SEO and Thanksgiving and Social Media

SEO
This week, we looked into Search Engine Optimization. This is utilizing the algorithm and the complex ways Google, Yahoo, and the other search engines' ways of displaying top rated websites. One aspect of search engines utilized the ad-words tools found with Google. This is a paid way to get incorporated into searches. An other, more cheaper, way to increase traffic to a website is search engine optimization. This is finding the principles that allow an increased and more relative search that would bring one's site to the top of the list. A lot of this has to deal with the idea of using the right words, the right links, and the right titles on a webpage. Altogether, the SEO is a simple configuration that looks at various aspects of a website to increase its relevancy in a search engine.

Thanksgiving
Obviously, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Now this is a business post, so I want to emphasize the amount of marketing that has happened so that business are able to have successful Black Friday Sales. Many businesses use Black Friday as a way to increase sales in the last quarter of the year and to be able to start the Christmas/Holiday shopping off to a good start. It is not a bad idea to use the theme of Black Friday for one's advantage. Sure it is a capitalistic way to go through inventory as fast as possible, but it is a great way to put sales, and increase foot traffic. I got stuck in traffic, and have found ways to complain about the problems of Black Friday Shopping, but I found myself wanting to shop and save money.

Social Media
WHAT A COOL TOOL! Something that I have come to enjoy, is the idea of businesses trying to communicate with their consumers better, and finding ways to better their reliability and their brand name. If one wants to be successful, they have to find ways to make existing technology work. I have read posts about how a business was able to tend to a concern or problem that a consumer had. A customer representative contacted the individual and was able to get the problem fixed. So that was the week. Now it is time to prepare for Christmas, and to finish getting this website on foot!

Another Week and Analytics

Another Week
I have been going through some style sheets and templates of various websites and many of them are very nice. This week, I have been finding ways to make my website more than black and white. I find that it is a great website, that it will have great potential. So, as of right now, I have been taking a lot of actions for a facelift. What does that mean? I have been using AMPPS on my computer to create my website. It looks really nice, I just need to add more of my own photos, and more content. I haven't put too much into the website and need to put more content and become better organized. But I am grateful for the next tool that has been introduced.

Google Analytics
WOW! This is a great tool. Just so you know, Google Analytics is a script installed on any website that will analyze the activities of an individual on the website. It records important information that will assist the website developer in knowing the important activities related to the website. Statistics, activities, leads, and actions are recorded for the benefits of the owner and developer.

I feel that this tool will be helpful in the utilization of various elements of a website. When a business understands the moods and activities of a customer, then they will be able to tend to their needs a little better. Every website should have this tool, and I cannot wait for the results of the analytic results on my website. 

AMPPS and Branson

Progress with AMPPS…

     As you may have heard, I got myself learning about MAMP. In simple terms, it is a way of creating a webpage right on your computer, using various aspects of a webhosting site, all on your desktop or laptop. Using this has changed a lot of my approach to website creation. I feel that AMPPS is a great tool and will be very handy. (I possibly could start looking into website creation and use this as a new business tool.)

     But as I have delved into PHP, MySQL, Apache, and the enormous amount of tools for websites, I came to one realization. I like easy. Wordpress has been the tool for me. I like it. It is quite simple. I do like Joomla, but I wish I could put more effort into learning, but I do not have the time right now to do that. But my infatuation of AMPPS has taken a lot of my time. I do not mind though, I am trying to create a start-up and am willing to put a lot of effort into it.

Reminders of the Greats...

     I am quickly reminded of one entrepreneur. Richard Branson. He, throughout his entrepreneurial career, has seen a lot of trials and problems. He spread the Virgin brand very thin and created business ventures that failed. But one thing is for sure, he continues to create and innovate. I hope to be able to accomplish my goals in that manner. I do not feel that this business is going to fail. I do need to look for others for guidance, or it could. I’m learning my lesson fast, and learning it really well. And I intend to utilize what help I can get.

Getting Back to Adwords

This week was about getting back to the Google Adwords tool. I have found this to be very useful in creating the website. There are various ways to utilizing this tool. But what was so great for me was the idea of creating a campaign that could be run on Google's search engine, and have an ad for me for people to see and click on. I do find this to be a vary smart tool since many people use Google as their main source of research.

The process was simple. I had to find words related to the product(s) I was going to be selling on my website. The great thing about Google Adwords is that it shows words that relate relate to the word that I want to use and suggests it. Then, if I want to, I can add it to a campaign that I can start. most of the time Google will give other Adword Groups that already have what I want, or it will give me a list of various items that relate really well with search query that I original started with.

LAMP/MAMP/XAMPP...
Now this is a whole lot of gibberish if you ask me, but I am learning what these are. If you know of anyone that could teach this a little more simply to me, then I am willing to learn. But this could be another way to design and "test" webpages on my computer. I don't know too much about this, but I am loading up on the Youtube video training.

The Structure, The Government's Pay, and the Build

The Structure
Because I have already started a business, I have understood the structures of various businesses. I would want to start off my business as a sole prop. That is, me owning the company as a whole, with the me being the legal entity of the business. I am not separated from the business, I essentially am the business. So if the business were to get sued, I would get sued. This structure is simple and there aren't too many fees related to this business structure.

Later, I would want to organize the company as an LLC with me as president. This organization will create itself as the business entity. There won't be too many troubles with registering the company. It will be a lot easier to establish this organization rather than a corporation.

The Government's Pay
Taxes. That is something that is inevitable with living with this country, but that is another discussion. As of right now, the company is organized as an Sole Prop. And because it is, I will be in charge of paying taxes for myself as well as the business. The business will be taxed based upon its income. Another main tax that is paid is a Sales and Use tax. That will be for any product that I sell that should be taxed.

The Build
This week we find a host, a website builder and someone to use for purchases. I find that this exercise, which is us putting our knowledge to the test, very helpful. If we "theoretically" go over the knowledge, we only learn so much. But because we are doing the steps to build a website, I find that this is a great way to be able to get some sort of site up and running. mpnv.co is the website. I hope to get more helpful sites on the website up.

Building and Hosting

Since two weeks ago, I've done a lot of things to get myself started on the webpage. Throughout the week, here are some of the things that I learned.

Weebly
There are various site builders out there. I have found one that there is one site that I like the best. Weebly.com. There are many features that Weebly has that is very beneficial for a website builder. There are many sites that have this, but I think that Weebly has focused on drag-and-drop feature of webpage elements. This makes something complex, into a simpler way to create a website. Mobile phone apps are also really great. There is an app through Weebly that could make website management easier. Those are some items that I found beneficial with the other added benefits.

WordPress
WordPress is another popular website for building a website. It is a little more difficult using the WordPress services. But with given time, WordPress could offer more functionality than Weebly. It also provides a lot of the same services as Weebly. WordPress was originally created for blogging, but it can be manipulated to accomplish basic website design features.

WebHosting
Another activity that we had accomplished this week was finding a host. We had looked through various web hosts and found features that we liked. I have currently been working with Just Host and have been very pleased with their services. I decided that I would be switching to iPage.com. I feel that there might be an edge with choosing that website than my current host.

Another Semester, Another Course, Continuation in Business Growth

From last semester, I have learned a lot of great lesson of starting a business, and the things that I should do to better myself. Currently, I am now in a web creation course, trying to further the reach of my business to accomplish its goals through the web.

Adwords by Google
This week we went into the the great tool of Adwords. We signed up with Google Adwords, using the Planner tool. For any web business looking for some kind of footing in the online marketing, this was a simple tool to used. As we used keywords and their relationship to the world, we found out the competition rate, the demand, and other related keywords that rank high to the topic on hand. Why is this important? Would you want your business to be exposed with highly searched keywords on a popular search engine? It would be very smart to.

So we looked at that, and used a simple exercise that exposed us to the Google tool.

The Beginnings
We also threw out our business ideas to our other students. We talked about each others ideas and how we can better them. It was a great way to expose our potentially disasterous ideas to comrades so that we can biuld our own confidence in what we are wanting to do.

My idea is a personalized cable used for musicians. They would be used for various applications, but the main application is for the use of audio. I do feel that this business would serve a large consumer base here in Las Vegas, and would be a smart business to do.