For instance, let’s say you are doing the SEO for a small-business who has a contract with a large company or organization. In fact, by your calculations, you could make ten times the amount if you worked with the large company.

So, ask the small company if they will introduce you to the right people in the big company, and if you land a contract with them you’ll do all of the small company’s SEO work for free.

Think about it: if a small company is paying you $5,000 a month and a large company can pay you $50,000, you can afford to lose $5,000, because in the long run you’ll be gaining $45,000 a month.

That’s huge, so swing for the fence !

Lesson #10 – Never Stop Closing

While networking comes naturally to me and I was doing a lot of it while building my first few businesses, I could’ve done more. Another thing I could’ve done more of was closing.

Just meeting people, growing your contact list and building relationships will not grow your business. You need to actually look for clients and customers who will pay you.

And once you gain momentum and are starting to make good money, don’t stop. Because once you get lazy and stop closing, you’ll stop making money. This is one of the main reasons my old consulting company never had steady revenue growth…the finances looked more like a roller coaster.

Lesson #11 – Eliminate everything else but the essentials

I can’t tell you how busy I was early in my career. I was trying to do everything and be everything. That definitely hurt me because I was spreading myself too thin.

Just look at Apple and their product line . You might think that they have a ton of products. The truth is they only have a handful. You can buy each product in a variety of ways, but the core product remains.

That, my friends, is focus. And it allowed them to do several things very well:

They could listen closely to what their customers were saying.
They could create the products to meet the needs and desires of those customers.
They could make those products the best in their category.

You can’t do a good job of building a business if you don’t focus. The golden rule in business is this: “Find the things in your business that make you the most money and focus on them . Eliminate everything else!”

Lesson #12 – Always lock into your passion

I was making a lot of money back in the early days when I had the Internet marketing company, but the only problem was I didn’t really enjoy it.

Don’t get me wrong. I was very grateful for the money and very grateful for all the people who helped me build the business. But it felt too much like a real job, and that just wasn’t going to work.

If I was going to be successful long-term I needed to find what I really enjoyed doing . If I was going to work 80 hours a week, then I needed to love what I did.

But it’s also important to realize that passion alone won’t fuel a start up. In fact, excitement can actually cloud your thinking. You need to be realistic about your new business and prepare.

John Bradberry lists the secrets to startup success :

Prepare for your journey as an entrepreneur.
Develop a strong attachment to your customers and market—and not your idea.
Create a plan to breakeven, secure funds and get profitability.
Execute on your plan, but be flexible.
Ask for and listen to advice constantly. This will help you keep the blinders off.
Give your business time to grow.

Passion is great, but it must be tempered by planning and preparation.

Lesson #13 – Hire carefully

In the beginning there is the temptation to hire anyone…friends, family or personal recommendations. When I first started out, I made this mistake.

This definitely is the wrong way to hire. Over time I’ve developed a process to evaluate those who I hire:

Test the waters yourself – You can’t hire effectively unless you understand what that person is going to do. Spend two weeks in that position, even if you hate it or are not that great at it. This will help you get a sense for the job and the pay.
Develop a process – Each new hire should be able to be dropped into a job with all of the things they need to succeed. This includes training manuals, orientation, FAQs and proper supervision. The success of that hire will depend on the quality of this process.
Forget about pay – Some people will work their tails off whether you pay them $20,000 or $250,000. Other people will goof off and watch the clock. Find out what people are passionate about and pay will become secondary.
Consider more than talent – A talented professional may not fit into your culture or they may not get what you do or sell. A great way to evaluate these two aspects is to get other employees to interview them.

Hiring isn’t an easy thing to do, so my advice to new entrepreneurs is always to hire slowly and fire fast.

Lesson #14 – Smart people learn from other people’s mistakes

Early in my career I learned from my own mistakes instead of researching why others in the space or in business in general failed. If I avoided those mistakes I would have increased my odds of succeeding.

This is true in business, and in life.

See, life is really too short to expect that you can learn all the necessary lessons from your personal mistakes. That’s why it’s essential you watch others and learn how not to repeat them. Average people learn from their mistakes. Smart people learn from other people’s mistakes.

So, how do you do that? Here are some tips:

Get a mentor – Find someone who is older than you and more experienced than you. They don’t necessarily have to be in the same industry as you, but that’s a bonus. Ask them what were their biggest failures, and the lessons learned.
Read about business failures – People and companies are pretty open about sharing their failures online or in books, so scoop these stories up. Think of Research in Motion or Turntable.fm .

In the end, try to pay attention to other people’s mistakes to keep yourself out of trouble.

Lesson #15 – Cash is king

Even though I’m young, I’ve started and ran several businesses. I probably have as much experience as guys twice my age. So what’s the number one lesson I learned?

Cash is king .

You will not survive if you don’t have it coming in. And if you do have it coming in, you need to conserve it; otherwise you won’t survive for long.

You can’t trust the economy. Some years you’ll make a lot of money, and then some years you won’t make very much. Here’s what you should do to save cash:

Use volunteers and interns – Instead of hiring people ask people if they will volunteer a few hours of their time. Or look for students who are looking for experience.
Work like a slave – You and your founders should be putting in 60 plus hours a week…even if you aren’t getting paid. It’s expensive to hire people, especially when you first start off, which means you are going to have to work your tail off.
Resist a fat salary – Go lean until you are certain your business will survive a huge salary.
Don’t buy expensive office furniture – Can you rent furniture? Pick it up at the Goodwill or Salvation Army? Surf freecycle to see what people are giving away.
Keep the office space at a minimum – The overhead is what kills so many businesses, so don’t lease big and think you’ll grow into it. Lease small and deal with the discomfort until the money is there.

Conclusion

Even though I made a lot of mistakes in my career, I don’t regret making them. They have lead to some awesome insights, and I’ve gained so much experience in the meantime.

Besides, each lesson was a stepping stone to my next business. That means both KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg are stepping-stones too, and I’ll be able to write a post about the lessons I’ve learned over the coming ten years.

19-Jul-12 1:00 PM

Preventing Heat-Related Illness

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:00:00 GMT

Key Points

Heat-related illness—also called heat stress—is a dangerous, potentially fatal

threat to landscape industry workers, but it is one that is often overlooked until

an incident occurs. Physical labor causes the body to generate heat and lose

fluid, putting workers in our industry at increased risk of heat stress compared

to people who are just exposed to hot temperatures.

Hydration is key to avoiding heat-related illness, which is a series of conditions

that begins with dehydration. If left untreated, dehydration progresses to heat

exhaustion, which can be followed by heat stroke. Heat stroke literally is a

stroke and is often fatal. Progression from dehydration to heat stroke can take

as little as 20 minutes or can take hours, depending on an individual’s health,

the type of work being done, and the weather conditions.

Fortunately, heat-related illness is preventable when supervisors and

employees keep the risks top of mind and take action accordingly.

Employers’ and supervisors’ checklist

 Train employees to recognize, prevent, and respond to heat-related illness.

 During warm months, talk about heat-related illness and precautions as part of

your daily safety meeting with employees.

 Provide plenty of water and sports drinks. Keep in mind that while individual fluid needs vary, it’s not uncommon for one employee to require 2 gallons of liquid during an 8-hour shift. About one-fourth of the fluids should be sports beverages in order to replenish sodium, potassium, and electrolytes.

 Pair all crew members with a "buddy" to remind them to hydrate and to watch for signs of heat-related illness, which often go undetected by the victim.

 Schedule hydration breaks and supervisor reminders throughout the day.

 Allow employees to take frequent breaks in the shade or in an air-conditioned environment, such as a truck cab, if possible.

 Schedule strenuous work for early morning or evening hours.

 When the heat index is high, minimize physical demands and/or use relief workers.

 Acclimatize employees to hot weather conditions. If your company operates in areas where extreme heat is uncommon, workers are more likely to become dehydrated on a hot day because their bodies are not acclimated. Employees who are new to working outdoors in the heat or have been away from work a week or more also are at increased risk. Allow more frequent breaks and build up new employees’ workloads gradually.

 Know, and make sure employees know, the signs and symptoms of dehydration, heat stress, and heat stroke. (See box to the top-right)

 Teach employees that one of the fastest and easiest ways to monitor their hydration level is by observing the color of their urine. (See Hydration Chart below)

 Instruct employees to notify their buddy if they experience any symptoms of heat-related illness and their crew leader if a co-worker displays such signs.

 See Employee section below for how to respond to heat-related illness.

 Consider purchasing or encouraging employees to purchase low-profile hydration packs. Worn like backpacks, these products protrude only slightly from the back and hold up to 2 liters of liquid. Workers can pull a plastic tube over their shoulders and drink with minimal disruption to the tasks they are performing. Low-profile hydration packs are available from safety-supply and outdoor-recreation stores.

 Follow federal OSHA’s general duty clause and any state regulations related to heat illness. While federal OSHA doesn’t have a specific rule related to heat stress, you are required to protect workers from it under the general duty clause, which states employers must provide "employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees." California, in 2006, was the first state to adopt specific rules related to heat-induced illness. Read more about California’s regulations here. Consult your state’s department of labor regularly to find out if heat-illness regulations apply to your company.

 Keep in mind that training employees to prevent heat-related illness, providing fluids, and being vigilant with hydration reminders cost far less than lost productivity (work performance suffers when employees lose just 2 percent of their body weight because of dehydration), trips to the emergency room, and OSHA fines.

 Learn more through OSHA’s campaign to prevent heat-related illness in outdoor workers.

Employee dos and don’ts

Do:

Realize that staying hydrated might require more fluids than you think. The amount of fluids an individual needs depends on a variety of factors, including age, weight, general health, work being performed, and weather conditions, but 1 quart per hour—which equates to 2 gallons per 8-hour shift—is appropriate for most people.

Drink water and sports beverages. For every three cups of water you consume, drink half- a-cup of a sports drink in order to replenish the sodium, potassium, glucose, and electrolytes your body needs.

Monitor your hydration level by noting how frequently you urinate and the color of your urine (see Hydration Chart below). You’re not drinking enough if you aren’t urinating every two to three hours.

Take frequent breaks in shade or air conditioning, if possible.

Remind co-workers to replenish fluids and watch them for signs of heat-related illness.

Be especially careful if you have hypertension, high cholesterol, or diabetes; are obese; or take anti-inflammatory medication as this increases your susceptibility to heat-related illness.

Know the signs and symptoms of heat-related illness (see box above).

Tell a co-worker or supervisor if you experience symptoms of heat-related illness.

Go to a cool, shaded area and rehydrate with water or sports beverages if you are dehydrated. You can return to work when you feel better. If symptoms are still present after 30 minutes, seek medical attention.

Call 911 and direct a co-worker who is displaying signs of heat exhaustion to a cool, shaded area. Take off the person’s hat, shoes, and socks, and provide a sports beverage while waiting for medical attention.

In addition to the heat-exhaustion responses above, spray or wipe the person’s skin with cool water and fan him/her if he/she displays signs of heat stroke. If a seizure occurs, turn the person on his/her side, tilt the head back, and thrust the jaw forward in order to keep the airway open.

Don’t:

Drink alcohol or caffeine while working in, or the night before working in, a hot environment. These are dehydrating agents.

Wear a tight-fitting hat or rag on your head. Snug garments prevent evaporation of perspiration—the process that cools your body. Wear a loose, wide-brimmed hat instead.

Wear tight or dark clothing or synthetic materials. Instead, dress in light-colored, loose-fitting, breathable clothing. Cotton and fabrics manufactured for outdoor workers or athletes are best.

Perform strenuous work during the middle of the day if you can do it in the early morning or evening.

Think heat-related illness won’t happen to you. Working outdoors for years without incident can give you a false sense of security.

VISUAL HYDRATION URINE COLOR CHART

(Note: Use of vitamin or multivitamin supplements can change the color of your urine.)

Dark urine indicates severe dehydration

Yellowish urine indicates signs of dehydration. Consumption of fluids is recommended.

Clear urine indicates

proper hydration.

Chart courtesy of SlateBelt Safety

Thanks to Bob Williams, president of SlateBelt Safety, for providing information and insights for portions of this issue.

Symptoms of heat-related illnesses

• Dehydration—Decreased perspiration; thirst; a cool, clammy feeling; headache; poor appetite; dark-colored urine

• Heat exhaustion—Headache; dizziness; lightheadedness or fainting; weakness; mood changes, such as irritability or confusion; upset stomach or vomiting

• Heat stroke—Dry, hot skin; no sweating; confusion; bizarre behavior or combativeness; loss of vision or consciousness; seizures or convulsions

19-Jul-12 1:00 PM

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Winning New Customers with Hyperlocal Search

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel

16
inShare

In the past, hyperlocal search referred to getting local information on demand from your PC. You searched from your desk or laptop and local results for news and deals came up.

These days hyperlocal search has gone one-step further. You can get that information from anywhere with your mobile phone. And this way of getting information and shopping is hotter than ever.

Here are some stats to prove that:

Sixty percent of customers review a product on a mobile before buying .
51% of smart phone users buy when there is a mobile site , but less than five percent of brands actually have one
Seventy-seven percent of smart phone users visit social sites and search engines .
More than 90% of mobile searches end in an action like purchasing or visiting a business .
Twenty-five percent of searches in the world are mobile .

There’s no denying it…getting your website mobile-ready and geared to deliver local results is as important as ever.

Of course, this means you will have to do things like build a mobile site, optimize it for mobile search, create a mobile-only AdWords campaign, engage the click-to-call function and create a mobile-specific keyword list.

That might sound like a tall order, but this guide will show you step-by-step what you need to do…and you’ll see it’s not really that hard.

So, let’s get stared:

Build the mobile site

Here’s another stat for you from a Compuware study : More than 50% of mobile customers will not recommend a brand if their mobile site is bad. Furthermore, in spite of brand loyalty, more than 40% would actual go to a competitor who has a better mobile site.

That’s huge.

So, your first step is to get your site mobile ready. To get started, let’s check out what your website looks like on a mobile device at Google’s initiative GoMo:

Answer 6 questions and then you’ll get a report on your site’s mobile friendliness:

Click on read full report and you can get a Google Doc of a detailed report for your site:

Naturally, you’ll want to develop sites that can be used across devices. Keep in mind that search engines rank a page based on some common criteria —screen rendering, site performance, usability and page download speed.

Here is a site that Jakob Neilson uses as an example that gets all of these criteria right:

Creating a mobile site sounds like a lot of work, though, right? Would you believe me if I told you it’s really not?

In fact, you can create a mobile site with this free tool :

Or if you use WordPress, you can use the WP-Touch plugin . Of course if you have more robust needs, you’ll need to hire a developer.

Use traditional SEO practices

Once you’ve created your mobile-friendly site, your next step is to optimize that site. You can use conventional best practices, focusing on these strategies:

Keywords in headlines and copy – Like their PC counterparts, mobile search engines use keywords to deliver relevant search queries. But unlike the PC users, mobile users use shorter keywords. Typing on a mobile phone is just too hard. Below I’ll discuss how to create a keyword campaign focused on mobile users.
Page titles – Try to match search queries to titles since this is one of the main factors that users use to evaluate whether they will click through. The closer you can match the higher in position you will be…and the more likely you’ll get the click.
Page descriptions – You’ve got to nail your meta descriptions to compel a mobile user to click through. Make sure they are short, keyword rich, and enticing.
Links – Mobile users don’t mind clicking…it’s just that your links need to be clickable. Mobile users like the experience of finding and exploring, so provide value whether you are linking in your site or out of your site.

Like I said, these are pretty standard, and if you create a mobile site using the WP plugin, for example, you won’t do a optimization for the PC and then the mobile site—it will all start from the PC side. So keep mobile users in mind when you create content. Check out these 9 content strategies to help you.

Create separate mobile AdWords campaigns

Google’s research shows that advertisers who use mobile-specific campaigns get an 11.5% increase in mobile CTR, with a 29% rise in the number of mobile clicks.

With a mobile-specific campaign you can:

Optimize campaign for mobile specific keywords – You can damage your PC campaign if you try to add mobile-specific keywords. A separate campaign will allow you to choose words that work best on a mobile device.
Customize ad text to mobile-specific CTAs – By creating text in your ad that appeals to mobile users you’ll increase conversion. The essence behind this idea is to make requesting by phone front and center.
Adjust bids – A mobile-only campaign allows you to set your bids and budget to help you achieve the top spot.

It’s pretty easy to set up a mobile-specific AdWords campaign. You can use either AdWords Editor Tool or do it from your AdWords account. Let’s look at the AdWords Editor Tool first.

Log into Editor Tool, and then click “New campaign”:

Then choose a mobile device:

Next, choose the campaign you want to copy and then add to the new campaign. After that you can adjust your ad bids and budget.

Tip: Since fewer ads are shown on mobile, you can be more aggressive with your bids.

You can also create a mobile-specific campaign in your Google AdWords account if you are not using the AdWords Editor Tool.

Login and click on the “New Campaign” in your account and choose which device you want to create a campaign for (mobile or tablet):

Now you are ready to copy over your existing campaign into your new mobile-specific campaign. Your next step is to create a mobile-friendly keyword list.

Create a mobile-friendly keyword list

Mobile users engage search differently. They use technology like Voice Search or Google Goggles . That means they don’t always use their mobile browser.

Another significant difference with mobile users is how they use keywords. Their behavior is different than PC users. For example:

Use short keywords – Typing on a mobile device is hard, so users take shortcuts. One-word search queries are the most used: “coffee,” “boots” or “movies.” They are hoping the local tools of search kick-in at this point to deliver the most relevant listings for these queries.
Obsessed with top 3 positions - According to Google’s book , users care more about those spots since the real estate on a mobile device is limited. How important are those positions? Just a drop from top to second position can lead to a 90% plunge.
Hate scrolling – Mobile users want to see everything within their window. So it’s best that your keywords are matched to their requests so you can land in the top spots.

To get started, you can use the Google Keyword Tool , but you’ll have to search with the “Advanced Options and Filters” in order to get mobile-specific suggestions.

Significant keyword volume is critical to a successful mobile campaign. Ignore keywords without a high volume.

Add phone numbers to your mobile campaigns

Customers who are on a mobile device are primed to call your business. Make it easy for them to do by adding your phone number to your AdWords campaigns.

Advertisers who use this feature experience a 6-8% rise in CTR, and doesn’t cost any different than if you got a click to your website.

So how do you set this up? Follow these steps:

Log into AdWords .
Choose the right campaign…inside AdWords, select the campaign you’d like to add a phone number to. Note, if you want ads shown on high-end mobile phones, click “Mobile devices with full Internet browsers.” You can find this under “Devices” in the campaign’s “Setting” tab.
Click the Ad extensions tab…to get the right view, click “Call Extensions.” You’ll have to enable this tab if you can’t see it.
Choose “New Extension.”
Add your phone number and country.
Hit “Save and continue.”

And to enhance performance, you can also see the number of calls received per campaign, ad group or keyword.

Tip: You can make your phone number and not your headline clickable when it shows up on a mobile device. Just select “Allow only click-to-calls.”

Conclusion

Basically in few steps you can have a highly-optimized mobile site that delivers relevant search listings in your local market and actually converts. This is a superb strategy for anyone who is in a business with a local customer base.

That means coffee shops, record stores, car dealers, florists. And you don’t necessarily need a brick-and-mortar location. You could be a real estate agent or plumber who works from home. Just make sure you define your market/region/city precisely so the right people call you.

Have you had any success with a mobile-specific campaign in your local market?

14-Jul-12 1:00 PM

5 Ways to Improve Your Contact Form Conversion Rate

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:00:00 GMT

by Chuck Longanecker

Contact forms are the rubicon for interactions between your company and the outside world. While there are many interaction points and forms on a site (from user account pages, ecommerce checkout flows, etc.) the contact form is the place where users come to connect directly with you. Improving the conversion rate of your contact form can mean big things for your business.

Think of all of the different use cases for your contact form: a superstar employee looking for a job, a potential game-changing partnership inquiry, a new business opportunity, or a customer service question that can turn a user with a poor experience into a lifelong advocate. With all that’s riding on your contact form don’t you think it’s worth spending the time to make it an experience that works? No matter your use case, an easy contact experience shows users that you care about them.

So in that spirit, I’ve assembled five tips to maximize how many people fill out your contact form:

Lesson #1: Fewer form fields = greater conversion

In many things, simple wins over complex. As Steve Jobs put it, “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” Your contact form should be simple. If you take away one thing from this post, it’s that eliminating unnecessary form fields can significantly increase the conversion rate of your contact form.

In fact, Dan Zarrella at HubSpot recently researched the contact forms of 40,000 of their customers and found that conversion rate improves by almost half when the number of form fields are reduced from four fields to three . Stop and read that again — eliminate one form field, increase conversion by 50%.

Don’t you wish improving every part of your business was this easy? So start here. Look at your contact form and decide what must stay and what can go. Do you really need their daytime phone number? Cut ruthlessly and measure changes in conversion. You should see them start to head in the right direction.

Lesson #2: Create trust on your contact page

People are reaching out to you – an unknown business entity on the web. If you think about it, that’s a big leap of faith. The user takes time out of their day to connect with you and the first thing you do is ask for a bunch of their personal information, including name, email address and who-knows-what else. That’s why it’s imperative to create trust on your contact form.

Let people know that they’re connecting with people that are there to help them with whatever they need.

So how do you create trust? Much like in the real world, it comes down to the little things:

Related to point one, evaluate the information you request on your contact forms. If you’re asking for overly sensitive information, reconsider it and see if you can collect it from the user later in the process.
Set expectations for each field clearly, to reduce confusion and invalid input errors.
Be user friendly — insisting that the user insert dashes for a phone number, or making irrelevant fields mandatory doesn’t create trust, it creates friction and unease.
Clearly articulate what will be done with their information and why you’re asking for it. Let users know their email address won’t be added to any marketing lists or sold or shared with partners.

All of these little things create trust that increases the likelihood that a user will complete your contact form and reach out.

Lesson #3: Provide help along the way

Your contact form serves as a gateway for every type of visitor that may land on your website. From job seekers, salespeople, customers and potential customers, press and more, you’re designing for a very broad audience.

You need specific information from these users to best determine how to help them. A customer needs to be routed to customer service, while a new partnership request needs to go to business development, while an inbound SEO inquiry needs to go to the trash.

Because you have needs when it comes to the data you collect, it’s critical that you articulate what you need and why on your contact form. This is where help text comes in. Unfortunately, if companies typically make the contact form an afterthought, help text is an even lower priority. This can lead to some frustrating experiences and reduced conversion rate on your contact form.

How can you use help text to increase conversion? Again, it’s in the details. Provide ghost text in fields to let users know what should go there.

You can even hint at formatting with the ghost text. For example ghost text for phone numbers that use the (xxx) xxx-xxxx will encourage users to complete the form in that style.

Provide help text below fields to guide users’ input. When more complicated contact forms are used, provide tooltips next to each field that explain in detail the what and whys of the information being collected.

By providing guidance and help in your contact form, you’ll ensure that users are able to make it through to form submission instead of giving up halfway through.

Lesson #4: Reduce friction everywhere

The idea of reducing friction is an ongoing theme. In fact, it should be your default approach to contact form design. But there are specific elements that you can build into your contact forms to reduce friction and improve completion conversion rates.

Set the tab order to allow the user to move quickly and sequentially through the fields. This is especially helpful in the mobile use case and for savvy Internet users. Pay particular attention to the final tab order of the Submit and Cancel buttons. Many quick tabbers will complete a form and expect Submit to be the next field. If they go to submit their information and they inadvertently choose “Cancel” due to your field ordering, you’ve made someone very unhappy.

Field focus and highlighting: let users know where they are in the contact form. Highlight the respective field where the user is expected to input information. If they get distracted or if the form has many fields they’ll be able to pick up quickly where they left off.

In-line validation is another way you can reduce friction. Some Javascript can’t let users know if they have a malformed email address BEFORE they submit their inquiry. There’s nothing worse than hunting down an error after you’ve tried to submit your information.

In all areas of contact form design look for ways that you can reduce the friction of the process and watch your conversion rate rise.

Lesson #5: Design for mobile first

Not only is the mobile audience growing ridiculously fast, designing for the mobile experience first can make your contact form easier to use. For starters, thinking mobile first ensures that you eliminate useless input fields.

If you’ve ever filled out a form on an iPhone you know how painful each additional field can be. Thinking mobile first also drives important user interface decisions, such as whether you put field labels above or to the left of your form elements, and what you set as your default options for certain fields.

You never want to be the developer that makes a US-centric audience scroll through 160 countries to get to United States of America to complete a “Country” field on their mobile device.

Thinking mobile-first also ensures that you’re specifying form element types in your code. When you mark up your form properly, you’re able to leverage native UI elements such as the large, swipeable lists, in iPhones and Android devices that make form completion much easier.

You can also code your contact form to take advantage of mobile capabilities to make form completion easier, driving up conversion. Why make a user input their location information by hand if they can do so using the phone’s GPS with a single click? Can you allow photo uploads or voice-driven input? And can you design your forms to take advantage of different device orientations to open up more space for input?

An increasing percentage of your users will be experiencing your site and reaching your contact form on their mobile device, it’s critical that you design for their needs. The offshoot is that you’ll be improving the experience for every user in the process.

Conclusion

Reducing friction drives conversion rate. No matter what you’re doing with your contact form, the more friction you can eliminate from the user experience, the higher you’ll be able to push your conversion rate. From form field choices, to help text, to layout and design choices that make the user experience clear and consistent, these choices all impact how many people fill out your form.

And by designing for the mobile user, you’ll not only service an ever-growing portion of your visitors, you’ll also reduce friction and improve the experience for desktop users. Contact forms are the interface between your company and the rest of the world.

Make the experience a better one and you’ll find that communication and conversion will both improve A higher conversion rate on your contact form can mean big things for your business, from new customers, to new raving fans, new business deals and more, a high-converting contact form is an important aspect of any successful online presence.

28-Jun-12 4:00 PM

Sales 101: Change their mood, not their mind

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:00:00 GMT

by Neil Patel

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The interesting thing about sales is that it is very similar to dating. Closing a sale in many cases is like winning a fight with your significant other.

When you get into a fight with your wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, what do you do? You try to prove how you are right and they are wrong, right?

When you try to prove your points I bet you use logic to show how you are right… but at the end of the day you know that it isn’t really going work. Why you may ask… well it’s because the other party is emotionally stuck on the notion that they are right and you are wrong.

So how do you win a battle with your significant other? Well the reality is, you don’t try to win. As long as the other party feels that they have won and you still get the outcome you are looking for, it doesn’t matter. And the best way to get the outcome you are looking for is to change the other person’s mood… typically by making them happy. Because if someone is happy, they are more likely to give you what you want.

Now lets dive into how you do this from a sales perspective…

Always try logic first

Every time you go into a sales meeting, the first thing you need to do is make a case on why they should be using your product or service. The easiest way to convince a company is to show how your product or service can make them more money.

The pitch goes something like this… “If you use our product, it’s going to boost your revenue by X and it will only cost you Y. You should start seeing the benefits within 30 days.”

Of course you will have to go into a lot more detail than my pitch, but you get the point…

And if you can’t make a pitch related to increasing a company’s revenue, you better be able to pitch them on how you are going to save them money or time, or help them get a leg up on their competition.

Logic doesn’t always help you close a deal

Now that you’ve made your pitch using logic, you have to realize that logic won’t always win you a deal. There are a ton of reasons on why logic doesn’t always win you a deal, such as the person you are pitching to just may not like you.

It’s impossible to figure out exactly why someone may be emotionally set on not giving you their money, but if you pay attention to body language you can get a good understanding if someone likes you or not.

When you’re talking and they are nodding their head, it shows that they are engaged and like what you have to say. On the other hand if they are ignoring your pitch and constantly looking down at their iPhone it shows that they probably don’t care to hear what you have to say.

If you find that their body language is showing that they are engaged and happy with what you have to say, then you are fine and you should work on sealing the deal. But if their body language shows other wise, you better start working on changing their mood.

Don’t change their mind, change their mood

I wish I could tell you the one tactic to change someone’s mood, but there is no generic way to do so. But the one thing I can tell you is that you have to make the other party happy with you. If someone starts liking you, they are more likely to sign a deal with you as people rather work with others they get along with.

Here are some of the ways I change people’s mood so that they like me:

Story telling – During the beginning of a sales meeting I always ask people to introduce themselves and share something interesting about themselves. By doing this I can start finding commonalities and tell stories of how I do similar things related to their interests. The purpose of this is for the other person to feel and say to himself or herself, “I could be friends with person”.
Food and drinks – Some people just like feeling that they are special. You’ll be shocked on what a free meal and drinks can do someone. People really appreciate the small things and it tends to make them happy.
Humor – There is no better way to lighten up the mood than to say a few jokes. The key to using humor is to make it related to the pitch, never joke about the company you are pitching to, and don’t take things too far. And ideally use humor during your pitch and not during the beginning or end, as this is the most natural way to do it.
Make life simpler – The person you are pitching to probably has a busy work schedule. So if you can make their life easier, or take on some of their workload, they’ll be much happier. So within your pitch, make sure you emphasize how you are going to reduce their workload and not cause more work for them. Who doesn’t want to work less…

If you use some of the tactics I mention above to change peoples’ mood, you’ll notice that you will start closing a lot more deals.

Conclusion

A good salesperson will use a combination of logic and emotions to close deals. Using just logic or emotions by itself isn’t effective, so you have to get better at reading people and mixing up your pitch by using both of those elements.

The next time you are in a sales meeting, try changing the person’s mood. You’ll be shocked on what it can do.

18-Jun-12 10:00 AM

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

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),...

Resume Tips

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:14:17 GMT

Your Resume is an advertisement for you! It should summarize your background and provide enough details to give an employer the information needed to assess your qualifications. However, at the same time, it should be concise. An effective resume will get your foot in the door. A resume has one purpose and that is to get you an interview. Resume Parts Your resume should contain the following parts: a header, career objective, your experience and your education. Header This should include: Your full legal name Your complete mailing address Your telephone number (include area code) Your fax number (if you have one) Your email address Career Objective This is a concise statement that indicates the type of position you are seeking, you should modify the wording of this objective to fit the position you are applying for. ...

Cover Letter Tips

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:13:18 GMT

An effective cover letter highlights your particular skills and accomplishments that best suit the prospective employer's needs. Before you start writing your cover letter, you should answer the following questions: What does the business do, make, or sell? What is your major selling point? To whom should you address the letter? What does the Organization do, make, or sell? You need to understand both the business as a whole and the position you are applying for before you will be able to tell the employer that you would make a good choice for their open position. The best way to obtain information about a business is to look up their website. Most businesses have a website and this is a great way to gain insight on the organization as a whole. What is your major selling point? Ask yourself: Of all my skills, qualifications and accomplishments which one would be most beneficial to the position I...

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.

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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