Archive: June, 2007

Get the Top Search Ranking on Google For Highly Targeted Keywords

Why this sounds like the holy grail of search engine optimization. What mystic secret could I possibly know? It don’t know if Google’s Local Business Search really counts as a secret. If someone does a search for “plumber Indianapolis”, then Google will still return their normal, natural search results. Above those results, though, they return a list of plumbers with Indianapolis addresses. All you have to do is sign up and confirm your address.

If you are looking for a way to keep the lines of communication open with your existing customers, this feature is great. Let’s face facts; SEO has its complexities. Imagine how exciting it is for someone who is not as comfortable with technology as you or I to be told there is a way to get quality traffic from Google that does not require jumping through all kinds of hoops with your web site. With this information, you’re demonstrating to your clients that you are a knowledgeable and trustworthy resource for using the Internet to help their business.

You can also make recommendations to your clients about getting the most out of their local business listing. Google allows businesses to include coupons with their listing. This can be a printable coupon for brick-and-mortar stores, or it can be a promotional code for e-commerce sites. Either example is a great way to stand apart from the pack.

Early Impressions of CakePHP

This certainly isn’t a comprehensive review of CakePHP. I have a client that wants to use CakePHP so they can support it internally. I’ve just barely scratched the surface, but the whole point of Cake is to allow you to develop something useful on a very short learning curve. Since it is freely available, I thought I’d share my first outing with this rapid development framework for anyone on the fence about giving it a shot.

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Moving Out of the Home Office

This past week I left the comfort of my home for a one-room office 5 minutes from my house. I didn’t enter into this decision lightly, but I did enter into it fairly quickly. I sat down and thought about all the pros and cons for working in a home office versus a more traditional work environment.

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