Annual IB Spring Ball

Hey guys! The annual IB spring ball will be coming up soon. I hope to see some IB alumni there! I know I will be! I’ll be sure to announce dates and times when I know more. Keep your eyes on this space!

Content is Key to Search Engine Visibility and SEO Infographic

Source: http://hosting.ber-art.nl/content-seo-search-engine-visibility/?_tmc=kpxfdSmuUhNezJMz8FElSNGgr8G80BI5H7vUuIyz6Cs

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.

In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

Explores how content is key to search engine visibility on why is Content Good for SEO #Inforgraphic

 

Develop Your Business Networking Skills

Source: http://www.gwinnettnetwork.com/networkingarticles.htm

Learning how to network effectively is a great way to build your business. By taking the time to meet with other businesspeople and discovering how you can help them and they can help you, you can develop relationships that will provide great rewards for you in the future.

Networking is more than just attending Chamber of Commerce meetings, going to local business association mixers, or joining a group such as Business Network International or Powercore. These articles explain how to make the most of your networking time, what the different types of networking groups do, and how you can use the contacts you meet at networking events to grow your business.

As Membership Director for the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, Lisa Zaken has attended hundreds of networking meetings. She shares some effective business networking tips that she has learned over the years.

To be an effective networker, you have to learn how to communicate with other people. Find out why you’ve got to put a personal touch into your networking activities in this article about why Networking is Not a Spreadsheet Activity.

If you’re planning on attending a networking event, there are several things you can do before, during, and after the meeting to increase the odds of Connecting Effectively with Other People.

Networking can bring many benefits, from a sales lead to a new job. By expanding your list of contacts, and following up with them appropriately, you can Make Your Own Networking Luck.

Ever-increasing advertising messages—from TV commercials to email—have gotten to the point where most people don’t even notice them any more. That makes networking and establishing relationships even more important than in the past. Don’t Sell — Connect with Your Prospects.

Networking is about building relationships with other people. It’s something we do every day. This article onRelationship Networking explains how an individual can develop a networking relationship with others, and how companies can develop business relationships with other companies through partnering.

In a closed contact networking group, members are expected to give leads to other members. By following these tips on Getting More Referrals, you can improve the chances of getting referrals that are likely to turn into sales prospects.

Do you approach your networking activities as a series of quick hits that might turn up a lead or prospect for your business, or do you look at your networking activities as an opportunity to build long-term relationships? Find out how positive networking, although it takes more time, will help you meet contacts that can help you over the long term.

Speaker and author Susan RoAne is well known for her networking expertise. She shares networking tips in her article Savvy Networking: Who You Gonna Call?

Business cards are the common currency of business networking. Attend a meeting, and you’re sure to hand out –and receive– several. Follow these tips for Using Business Cards to Market Your Business to make sure you’re getting the most out of them.

How good a networker are you? If you think you know all about business networking, take the short quiz in this article, and learn What Networking Is – and Isn’t.

Are you thinking about joining a networking group? Business networking is about sharing leads and developing relationships with other businesspeople. This article explains the different types of networking groups you can attend.

By attending a leads group, your goal is not to make the group members your clients. Your goal is to turn members into your marketing department, so they will provide you with the names of people they know who could use your services. Follow these strategies for developing relationships with your fellow networkers, and you’ll see referrals increase.

Are you doing everything you need to to make the most of your networking time? Follow these tips to make sure your networking is effective.

One great way to learn to network is to listen to someone who has lots of experience. Pam Fennimore is a member of three different networking groups. She discusses how she gets the most out of networking in each group in this interview.

You’ve gone to a networking event, and you’ve come back with a load of business cards and new contacts. Before you try to turn these contacts into leads, take a look at this article on Networking Mistakes to Avoidduring your follow up activities.

Do you find yourself handing out a lot of business cards at networking meetings, but never getting any leads? Maybe you need to focus on the people you meet rather than yourself. Learn how by reading Catch More Clients Using Strategic Networking.

Networking doesn’t stop when the meeting is over. In fact, you can cement relationships by following up with the contacts you meet. Find out how in Garnishing A Network.

Sole proprietors can benefit from attending networking events and developing relationships with the people they meet. This is especially important because they may not be in contact with their peers as are individuals at larger firms. Find out more in The Power of Relationships.

How do you keep track of the people you meet at networking events or trade shows? Get some valuable tips inHandling Business Card Overload.

The way we communicate with the people we meet affects the relationships we build with them. Learn how to communicate effectively when you network in Language Spoken For Winning.

Successful networking is a mix of attending different types of meetings, becoming active in the events you attend, and following up with the contacts you make. Get some valuable tips in Networking Success: Mastering the Right Combination.

What should you do at a networking meeting? Networking Means Showing Up…Showing Up Isn’t Networking.

You attended a networking meeting and met some good contacts. You aren’t done yet. Networking Starts When the Event Is Finished.

If you find yourself attending networking events and never having anything to show for it, these tips can help you become more effective. Networking That Works

What should you expect after attending a networking meeting? If you network effectively, you should be able to gain one or two new clients from each meeting. Find out why in Networking – Working The Numbers.

The way you approach people at a meeting can make a difference in the results you get. Our pets provide a good example: The Dogs and Cats of Networking

Are you making the right contacts when you network? If you want to learn how to get more from your networking activities, read The Ultimate Business Network: One Secret Power of the Masters

 

Email Is The New Pony Express–And It’s Time To Put It Down

BY RYAN HOLMES
Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/3002170/email-new-pony-express-and-its-time-put-it-down

Email, like paper letters delivered by horseback, has become an unproductivity tool and may just be the biggest time killer in the modern workplace. Here’s where companies are headed next.

In early 2011, the CEO of a French IT company issued an usual memorandum. He banned email. Employees were discouraged from sending or receiving internal messages, with the goal of eradicating email within 18 months. Critics scoffed. Workers rebelled. But Thierry Breton, the CEO of Atos, has stuck to his guns, reducing message volume by an estimated 20%. His company, by the way, has 74,000 employees in 48 countries.

Email is familiar. It’s comfortable. It’s easy to use. But it might just be the biggest killer of time and productivity in the office today. I’ll admit my vendetta is personal. I run a company,HootSuite, which is focused on disrupting how the world communicates using social media. Yet each day my employees and I send each other thousands of emails, typing out addresses and patiently waiting for replies like we were mailing letters on the Pony Express.

As we’ve expanded from 20 to 200 employees over the last two years, the headaches have only grown. Anyone with an inbox knows what I’m talking about. A dozen emails to set up a meeting time. Documents attached and edited and reedited until no one knows which version is current. Urgent messages drowning in forwards and cc’s and spam.

It’s not just me who thinks email’s days are numbered. Among 18-24 year olds, time spent on webmail has declined 34% in the last year alone, and nearly 50% since 2010, according tocomScore’s 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus report.

So what’s the solution? Our idea: Turn email into a conversation. Get rid of the inbox. Build an online platform where departments can post and respond to messages on central discussion threads, Facebook-style. Then integrate that with Twitter and Facebook so great ideas can be broadcast–with a click–to the world. Conversations isn’t a revolutionary concept; it’s a duh-it’s-about-time concept. And it’s worked for us and 5 million clients. A year from now, we may well be reading email its last rites. Here’s why:

Email has become an unproductivity tool. Right now, the typical corporate user spends 2 hours and 14 minutes every day reading and responding to email, according to McKinsey’s 2012 Social Economy report. Our inboxes have become an open door for anything and everything, some of which is pure spam and most of which is neither time-sensitive nor relevant in the here and now. The average business user wades through 114 emails a day, which works out to 41,610 messages a year (or one email every 12.6 minutes of your life).

Email is linear, not collaborative. Email was never intended for collaborative work. Try setting up a meeting time with a group on email and that becomes painfully obvious. Messages flood in, getting out of sync and leaving users scrolling madly to track the conversation. A better option: Facebook-style discussion threads where multiple employees can post, reply, and view centrally in real time.

Email is not social. Email is where good ideas go to die. Brilliant messages race across the Internet at light speed only to end up trapped in an inbox. The clear advantage of social platforms is that content is shared and reshared among whole communities of followers, triggering the viral cascade that makes social media so powerful. Using internal networks and discussion threads instead of email, enterprises can instantly broadcast innovation and crowdsource solutions company-wide. HootSuite’s Conversations takes this up a notch, enabling employees to amplify select messages to Twitter and Facebook, sharing ideas with the world at a click.

Your inbox is a black hole. You may be able to quickly and easily search your inbox, but odds are the rest of your department or company can’t. And all that locked-up knowledge represents a massive, wasted reserve of internal expertise. Office productivity could be improved by up to 14% just by moving those emails to a searchable, central discussion thread, message board, or wiki, according to a 2012 McKinsey report.

Sharing documents on email is a joke. Let’s set aside the inconvenience of uploading and attaching files, over and over again. The real trouble with sharing on email starts when multiple recipients download and modify a document. It’s all too easy to lose track of which revision is the latest, leading to redundant edits and wasted time. An infinitely better solution is to put a single document in one, shared location accessible to all stakeholders. Using tools like Google Drive, history can be tracked and multiple collaborators can edit simultaneously.

Seeking the path of least resistance, the next generation of office workers are finding better, faster, easier ways to communicate. It’s about time.

Meet Finnish Employers, Find a Job, Create Networks!

 

If you happen to be in Jyväskylä why not check out the event below!?  This event is hosted by Business Arena.  Remember to write to tiina.saarinen@businessarena.fi if you’d like to join the vent!  Download the Invitation from the link below.

Willing to meet a Finnish employer?
Willing to find a job after graduation?
Willing to create valuable networks?

MEET US AND ENJOY SOME SNACK AND DRINKS!
Date and Time: 24th of October from 17 to 20 hour
Place: Crazy town, kauppakatu 32, 2. floor

Invitation PDF Download