New startups fail for many reasons but more often than not, the most common causes for failure are totally avoidable. In this article I am going to give you in depth knowledge of mistakes to avoid and areas to focus upon to help your company succeed.

Firstly a quick note on my own qualifications for providing such advice. I launched my first company at the age of 21, with a very small 20K GBP overdraft. This was a design, manufacturing and distribution company within the electronics sector. It was a hugely challenging and successful business which grew at its peek to have an annual turnover of 2 million GPB and directly employed more than 30 people, with many many others employed indirectly. In 1998 at 28 and after 7 years of extremely hard work and while still at the top of my sector I decided a change (and rest) was in order and transitioned slowly to the online arena. I have since learned nearly every aspect of the online architecture from building linux servers to programming multiple languages and experimenting with many online business models. I now work freelance for private clients while at the same time running a host of successful enterprises.

The importance of finding the right partners
Internet businesses are unlike any other business in history. Now we have open access to a network of potential partners anywhere in the world who are relatively easy to communicate with and locate. Many look for the lowest costs for obvious reasons though the reality is that more often than not 'cheap' services rarely result in satisfaction but instead frustration and failure. It is imperative to find partners who can help you achieve your goals and paying for quality is well worth it if the end product is satisfaction. (more...)

In the early days it was easy. All you had to do was create a website that was easy enough to navigate and you had yourself a hit. But nowadays websites must have a competitive SEO ranking if they have any hope of being seen.

What is SEO? Well, it is an acronym that stands for search engine optimisation. The process can be a bit complicated and involved, so we will attempt to explain it to you the best way we know how... with an example.

Let's just say that you are searching the internet for an auto mechanic in your home town of Liverpool. You would simply visit your favourite search engine and type in something like, 'Auto Mechanic in Liverpool.' The search engine would then present a results page with a number of relevant listings. Since the first listings are always the most popular ones, it is important to find out how to get top of search engines fast . (more...)

When any new website is established it has to contend with a number of common issues that may prevent it from reaching the public. The first and most important one is search engine optimisation (SEO). Basically, SEO is just a series of tricks and techniques that can help a website receive a higher listing on search engine results' pages.

Why is this important? Because when people perform web searches and they receive the results, they almost always visit the top rated websites, i.e., the ones at the top of the page, first. These rankings can be improved in a number of ways, but probably the fastest and most effective way is by posting articles that include relevant keywords on your site. Since search engines look for keywords, your ranking will invariably improve if you post the appropriate information on your site.

However, even after all of that there is still something called a sandbox that may scuttle your plans for internet domination. What is a sandbox? We know, it sounds harmless. But the truth is that a sandbox may be all that stands between you and your customers. Essentially, a sandbox is an algorithm that ranks sites on a number of important factors, and one of them is experience. This means that the sandbox tends to discriminate against new websites even if they have high SEO rankings in every other area. How to bypass the Sandbox ? (more...)

When any new website opens its virtual doors for business, owners are often shocked to find that people are simply walking on by? How could this be? After all, they put up the signs, did the requisite promotions and still there are no customers. What's going on?

Would you believe us if we told you it might have something to do with a sandbox? Of course the sandbox is just a nickname for an internet algorithm that assigns websites' SEO rankings, which determines where they appear on a results page. And unfortunately this algorithm is not a big fan of new sites.

In fact, many new websites report that it takes them up to 2 -4 years rank top for competitive terms and for easier terms 6 months plus to improve their SEO ranking even when they have perfectly organised and optimised sites. This is due to the fact that the sandbox prevents new sites from being listed too high before they have completed a probation period of at least a couple of months for easy terms. But for companies that are eager to get things up and running, there are ways around the sandbox. One of the most effective options is to purchase an aged domain. (more...)

To deal with the growing problem of search engine manipulation, companies have been working on new techniques and methods that will help identify the offending sites. One of the most popular new methods is called Trust Rank .

Why is it needed? Unfortunately, many new web pages are actually spam pages that are used to promote a certain product or service and through trickery they receive SEO ranking that they do not deserve. This often results in poor or inaccurate web search where users are directed to sites that they were not looking for. This process also affects legitimate websites that are being deprived of the ranking they rightly deserve.

The problem is that search engines are easy to trick and spam can only be detected manually, by human experts. Of course, it is far too time-consuming and expensive for experts to check these rankings on their own. But since experts are the only people that can detect manipulation, Trust Rank tries to use them in the most effective and affordable way possible. (more...)

Directory links are probably the easiest and most affordable way to promote your website on other sites. There is even something called link exchange where you can exchange website links with other sites for free. However, not all links are equal, which is why it is important to do your research before you exchange or purchase a link.

It is also true that if your website has a pattern of bad links, it may have a negative impact on your SEO rankings. This will almost certainly affect your business, so you must be thorough when checking links.

What do you look for? A good link will always be coded correctly and may even include link text. But directories often prohibit the use of anything other than the specific site name. So, if you post a link with link text it may be removed or it maybe no followed which is a tag applied to the link to stop it passing juice. (more...)

After you have your website up and running, the most important thing is ensuring that other people see it. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to increase website traffic is to use Reciprocal Links . As the name suggests, a reciprocal link is when you have a link to another website on your site and that site has a link to your website. It is a sort of quid pro quo for websites.

The only problem is that many users claim that search engines aren't very fond of reciprocal links. Is this true? That is a difficult question to answer. But what we do know is that search engines find sites that have numerous reciprocal links suspicious.

Perhaps they believe that these websites are really spam sites in disguise and that they are using stratagems and tricks to artificially inflate their SEO ranking. But whatever the reason, most search engines do not trust reciprocal links, especially when a website has lots of them. (more...)

Establishing your own website isn't quite as easy as it used to be. Not only do you have to worry about design, domains and webhosts, but you also must consider search engine optimisation (SEO). Without getting too technical, SEO is really nothing more than a series of simple tricks and techniques that can improve your search engine ranking.

What this means is that when someone searches for related information, the listing for your website will appear near the top of the results page. that is, if you have a high SEO ranking. One of the easiest ways to improve this ranking and to reach more customers is to locate free back links.

What is a back link? Really it is any link that brings traffic to your website. These links are extremely important to search engines that see them as a good measure of the relative importance and popularity of the website. Therefore, the more back links your websites has, the higher its SEO ranking will be. How to get free back links ? (more...)

Social networking sites are the hottest thing on the internet today. Facebook alone has more than 350 million members and is available in nearly every country on earth. And membership to these sites is free. Yes, free! Is it any wonder then why businesses all over the globe are promoting their products and services on these sites?

While it is true that social networking sites were popularisd by children and teenagers, the numbers tell us that many new members are adults. In fact, Facebook recently reported that the fastest growing group is the 35-54 year old segment.

Why is Social Media Marketing perfect for businesses? As we mentioned, they are free, which makes them a godsend for businesses with limited marketing budgets. With these free accounts, companies can communicate with customers, post blogs, videos and even advertisements on personalised member pages. (more...)