SAN DIEGO, Calif., May 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ —  Not all discount dental plans are created equal, according to Dr. Michael Grossman, President and CEO at First Dental Health. Unexpected fees totaling hundreds of dollars are common and can take consumers by surprise. In addition, some discount dental plan specialists’ fee discounts are very limited and difficult to verify, and not all plans are licensed in the states where they operate.

Unknown lab fees, for services such as crowns, are an additional, unadvertised charge in many discount dental plans. These fees, which can vary widely, typically come as a big and unwelcome surprise. New Dental Choice is one of the few discount dental plans that includes lab fees in the cost of its discounted fees. Consumers can look up the fees charged by the New Dental Choice network providers for specific procedures in advance, either online or by visiting a network dentist – and know the total cost of the service – with no surprises.

“In addition to charging extra for lab fees, other discount dental plans offer discounts off of specialist fees instead of pre-negotiated fixed discounts.” says Dr. Michael Grossman. “Offering a percentage off of the specialists’ fees doesn’t tell consumers in advance what their charges are. And since every specialist’s discount is different, it’s difficult to determine whether members really are saving money.”

New Dental Choice specialists fees are fixed, so consumers know in advance how much a procedure costs – and how much money they will save. “They also have the assurance that there won’t be any lab fees tacked on to the total bill,” says Dr. Grossman.

State licensing is another important area where consumers may be confused about discount dental plans. Licensing ensures that dentists and specialists in a network are credentialed; dental savings are real and enforceable, and advertising is verified for accuracy. As state licensing requirements have increased in recent years not all plans have complied.  New Dental Choice is one of the only discount dental plans licensed in the State of California. In fact, First Dental Health, the parent company of New Dental Choice, is licensed in every state where its plan operates.

About New Dental Choice: Designed by practicing dentists, New Dental Choice discount dental plans offer pre-negotiated discounts of between 15 and 60 percent on all common dental procedures – all the time. New Dental Choice dental plan memberships are an affordable alternative to costly dental insurance plans. Unlike dental insurance, New Dental Choice dental plans are activated immediately, have no treatment restrictions, and no annual maximum benefit.

For more information, contact Katelynn Sarcione, Marketing Communications Manager, www.newdentalchoice.com (858) 444-2604.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/consumers-advised-aware-hidden-costs-153000901.html

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 6:07 pm under Discount UK.
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Google and Firefox have made changes to search encryption that are affecting how marketers collect and analyze data, are you ready with alternate solutions?

For those of you that track analytics or keyword reports, either on your own or through your agency, (not provided) should be old news. The not-so-recent search encryption update from Google has had a larger impact on analytics than expected, as (not provided) is polluting top keyword reports regardless of your industry. The update allows users that are logged into Google to encrypt their searches so that the keyword they used to find your site is not revealed in analytics and is instead (not provided). While this is a step forward for privacy – in theory (see below) – it has made the job of the Data Analysts and SEOs a bit harder. After all, if you don’t know which words your consumers are using to find your site, how can you properly target them online?

Now Firefox is getting in on the search encryption fun, if something like search encryption can really be considered fun. Their most recent browser update defaults to a private search, regardless of the search engine you’re using. In other words, if you’ve recently updated Firefox and have not changed your default settings, your search keyword is (not set) for Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Search marketers are not seeing which keyword search led you to their site when they check their Google Analytics.

Alone, these two updates may not have amounted to much, but together they are hiding a fairly large portion of data, enough to force consideration of what analytics does for you and how you can replace the lost information. While some articles are providing specific examples of the damage (not provided) can do, even anecdotally it is clear that marketers needed to take notice of this update. However, having less than 10% of your data affected is not usually enough to cause real damage or a change in approach. But what if over 20%, or up to 40% of your data is hidden? With (not set) being triggered by Firefox in addition to Google’s (not provided), that is just what is happening to some site owners. Needless to say, if you have full data for 1,000 keyword searches you’re going to be more effective targeting users than if you have the data for just 600 such searches.

Why isn’t (not provided) Showing Up in AdWords Data?

I have no quarrel with Firefox offering an update that could appeal to users and help to differentiate itself from other browsers (read: Explorer), but here is where I pick a bone with the change. Those paying for ad placement within the Google search network can see which keywords led to a user clicking on their ad. So if you’re paying Google, they are providing you with the keyword search of their logged in users; it is just for organic search, the type for which marketers can’t pay for top placement, that the privacy implementation is coming into play.

It is worth repeating that if you click on an ad, and Google gets money for that ad, they will “unblock” your private search. That is because it has already been sold to marketers at an arranged cost – the cost of the ad placement. But if you click on a natural result, and Google gets no money, you can keep your privacy. So that begs the question: Why update privacy now? While I can’t get inside Google’s head (if I could, I’d be rich) and say for sure “why now,” I can say that marketers should be looking at other ways to collect data if they want the complete picture.

What this all means is that SEOs and other online search marketers for small business, the types that can’t afford an Omniture or a Webtrends analytics platform, must ponder a day when Google’s free analytics goes away or is diluted. While Google Analytics is currently the most cost-effective option for site performance measurement for most businesses, the day when Google makes you pay for the best, most actionable data seems a bit closer now than it had been a few months ago.

Given that, it might be time to consider your options for replacing the lost information, though there is no impetus act on those ideas immediately (or as long as GA remains free). While solutions will vary with site data needs, some options include more in up-front data collection such as User Experience studies, or perhaps generating an e-mail database and CRM campaign to collect user information. There are a lot of ways to collect data, and if Google has any additional plans to shift the access to data, you need to be ready with other solutions.

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Article source: http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2012/05/17/google-analytics-not-provided-and-firefox-not-set-online-search-marketers-may-find-these-updates-are-not-cool/

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Enlarge image
Russia's President Putin

Russia’s President Putin

Russia's President Putin

Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./Bloomberg

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. Photographer: Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./Bloomberg

G-8 Summit, Europe Debt Crisis, Stock Market

May 18 (Bloomberg) — Andrew Sullivan, principal sales trader at Piper Jaffray Asia Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong, talks about Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, its implications for global financial markets and the outlook for this weekend’s summit of leaders from the Group of Eight nations in Camp David, Maryland.
He also discusses Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering. He speaks with Susan Li, John Dawson, Mia Saini and David Ingles on Bloomberg Television’s “Asia Edge.” (Source: Bloomberg)


Enlarge image
Putin Shunning G-8 Widens Sberbank’s Discount

Putin Shunning G-8 Widens Sberbank’s Discount

Putin Shunning G-8 Widens Sberbank’s Discount

Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Pedestrians are seen outside an OAO Sberbank bank branch in Moscow, Russia.

Pedestrians are seen outside an OAO Sberbank bank branch in Moscow, Russia. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg


Enlarge image
Putin Shunning G-8 Widens Sberbank’s Discount

Putin Shunning G-8 Widens Sberbank’s Discount

Putin Shunning G-8 Widens Sberbank’s Discount

Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Bloomberg

The RTS Volatility Index, which measures expected swings in the index futures, rose 7.7 percent to 43.98 points in New York.

The RTS Volatility Index, which measures expected swings in the index futures, rose 7.7 percent to 43.98 points in New York. Photographer: Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Bloomberg

OAO Sberbank (SBRCY) led declines in New
York-traded Russian companies as protests against President
Vladimir Putin deepened the country’s second bear market in less
than a year.

American depositary receipts of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest
lender, sank 8.3 percent yesterday to trade at the largest
discount to its Moscow shares in six months. The Bloomberg
Russia-US Equity Index (RUS14BN) of the most traded Russian stocks in New
York fell 4 percent to 84.97, the lowest level since Oct. 7
while futures expiring in June on Russia’s RTS Index slid 2.1
percent to 128,085.

Activists are protesting in Moscow against alleged fraud in
parliamentary elections, fueling political stability concerns in
the world’s biggest energy exporter and deepening an equity
slump that’s been sparked by evidence of a global economic
slowdown. Putin won’t attend this week’s Group of Eight meeting
in the U.S. Russia’s benchmark Micex Index (INDEXCF) dropped 3.5 percent
yesterday, extending its decline from this year’s peak to 21
percent, as oil sank to a six-month low.

“The political factor plays a very significant role as
Putin’s refusal to attend the G-8 summit has a negative impact
on investors’ mood,” Veronika Chekina, an analyst at Infina
Investment Company, said by phone from Moscow yesterday.
“Investors are fleeing the market and Russia’s biggest
companies are getting hurt the most.”

First Bear Market

Russia was the first of the so-called BRIC countries to
enter a bear market in 2012 after the dollar-denominated RTS
extended a 20 percent decline on May 14 from a March 15 peak.
Brazil’s Bovespa Index followed the Russian gauge yesterday,
completing a 21 percent drop from its peak. The BSE India
Sensitive Index is down 13 percent from its high. The Shanghai
Composite Index has been in a bear market for more than a year.

Russia-focused equity funds recorded $251 million of
outflows in the seven days to May 9, the most this year, while
China lost $127 million, India $148 million and Brazil $167
million, EPFR Global data show.

Putin, who was re-elected for his third term in the office
in March, will skip the G-8 summit hosted by President Barack Obama this week. He’s set to become the first Russian leader to
completely miss the meeting since the country was included in
the group in 1998. Since Putin’s May 7 inauguration, activists
have protested non-stop in the streets of Moscow.

“Investors see more potential political risks ahead in
Russia should global growth sentiment collapse, and that also
aggravates the valuations of Russian assets,” Sergey Dergachev,
who helps oversee $8.5 billion in emerging-market funds at Union
Investment Privatfonds in Frankfurt, said by e-mail yesterday.

Second Time

Yesterday’s retreat was the second time the Micex entered
a bear market in the past 12 months. The Micex fell more than 20
percent in August 2011 from that year’s high.

The Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX), a U.S.-traded fund that
holds Russian shares, fell 4.8 percent to $24.38 yesterday, the
lowest since Sept. 4, 2009. The RTS Volatility Index, which
measures expected swings in the index futures, rose 7.7 percent
to 43.98 points in New York, the highest since Jan. 11.

Sberbank’s ADRs fell to $10.23, the lowest level in 2012,
pushing the discount versus Moscow to 1.4 percent, the most
since Dec. 13. The shares dropped 7.2 percent to 80.63 rubles,
or $2.59. One ADR equals four ordinary shares.

OAO Mechel (MTLR), Russia’s largest coking coal producer, sank 7.9
percent to $5.91 yesterday, the lowest since April 2009. The
retreat widened the discount to the Moscow-listed shares to 5.5
percent, the most since Jan. 26. The stock fell 4.4 percent to
194.40 rubles, or $6.25 in Moscow yesterday. One depositary
receipts equals one ordinary share.

Crude Slumps

Oil, Russia’s major export commodity, fell to a six-month
low and the Standard Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of commodities
dropped to the lowest since Dec. 19 as Moody’s downgraded 16
Spanish banks and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s
general economic index shrank, bolstering concern that economic
growth and fuel demand will weaken.

Crude oil for June delivery dropped 0.3 percent to $92.56
on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, the lowest since
Nov. 2, 2011. Urals crude, Russia’s chief export blend, fell 1.6
percent to $106.80. The SP’s GSCI Index retreated 0.4 percent
to 630.07 yesterday.

Brent oil for July settlement slipped 2.1 percent to
$107.49 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange
yesterday, the lowest level since Dec. 30. Brent’s premium to
the July West Texas Intermediate contract in New York narrowed
to $14.55 a barrel.

Camp David

Putin won’t attend the G-8 meeting in Camp David on May 18
through May 19 because he needs to continue forming the
country’s new government, the Kremlin said in a May 16 statement
on its website. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who stepped down
as president to allow Putin’s Kremlin return, will travel to the
U.S. for the summit.

The final composition of the government is expected to be
released next week, after Medvedev returns to Moscow, Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Troika Dialog, the investment bank
owned by state-run Sberbank, said in a May 17 e-mailed note.

“It seems the net result will be a mix of rotation of
people between the Kremlin and White House and job-hopping
within the existing cabinet,” Weafer wrote in the note. “Those
hoping for a more extensive change with a big influx of new
faces look set to be disappointed.”

United Co. Rusal (486), the world’s largest aluminum producer,
sank 5.2 percent to HK$4.40 in Hong Kong trading as of the
city’s noon break. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 2.5 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Halia Pavliva in New York at
hpavliva@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tal Barak Harif at
tbarak@bloomberg.net

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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-18/putin-shunning-g-8-widens-sberbank-s-discount-russia-overnight.html

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 12:05 pm under Discount UK.
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Man nabbed in discount store robbery




Gary Barnet


Gary Barnet

By
Paul Shockley

Thursday, May 17, 2012

A man allegedly used a cordless power drill to mimic a handgun, stuffed inside his pants, while robbing an Orchard Mesa discount store on Sunday, according to an arrest warrant…

Article source: http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/man-nabbed-in-discount-store-robbery

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 6:05 am under Discount UK.
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The Houston area’s already competitive grocery market is getting even more so.

Discount grocer Aldi plans to open 30 stores in the next three years, the company said this week. At least 10 are set to open in spring next year.

No-frills Aldi stores carry produce, meats and other items at low prices.

“Aldi is probably the lowest-priced grocer in the country,” said David Livingston, a grocery analyst at Waukesha, Wis.-based DJL Research.

The chain, with its U.S. headquarters in Batavia, Ill., has an unusual business model. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own bags or buy them at checkout, and all customers do their own bagging. They pay a 25-cent deposit for a grocery cart and get the quarter back when they return it.

Almost 95 percent of Aldi’s products are sold under its own label. The stores carry a select assortment – around 1,600 items, compared with many supermarkets that offer more than 37,000.

The chain has 37 stores in Texas, most in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and two more will open next month, both in the Dallas area. Since arriving in the U.S. in 1976, Aldi now has more than 1,200 stores in 32 states.

‘All over Houston’

Aldi is not ready to announce its locations here, but “we will definitely be all over Houston,” said Scott Huska, Aldi’s division vice president. “We want to be in new, vibrant shopping areas.”

In February, Aldi said it purchased 2.5 acres on Mason Road at Oak Park Trails for a store near Cinco Ranch.

A typical Aldi store is more than 17,000 square feet, Huska said, and has 10 to 20 employees.

Aldi only accepts cash and debit cards as well as EBT, or Electronic Benefits Transfer government assistance, cards. The chain does not accept coupons, Huska said.

The stores typically keep relatively short hours: Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Each week Aldi features 20 to 30 “Special Buys” on items ranging from seasonal foods to cookware.

Aldi often sets up shop close to Walmarts, because the discount giant draws a lot of traffic, and “Aldi doesn’t have to worry about Walmart beating them on price,” Livingston said.

Livingston speculated that Houston shoppers may be somewhat less surprised by Aldi’s low prices compared with consumers in other cities because the market here is already exceptionally price competitive.

Huska disagreed, saying he spent a fair amount of time studying the Houston market, and when people walk into Aldi stores and see the prices and the quality, “I think they will be very excited.”

‘Good competitor’

Another grocery discount concept opened in the Houston area two years ago: H-E-B’s Joe V’s Smart Shop.

Joe V’s grocery stores are larger than Aldis, often around 50,000 square feet. Joe V’s customers pay for their items using automated iCash machines, while employees scan items and customers sack their own purchases. Joe V’s is currently exclusive to Houston, with five stores here.

Joe V’s “looks like a very good competitor,” Huska said.

Officials from Kroger, H-E-B and Wal-Mart Stores had no comment on Aldi.

Aldi and Trader Joe’s are owned by members of the Albrecht family, but the companies are independent of each other.

Trader Joe’s, known for its sometimes quirky offerings, sells domestic and imported foods including artisan breads, deli items, beer and wine.

Monrovia, Calif.-based Trader Joe’s will open its first Houston-area store next month in The Woodlands and two more Houston locations later this year.

Aldi’s international headquarters is in Germany. The company also has stores in Europe and Australia.

The U.S. stores are managed and operated separately. Aldi’s Texas-Oklahoma region management office and warehouse is in Denton.

david.kaplan@chron.com

Article source: http://www.chron.com/business/article/Discount-grocer-Aldi-to-open-30-Houston-stores-3564292.php

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 6:05 am under Discount UK.
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Reasons To Buy SEOYou’ve heard about SEO. You’re convinced SEO works very well for different kinds of online business. What you probably wonder is why it’s so powerful.

That’s why I wrote this report – to show you not one, not five, not ten… but twenty-eight different reasons to buy
SEO. To see why SEO is so powerful. To spotlight the role it can play in marketing and communicating.

A few weeks ago, Search Engine Land carried my article about the difficulty of pricing SEO services and it got a lot of positive response.

People reached out with new questions, and shared challenges they faced along the SEO sales process, as they struggled to convince internal managers and CEOs about the value of optimizing for search engines, and getting them to expand their marketing budgets for SEO.

Those questions and issues are addressed in this article – beginning with the most compelling reason  why buying SEO is such a good idea.

1.  SEO Is Not A Cost But An Investment

An investment with a high return. By tying in SEO to Web analytics data, you may observe certain keywords having great conversion rates for which you rank only on page #2 on Google and know that you’re leaving money on the table.

Lifting your rank to the top 3 spots on the first page, where most clicks go, can provide a massive return on your modest investment into SEO. It’s why SEO has been likened to investing in real estate - the returns can be truly stupendous when you get it right.

2.  SEO Turns The Spotlight On Your Sales Rockstar

And who would that be? Your website!

Think about it. It’s open 7 days a week, all year long, and never calls in sick or reports late to work. It does whatever it’s told to do, and pulls in sales, leads and opt-ins like clockwork. Your website is your ‘perfect employee’, multitasking effectively, tackling thousands of prospects at once, and only limited by what you ask of it.

Search engine optimization lavishes attention on your sales rock-star, generating the highest performance by giving it the right emphasis and focus in your marketing arsenal.

3.  SEO Is A Crucial Part Of Your Marketing Mix

If you’ve read my other posts here on Search Engine Land, you’ll already know that I’m clear about the importance of SEO for marketing any business. SEO is the master when it comes to pulling in prospects, and can help boost conversions too.

But I also believe that SEO is not the only game in town! SEO alone cannot help you reach your highest marketing potential. Social media, branding and other marketing strategies segue into and complement SEO, the combination strengthening and reinforcing each element to grow your business exponentially… faster.

As a manager or CEO then, your challenge isn’t about picking one over another, but how best to intelligently integrate SEO into your marketing mix to reap rich rewards.

And that’s why this isn’t a ‘battle between marketers’, with specialists in each branch trying to out-sell the other to their clients, but rather an opportunity for collaboration and partnership in leading a business manager or CEO towards the right mix of marketing services – including SEO – that will bring the highest cumulative benefit.

Instead of always “giving customers what they want”, it’s time to face the fact that, often, clients do not know how to select from the diverse options at their disposal.

As professionals, marketers and SEO consultants must not be dismissive or misleading about other specialties than their own, but instead help clients build the right foundation, mix and plan, and then guide them to effectively implement and manage the most cost effective, high-return strategies and tactics that are aligned with their overall business goals.

A part of the responsibility professional marketers share is to steer clients away from danger, or stop them from embracing populist tactics that will actually turn out to be a quagmire in which their business gets stuck, or quicksand into which it gradually sinks without a trace. In my opinion, ‘not telling the full truth’ is just the same as ‘lying’. This approach may not work for every company. Some might even frown at your desire to step outside your scope and field of expertise.

But for small and medium businesses and start ups, by adopting such an advisory/consultative role and offering professional advice, reaching out a helping hand to offer “business development” advice, and showing rock-solid proof to back up your offerings, prices and advice, you can go a long way in building trust. At that point, clients will be willing to follow you, even when you suggest an approach that points in another direction than what they believed would be the right choice.

It bears to always keep in mind that clients are buying a consultant’s expertise only because they don’t have it themselves, and therefore they are (logically) unable to ask for the “perfect offer”.  Selling them whatever they ask for is often not in their best interests. And this is just as true for big brands with internal staff as it is for smaller businesses.

4.  SEO Impacts The Research/Buying Cycle

SEO will increase your sales without proportionately increasing your marketing costs, thereby growing profits exponentially and over time. SEO can further all your business goals at a better ROI than most other comparable forms of online marketing because of this fundamental effect of better conversions and more sales at little incremental cost.

Assuming that everybody has heard about your brand or thinks that you’re the best place to buy can be a very costly mistake. People are constantly researching good deals, and are using the social-driven Web for comparison shopping. And price conscious shopping behavior is more common in tough financial times, when consumers spend their money more cautiously.

SEO plays an important role in this research and buying cycle. It’s like a prospect magnet, attracting potential buyers to your website through critical and relevant keywords and phrases ranked high in search engines where searchers are already looking for information about them. It’s about being where your customers are, and directing them towards solutions you offer them.

5.  SEO Pricing Is Variable

Pricing SEO services is difficult (even though some argue that it’s really simple, as you can see from the discussion around my earlier post titled, How Much Does SEO Cost?).

There are no universal standards by which you can fix a ‘rate card’ for SEO services. Keyword analysis, link building and other SEO activities are unique, customized and tailored differently for specific situations. And even among SEO providers, there is a wide range in quality. There are seasoned professionals and there are scammers, amateurs and ignorant practitioners.

But as the person in charge of your company’s SEO, you are the most ‘dangerous’ person involved… because the responsibility for your choices rests on your shoulders! Before you pick the cheapest or most expensive proposal, the limited or more comprehensive one, the one from experienced pros versus an SEO-savvy cousin or friend, be sure to read How Much Does SEO Cost? to understand the nuances and nitty gritty details.

As a specialized service, SEO involves teams of people working behind the scenes. Giving them a small budget practically ties their hands, and you cannot expect stellar results from their restrained effort.

If you are not yet convinced about the synergies involved and how these facets interact together, then don’t be afraid to ask for an SEO pre-analysis, even if it means paying a modest fee for it.  That’s a safe investment and worth more if it convinces you about the real value in adopting an SEO strategy.

Misconceptions about SEO abound, and this excellent book called “The Art of SEO” has really great examples. Some popular myths include:

  • SEO goals (“we’ll build you 100 links per month”) matter more than business goals (“we’ll grow your profits by 5%”).
  • SEO exists in a vacuum and doesn’t integrate with other parts of the enterprise.
  • SEO techniques are better implemented on marketing concepts and product titles, regardless of search volumes and popularity.
  • SEO activities can be carried out without need for co-ordination and oversight by a supervisor.
  • Leave SEO to the developers (“Trust them, everything will be ok!”).

There are many more in the article, 24 Ways To Make Life Hard For Your SEO Team.

6.  SEO Is Never Too Costly!

Nowhere else in marketing is it likely to pay off by being a contrarian as with choosing the right SEO company. In comparing several companies, you’re often tempted to pick the least expensive pitch, while it may actually be a smart choice to pick the most expensive one!

How? SEO is not a cost. It’s an investment. And even if the highest priced SEO company charges you twice as much as the rest, as a marketing manager or decision maker, you should look deeper into why they are so expensive. What makes them so confident as to pitch you with an offer others would toss into the dust-bin without a second thought?

If the more expensive SEO company helps you reach your financial goals and growth targets in half the time at twice the price, is it really ‘expensive’? Let’s say I offer to pay you $4 for every dollar you give me, how much money would you give me today, assuming you’re convinced I won’t take your cash and run away?

That’s where SEO pre-analysis can help. If the study proves that your market is big enough to drive enough volume, the competition is weak enough for you to fight and win, and your experience with SEO consultants and SEO firms over time shows that you are getting a larger amount of targeted traffic from their efforts. If this traffic converts at a high rate into sales and profit, then the impact on your business from this SEO campaign will be responsible for well more than “4 dollars for one” over time.

Is it time, then, to step back and take a harder look at the allocation of your marketing budget? Should you be looking to reap the potential of SEO, and grab the low hanging fruit within your easy reach?

This isn’t an emotional decision. It’s based on logic and hard data. ‘Costly’ SEO is like buying an automobile. Why does a Ferrari cost more than a VW Beetle? There are many good reasons and similar ones apply to SEO.

7.  SEO Isn’t Icing On The Cake – It’s An Important Ingredient

Ok, now that you’ve spent a fortune on your new website (and it looks great!), the last thing you want is to listen to a consultant who asks you to invest even more money to be visible on search engines.

But Google needs help in understanding your business. SEO that’s effectively woven into your site’s DNA can help showcase your business on search engines in the best possible light.

As an SEO consultant, I get called in by companies that have built a “state of art” website and want SEO slapped on it. But that isn’t how it works. You don’t bake your cake first, and then pour beaten eggs over it, or sprinkle sugar on top. No. You mix those ingredients in with the batter itself.

Taking SEO into consideration even while planning your website structure, content management system (CMS), URL syntax, and Web design gives the best results for your business. It can help you map old URLs to new ones, tailor your landing pages to user intent, lead prospects along a ‘buying slope’ and preserve old rankings that took years of work to achieve.

While an SEO consultant can help you (a lot) even if you started in the wrong order, it will take more time, more effort, more money, and some major restructuring work to get it done later on.

8.  SEO Is More Than Just SEO-Friendly CMS

So your CMS vendor told you it was SEO friendly and optimized? Don’t be fooled. That isn’t all the SEO you need. Not by a long country mile! They should know (by now) that SEO is not only about code. Google doesn’t look for ‘code’, it looks for ‘content’.

There are over 200 ranking factors, and algorithms change many times every year. CMS code is just a fraction of the whole. By providing the right framework for your site, an SEO friendly CMS can help. But it takes a lot more to dominate search engines.

Chief among those ‘other things’ is content. Content is king. The devil is in the detail – keywords, neighborhood, and your overall marketing mix. Your CMS has little to do with these. You wouldn’t buy a great frying pan and food processor, then hope they’ll magically turn you into a Michelin star chef!

SEO isn’t new. Yet many CEOs and managers haven’t formally been taught the importance of good SEO for online business. Yes, CMS vendors may misguide and mislead. After all, this is a highly technical and sophisticated marketing technology, and if you can’t wrap your head around it, you are not alone.

But if you ask the right questions, you’ll win through in the end.

8.  SEO Can Multiply Your Impact

How much did it cost to print your visiting cards? Or your marketing brochures? I’ll bet it wasn’t much compared to how much you invested in your website.

Did you carefully proof-read those cards, brochures or flyers before sending them off to the printing agency (or get someone else to review it for you)? I’ll bet you did.

But you didn’t have a search specialist “proof read” your expensive, infinitely more powerful marketing tool – your website – before you launched it!

Would you design and order all those visiting cards and brochures at considerable expense, and then just lock them up in a shelf? Of course not.

By ignoring SEO, that’s exactly what you’re doing with your fancy new website. A website that could have been viewed by thousands of your best prospects and ideal clients. A website that you’re now leaving to the whim and fancy of Google to rank at its will.

Just because you own top of the line printing equipment, would you print your business cards yourself? No, I’m sure you don’t. You probably order them from a professional company with long experience with printing.

SEO is your digital calling card. It can multiply your impact massively by getting your website in front of targeted eyeballs. There’s good reason to have it handled by professionals who know their job.

They will ensure that your website appeals to the right audience, and gets viewed by a wide segment of it, so that your digital visiting card best performs the critical task your business assigned to it – getting qualified leads and converting them into cash-spending customers.

9.  SEO Keeps You From Missing Out On Free Advertising

Would you trust another agency to write your door sign, or decide what goes on your visiting card? Will you allow your competitor to design your display ads, or decide who sees your storefront?

If you don’t strategically craft your website’s title tags and meta descriptions, that’s what you’re permitting. And that’s not good for business at all. It’s like leaving “lorem ipsum” text on your printed marketing materials!

SEO lets you dictate how your business should be featured on search results. If thousands of your prospects are viewing “random text”, you’re leaving money on the table. You’re letting a wonderful chance to get free advertising slip through your fingers.

The good news is that once you’re aware of this, it’s easy to fix. SEO hands you back the controls, so you can steer your business along the right path.

10.  SEO Leverages Social Sharing

Are you engaged in social media like Facebook? SEO plays an important role here. Content shared by users on social networks are directly related to SEO specific parameters like title tags and meta descriptions. This is what you see when people share posts and stories on their Wall, Google+ profile, or in a tweet or share.

An SEO strategist will help you manage this process, in collaboration with your marketing and communications department. Through SEO you get to control what people read, think and do on social sites and spread through their networks at the speed of light.

11.  SEO Will Help People Find Your Website

Your website is the first point of contact with your audience online. It can generate leads, qualify prospects and attract potential new customers, partners or investors.

But unless people can find it, your website is good for nothing. SEO plays an invaluable role here.

No longer is SEO just about ranking a site in search results, getting more clicks and views, or keeping ‘bounce rates’ optimal. That’s a dangerous misconception. Modern, effective SEO should be rooted in the company’s goals and strategies, and swivels on the psychology of individuals in the target market and segment.

SEO gets your business found, noticed, and loved.

12.  SEO Goes To The Heart Of Your Business

Great SEO demands more than just coding skills and a search-friendly CMS. It’s no longer something a tech-savvy cousin or well-meaning friend can fix up for you over a weekend, for a couple of beers. Professional SEO is serious business.

SEO is like a heart surgery. If organic search is responsible for more than half of your website’s traffic, SEO lies at the heart of your business. Without a good heart surgeon you could die.

Without a specialist handling your SEO, your business could die. Just as you’d hunt for the best heart surgeon to operate on you, you should seek out the best SEO consultant or strategist, rather than trying to do it yourself!

Whoever is responsible for buying SEO at your company must know that it involves marketing and communication, an understanding of business and economics, strategic thought, and the ability to think outside the box, all the while keeping their focus on the business’ overall goals and targets. The individual overseeing your SEO campaigns will become your “extended marketing manager”, financial advisor and more.

Not everyone can do this. And finding a competent person is hard. To casually hand over this challenging task to an in-house Web developer or designer can be unwise. Even though many Web developers and designers are learning more about SEO, it can be a critical mistake to make SEO a “second priority” and install it by ticking boxes on a checklist someone handed you at a seminar!

Sure, you may look on it as a way to cut costs. But this not only “saves you money”,  it also dramatically lowers your profit potential! This is very common, and I see it often in my practice.

Clients view SEO as “shelf-ware” and a “push-button install” that anyone who knows a bit of Web design and HTML coding can fix for them. That’s like using string and duct-tape to fix your car, or your house, when it needs repairs. You’ll risk your safety by doing that. And taking a similar approach to SEO, you’re risking your business (revenue and growth).

13.  SEO Builds Trust Credibility

SEO can make your brand stronger, better and well recognized. The eventual goal should be that, when people search for business critical and relevant keywords and phrases, they should find you at the top of search results. Then, psychology takes over and prospects will believe that you’re the best.

Your website’s title and meta description tags can telegraph a powerful statement that strengthens your brand, while helping communicate a marketing message that’s in line with your strategic business goals.

Then prospects will believe that you’re the best.

These days, everybody “Googles it”. If you’re there, right on top of the SERPs, it goes a long way in boosting your credibility. If you’re right where your customers are, at the right moment, with the right solution, you’ll win big.

But being there is only part of the puzzle. You need more. You must get inside the heads of your prospects. Speak their language. Feel their pain. Present them with a solution. Once you do, your credibility with your audience skyrockets.

14.  SEO Makes You Ubiquitous

We intuitively sense that a #1 ranking indicates top class. An athlete who wins the gold medal is a champion. Silver and bronze winners are runners-up. All the rest are ‘also rans’… and no one cares about them!

Search engine rankings are similar. The top spot on Google SERPs gets 36.4% of all clicks, the #2 spot gets 12.5%, #3 takes 9.5%, and from there it declines quickly. Being at the top of the heap wins you ‘front of mind’ recall and brand awareness and wins you more sales.

If your website doesn’t pop up on the first page of Google for your business critical keywords and phrases, then it’s… “Houston, we have a problem!”

On the off-chance that you’re running a healthy business even without good search engine visibility for your high search volume keywords, then imagine how much more money you could make when you rank for them and reach those extra customers and make more sales. Remember… if you’re not there, your competitors are, ready to take your money!

15.  SEO Helps Build Your Brand

Branding is often complex, costly and chaotic. You throw many things at consumers, hoping enough will stick in their minds and be recalled when it’s time for a purchase. SEO can help accelerate your branding campaign and make you memorable.

When more people visit your site, get familiar with your business, and order from you, then you have more people likely to come back again and tell their friends about you. SEO is an effective way to get this ball rolling, by ranking your website high and attracting a flood of Web traffic.

It can then turn this initial impression into lasting recall through presenting the most relevant and useful information that a visitor is seeking through search engines, thereby earning ‘mind share’ and securing a lasting place in their heart.

16.  SEO Is A Long-Term Strategy

SEO can deliver quick results. It can be effective in the short term and help businesses who need results now. And that’s the primary appeal of SEO to certain types of business owners. But SEO has one serious advantage over other marketing with a ‘short term’ focus… it delivers an ongoing ROI over the long term also.

While PPC and other advertising methods are quick at driving Web traffic, they are also expensive. Also, in the Tamar 2008 Search Attitude report, 91% of survey respondents said they preferred natural search results while looking to buy a product or service online. SEO can ensure you grab these plum spots.

Done correctly, SEO can be long lasting. With proper SEO analysis up front, you can stay on the front page of search results for years, without spending money in the future. Even after you stop your SEO work, your website can still rank high on your chosen keywords, though you’re better off continuing with the services of an SEO consultant or in-house team, or you’ll risk losing your search ranking.

Again, this isn’t an expense, but an investment. A quick and simple calculation will show you how quickly you’ll earn back your investment into effective SEO by way of increased earnings.

17.  SEO Drives Offline Sales

Good SEO starts with smart purchasing decisions. Today, more sales offline are driven by research initiated on the Web. A WebVisible/Nielsen study in 2008 found that 86% of consumers use the Internet to find local businesses from which to buy offline. Yes, in the store!

It’s why most offline businesses cannot afford to ignore online marketing, and also why SEO forms the cornerstone of every offline company’s digital marketing strategy. Your website acts as a never-resting salesperson, working day and night to deliver qualified leads to your business.

These are people actively seeking out solutions that you offer to their most pressing problems and needs. SEO can bring many more of them to your virtual doorstep, for your business to enamor, service and delight.

18.  SEO Attracts Relevant Traffic With High Conversion Potential

SEO is highly targeted, down to minor details. Using keyword analysis, you can find just how big a “market” is, how many people are searching for that exact keyword, how competitive the arena is (in SERPs), and with some keen deductive reasoning, even identify the intent behind keyword searches.

It’s not all intuitive and obvious, and the devil is in the details. That’s why having an insightful SEO consultant can generate huge returns on your marketing dollars spent on optimization.

Web traffic from a good SEO campaign has high conversion potential. And by correctly tapping into ‘searcher intent’, addressing your audience’s concerns and problems, building trust, and convincing prospects that your company is the right one to do business with, you can enjoy a high rate of visitor-to-sales conversion that’s the envy of your industry.

For example, a well-planned SEO campaign for a hotel will reach potential customers looking to take a vacation, lead them to your website, and to the right section that addresses exactly what they’re looking for. In this way, SEO acts like a hybrid of a guide, receptionist, concierge, marketing executive and salesperson.

Without SEO, finding your website in the tourism industry will be hunting for a needle in a haystack. Without fully understanding the intent behind your visitor’s search and their unique and individual needs, the chances of losing the prospect forever is high. Getting them both right means more visitors, and more sales.

19.  SEO Is Measurable Marketing

Every element of your SEO can be measured, evaluated and corrected. By doing this continuously, you can find out your return on every SEO dollar invested.

20. Your SEO Consultant Is A ‘Secret Weapon’

A professional SEO consultant will be a great asset in developing your business. Your SEO consultant can find lucrative keywords and niches with great ROI where you can make money easily, carry out detailed market research and competitive analysis, and help you build content to pull in traffic that will close big deals for you.

A skilled SEO consultant can run in-depth analyses of your business competitors, study their strategy, and more. Your consultant can mock up a “war” and test your strategies in battle against your competition… and if those computations work in your favor, it’s time to go to war!

It can also show you if the strategy is ineffective or the competition too well entrenched to unseat. This will save you money and time wasted in pursuing ownership of that keyword or niche, leaving you to focus energy on more profitable areas. Such market pre-analysis can be priceless to the right company or business.

Remember what Al Ries and Jack Trout highlight in their timeless book, “Marketing Warfare” – Marketing is a war! And just as you won’t think about going to war without conventional weapons, you can’t enter a competitive market armed only with a tommy gun!

At the same time, using old fashioned weaponry will only prolong the suffering and lead to an inevitable defeat. You need powerful, state of art, effective weapons to win. And in the digital battleground, cutting-edge SEO will give you an edge.

21.  SEO Is Cost Effective

Over years, SEO has been proven to be one of the most cost effective forms of online marketing, delivering a higher return for every dollar invested into it over time.

Your Web hosting, design and content creation expenses are similar, whether your site is visited by one hundred people, one thousand, or one million.

You pay the same for each visitor to your website, whether they join your list, buy your product or interact with your brand.

Your marketing costs are identical whether one visitor in a thousand buys from you, or one in a hundred, or one in every five.

Effective SEO can attract thousands, even millions of targeted prospects to your business website, and increase your conversion rates by delivering the exact solution to problems they are facing.

Better still, the ongoing effect and impact of SEO continues far beyond the time you invest into a campaign, because the momentum will sustain for many weeks, often years, making SEO very cost efficient as a marketing choice.

22.  SEO Can Be Outsourced To Run Hands-Free

An SEO company will work 24/7 with SEO, all year long. That’s what gives them an edge over hobbyists. They are up to date with the newest algorithm changes, negative and positive ranking factors, and know what’s needed right now while being proficient at predicting what will be needed in the future.

Also, an SEO company will get the work done faster because they have dedicated teams executing your plan, and will get you to your financial and business targets earlier. Buying cheap SEO services will apparently save you money upfront, but it will also hold you back from making a lot of money. In SEO, there is a pretty good correlation between investment and revenue.

Giving your SEO consultant enough time and the right mandate will add value to other parts of your marketing. It’s how you’ll sow and reap synergies across all your business building activities.

In SEO, there is a pretty good correlation between investment and revenue.

23.  SEO Can Be Made To Work For You

Yes, even if it didn’t work for you before, SEO can be tweaked and twisted into a form that benefits your business. I’ve heard it so often from clients that I simply ignore that objection and offer to prove my point through an inexpensive test.

Most often, the reason why SEO didn’t work is because the company invested too little time or money or resource into it. To blame SEO after neglecting it, not doing it properly, or simply fearing it as “something new” is unfair.

Assuming you did everything right in your implementation of SEO, it could have failed through improper planning. In SEO, failing to plan is planning to fail. That’s why it is important to assign a budget, study the market and search volumes, analyze the competitiveness and anchor your SEO campaign to business goals and strategy. This will prevent the campaign from going off the track.

An expert SEO consultant will steer you away from markets that are too small, competition that is too tough, or where revenue potential is tiny.

You’ll avoid wasting time and money chasing after the wrong targets, like more traffic that won’t convert, or higher rankings that don’t deliver the right prospects. Guesswork can lead to painful and costly surprises. SEO strategy eliminates these surprises and provides constant, reliable results.

24.  SEO Can Convince Even Skeptics

If you’re not quite sure if SEO can deliver on the promise, you can have your SEO consultant simulate or forecast both expenses and projected income before you invest big money into it. Your simulation report will cover competition analysis, market size studies, trends and future predictions, and more data that will help you make an informed decision.

This simulation can be done in a short time (maybe just a few hours, depending on the size of your business, the nature of your service or product, and the competition in your marketplace) and will laser focus your SEO campaign where it will give you the most bang for your buck.

Equally important, it will be great insurance against investing in non-lucrative strategies and tactics. In a marketing war, you cannot afford to squander precious (and limited) resources on wasteful initiatives.  Don’t risk it!

25.  SEO Provides Endless Opportunity

SEO is a continuous process. It’s like the machinery you use to drill for oil, or mine for gold. You’ll need more powerful equipment if you are to go through granite or hard rock, your engines will require frequent maintenance, and the drill-bit may get worn out and need replacing from time to time.

Your SEO is just the same. It will need constant tweaks, reviews and shifts to keep it moving in the right direction, so that it continues to deliver stellar results.

Sometimes the ground may be so hard that you need diamond-tipped drills to break through. And yes, diamond drill-bits are more expensive. But as long as research shows the presence of a vein of gold, or a large reservoir of oil, the drilling must proceed if riches are to be tapped.

In the same way, in tough markets, the SEO you need might be more expensive because of tougher competition. Yet the ‘hidden treasure’ you’re seeking will be more precious, making it worth mining for. Research and analysis by expert SEO advisors can tell you if there’s a gold mine there or not.

That’s how your investment in expensive SEO consultants pays off. At first, they may look bad on your budget sheet, because they appear as a “cost”. But if the impact of their research is to correctly guide you to the most profitable niches and avenues to mine for wealth and profit, then it will multiply your modest investment ten times over, or more!

Good SEO is like a fine-tuned engine. Unless you take good care, it won’t be able to keep going and will burn out. When you embark upon an SEO driven strategy, be prepared to hunker down for a long fight. You’ll take some hits along the way, but you’ll throw harder punches and score more wins. Eventually, that’s what matters.

26.  SEO Beats Paid Traffic

Maybe you already use Google Adwords (or other PPC advertising) very successfully. Even so, it’s paradoxical that SEO, which drives 75% of search traffic, garners less than 15% of an average SEM marketing budget, while PPC that provides barely 25% earns 80% of it.

An exclusive focus on PPC ignores the large hidden component of the iceberg that’s search traffic. Just think about it. If dominating the source of one-quarter of overall traffic gives you such excellent rewards, how much better will they get when you also control the rest?

27.  SEO Is Rooted In User Intent

Where many forms of online marketing are based interrupting a prospect with a sales pitch, SEO is aligned with the intent of a searcher, meeting your audience halfway with a relevant, targeted message that appeals to their interest and delivers a solution they are already seeking.

Being there with the right information and facts may prevent dissemination of myths and false information, become valuable in reputation management, and build a stronger brand.

Good SEO fits the various types of search intent, including:

  • Navigational
  • Informational
  • Transactional
  • Commercial

In that respect, SEO is able to generate the highest conversion rate of any targeted digital marketing initiative, which is what makes SEO a high return effort.

Quick, cheap SEO is ineffective and has little lasting value, but healthy SEO costs more but has a longer term impact.

28.  SEO Helps You Capitalize On Weak Competition

SEO can let you reap what your competitors sow! When your competition has a smaller marketing budget, they will make mistakes (or overlook opportunities). Good SEO can help you take advantage of these weaknesses. This makes SEO a smart move for small and medium sized businesses in competitive branches.

Take the case of clueless marketing campaigns that run expensive TV commercials, mass media display advertising, billboards and the like. These ads serve to activate interest in the market niche, in general, or broadly in a product or service category. Usually the company developing these ads are unconnected with search marketing divisions. This leaves a wide open hole for you to fill.

A study by market research firm Ipsos OTX based on a survey of 5,000 US smart phone users found that 71% of users search because of an ad they’ve seen online or offline. When interested people turn to search engines for more information, you can use SEO to position yourself to harvest the traffic.

This is like casting a fish net into waters that are teeming with sea-life and hauling back a rich catch!

The approach does not involve sneaky or stealthy practices such as targeting other business’ brand names. No. These are generic keyword searches sparked off by mass advertising and you can target this traffic through an intelligent mix of organic SEO and pay-per-click ad campaigns (because these are often faster and instant in impact).

The Business Case For SEO

Hopefully, these compelling reasons have convinced you about the value and benefits of an integrated SEO strategy in growing your business and taking your company to new heights of profitability, branding and success.

SEO is like music. The foundations haven’t changed much since the inception. But the application of SEO has evolved over time. I’ve traced some of this complex journey in my article called How Much Does SEO Cost?

On a personal note, I don’t believe a discussion about which marketing tactic is “the best” is of much value. As business owners, CEOs and managers, what we need to focus on is how to reach the best result by talking and working together. We’ll do ourselves a huge favor by not arguing over the most effective technique, but instead exploring how we can successfully integrate the best mix and exploit it to the fullest potential in growing business and revenues.

One last thing to keep in mind. Handing someone a guitar doesn’t mean they’ll start playing great music. If you want great music, hire a rock star. If you want top notch SEO, hire SEO Rock Stars.  Then give them the budget they need to deliver great results.

Image Credit: Crestock.com

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: All Things SEO

Article source: http://searchengineland.com/the-ultimate-list-of-reasons-why-you-need-search-engine-optimization-121215

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 12:03 am under Games.
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PHOENIX, May 17, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Namescape
Corporation, the leader in identity information and Active Directory
management applications for Microsoft’s(TM) Active Directory, has just
released rDirectory
v3.3, an important product upgrade that significantly improves the
user experience, while providing new ways to manage and view Active
Directory data.

“The changes in rDirectory v3.3 provide new search experiences and
interfaces that, along with new right-click context menus, transform the
experience of using rDirectory to find information and manage objects,”
said Randy Bradley, president of Namescape.

Users can expect the following features in rDirectory v3.3:

–
Search engine interface with instant search results — the new,
yet familiar and intuitive search interface will return instant
results. Simply type the first three letters of your keyword or object
and rDirectory searches across multiple fields and displays the
results in a drop menu.

–
Tree menu search — displays your data using customizable
cascading picklists, making it easy to see the relationships between
the selected objects, like departments and their employees.

–
Dynamic rDirectory picklist — with this new, freely
available joBot
feature, you can schedule recurring dynamic updates, so your
rDirectory picklists will always reflect the latest data in Active
Directory.

–
Dynamic right-click menus, with new functionality such as Rename
and Move object — boost rDirectory’s administrative features
and allow you to fully manage users from a single, simple web-based
console.

rDirectory, Namescape’s unique platform for creating a wide range of
custom web-based directory applications for Active Directory and AD LDS,
can help manage identities, information and relationships, as well as
publish your Active Directory data.

For more information about Namescape Corporation and its suite of Active
Directory identity management solutions and administrative tools, please
visit

http://www.namescape.com

or call 602-667-8900. Follow Namescape on LinkedIn
and Facebook.

About Namescape

Namescape Corporation is a leading provider of identity information,
password and Active Directory management solutions. Our products
leverage your existing investment and build on your organization’s
current IT infrastructure with scalable, web-based products that bring
secure automation, access control, provisioning and self-service
capabilities to Active Directory, together with powerful administrative
tools that streamline maintenance and reporting.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their
respective owners.

SOURCE: Namescape Corporation


        Namescape Corporation
        Heidi Pullen, 602-667-8900
        heidi.pullen@namescape.com 

http://www.namescape.com/

Copyright Business Wire 2012

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-rdirectory-upgrade-from-namescape-advances-active-directory-management-with-enhanced-search-interfaces-2012-05-17

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 12:03 am under Games.
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Discount Tire, the nation’s largest tire and wheel retailer, and NASCAR champion driver Brad Keselowski, are headed to NASCAR’s Nationwide Series History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26

Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) May 17, 2012

Discount Tire, the nation’s largest tire and wheel retailer, and NASCAR champion driver Brad Keselowski, are headed to NASCAR’s Nationwide Series History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26. NASCAR fans can select where they think Keselowski will finish in the race by entering the Pick 22 To Win Sweepstakes for a chance to win a set of four Goodyear tires and other great prizes. Thousands of entrants from across the U.S. have registered for the sweepstakes so far.

A total of 15 Nationwide Series races are part of the Discount Tire Pick 22 To Win Sweepstakes. Fans from any state can visit pick22towin.com to select where they think Keselowski and his No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger will finish in designated Nationwide Series races throughout the season. Entries must be submitted prior to race start time to be eligible to win.

Pick 22 To Win entrants are registered for a chance to win free sets of tires and great Brad Keselowski race gear. Entrants who correctly pick where Keselowski finishes for a designated Nationwide Series race are eligible to win prizes for that specific race week. For each of the Pick 22 To Win races, Discount Tire will award one grand prize along with five runner-up prizes. The weekly Pick 22 To Win grand prize is a set of four Goodyear tires with a retail value of up to $1,000 including installation and taxes.

Visit pick22towin.com for the 2012 Nationwide Series racing schedule, eligible Pick 22 To Win races, sweepstakes rules and more information about Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski.

ABOUT US

Discount Tire/America’s Tire, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is America’s largest tire and wheel retailer. The company does business under the trade name Discount Tire in most of the U.S. and America’s Tire in Oregon, and parts California. The company currently operates more than 800 stores across the country. In 2010, the company marked its 50th year serving customers as their trusted tire retailer in local markets across the U.S. Discount Tire/America’s Tire also sponsors NASCAR Nationwide Series, Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Formula D, Global RallyCross Championship and LOORRS racing. News, driver appearances, show car schedules and racing schedules can be found at http://www.discounttiremotorsports.com. For more information about Discount Tire/America’s Tire visit http://www.discounttire.com or http://www.americastire.com.

###

Joseph Valdez
The Lavidge Company
(480) 998-2600
Email Information

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/discount-tire-brad-keselowski-nascar-fans-chance-prizes-193037243.html

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 12:03 am under Discount UK.
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Clearent announces new Discount Plus merchant pricing option to help its customers adapt to the latest card association fees.

Clayton, MO (PRWEB) May 17, 2012

Today Clearent announced its new Discount Plus merchant pricing option to help its customers adapt to the latest card association fees. This new capability adds to Clearent’s extremely flexible yet simple merchant pricing options, and helps protect the profitability of the company’s ISO, agent and financial institution partners.

Pricing in the credit card processing industry has become very complicated as a result of the increasing number of interchange rates and other fees from the card brands such as Visa, MasterCard and Discover. One particular challenge is the addition of fees outside of traditional interchange, such as the new Visa Transaction Integrity Fee and Fixed Acquirer Network Fee.

These new fees make it challenging to use discount (or tiered) pricing for merchants because these fees must be accounted for in addition to interchange. One approach is to use interchange plus (or pass through) pricing instead. However, many merchants, ISOs, and agents prefer discount pricing because the fixed rates are easier for them to understand.

Clearent’s new Discount Plus pricing option is a hybrid of the two major methods, offering the best of both worlds to its credit card processing customers. With this new option, card association assessments and fees – excluding regular interchange – are passed through to the merchant at cost, in addition to the discount rate. This allows merchants to keep the simplicity of discount pricing while protecting sales agents from the profit-reducing effects of new association fees.

“Many of our ISOs and agents are not sure how to use discount pricing these days due to the dizzying array of new fees and frequent changes,” said Jeff Zimmerman, Vice President of Product Management. “They prefer to use discount pricing for new accounts, but feel that they are forced to use interchange plus pricing in all cases to protect their residual streams from new fees. Our Discount Plus option gives them another tool to help them succeed in a highly competitive market.”

Clearent offers a wide variety of pricing options, including Discount, Discount Plus, Interchange Plus and Interchange Plus Advanced. Clearent sales partners can choose the best pricing option for each opportunity without the burden of complex billing tables and codes.

In the past year, many new regulatory mandates and association changes have presented a considerable challenge to merchant acquirers and payment processors. “A key advantage of our proprietary back-end processing platform is the ability to adapt to these frequent changes,” commented Dan Geraty, CEO. “Our goal is to go above and beyond the mandatory requirements to help our sales partners win in the marketplace. Our flexible system and talented development team enable us to do just that.”

About Clearent

Clearent is a credit card processing company that was built to be different. We combine leading edge technology with a passion for service to help our customers maximize the value of their merchant services program. Clearent provides sales agents, financial institutions and merchants with benefits not available from other providers, such as next day funding with a late cut-off time and unrivaled graphical, web-based reporting. The company has grown in excess of 100 percent for the past four years and now processes over $2.5 billion in annual card volume. To learn more, visit http://www.clearent.com or call 866.205.4721.

Shannon Kohler
Clearent
321.276.7799
Email Information

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/clearent-launches-discount-plus-pricing-credit-card-processing-185622320.html

Posted by admin on May 18, 2012 at 12:03 am under Discount UK.
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Ever since Google rolled out Penguin 1.0 on April 24th, I’ve been heavily analyzing websites that were hit by the update (I’ve now analyzed close to 75 websites hit by Penguin).  Based on my analysis, I have written several posts covering my findings.  In my latest post, An Update from the Over Optimization Front Lines, I explained how important it is for webmasters to know exactly what hit them before taking action.  I know that sounds simple, but I’ve had several companies contact me believing they were hit by Penguin, when in fact, they were hit by Panda.

Panda, Penguin, and The Algorithm Sandwich

After Penguin 1.0 was released, Google also explained that a Panda update was rolled out a few days before Penguin (on 4/19).  Then, to make matters even more confusing, Google rolled out a Panda refresh on 4/27.  To quickly recap, Panda rolled out on 4/19, then Penguin on 4/24, and then a Panda refresh on 4/27.  Yes, that’s essentially an algo sandwich special, with a side of insanity.  As you can imagine, webmasters that aren’t extremely familiar with SEO could very easily think they were hit by Penguin (since that was the primary topic during the time period).

The Danger of Not Knowing

Since Penguin and Panda target two different issues, it’s extremely important to know the exact algorithm update that hit your website.  Panda targets low quality content, thin content, duplicate content, etc., while Penguin targets webspam (and at this point it’s heavily targeting unnatural inbound links).  So, if you incorrectly believe you were hit by Penguin and start addressing links, then you would be wasting your time…  On the flip side, if you incorrectly believe you were hit by Panda and start addressing low quality content, then you could also be wasting your time.

And to make matters worse, both Penguin and Panda will be rolled out periodically.  That means you won’t know if your latest refinements actually made a difference until Pandas and Penguins come knocking on your door again.  And that is exactly why I wrote this post today.  I’ve had several people mistakenly believe they were hit by Penguin, when it was Panda (or vice versa).  And some were already making changes, based on the wrong assessment.  So, don’t prune your links if you were hit by Panda, and don’t gut content if you were hit by Penguin. Know what hit you, and then act.

Working in Google Analytics

1) Check Your Dates

The first thing you should do is launch Google Analytics and drill into Google Organic reporting.  Set the timeframe to April 1st through May 15th.  More on why May is important in a minute.  This will give you a good view of traffic by day during the various algorithm updates.  Remember, Panda was on 4/19, Penguin was on 4/24, and then a Panda refresh rolled out on 4/27.

In the graphs below, you can clearly see that one site was hit by Penguin while the other has been hit by Panda (twice).

A Website Hit by Panda Twice:
A Website hit by Panda Twice
A Website Hit by Penguin:
A Website hit by Penguin

Note: I explained above that you should set your final date to May 15th for a reason.  There has been a lot of chatter recently about another possible Google update.  I first received calls from webmasters on Saturday May, 12th about traffic fluctuations beginning on Friday, May 11th.  Some actually had their traffic bounce back after getting hit by Panda.  Barry Schwartz covered this on Search Engine Roundtable and Google said it was not a Penguin update or a Panda update.  One thing is for sure… there was some type of update.

2) Meeting Panda on a Weekend – Dimension by Keyword and Compare to Past

Now that you know which algorithm update hit you, you can start to determine the keywords that dropped.  Penguin rolled out on a Tuesday, while Panda rolled out on a Thursday, and then followed with a refresh on a Friday!  Since many sites see a natural dip late in the week and on weekends, it’s important to start understanding normal visitor trending, and which keywords potentially were hit.

First, within Google Organic, set the primary dimension to “Keyword”.  This will show you all of the keywords leading to your site from Google Organic during the timeframe.
Dimension by Keyword in Google Analytics

Next, compare the dates after you were hit by Panda or Penguin with a previous timeframe to compare traffic by keyword.  To do this, click the date in the upper right hand corner of the interface and select a timeframe.  If you were hit by Penguin, select 4/24 to 5/15.  If you were hit by Panda, select 4/19 to 5/15.  Then click the checkbox for “compare to past”.  The default comparison will be the number of days immediately prior to the range you selected.  You can change that by selecting new dates to compare, if needed.

Compare to a Previous Timeframe in Google Analytics

You will now be presented with all of the keywords leading traffic to the site, along with the percentage of increase and decrease (compared to the previous timeframe).  How awesome is that?  See a keyword drop by 75%, it probably got hit.  Then you can dimension that keyword by “Landing Page” to see which webpage got hit.  Spend some time here… the insights you glean could be incredibly valuable to your recovery efforts.

The Not So Obvious – Google Webmaster Tools and Filters

Although a lot of webmasters are familiar with Google Analytics, I find there are still many who don’t have Google Webmaster Tools set up.  As I mentioned in my post about Avoiding SEO Disaster During a Website Redesign, it’s essential to have GWT set up for your domains.  There is a wealth of information directly from Google… including messages from the Search Giant about the SEO health of your sites.  And yes, Google Webmaster Tools can help you determine which algorithm update hit your site.

1) Search Query Data

There is a tab in Google Webmaster Tools titled “Traffic” that holds a link for “Search Queries”.  This tab reveals the impressions and clicks for queries that returned your webpages in the search results.  Yes, you can see impression data and click data directly from Google properties.  While Google Analytics relies upon a click to your site, this data shows you how many impressions your content is receiving for queries on Google.  For our purposes, we can see the surge or dip in impressions and clicks as the various algorithm updates rolled out.

As you can imagine, this is a great way to see the impact of a certain algorithm update.  The default view is 30 days back, but you can now select a greater time range (up to 90 days).  Again, let’s check April 1st to May 15th to view impressions and clicks.

A Sample Search Queries Report in Google Webmaster Tools (Unaffected Website):
Google Webmaster Tools Search Query Report

At this point, you can start to identify impression and click issues. If you were hit by Penguin, then you might see a steep drop-off on 4/24, and then lower levels beyond.  If you were hit by Panda, then you might see a steep drop-off on 4/19, and then again on 4/27 (if you were hit by both updates). Here is data I exported from Google Webmaster Tools for a site hit by Panda twice.

Search Query Report for Site Hit by Panda Twice

2) Focus on the Problem – Filter by Web

During my analysis of sites hit by Penguin and Panda, I noticed something interesting in Google Webmaster Tools.  For certain sites, using the filters available helped some webmasters hone in on their problem.  There is a “filters” button in the upper left-hand corner of the Search Queries report.  This lets you filter your results based on a number of criteria.  For our purposes, let’s filter by Google property.  Click the dropdown that’s labeled “Search” and choose “Web”.  That will filter your data by web-only searches, and will exclude Images, Video, Mobile, etc.

How To Filter by Web in Google Webmaster Tools Search Query Report

After doing this, you might see a more pronounced drop during 4/19, 4/24, and 4/27.  It will also enable you to view keywords that dropped from web search without mixing other Google properties in, which can skew the results.  For example, I analyzed several sites that actually received more impressions from Google Images after being hit by Penguin and Panda! Go figure… Removing that data provided a clearer view of the problem.

3) Export Your Data

Although Google Webmaster Tools recently rolled out an update enabling you to view up to 90 days of search query data, you can’t go back further… That means you should export the current data in order to archive it, work with it, and analyze it.  You will notice two buttons labeled “Download this table” and “Download chart data” under the trending graph.  Export your data now.

Summary – You Must Know the Problem in Order to Address It

Based on how Google rolled out Penguin and Panda recently, I’m finding it’s common for webmasters to be confused about which algorithm update hit their websites.  Penguin 1.0 and the latest Panda updates were so close that it’s easy to believe you were hit by one, when in fact, it could have been the other.  Use the techniques I listed in this post to help you determine which update really hit your site.  Then form a plan of attack knowing which cute animal you are dealing with.  Good luck.

 

Article source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/penguin-or-panda-how-to-determine-which-google-algorithm-update-impacted-your-website/43751/

Posted by admin on May 17, 2012 at 6:02 pm under Games.
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