Feed: Start-Up Guide - AggScore: 80.8

I just saw this article on Sphinn about '20+ Must-Have FireFox Search Plugins for SEOs' by Ann Smarty over at Search Engine Journal.  This is a pretty comprehensive list of search engine plugins to add to the toolbar. 

I am going to be adding a few from this list, particularly:
1. Whois Look-Up
2. Google unpersonalized search
3. Del.icio.us
4. Smart Page Rank
5. Quantcast
6. TinyURL

Easthampton Dollar has been open for a month and a half so far and things seem to be going great.  If you have some free time check out the website and photo gallery.  I plan to post more in depth soon about the different lessons learned and resources used to open the store.

Looking for discounts and coupons on VistaPrint products?  Check out VistaPrint Coupons

I recently wrote about leveraging the news for SEM returns in DMNews.  You can find the article online here.

I recently received a Lexmark Z1420 wireless printer and it is a great printer.  I have purchased numerous Lexmark printers in the past and I am always happy with their performance and quality.  However, this was my first wireless printer.  The set up was incredibly easy and the CD that came with it worked flawlessly on all the laptops in the house (Apple, IBM, and Dell) across windows, linux, and osx.  We set the printer up in the corner of our picture window in our living room.  We all work in various areas of the house (living room, dining room table, bedrooms, etc.) so having the printer in a centralized area without having to connect wires constantly to print documents is amazing.  You can also get this printer for under $100 on many internet retailers.  A quick search on Google for "lexmark z1420" will show you some affordable ads from ecommerce sites. 

I'm planning on spending more time blogging now and focusing mostly on areas where I can provide the most valuable knowledge, mostly internet marketing.  In particular, pay per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) as well as a few other aspects of internet marketing.  I am also working on a traditional retail venture so I will probably be posting from time to time on lessons learned while opening a retail store. 

In the meantime, here are some special coupon codes feel free to share them or post on your own blogs, forums, etc.
Get 10 Free - Holiday Cards or Christmas Cards - use coupon code 'FreeHoliday' at checkout
One Free Custom Personalized Pen - use coupon code 'FreePen07' at checkout
One Free Photo Printed Wall Calendar - use coupon code 'FreeCalendar07' at checkout

The holidays are right around the corner, which is always a fun and exciting time but also incredibly stressful.  However, this is also an exciting time for anyone that works with selling products to consumers (online, offline, affiliate, pay per click, etc.) as purchases begin to ramp up across almost all consumer good categories. 

A good thing for companies or individuals is to create custom Christmas cards.  Greeting cards are a great way to connect with customers and be sure to design your holiday cards in a way that is relevant and on message, not just salesmanship.  For friends and family (and maybe even sometimes for businesses) photo cards are becoming increasingly more popular as well. 

Business cards are an important part of business.  Whether you use them when networking, selling, or as a marketing tool.

Here are some key tips:

• Use a higher end card stock, a flimsy business card does not help your cause of looking professional
• Save money, buy your business cards from an online printer.
• Make your design stand out, but also clear and easy to read
• Keep it simple, limit the amount of text to the essentials
• Consider using the backside - that is empty real estate you can use to call out a special offer or URL

VistaPrint has put together a series of webinars that features topics and case studies on how to succeed as a small business owner.  The webinar has great information on branding, direct marketing, and common mistakes made by small business owners. 

According to VistaPrint, the webinar includes:
1)Defining your company's identity,
2)Attracting new customers and
3)Increasing repeat business.
Plus you will receive amazing FREE offers to keep your small business on the road to success.

For more information and to sign up visit:  http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/about/list_events.aspx

The dates and times for the webinars are:
September 14th - 1:30 (EST)
September 21st - 1:00 (EST)
September 27th - 1:00 (EST)

Also worth noting, VistaPrint now offers custom wall 2008 calendars and custom promotional pens.

I recently attended the SES Training session in Boston.  I participated in the all day course that was taught by Jennifer Laycock of SearchEngineGuide.  One thing that was interesting was the mix of attendees, ranging from current SEOs, internet marketing managers, marketing generalists, and P.R. representatives.  Jennifer clearly did a great job with planning the course because it was able to provide significant value to anyone, from full time SEO consultants all the way to individuals who have barely ever heard of SEO.  There was some really interesting pieces on copywriting, link building, site navigation and architecture considerations, as well as the impact and ways to leverage social media (i.e. blogs, digg, forums, facebook, etc). 

I was very impressed with the SES group overall and definitely think this is a group whose events are worth attending.