Apple iPod and Starbucks Coffee catching on in Asia

Apple iPod and Starbucks Coffee catching on in Asia



It has been two years since I have been in Asia. Last year was a slow overseas travel year for me. I noticed two really important product or company differences this trip. The first one was the number of iPods people were using in Japan. Last time I visited I didn't see any of them. Now they seem to have really taken off. This of course is great for Apple's stock because Asia is just a huge market. Click here for product information on the ipod



The second thing that I noticed was a lot more Starbucks coffee shops. And just like their counter parts in the U.S. they were packed. I always like to joke that Starbucks needs watercooled cash registers because they never stop ringing the cash register. I say Starbucks in China, Tokyo, in the train stations, heck they even have one in the Nissan Tech Center lobby in Japan. Amazing!

Check out this video on Starbucks from Morningstar!




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1. Should you buy a Mac computer?
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Should you buy a Mac computer

Should you buy a Mac computer?
Thinking about buying a Mac computer? They are pretty slick. Check out this video on reasons why you should or shouldn't buy a Mac? The main reason we are thinking about getting a Mac computer is for the creative side. Things like video editing, garage band, and graphics design. My family is really starting to get into these types of applications.

Not sure a Mac is right for you check out the book Mac for Dummies. Mac OS X Leopard For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

We were thinking about putting the iMac in the kitchen which really isn't a problem since everything is intergrated into the monitor. You really only need to plug it in and your are good to go. It connects to our wireless network so we can surf the web. Printing isn't a problem either since we have a wireles print server. I also really like the Mac's commercials were they pick on Windows Vista. Shop for iMac Computer

How to improve your search engine page ranking

How to improve your search engine ranking

I found an interesting article on Keys to search engine visibility over at the MiamiHerald.com. Improving the page rank of websites is one of the first thing that most people ask when they are doing a new web site either for their business or and online business. Here is what the article said along with my comments.

Good search engine results are vital to the success of a business. If a company is struggling to get traffic to its site, perhaps there is a need to seek out a firm that specializes in search engine optimization for websites -- which are natural results from a search engine -- and search engine marketing -- which are the paid ad link results in a search. Andrew Wetzler, president of Boca Raton-based MoreVisibility, spoke to The Miami Herald about what businesses both large and small should keep in mind in order to get the best possible search results for their websites.

This advice generally works for large companies however, if you are starting a brand new business you are probably not going to drop serveral thousands of dollars or even more to hire a search engine consultant. Most of the time you are going to have to do it yourself. I recommend the book SEO in an hour a day. It is easy to read and it gives you the basics on starting out on the search engine optimization trail. This book covers things like:

1. Keywords research
2. Understanding your competion
3. How to develop links to your site.
4. Meta tags
5. Page names

He explained that keys to a successful search are to have strong content, the right keywords, other related sites that link to your site and a site design that does not have too many ''bells and whistles'' such as Flash programming features, so that a search engine can understand the site.

This is good advice and most people don't know this. The number one thing that you can do in your site to increase your website traffic is to add content. When they say content they mean text. Written words is the number one thing. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc do not see anything but text. Keywords, that is what they are looking for?

Q: What trends are you seeing now in search?
A: One of the most interesting things that is gaining momentum is the impact of social search on how companies market online. We do a fair amount of writing of blogs for companies and set the blog up and put all the pieces together properly. The reason that that is important is that blogs by nature are content rich and very targeted to what the subject matter is. The more content that is posted on a continual basis, the greater the likelihood that the site will do well naturally with search engines.

I read an article the other day over at another site about making money online and they described exactly that. Blogs are content rich. Mostly text, the format doesn't really matter. I a lot of cases the formats are the same if you are using a blog like blogger.com. Again keywords are the most important thing. I found a great tool at SEO book which you should check out, it allows you to put in a key word and it gives you as many variations to that word that search engines typically search for.

One of the keys to success in SEO is to target the long tail in key words. Their is an interesting book with the same title, The Long Tail. Basically, the long tail is half of a bell curve in a normal distribution curve. Don't worry about getting to the top of the search engine pages on one key word like 'lawyers" or "attorney". It will be very tough for most people starting out to get to the top of the search engine results page with this type of strategy. However it you have a site that specializes in divorce attorneys in New York specializing in helping men, you might have a better chance in getting good search engine ranking with that site.

Q: What sort of changes have there been in the industry in the last decade?
A: Not only has paid search become more important but also things like analytics, and that's a real scary term for business owners, large or small. It's extremely important that you have an analytics tool in place that can look at the traffic that's coming into your site and see which traffic is converting and which isn't and modify campaigns accordingly. Several years ago, people could only measure by how much traffic did I get and how much money is in the bank, how many sales did I get. Today we can segment so much more efficiently than we ever have before -- which keywords are driving conversions, which landing page is generating a better result, which engine converts better.

This is great advice. Analytics are tools offered by a lot of different sites. I found that Google Analytics to be a great tool. As I mentioned above, keywords are key and so is the long tail, with Google analytics I have found that some of my sites have more than 400 different keywords that people are searching for. With that knowledge you can add additional keyword rich content to your site to help push up your search engine rankings..

How to choose keywords for your website

There are a lot of SEO or Seach Engine Optimization tools out there in the internet. I would recommend the following.

1. SEO Book has a keyword suggestion tool that allows you to find alternative keyword suggestions and even shows you the estimated monthly traffic on each word. This is a great tool and I use it all the time.
2. The other site that is really good for information on SEO is called SEO chat. They have a ton of tools that you can use to optimize keywords.
3. My third suggestion is you read a book called Search Engine Optimization An Hour A Day. It is a great book to help you understand how to build traffic to your site.
   

Top five tips on dealing with Spyware

1. I would start by downloading Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7. It has alot of updates that track and prevent spyware.
2. Additionally you could download the Yahoo ToolBar which has a spyware protection as well.
3. For standalone freeware try Spybot or Adaware.
4. Another step that I have found that really helps, if you know roughly the date when your computer was infected, if you are running Windows XP you can do a system restore at a time a week before when you thought you got the spyware. This will take care of the problem as well.
5. If you find that your computer is really messed up the best thing to do is to back up your data, format the hard drive and then re-install windows.