Wednesday, 26 February 2014

How to Seamlessly Include Keywords in Your Web Content

If you're a newbie to internet marketing, you might be wondering, "What the heck is keyword optimization?" It sounds more complex than it is. Basically, keyword optimization is making sure your content contains enough instances of your keywords, which are words or phrases commonly used in search engines to find what you offer. For example, if you're selling real estate in Florida, your keywords may be "florida real estate," "jacksonville florida real estate," "orlando homes for sale," "palm beach houses for sale," etc.

You can find keywords by using keyword research tools and analyzers. This is software that tells you each of the combinations used with a particular keyword, along with how many times the original keyword and its combinations have been used. You can either use paid keyword analyzers, or you can use the popular Google keyword research tool, which is offered for free in the Google AdWords toolset.

How do you use a keyword analyzer tool? They're all the same: You enter in the desired keyword and are given a list of results. Paid keyword analyzers return more specific results, while free ones return more basic information. If you find that your keyword receives a lot of visitors--from 20,000 to 30,000 visitors a month for exact matching terms as a minimum--these are the keywords you may want to consider as part of your keyword optimization strategy.

As you review the keywords, think about how you can break them out into logical, related groups. If your site is fairly new, start with the less competitive terms and build out using longer phrases to get some traffic and conversions.

When you've selected your keywords, you're ready to write your content. Here's where the keyword optimization takes shape. What you need to do is repeat your keyword several times throughout your content. Generally, you want your keyword to appear 2 to 5 percent of the time. For example, if you're writing an article of 500 words, you'll want your keyword to appear at least 10 times but no more than 30.

You might be wondering, "What if the nature of my website can't use keywords that often?" This could be the case for websites with a community theme or those promoting more creative content. You'll have to include separate sections that contain optimized content that still relates to your site. For example, if you're running a site related to "fan fiction," you could create articles that talk about how to create fan fiction (with "fan fiction" being the optimized keyword). Try to get content ideas first by asking your community and reviewing logs and analytics, and build keyword lists into your posts from there. You could also include articles that while not relating to fan fiction could still be of interest to your audience. Example keywords could be writing novels, writing movie scripts and self-publishing.

By including optimized content on a website that would otherwise not contain such content, you get the advantage of self-expression while making sure your site gets seen by search engine bots.

As you write your content, make sure it sounds natural and is enjoyable for visitors. Although the goal is to include your desired keyword 2 to 5 percent of the time, if you use it in a context that's inappropriate, you turn away visitors.

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231333

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Utilizing A Virtual Paralegal In Litigation

The use of Virtual Paralegals in Litigation has risen exponentially over the past 10 + years. Clients are becoming more sophisticated in the use of Paralegals and now routinely ask, when reviewing bills, if a charge for work done by an Attorney could not have been done by a Paralegal at a lower billing rate.

Most large firms have highly experienced Paralegals who manage cases under the supervision and guidance of the partner in charge. These Virtual Paralegals are responsible for overseeing and creating the structure and protocols for the case from document organization and productions, to witness files, and trial preparation and assistance.

Many smaller firms and sole practitioners are not in a position to have on staff a career Paralegal with this level of experience. However, the need for this level of assistance is still there for small firms and sole practitioners. This is where a highly experienced Virtual Paralegal can enhance the attorneys practice and add value and cost efficiency for the client.

Utilizing the Virtual Litigation Paralegal

The following are a just a few of the ways a highly experienced Virtual Litigation Paralegal can enhance your practice and give you the edge in a case that the more heavily staffed law firms command.

Motion Practice

Accuracy of legal citation and correct formatting is very important in every filing before the court. The Virtual Paralegal can cite, check and proofread all motions, oppositions, and replies. They can also provide legal research and supporting documents for factual assertions while the attorney drafts the brief and reviews legal research in support of the motion. Our Virtual Paralegals are so experienced they can compose the motions for the attorney saving them even more time. All the attorney would have to do is review the motion, sign, and file.

Research

Factual research for cases can sometimes be time consuming and very costly at attorney billable rates. However, it is the thoroughness in ascertaining the facts surrounding a case that will make or break the presentation before a jury. A Paralegal will provide cost effective and thorough factual research for the client under the guidance of the attorney. This is often the area where the more heavily staffed law firms gain the edge in a case. Using the Virtual Paralegal allows the small firm and/or sole practitioner to achieve the same level of thoroughness while saving the attorney;s time and the client's money.

Expert witness and witness background searches are another area where the Virtual Paralegal can be of great assistance.

Document Organization and Review

These days the cost of scanning documents is almost the same as copying. So when documents are being copied and numbered in response to a request for documents, rather than making that second safety copy set, have them scanned and put on CDs. The CDs can then be sent to the paralegal who can create a searchable database linked to the document images. Once the database is complete, witness files can be organized electronically, chronologies can be developed, and exhibits for motions and trial can be assembled and organized by the paralegal at a different location than the attorney.

These are only small options and areas a Virtual Paralegal can assist a law firm. Contact us today and go over the many different services offered at the most competitive rates in the industry! This is the way of the future. I believe in the next 10 years the majority of Paralegals will be working virtually and there will be very few in-office positions left.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Utilizing-A-Virtual-Paralegal-In-Litigation&id=6470306

Sunday, 23 February 2014

How Social Bookmarking Affects SEO

Search engine optimization is a tricky area of business that all organizations with any kind of online remit need to spend time getting to understand. Social bookmarking is an area of SEO that causes a huge amount of confusion and head scratching. Social bookmarking websites such as Delicious and Reddit can in fact be very powerful platforms that contribute positively to an SEO campaign. Here are 5 reasons why social bookmarking needs to form a part of your SEO strategy.

1.      Fast Site Indexing

Search engine optimization is very often a waiting game. But what about the times when you just don’t have weeks to spare? One way of getting Google to index your site with lightning speed is to engage with social bookmarking platforms. Google and other search engines are crawling these platforms almost constantly. When Google finds links to your content across multiple social bookmarking sites, it will index that content with far greater speed than if the social bookmarks did not exist.

2.      Send Social Signals

The very nature of social bookmarking dictates that social signals are sent out across the expanse of the internet, letting Google know that the content you have produced is worth sharing and bookmarking. As a result, Google is informed that your content is useful for a group of people and your SEO will be improved as a result.

3.      Do-Follow Links

In the game of search engine optimization, a huge amount of focus is put on do-follow links. Do-follow links essentially pass on some SEO power from the linking website, whereas a no-follow link does not. Many people hold the opinion that social bookmarking sites are useless because the backlinks are no-follow links. But this is not always the case. Social bookmarking sites that can provide your business with valuable do-follow links include Digg, Diigo, and Scoop It.

4.      Targeted Traffic

Most business websites operate within a specific niche. When you operate within a niche, having masses of traffic from the four corners of the globe is not necessarily that useful. What is more useful is receiving targeted traffic from the specific demographic that you have a vested interest in. This is where engagement with social bookmarking can help. People who visit your website as a result of social bookmarking will actually be interested in what you have to say. This means that you are likely to gain loyal readers, you will improve your page views, and Google will look favorably upon your new found popularity within a niche.

5.      Boost Your Page Rank

The cumulative effect of the benefits listed above is that you will ultimately have an improved Page Rank. When Google is considering how to rank web pages and websites it takes into account incoming links from sites with impressive domain authorities, social signals spread out across various platforms, and engagement with a particular audience. By refocusing some of your SEO efforts on to social bookmarking you will find that your sites have improved rankings within Google, and that they also climb to the top of search results with greater speed.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/seo/social-bookmarking-affects-seo-0779411#!wIlHd

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Snowden Used Basic Web Scraping Tools In NSA Breach

Edward Snowden, the man behind the explosive leaks on mass surveillance carried out by the National Security Agency and GCHQ, used widely-available web crawlers to grab the data he needed from the US intelligence body.

The reports have caused concern over the NSA’s abilities to prevent insider attacks, as the simple software used should have triggered security warnings.

Whilst working as an NSA contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii, it’s believed he used the crawlers, which usually carry out legitimate searching and indexing of websites, as he went about his day job, according to a senior intelligence official speaking with the New York Times.

Snowden’s insider attack

“We do not believe this was an individual sitting at a machine and downloading this much material in sequence,” the source said.

The insider attack should have been easily detected, especially given Chelsea Manning (then known as Bradley Manning) had made off with US government data three years earlier before she handed it over to WikiLeaks. Manning was said to have used similarly automated techniques to acquire files.

Snowden, who used the scraping technique to make off with 1.7 million files, likely benefitted from working at a contractor rather than inside the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, where better security controls were in place.

He was questioned a number of times about his activities, but explained them away by saying it was simply part of his job as a systems administrator to do network maintenance.

In a new book called “The Snowden Files”, by Guardian correspondent Luke Harding, the author claims Snowden actively sought a job at Booz Allen, as it granted him more security privileges than his previous employer, Dell.

Snowden, in a statement delivered through his lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “It’s ironic that officials are giving classified information to journalists in an effort to discredit me for giving classified information to journalists. The difference is that I did so to inform the public about the government’s actions, and they’re doing so to misinform the public about mine.”

It was previously reported Snowden was able to gain access to various parts of the NSA network after he convinced colleagues to hand over passwords.

Source: http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/snowden-web-crawlers-nsa-insider-attack-138576