SAAB 9-X AIR BIOHYBRID CONCEPT

Saab unveiled the 9-X BioHybrid Concept hatchback last March at the Geneva Motor Show, and it will be joined next month at the Paris Motor Show by this: the 9-X Air BioHybrid Concept.

The 25 Most Influential People on the Web

Each year, we turn to readers and BusinessWeek staff for the Best of the Web list, asking them to contribute names for a list of the Intern­et's movers and shakers. Take a look at the slide show to see which people have the most impact on the Web these days.­ LINK

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7 Small Business Owners who turned into Billionaires

While scanning the list of world’s richest people on Forbes, I was astonished to find a good number of entrepreneurs who started as small business owner but with their hard work and commitment, they managed to get to the top. None of them was born with a golden spoon, it was the sweat, savings, schmoozing, creativity and good luck, which have helped these moguls enjoy the positions they have today.

According to a 2002 U.S. Census Bureau survey representing some 16 million-business owners, which is a whopping 55%, were initially funded by personal and family capital, while 11.4% snagged bank loans and 8.8% got going on personal and business credit cards. These stats clearly prove that we can make big achievements on our own…am I right?

To keep your spirits high and motivated towards your small businesses, I bring you a list of seven world-beating entrepreneurs who turned their small business ventures into vast empires.

Let’s get inspired!

1: John Catsimatidis

Owner of the Red Apple Group and aspiring Mayor of New York City.

Age: 59

Net Worth: $2.1 billion

Industry: Supermarkets, Real Estate, Oil

Success Story: He was a son of a kitchen helper who entered the grocery industry in the summer of 1966 after graduating from a high school. Working for an owner of a Manhattan super market, he started taking on more responsibilities.
Four years later, the owner offered him a 50% stake in one of his forthcoming stores over the next 10 months at a rate of $1,000 per month. Within a few months, the store’s sales doubled, and Catsimatidis was earning a profit of $500 per week (not bad for a 20-year-old back then). By charming the vendors to let him buy on credit a year later he managed to launch the Red Apple Group, a chain of grocery stores that now includes Gristede’s, Sloan’s and Red Apple. By the age of 25, he owned 10 stores, all debt-free.

2: Harold Hamm

Chairman and chief executive officer Continental Resources & Hiland Holdings

Age: 62

Net Worth: $4.4 billion

Industry: Oil and Gas exploration

Success Story:Harold Hamm was youngest of 13 children to a couple of working as cotton pickers from Purcell, Okla. He worked school jobs as a gas station attendant to supplement his parents’ incomes. In 1966, two years after graduating from high school, for the first time Hamm stepped in a business deal. With a bank loan co-signed by a friend, he purchased a single truck, the main asset of a new oil-and-gas exploration-services business. Two years later, the company changed its name to Continental Resources. Hamm now owns 72% of the outstanding shares in the New York Stock Exchange.

3: Oprah Winfrey

A renowned producer, magazine owner and TV host

Age: 54

Net Worth: $2.5 billion

Industry: Media/Entertainment

Success Story:The accidental daughter of two Mississippi teenagers, Winfrey faced poverty and physical abuse from an early age. She won speech making and beauty contests and eventually earned a scholarship to Tennessee State University. She was the first black female news anchor at Nashville’s WLAC-TV and at 29, she was contracted to host a Chicago morning television show called AM Chicago, later re-named The Oprah Winfrey Show. This owner of Harpo Studios, producer of films and TV shows like Dr. Phil show and the Rachel Ray show was a millionaire by age 32. Other Oprah ventures include the cable television network Oxygen (purchased in 2007 by NBC for $925 million) and publications O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home.

4: Sandy Weill

Owner of Citigroup

Age:75

Net Worth: $1.4 billion

Industry: Banking

Success Story:This creator of giant Citigroup, was born in Brooklyn - New York use to gather pennies to achieve his dream. After graduating from Cornell (on scholarship), Weill took a job as a runner for Bear Stearns and studied for his stockbrokers’ licensing exam at night. A few years later, in 1960, he and three friends pooled their savings (an estimated $200,000) to open their own brokerage firm, called “Carter Berlind and Weill.” Two decades of acquisitions later, their Travelers Group was the industry’s second-largest brokerage and in 1998, Travelers Group merged with Citicorp to make what is now known as Citigroup.

5: George Soros

Owner of Quantum Investment Fund

Age: 77

Net Worth: $9 billion

Industry: Finance

Success Story: Born in Hungary, Soros and his parents came to England in 1930. While working as a railway porter and waiter, he got himself through the London School of Economics. Like Sandy Weil, Soros also socked away a few pennies to jump-start his entrepreneurial career. Soros moved to the United States in 1956 and found work at several investment firms, including Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, where he worked his way up to vice-president of the company. After running several offshore investment funds, he launched his own investment firm with colleague Jim Rogers, which has it has grown into the multibillion-dollar Quantum Fund.

6: J.K. Rowling

Author of “Harry Potter”

Age: 42

Net Worth: $1 billion

Industry: Media/Entertainment

Success Story:Sometimes sheer talent and determination is enough to carve your path to success. As a single mother on welfare in Scotland, Rowling began writing the first Harry Potter novel in Edinburgh cafés whenever she could get her infant daughter to sleep. After being rejected by 12 publishing houses, Bloomsbury, a small publisher in London, offered an advance of 1,500 pounds (about $2,400) even one its editors, Barry Cunningham, advised Rowling to get a day job. The following year, U.S. publishing rights to the first Potter book sold for $105,000. Rowling has since sold nearly 400 million copies worldwide, and is the only author on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world.

7: Kirk Kerkorian

President/CEO of Tracinda Corporation

Age: 90

Net Worth: $16 billion

Industry: Investments

Success Story:Old-fashioned bartering helped put Kirk as the richest person in Los Angeles and rank 41 on the list of richest people of the world. This farmer’s son use to look after famous female aviator Pancho Barnes’ cattle in return for flying lessons in late 1930’s. During World War II, he took a job with the Royal Air Force transporting planes from their Canadian factory to England at $1,000 per month. This job was quiet risky as the planes weren’t designed to withstand the long trip or the harsh weather. With savings from his wartime job, Kerkorian purchased Trans International Airlines for $60,000 in 1947 (with some additional financing.) He later sold it to Transamerica for $104 million in stock and now his private investment firm, Tracinda, now owns 53% of MGM Mirage and is known as the richest person in the Los Angeles.

So guys, don’t give up and keep on working hard, who knows you might also outshine like these business tycoons who once were small business owners.

Posted by David T. Heal

September 10, 2008
Source : http://www.sohoblog.org/small-business-owners/

Ne vedem la WEBSTOCK

Pregatim un eveniment de o zi, compus pe de o parte dintr-o serie de conferinte si workshop-uri dedicate blogging-ului si fenomenului web 2.0 si pe de alta parte de o ceremonie de premiere a site-urilor din Noul Internet. Practic de dimineata pana dupa amiaza vorbim si ascultam, iar seara petrecem la gala. Avem asadar Webstock si Webstock Awards.

Detalii eveniment

Data: Vineri, 3 octombrie 2008

Locatia: Hotel Howard Johnson, Bucuresti

Structura: Eveniment de o zi ce include conferinte
si workshop-uri despre blogging si web 2.0, urmate
de o gala a celor mai bune proiecte din Noul Internet.

Organizator: Evensys

Partener: Vodafone

Sponsori: LG, Adobe

Inscrieri: www.invita.ro

Feedback: office@ evensys.ro

The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!

Marketing a website isn't particularly difficult. It's usually just a matter of knowing what to do, how to do it and having the skills and time to get it done. With that said, marketing a website isn't particularly easy either. There are so many factors and variables in play that at any given time that the job can be quite overwhelming. Obviously I can't address the issue of whether or not you have the skills or time, but I can help you out with the "what to do" piece of the puzzle.

I've always been a lover of checklists, especially when it comes to getting things done. Especially when it comes to remembering what things need to be done! So over the last several years I've been putting together checklists for all kinds of things pertaining to website marketing.

Below is my master website marketing checklist covering over 400 specific items over 23 topics. These topics include things such as website development, SEO, usability, accessibility, etc. This list doesn't cover any "how tos," which are essential ingredients to successful online marketing, but sometimes you need to first know what to do so you can then discover how to do it.

For the sake of brevity, I have kept each check point to its briefest form providing very little explanation. I don't cover why any particular item is included, how important it might be, or what it even means. This is just the checklist in its rawest form.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll provide some additional explanation and insights to the lists below. And since this list is always a work in progress, any additional thoughts and insights are welcome. I'm always adding and removing things as I see fit. Which brings me to one more note: many items are included here based purely on my own preferences and by no means constitute an absolute truth or necessity.

Domain name & URLs (click heading for additional details)

Short and memorable Uses Keywords Used in email addresses Uses Favicon Site.com redirect to www. version: Alternate Domain redirects Home page redirect to root No underscores in filenames Keywords in directory names Multiple pages per directory Registered for 5+ years

Multiple versions: .com .org .net .biz Hyphenations Misspellings Product names Brand names Type-in keywords URLs

Browser issues (click heading for additional details)

Visible address bar Fully functional navigation tools Visible status bar

Site works in multiple browsers No browser hi-jacking

Site logo (click heading for additional details)

Displays company name clearly Isn't hidden among clutter Links to home page

Unique and original Use tagline consistently across site

Design considerations (click heading for additional details)

Instant site identification Crisp, clean image quality Clean, clutter-less design Consistent colors and type Whitespace usage Minimal distractions Targets intended audience Meets industry best practices Easy to navigate Descriptive links Good on-page organization Easy to find phone number Don't link screen captures Skip option for flash Consistent page formatting No/minimal on-page styling Avoid text in images

Font size is adequate Font type is friendly Paragraphs not too wide Visual cues to important elements Good overall contrast Low usage of animated graphics Uses obvious action objects Avoid requiring plugins Minimize the use of graphics Understandable graphic file names No horizontal scrolling Non-busy background Recognizable look and feel Proper image / text padding Uses trust symbols Works on variety of resolutions Works on variety of screen widths

Architectural issues (click heading for additional details)

Correct robots.txt file Declare doctype in HTML Validate HTML Don't use frames Alt tag usage on images Custom 404 error page Printer friendly Underlined links Differing link text color Breadcrumb usage Nofollow cart links Robots.txt non-user pages Nofollow non-important links Review noindex usage Validate CSS Check broken links No graphics for ON/YES, etc. Page size less than 50K

Flat directory structure Proper site hierarchy Unique titles on all pages Title reflects page info and heading Unique descriptions on pages No long-tail page descriptions Proper bulleted list formats Branded titles No code bloat Minimal use of tables Nav uses absolute links Good anchor text Text can be resized Key concepts are emphasized CSS less browsing Image-less browsing Summarize all tables

Navigation (click heading for additional details)

Located top or top-left Consistent throughout site Links to Home page Links to Contact Us page Links to About Us page Simple to use Indicates current page Links to all main sections Proper categorical divisions Non-clickable is obvious Accurate description text

Links to Login Provides Logout link Uses Alt attribute in images No pop-up windows No new window links Do not rely on rollovers Avoid cascading menus Keep scent from page to page Targets expert and novice users Absolute links

Content (click heading for additional details)

Grabs visitor attention Exposes need Demonstrates importance Ties need to benefits Justifies and calls to action Gets to best stuff quickly Reading level is appropriate Customer focused Benefits and features Targets personas Provides re-assurances Answers WIIFM

Consistent voice Eliminate superfluous text Reduce /explain industry jargon No typo, spelling or grammar errors Contains internal contextual links Links out to authoritative sources Enhancing keyword usage (SEO) Date published on articles/news Web version of PDF docs available Consistent use of phrasing No unsubstantiated statements

Content Appearance (click heading for additional details)

Short paragraphs Uses sub-headings Uses bulleted lists Calls to action on all pages Good contrast

No overly small text for body No overly small text for headings Skimmable and scannable Keep link options in close proximity

Links and buttons (click heading for additional details)

Limit the number of links on a page Avoid small buttons and tiny text for links Leave space between links and buttons Avoid using images as the only link

Link important commands Underline all links Accurately reflects the page it refers

Home page (click heading for additional details)

No splash page Instant page identification Provides overview of site

Site purpose is clear Robot meta: NOODP,NOYDIR

About Us page (click heading for additional details)

Adequately describes company Shows team biographies Shows mission statement Up to date information Note associations, certifications & awards Links to support pages: Contact page

Investor relations Company news Registration info Job opportunities Newsletters Link to social media profiles

Contact Us page (click heading for additional details)

Easy to find Multiple contact options: Phone Fax Email Form Chat Customer feedback Street map Hours of operation Final call to action

Multiple points of contact: Customer service Tech support Inquiries General info Job applications Billing Management team Ad-free Form requires only essential info

E-Commerce considerations (click heading for additional details)

Mini-product basket always available Displays payment options: CC Paypal Google Checkout

No multiple paths to dupe product pages No tracking IDs in URLs Exclude shopping cart pages No (or nofollowed) links to secure pages Keep secure cert current

Product pages (click heading for additional details)

Visible calls to action Clear contact info (phone #) Consistent layout Clear pricing Show additional fees Clear product presentation Show shipping cost Show availability Provide delivery options, details Estimate delivery date Link to site security info Return / guarantee info Allow "save for later" Related products & up sells Clear product image Describe images

Enhanced multiple image views Product description Product details & specs Product selection options Customer product reviews Product comparisons Printer-friendly option "Add to cart" close to item Secondary "add" button at bottom Standardized product categorization Clutter-free page Provide International pricing Provide product search Emphasis brand quality and trust Compare to offline competitors Short URLs with keywords

Basket page (click heading for additional details)

Obvious checkout link Product descriptions Product image Show availability Updatable quantities Ability to remove items Link to products Product price Payment options Promos/vouchers explained Link to security

Link to guarantees Show delivery costs Show delivery date Allow gift options "Continue shopping" link or options Show contact information No advertising/upselling Don't keep personal info w/o authorization Shipping questions answered International shipping International address forms

Mini baskets (click heading for additional details)

Make new products added obvious Link to full basket page

Allow removal of products Show order total

Checkout process (click heading for additional details)

No hidden fees No pre-registration Keep checkout process short Show benefits of registration: Faster checkout in future Access to order history Check order status Saved for later information Access to special promotions Personalization Joining a community Show checkout progress meter Effective after-order follow-up Receipt / Confirmation:

Printable Emailed Thank you message Order number Order date Items purchased Expected delivery date Payment method Cancellation policy How to cancel Return policy Address return costs After-sale guarantees

Login & My Account pages (click heading for additional details)

Easy to find login access Use security protocols Provide security assurances Link for new registrations Outline account benefits Reclaim lost password option "Remember me" option Link to privacy policy Logged-in status is clear Account info change access Confirmation of change info

Links to financial info Transaction history Invoices Balances Payment methods Choose method of delivery: Text email HTML email Snail mail Overnight Etc.

Help and FAQ pages (click heading for additional details)

Avoid marketing hype Allow Help search Provide printable text Link to additional resources:

User guides Product support Customer support Downloads

Forms and errors (click heading for additional details)

Flexible entry requirements Allow for tabbing between fields Proper tab order Clear field labels Text label above field box Only require necessary information Minimal instructions Instructions above field Friendly error output Errors obviously indicated Errors describe remedy Errors provide contact / help option Preserve data with errors Provide pre-selected choices Don't overdo choices

Note required fields Progress indicator Progress navigation Remove navigation Link to privacy information Final info verification check Confirmation/thank you page Stack fields vertically Proper use of radio buttons Keep "submit" close to fields Field boxes adequately wide No "reset" or "cancel" buttons Autocomplete=off as necessary Buttons denote action

Site search

Located in top-right corner Search not case sensitive Properly labeled as "search" Link to "advanced search" Forgiving of misspellings Shows similar products Shows related items in results No "no products found" Provide refinement options Provide alternate spellings

Provide links to relevant pages Show search string in results Don't place results in tables Display exact matches first Display close matches second Bold query words in results Display titles with descriptions No more than 20 results p/ page Option to increase result p/ page Link to additional results pages

Privacy and Security pages

Present info in easy to read format Make information easily scannable Provide section summaries Identify information types collected Explain how cookies are used

Explain how user information will be used Explain how info will be protected Provide additional protection tutorials Link to these pages in footer Provide links to contact info

Site map

Present info in easy to read format Make information easily scannable Provide section summaries Identify information types collected Explain how cookies are used Keep information current Link to site map in footer

Linked from help and 404 pages Provide overview paragraph Provide intro to main sections Visible site hierarchy Descriptive text and links Link to xml sitemap in robots.txt fi

Stoney deGeyter founded Pole Position Marketing in 1998 working from a home office and has since turned it into a leading search engine marketing business with a small team of seasoned Reno SEO and marketing experts. Stoney pioneered the concept of Destination Search Engine Marketing which is the driving philosophy on how Pole Position marketing helps their clients expand their online presence and improve online conversion rates.

Stoney is a moderator at the Small Business Ideas Forum, a regular contributor to the Search Engine Guide blog and has a monthly column on Search Engine Land. He posts his SEO and business insights at the E-Marketing Performance blog where you can also find his e-books: E-Marketing Performance: Effective Strategies for Building, Optimizing and Marketing your Website Online and Keyword Research and Selection: The Definitive Guide to Gathering, Sorting and Organizing your Keywords into a High-Performance SEO Campaign.

Stoney is married with five wonderful children and, if away from the computer long enough, enjoys riding his dirt bike, watching DVDs, reading books and spending quality and quantity time with the family.

Sursa : http://www.searchengineguide.com

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