Business Articles

Article / Updated 05-31-2022

In web marketing, it’s important to make sure your site is visible. Checking your robots.txt file and meta robots tags is a good place to start. Errors with these can make your site invisible to visitors. Check your robots.txt file Go to www.yoursiteaddress.com/robots.txt . You might get a Page Not Found error. That’s okay for your purposes: A no robots.txt file means you’re not placing any broad limits on what search engines can and can’t index on your site. You might also see something like this: User-agent: * Disallow: /blog.htm This file is called the robots.txt file. It tells search engine crawlers, also known as robots, what to do when they visit your website. In this example, it’s telling all search engines to ignore the blog.htm page. All other pages are searchable. If you want to become a robots.txt geek, visit the Web Robots Page. You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about guiding robots around your site. What you don’t want to see in your robots.txt file is this: Disallow: / This line tells a visiting search engine crawler to ignore every page on your website. A developer may add this line when he is building the site to prevent search engines from crawling it while it’s under construction. If it is left there by accident, your site is invisible to search engines. If your robots.txt file has any Disallow commands in it, check with your webmaster or developer to make sure that a reason exists. Disallow can be used to hide pages that change a lot, hide duplicate content, or keep search engines out of stuff you just don’t want them crawling. Just make sure that you’re not accidentally hiding content they should see. Check for meta robots tags Using the meta robots tag is another way to hide pages from search engines. Go to any page on your website and view the source code. You don’t want to see If the meta robots tag is there, and it contains noindex , nofollow , or both, remove it. You have valid reasons to use this tag: You might want a search engine to ignore this page because it’s a duplicate; you might feel the information on the page is inappropriate for search results; or the developer might have hidden the page during development. If you don’t know the reason, delete the tag. Do not trust your developer to remove the meta robots tag. When he builds your site, he’s working hard, writing code so fast that his fingers smoke. Forgetting to remove that one little line of code is easy when you’re facing a tough deadline and still have 4,000 lines of code to write. Remind your developer!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-12-2022

A well-developed business plan is critical for any start-up business. To develop a thorough business plan, research your customers and competition; avoid mistakes that lead to business failure; and know how to implement a business plan and make it work. Your business plan should include a basic financial statement, all major pieces of a business plan, and information from your business-planning checklist.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-09-2022

Account-based marketing flips the marketing funnel on its head. You start with your best-fit prospects and turn them into resources for both long-term business and new prospects.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-03-2022

Owning and running a small business calls for a variety of skills, perhaps foremost among them organizational. If you’re going to incorporate your business, you need to explore the differences between becoming a C corporation and an S corporation. And if you want to attract investors or even apply for a loan, you’d better be familiar with the key elements of a business plan.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-03-2022

To take your product idea from planning to the market, have a look at how the new product development process works. Also check out product development terms and phrases, so you’re able to understand and contribute at meetings and events.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-28-2022

If you’re considering buying a business, you will need to investigate the company to make an informed decision about the business's valuation. The valuation process involves research and observation — whether the prospective enterprise is operating successfully or is functioning as a troubled company.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-28-2022

The best way — make that the only way — to achieve business success is to have a solid business plan. A business plan is critical to finding a successful course through turbulent times. If you have a really great idea for making money (or doing good with a nonprofit), an effective business plan will help you make the most of it. The following can guide you through some important aspects of putting together and assessing your business plan.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022

In a business environment of complexity and uncertainty, excellent decision-making skills are paramount. Employees, customers, and others touched by a company's actions respond to what they trust — ethical decision-making in business has become a strategic asset. Learn how to communicate decisions effectively, how to make faster and more informed decisions on the fly, and how to incorporate your core values into your decision-making.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022

Before you earn an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree, you can still apply MBA-level knowledge in your career: Be a better business manager by efficiently delegating responsibilities among your employees and successfully rewarding those who do a good job. Hone your design and marketing skills by creating an informative and easy-to-use business website and a brief but clear marketing plan.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-26-2022

A strategic plan is essential for a successful business, and creating a strategic plan that you can actually use is key. Your plan should include certain elements, like mission, values, and vision statements. It should also avoid common pitfalls, like neglecting the specific needs of your organization, so it becomes your road map for success.