Did you believe this? If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably seen a million pages and emails just like this claiming they can do miracles for you on every search engine. They claim everything from having inside information or special relationships with Google and all search engines.

The simple truth is this: no one can guarantee top listings on any search engine, in fact, no one can guarantee that you will ever get listed. So beware of big claims and unethical SEO companies as there are plenty out there.

So how do you get ranked high on major search engines? Let me try to answer that in the simplest way possible without completely confusing you. CONTENT: yes, that’s right… content is still king… the more you try to fool the search engines, the more damage you will do to your rankings. Search engines are getting smarter and have seen every trick in the book pulled by every unethical SEO/SEM company and spammer out there. So don’t fall for the hype and false claims.

Here’s the big search engine secret

Related and well-written content, relevant page titles and meta tag descriptions. So there you have it, the secret is out… if anyone tries to tell you otherwise or convince you otherwise, put your checkbook away and run. Yes, there are other things you can do to help your ranking using the 3 items above and more.

How to improve your chances in search engine rankings:

*** Know your top keywords. Use the Yahoo Keyword Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/?mkt=us&lang=en_US or the Goggle Sandbox https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd =KeywordSandbox to find what users actually type into search engines to find sites like yours. Once you have all your main keywords, don’t lose them… you’ll use them over and over again.

*** Use your main keywords in the content of your pages, in the titles of your pages and in the descriptions of your partner tags. I don’t mean to use pages that are full of keywords, use them in Real Sentences. Pages that are nothing more than keywords will hurt you in search engines, this is called keyword stuffing, and it will hurt your rankings or worse, get your site removed or banned from search engines. Just take your current site content and use your main keywords in the appropriate places where they make sense in actual sentences.

*** Don’t overuse keywords or try to use too many on a single page. Having your main keyword in the title, description, and a couple of times in the page content is usually enough. Do this for each page of your site by optimizing it for the topic of that particular page using the relevant keywords from your research. I see so many sites with the same Title and Meta Descriptions on every page. Make sure yours are different.

*** Get as many high value links as possible. The best way to determine high value links is to install the Google Toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com/ and use Google Page Rank to determine link value. You can also use our public relations tool at http://www.i4market.com/tools/rankcheck.html. The higher the rank, the better. You may have to pay for links on PR7 or higher sites, but don’t pay too much. You can also use Alexa Traffic Rank or its toolbar: http://www.alexa.com/. The more high-value links you have, the better your search engine popularity will be.

*** Install link exchange software… but be selective about which link exchanges you approve.

*** Add relevant value-added content to your site, such as articles, news, blogs or tools related to your business or industry. This will increase your search engine saturation. A site with 100 pages of good quality content has a much better chance of being found than a site with only 10 pages.

*** Use Google XML Site Maps or find a company that will create one for you. http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/docs/en/about.html

*** Offer a sitemap to your users with links pointing to the important parts of your site. If your sitemap has more than 100 links, split the sitemap into separate pages.

*** Try using text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. Search engines do not recognize text contained in images or flash content. If you must use images, always use the Alt tag to describe the link.

*** Check for broken links and correct HTML.

*** If you choose to use dynamic pages (ie the URL contains a “?” character), please note that not all search engine spiders crawl dynamic pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few. Please do not use “&id=” as a parameter in your URLs, as Google does not include these pages.

*** Keep links on a given page to a reasonable number (less than 100).

*** Use the robots.txt file on your web server. This file tells crawlers which directories can and cannot be crawled. Make sure it’s up to date for your site so you don’t accidentally block spiders from the content you want to include.

*** Understand the difference between a search engine and a directory. A search engine uses crawling technology and will look for new sites on the Web. Directories won’t search for you and you’ll have to tell them about your new site manually.

*** Check your keywords periodically. There are thousands of ways to search for the same thing, search patterns change from time to time. You’ll want to keep up with those changes.

***Submit your site to search engines if it has never been submitted or does not appear on that particular engine. Most search engines still have free submission for “Natural Listings”, but they may not be easy to find. You can find the Google ADD URL here http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl

*** Submit your site to directories, including Yahoo! and DMOZ. DMOZ http://www.dmoz.org/ is the Open Directory Project and is used to power thousands of other sites and directories. Inclusion in this directory gives you links to thousands of other sites. DMOZ is also the directory that Google uses. http://directory.google.com/

WHAT NOT TO DO.

— Do not use hidden text or links

— Do not use gateways or gateway pages.

— Do not use pages that redirect users to other places.

— Do not use any kind of cloaking technology, no matter how good it sounds. It may work for a short time, but they will catch you.

— Do not use Flash content for important information. Flash is a completely invisible application to most search engines. Flash is good for animations and other page elements, not for an entire site unless it also has an html version.

— Do not use misleading or overly repeated words

— Don’t use bait and switch tactics…they don’t work.

— Do not use duplicate sites or pages

— Stay away from Free For All or Link Farms schemes as these will only hurt you.

There are a lot of things that affect your ranking, other than the content on your pages, so DO NOT get hung up on being #1 – you may never get there no matter what you do. Your time is better spent operating your business in areas over which you have more control.

Following the above guidelines will give you the best results your site will achieve. That’s not to say there isn’t more you can do, but these are the main things that will affect your ranking in the SERPs (search engine result pages). The internet occupies a huge place and technology changes all the time, as do search engines – a site that is #1 today could be #1001 tomorrow.

You can try to do all of this yourself or you can hire a company that specializes in SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing), however be warned, there are many out there that will take you out of your money quickly and they will leave you with little to no results. We suggest that you take some advice from Google regarding the selection of an SEO company for your business. http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/seo.html

Above all, remember this, THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES on any type of marketing campaign, whether on the web, in print, on TV or radio. So spend wisely and select your marketing company wisely!

Advertising

You can create the best looking site on the web, but what good is it if no one can find it? This is where advertising and promotion comes in. By promoting your site on the right channels online, you will see that it takes a little muscle and a lot of knowledge to make the public aware of your products or services.

There are a few ways to advertise your site on the internet such as paid search (PPC) which will basically generate instant traffic, but again, you have to pay for it. If you want instant visitors to your site, this may be the best option at the time for you.

SEO and social advertising are usually the free options, but it takes much longer to find your keywords organically within your chosen market. If you want to attract visitors who are interested in your brand, you’ll need to target high-traffic channels and high PA/DA sites that already have an enormous amount of traffic.

Writing content on Web 2.0 profile sites is another form of advertising. Be sure to write long content (1000-1500 words) and use meta descriptions and internal link further external links to promote other pages on and off your website. On-page content optimization is great for SEO and will help boost not only your website traffic through organic search, but also your Page Rank on Google.

social marketing

You can have the best looking site in your market, but unless you market it so users can find you, what’s the point? Without a doubt, one of the best and cheapest ways to increase traffic to your website is to produce content for the website and then share it on social media channels.

Use as many social media pages as you can to market your content… for free! Facebook and Twitter are the obvious choices from the start because they are widely used and have millions of users.

Content marketing is all about making your headlines and titles short and snappy so that people click on the link provided to view your content right away. Headlines drive traffic, or let me tell you, the right headline will drive traffic. You have to reach maximum interest for a visitor to want to know more about the post.

The theme should be clear and easy to read with great graphics and a CTA (call to action) if you want them to click on the backlink that leads to your website. Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Vimeo, and YouTube are great for promoting products through infographics, images, or videos. Don’t forget the title and description! This is what grabs your attention in the first place. Who knows, your content may even go viral!

LinkedIn is the largest professional social network on the Internet today, so don’t forget this medium when looking for good places to post your content. Your LinkedIn profile will get noticed and all your posts will eventually get website traffic due to the links they contain. It’s all about posting quality content on a regular basis to grow your following. As soon as you write new articles, your followers will be notified and they will see your content.

Also remember to vary the length of each post and mix it up and write about things that people are really interested in or looking for a solution to. There are literally thousands of people every day in North America who Google your services and/or products online. They search for specific keywords, so make sure they find your site and not your competitor’s.

guest blog

Yes, guest blogging is alive and well, and as long as it’s in your “related market,” you won’t be penalized by search engines for promoting your website in this way.

Posting content on related websites will increase traffic to your site or blog. It will help build brand awareness and drive traffic and sales in the process. There are rules for guest blogging, so be sure to keep the topic in a related context and only provide one or two links to your money site, home page, or services page.

If you don’t follow Google’s Best Practices Guide when posting to other blogs, you may be penalized, so be careful and proceed accordingly.

There is another way to guest blog, which is to have other people post content on your site. Again, this has to be related to the niche you are already in. Linking to another page with related content is often seen as a good thing in the eyes of search engines and you can even earn valuable page rank points for your efforts. When it comes down to it, make sure all articles and blog posts are quality content, not spam in nature. You will be penalized for any low-quality content or massive backlink tactics around the web, so be careful when guest writing.

Target the right keywords

You may need to hire a local SEO company for information on how to target keywords for your market. The company will first do an SEO analysis of your website to determine how well it is optimized for search engines, and then create a list of keywords to use in an upcoming SEO campaign for your brand. Remember, you want to be found organically in search engines for your products and services, in your chosen market, for your specific set of keywords.

Some of these keywords may be just a one or two word phrase, while others may be long-tail keywords. These types of long-tail keywords are the ones that represent a large percentage of daily searches on Google. People write what comes to mind at the moment, looking for a product in your market. Guess what? They will find your product if your site is optimized using the right keywords for your brand.

Get a local SEO service company to do a free SEO analysis of your website, just as a starting point. This part will cost you nothing and will let you know if you need to hire someone to fix the on-page SEO of your site.

Web optimization for mobile devices

More and more internet browsing is done these days on mobile phones. Years ago, it was mostly done on desktop PCs and Mac computers, but those days are long gone.

People want a quick way to search for products, services, restaurants, or book a tuna boat in PEI. They want to respond fast and they want it now. That’s where search on a smartphone comes into play.

Basically everyone has some sort of iPhone or Android phone these days with a data plan so they can always have the internet on hand in case they need it. That being said, as a web developer, you better make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices of all shapes and sizes. Your website should be accessible with easy to read content.

Search engines have adapted their algorithms to award points for responsive design. In fact, in the last six months since the last Google update, if your site is not optimized for mobile devices, you will receive a penalty, or that or not, and positive ticks.

A word to the wise: make sure your visitors can find you on the web and view your business website on any smartphone, iPad, or Samsung device. You’ll earn valuable Google page rank points, and you’ll also get more website traffic and possibly more sales in the process.

fast loading website

You will get points from Google and other major search engines like Bing and Yahoo if your site loads quickly. Who wants to spend 20-30 seconds for any website to load?

Usually, large images or blocks of code will cause your page to load slowly, causing visitors to leave quickly before the first page loads. This is what they call the “bounce rate.” Your bounce rate will be high, probably over 50%, if your site is not designed to load quickly.

Check out all the header graphics and other photos and videos on their front page. Are they all necessary? What’s its purpose? Are they in the lowest possible resolution so that they not only look good, but your page loads faster because of it?

Optimize your pages, technically, so that your site performs well and the site not only loads faster, but users stay longer on your site to view your products or services. Your bounce rate will decrease and your website traffic and sales will increase, conversely. Check all your third party plugins for SEO and social sharing. Are they all working fine and are they producing errors? Consult with an SEO professional if you are not sure.

Let’s first take a quick look at the criteria you’re using digital marketing for, which are necessary to narrow down the list of channels you need to put your marketing strategy into action:

1. Company objectives

Get the word out: If your current offline efforts don’t match how your competitors are growing in popularity, this is a good goal to assess how digital channels can be leveraged to close that gap.

Your USP: Your target audience needs to know about your products or services, and the differentiators that separate you from another ‘me too’ player in the marketplace. the goal is to solve customer problems for which they are looking for solutions

Traffic and Sales – Probably the most important reason, placed last to flow as a reason after branding and USP promotion, driving traffic and creating a sustainable sales funnel.

2. Client objectives

After the analysis of your customer’s cadence, that is, their browsing habits or the channels in which they are most present, start to identify the channels that would serve the most to target your audience.

3. Budget estimates

Since marketing is a cost-intensive segment, it’s great to have a ballpark figure for the budget you’ll spend on your final digital channel strategy.

4. Talent skills

Having a mix of domain-specific developers, designers, and resources for search or social channel marketing should be considered before choosing your channel mix.

With the above goals that are central to your business idea now in place, the darkness over which channel to adopt has cleared up a bit.

Doing your preliminary research through expert articles like these gives you a good head start before you become the leader of one of the best digital marketing channels, who will try to hook you to their services, usually even if it’s not the best option.

The most popular channels are listed below, taking into account generic marketing direction and typical goals organizations have.

This rule of thumb of measuring what’s best according to the majority of companies adopted should give you enough reason to find the best suite, but also explore channels specific to your industry, such as classifieds for real estate aggregators or a search engine. hospitality that caters to your target audience.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

This is the domain term of having your brand present on relevant search results pages through a paid exchange with reputable search engines like Google or Bing. However, if you have heard of Pay Per Click and not SEM, it is because it is one of the main features of SEM that has gained popularity.

For relevant keywords or search phrases that your target audience might enter into their search for solutions that you can perfectly match, search engines like Google offer a SEM tool like AdWords to bid and rank for your brand link or product thumbnail. on ‘organic’ search results (more on ‘organic’ in a moment). When prospects click your brand’s ads, you pay Google.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Michael Hyatt talks about how his social media pages on Facebook or Twitter are embassies, where he has temporary land on someone else’s property, while his website is a home base, where he has ultimate control.

Using a natural way of optimizing your website through things like keywords and meta tags is the best way to get your website up the search engine results pages (SERPs). A common user behavior is to generally trust a written news article a little more than you would an advertisement.

So, more than paying and branding with a keyword, refining your SEO strategy to get your site to #1. #1 or no. #2 for your target audience is a great sales conversion method.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social networks have opened up consumers to have ongoing dialogues with their favorite brands. There is hardly any other medium that can guarantee as much engagement as social media does.

Almost every organization, like SEO, has an SMM strategy to promote their offers.

But getting the right media platform is critical. While Twitter may be great for branding, it may not be great with lead generation or targeting, which a more goal-oriented platform like Facebook might offer.

Display and affiliate advertising

The images, videos or pop-ups you see on the websites you visit are part of the display advertising offer. A display network typically consists of websites that are open to display your ads to your audience.

The main business model today runs on display advertising, as free websites like a blog typically make money through revenue sharing with the display network.

The most popular networks include Google Display Network or Facebook Audience Network. The advertiser pays a commission to the network and the publisher when prospects click and interact with the ad. Affiliate marketing, on the other hand, is performance based where an advertiser typically shares a portion of the revenue or country only when a sale is made, not when a click occurs.

There are a host of other channels, including ones that rely on emerging technologies like podcasts, advertising through smart home speakers like the Echo dot.

In fact, around 50 Echo devices ship every minute, making it the next new platform for the best to compete on.

Using the aforementioned channels in line with your business goals, whether it’s email marketing or public relations, in line with your business goals, there’s no stopping the kind of possibilities you can experiment with and incorporate.

Find out the best mix of channels or sub-channels that can deliver the products to bring your places of business, and you’re on the road to great digital marketing for your business.

Many people tell me they just don’t have time to get organized. As the old saying goes, you will always find time to do what you want to do. I am a firm believer that we can find at least an extra hour each day to carve out time to make our lives healthier.

I’ve found that breaking the TV habit can buy you at least an hour a day, if not more, to do the things that will help make your life easier.

April is National TV Turn Off Week, when Americans are encouraged to hide the remote and find other things to do.

Why not find out how much time your family spends watching television each week, and then use that time to make life easier and less cluttered?

You know you watch too much TV when:

• You’re looking forward to more and more commercials so you can do more.
• You’ve seen all the reruns.
• When you have more than one TV.
• All its furniture is arranged to face the direction of the television.
• The television is your dinner guest every night and meals are planned around your favorite shows.
• You have pale, pasty skin.
• You get upset if the phone rings during your favorite shows.
• When you’re constantly looking for the remote.
• You only use your VCR in playback mode to rent videos instead of recording shows to watch at your convenience, and you are a slave to the programming.
• You must have everything within easy reach of your Lazy Boy recliner
• You can’t imagine life without television.

I thought the following quote was very exciting.

“The media works in a very similar way to drugs and alcohol, whether one considers them addictive or not.” –Taylor Stoehr, University of Massachusetts.

Being honest about the role of television in your life and the life of your family will help you gain perspective on what’s important and how much time you really have.

India has more phones than people, a fact that has become enough of a motivation for smartphone companies to come up with phones that cost less. Phones made by Gionee and low-end phones like Moto E and Nokia 520 offer high-end Android and Windows software along with a flawless graphical user interface. But where there is cost reduction, a reduction in features and hardware follows. While a techie would rather talk about RAM and processor speeds, PentaGist brings you the aftermath of the one common feature most of these phones lack, a FRONT CAMERA!

5. Face unlock

Got too much data on your phone that you don’t want your friends to see? Messages you don’t want your mom to see? Gossip you don’t want your roommate to read? Or do you just want to protect your phone from “friend hijacking”? If I were you, I would download App Lock, or Smart Lock or any of the hundreds of locks in the app store. But this has no novelty value, compared to the fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5S and the facial recognition lock on Samsung phones. So Crisis #1 – No front camera? Without using face to unlock phone.

4. Video podcasts

Gone are the days when people would set up a video camera or webcam, complete with a bulky microphone and headphones, to upload a sports podcast. Today, it’s as simple as picking up the phone and talking to the device…and you’re done! The video is ready to edit. Too bad if you want to become a YouTube or iTunes sensation AND you don’t have enough money to pay for the equipment AND you don’t have a phone with a front camera. It’s time to start saving money for a better smartphone!

3. Mirror! Mirror!

Within that four-second elevator ride to her third-floor classroom, her smartphone’s front-facing camera gives her plenty of time to check her face and make sure her makeup and hair are on point. And just when we thought the camera was enough, app developers introduced apps with filters so you can admire yourself even more during those gaps in time. For those of us without a front-facing camera, all we have is an app store notification saying “This app is not available for your device,” along with desperate attempts to find a mirror.

2. “I can’t use Skype right now”

Normally, people with smartphones cannot video chat for reasons like low battery or slow internet speed. For people with smartphones, but without front cameras, another addition to the list, the most important one, is: “I don’t have a front camera!”. You end up waiting for hours until you can come home and turn on your laptop so you can talk to your friend (or someone else special!) who lives 1000 miles away.

1. “I bought a new phone, but first let me click a selfie! Oh wait a sec…”

Call it disorder, call it mental illness, call it addiction, call it whatever you want! Clicking selfies is the trend. If “selfie” can be the word of the year, we sure know how much time people spend clicking photos of themselves and fanatically uploading them to Snapchat and Instagram. And what’s more… if a person without a front camera gets addicted to clicking selfies, they’ll probably end up clicking at least half a dozen photos on the main camera before finally getting a picture that sounds symmetrical, not blurry. . And with the right lighting.

If you’re one of the people who has a phone without a secondary camera, you can definitely relate to these 5 crises, which your other friends might mock, put down, and if you’re lucky, ignore. Feel free to leave a comment and share your experiences with our readers.

Rubik’s cube was just the beginning. Then came the Cabbage Patch Kids (and Garbage Pail Kids), Trivial Pursuit, Transformers, Barney, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, My Little Pony, Beanie Babies, and Pokemon, with many more on the way. One main offer per year. They went viral before it meant anything. The debate has always been, “did marketers force us to use these products or did consumers go out in full force on their own without the help of commercials?” Marketing geniuses, when they’re lucky, like to point to their own efforts, otherwise how would they get the jobs? Consumers say they made the decision themselves. It’s probably a combination of the two, with a bit more emphasis on marketing influences.

Thus we come to the new Christmas season. New toys. New tricks. New products. “Which of these new toys will go viral?” is the multi-billion dollar question you’d love to know the answer to. Even if they got a product right for a year, they might retire tomorrow.

Two toys from the 2016 shopping season appear to be making a resurgence in the 2017 market: Fingerlings and Hatchimals.

Fingerlings are essentially finger puppets that wrap around your finger. They are small, cute and will be fun for children under the age of seven or eight. Maybe there will even be a branch for parents like My Little Pony had her Bronies. Yes, let’s hope not.

Hatchimal creatures first start inside a large egg. When your child plays with the egg long enough, it hatches into a furry creature. But it doesn’t end there. She talks and walks and dances. Your child needs to be able to nurture you through the infant, toddler, and toddler stages. (Sorry, no Teen or Adult stages)

So, you’re buying a pig on a push, so to speak, it hatches and needs to be cared for like the Tamagotchi digital pets of a few years ago. This year’s offer is called Surprise! You’ll get two eggs for the price of probably one and a half. Double the fun at less than double the cost. However, to be fair, they are cute little creatures and your kids could spend a lot of time with them.

Marketers seem to be pushing these two toys this year, but no one knows which toy will dominate the market. Actually, the market is ripe for three or four viral toys.

Children have been fascinated by pirates and treasure hunts since pirates first appeared. And a pirate-themed kids’ party, especially with a treasure hunt, can be one of the most successful parties you’ll ever have, especially if you put some time and effort into coming up with some great pirate party ideas for kids.

Some specific items will be needed to pull off this party, but some organizational skills will go a long way when the day of the big party rolls around. Of course, any time children are involved, you have to plan for the unexpected. Once you do this, a pirate life really can be for you.

You can start with the right invitations. A really cool invitation starts with a pirate map. You can let “x” mark the place for your party. Print the date and time and let everyone know to dress up in their best pirate outfit. Knowing that you are going to have a pirate theme well in advance gives everyone the opportunity to choose their best pirate outfit. A good rhyme can finish off the invitation… something like “ho um, a bottle of rum, Jason’s 9th birthday and we’ll have a great time”.

Decorations can be easy for a pirate’s birthday party. You want your area to look as much like a pirate ship as possible. A pirate birthday party is best held outdoors whenever possible. This way, you can find great places to bury treasure for your treasure hunt. Of course, if you can’t do it outdoors, you’ll have to get a little more creative indoors.

There are almost unlimited games for pirate-themed parties. The best activity, of course, is the treasure hunt. Start by handing out clues by explaining that there is a treasure map that you have divided into 4 pieces. The first track will point to the first piece, and that will have a special track for the next piece, and so on. While all the kids go on the scavenger hunt, you’ll have time to prepare snacks.

After the kids have all the pieces on the map, they can go on a real pirate treasure hunt to find the buried treasure. You can do an individual hunt or divide the children into teams. Don’t forget to peg the pirate and “walk the plank” for the younger kids, of course, assuming you have a pool and all the kids can swim.

These are just a few ideas for pirate-themed parties. Just take some time to think about it and you will think of many more things. Just make sure your little “pirate” has a day to remember.

For parents of minor children who want to know what ALL the options are when thinking about getting divorced, listen up. A mind works best, like a parachute, when it is open. There are very creative ways to divide the property and share the children if both parties look at the prize: the well-being of the children. They didn’t ask for this drama and it’s possible to protect them if you two work on it. The idea of ​​”working on it” may sound strange to a couple who is about to break up simply because their relationship isn’t “working out,” but if they have children together, their work will never be done. There will be weddings and grandchildren and vacations for the rest of your life. If you start World War 3 now, with the kids caught in the middle, they’ll have to do a lot of ducking and cover while your verbal bullets whiz over their heads.

Take a step back and focus on the children. Regardless of perceived mistakes that have or have not happened to you, this is where you are right now and playing the blame game may make you feel better, but it is not productive. A little rational thinking instead of falling victim to your own feelings is what is most needed right now. The more you focus on anger, the more anger you will feel. Now focus on the children. Who has been the primary caretaker? If he’s been a stay-at-home mom or a parent, guess what, he’ll probably have to go back to work because he won’t muster enough support to continue living the life he’s been accused of. So if you’re both working, then you really have a chance to see a joint custody situation. It’s hard raising a child alone. Sometimes you really need a break for your own good.

5/2 2/5. This is a very popular child cast plan that gives children a consistency that is dependent. One parent always takes Monday and Tuesday while the other parent always takes Wednesday and Thursday and weekends come and go. This means that you will never be away from the child for more than 5 days at a time. Sometimes the weekend goes to Monday/Tuesday and sometimes it goes to Wednesday/Thursday. Having a lot of time with and without the kids allows you to plan a personal and work life that many people enjoy.

On the financial side, if you have a bitter, uncooperative, self-employed spouse, try to gather support. It’s impossible unless they feel like paying you. This is going to be a fight to the finish and you will probably never collect what you are owed. The last thing you want is to go to war with someone like that. So now we talk about the most important decision you will ever make. What kind of divorce do you want? Some people want to go with their guns on. There are a LOT of attorneys who love clients like this because they know they can make a lot of money off of you. But if you have a self-employed spouse, you NEED their cooperation. You know what your grandmother used to say about catching more flies with honey. A lengthy, costly, and contentious divorce will not produce a viable outcome when the party owing support is self-employed. They will put in the effort and do so much creative bookkeeping that you will end up paying them.

We create our lives from our intention. That may sound counterintuitive. You didn’t intend for your marriage to end, did you? Good intention is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. If you both intend to break up with as much cooperation and generosity as possible, you will BOTH be better off financially and emotionally. I always tell people the same thing, you can split the pie two or four ways. How do you get more? When you use divorce mediation, you eliminate attorneys. The average fee in California, when both parties have their own attorneys, is $20,000 each, but the truth is that the more you have to lose, the higher your fee will be. California divorce lawyers are the only types of lawyers whose fees are protected by the equity in your home. They KNOW they are being paid. Do you think the case will take longer or be resolved quickly when you have a lot of assets? Human nature being what it is, certain lawyers will make sure the case doesn’t settle until there is nothing left to fight about. For more details, read Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Nothing has changed since the 19th century.

The vast majority of people know what they have. There are no hidden Swiss bank accounts in most divorce cases; however, attorneys will spend thousands of dollars to uncover, take depositions, and serve subpoenas. Why buy more than you need? Would you do that with a house or a car? Why would I do it with a divorce? I’m not saying mediation is for everyone, but if the two of you are decent people who just want to date, no one is trying to hurt the other, and you’re both honest and trustworthy about money with enough honor to keep your word, then you’re the one. perfect client for mediation.

Divorce is a challenging transition, but an experienced mediator will help you in a way that is peaceful and respectful of both of you. Mediation prices are determined by experience and where you are, so make several calls, interview several mediators to ensure you are fully informed. In my own practice, the whole process, on average, takes 4-7 hours, but there is some homework that needs to be done before working with me. Ask the mediator what percentage of his cases are settled and how many meetings he took. In California, the average cost when both parties have their own lawyer is $40,000, so what the mediator charges will be a small fraction of that. The financial benefits of mediation are obvious, but more importantly, you will feel comfortable enough with your spouse to co-parent your children. This is the best gift you can give your children. I should know, I was one of those kids caught in the middle. That’s why I do what I do. Using mediation instead of litigation brings some sanity back to the divorce process because the adversarial system destroys families. So ask yourself, what kind of divorce do you want? Peaceful divorce is an idea whose time has come.

A large number of small businesses have been affected in recent years. Many discontinued their marketing entirely. Some were cut back a lot, but continued to do what they had been doing for years on a smaller scale.

Now that the economy is improving, those old ways just aren’t working! Yellow pages, newspaper ads – that’s not how people find you anymore. Local people find your local business online through Google (we know that, right?). And that means professional services, trades, restaurants, retail, health and beauty services, you name it. The Internet is the future, but I keep running into small businesses and nonprofits that just aren’t “there” the way they should be.

In a recent teleseminar I attended with business coach and online marketer Kevin Wilke, I learned the staggering statistics that:

• $2.6 billion per month in online local search sales results for local businesses

• 83% of shoppers search for a local business online before visiting the business.

• 98% of buyers choose a business that appears in a Google search (I mean, really, when was the last time you landed on page 3?).

Chances are, you’re already paying for marketing that doesn’t work the way you’d like.

And that’s where we can help. We can provide a wealth of content and strategy that can put you “top of mind” online.

What does this have to do with HISTORY?

Let’s go back to my title.

Healthy local small businesses = healthy local history

• The more money you earn, the more you can be generous in your community.

• Most of the small business owners I know are “from here” and love their local history. If they are “from afar”, they have chosen to locate in a historic community for a reason.

• As part of an online strategy, getting involved with local history can attract media attention through a public relations campaign (all online), a more strategic website, lots of content, a special event, an appearance at an event, and the list goes on. . Online and offline, but everything offline IS online.

As a small business owner or director of a non-profit organization, you don’t and shouldn’t do it yourself, and that’s what stops most people. They think so, that they don’t have time or that it’s too much to learn right now. I understand!

But how much business is being lost by NOT being easily found through Google searches?

How much is your local community missing out on by not hearing from you and enjoying your success and generosity?