tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27386383769541056092024-02-20T18:04:59.996-08:00Max's SEO Blog - SEO Freebies, tools and Ebooks For Free!TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-66419649148639985222021-12-30T23:25:00.001-08:002022-01-01T21:02:27.285-08:00<div style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"> <br /><b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">[COVER
PAGE]<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Business
Plan for Fashion Boutique in the GCC</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>Table of Contents<br /><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775304"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Executive Summary<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775305"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Industry Analysis<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775306"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Company Description<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775307"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Vision Statement<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775308"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Mission Statement<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775309"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Key Values<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775310"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Products and Services<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775311"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Legal Status and Ownership<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775312"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Market Analysis<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775313"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Market Segmentation<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775314"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Demographic segment<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775315"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Psychographic Segment<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775316"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Target Market Selection<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775317"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Buyer Behavior<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775318"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Competitor Analysis<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775319"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Mondanisa<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775320"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Niswa Fashion<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775321"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Economics of the Business<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775322"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Marketing Plan<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775323"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Product<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775324"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Price<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775325"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Promotion<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775326"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Distribution<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775327"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Sales Process and Tactics<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775328"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Product Design and Development Plan<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775329"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Operations Plan<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775330"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Geographic Location<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775331"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Management Team and Company Structure<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775332"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Overall Schedule<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775333"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Financial Projections<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775334"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Sources and Uses of funds<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775335"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Pro Forma Cash Flow<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775336"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Pro Forma Balance Sheet<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775337"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">References<br /></span></a><a href="file:///E:/New%20folder/BP_ReportFinal.docx#_Toc91775338"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Appendix<br /></span></a><o:p> </o:p><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /><span style="color: #2f5496; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><a name="_Toc91712116">Executive Summary<br /></a>The aim of this report is to
explore and outline the plan for launching a fashion boutique in the United
Arab Emirates. The purpose of this fashion boutique is to produce and sell
fashionable Arabic clothes in the local market. The product aims to satisfy customers
both men and women who are looking to purchase fashionable clothes such as
abayas and thawb’s respectively. The aim of the business is to grow and provide
value to the customer in terms of unique product offering, sustainable fashion
products and quality product.<br /><a name="_Toc91712117">Industry Analysis<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The fashion
industry is one of the biggest and fastest growing retail industries in the
world. According to Shahbandeh <w:sdt citation="t" id="507185011"><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>CITATION Glo21 \n<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>\t<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>\l
1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(2021)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>, the global apparel
market has been estimated to grow from an evaluation of $1.5 trillion in 2020
to about $2.25 trillion by the year 2025. According to <w:sdt citation="t" id="-931666631"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Abd19 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Iftahy, Mellens, Walia, & Youssef, 2019)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>, in the Middle East,
the fashion sale market is valued at $50 billion with the highest spending per
capita (between $500 and $1600 per person) in Saudi Arabia and United Arab
Emirates <w:sdt citation="t" id="764809657"><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Shw21 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Jain, 2021)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>.
These figures show that fashion clothing in the GCC, especially in the UAE is a
promising industry and is growing at a faster rate which is advantageous for
new players entering the market to provide fashion goods and services.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The fashion
industry represents a fragmented industry where many market players exist but
no single player attains domination over the other. Clothing thrives on a
variety of design options for consumers and with rapidly changing trends in
fashion. New businesses are additionally empowered thanks to the low barriers
of entry due to unique designs being a driving factor, pulling in customers
looking for the new trendy designs and unique offerings.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>According
to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, clothing sales totaled $12.3 billion in 2018,
growing 4.8% from the year 2017 and is projected to grow strongly through to
2023<w:sdt citation="t" id="2017186403"><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span> CITATION Ben19 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Mack, 2019)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>. According to the
report, womenswear has accounted for 34% of total sales, however it is
projected to grow at faster rate for the forecast years of 2019-2023 at a rate
of 4.9% compared to menswear at 3.8%. These estimates show that there is a growing
demand for womenswear in the UAE.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Additionally,
a rising trend for fashion retailers is the adoption of e-commerce platforms
for selling and marketing fashion products. The rising implementation of
omnichannel distribution is evident as the result of one survey conducted by <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Briedis, Harris, Pacchia, & Ungerman</span>
(2019), shows that 6 out of 10 people use a minimum of one digital channel
during their purchase of apparel garment. The survey further reported that
omnichannel customer purchases were “70 percent more often than an offline-only
shopper and reports spending more than $2,000 on apparel each year”<w:sdt citation="t" id="-932815752"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span> CITATION Hol19 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Briedis,
Harris, Pacchia, & Ungerman, 2019)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>. The United Arab
Emirates presents the best environment to utilize the e-commerce channels as
there is a high internet penetration rate among the population (99%) and the
highest average spending per household on e-commerce ($2554), twice the global
average <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Iftahy, Mellens, Walia, & Youssef,
2019; Jain, 2021)</span>.<br /> <a name="_Toc91712118">Company Description<br /></a>The company, a fashion boutique,
will produce original Arabic apparel for the UAE market and sell them via
stores and online channels. The company aims to create Arabic clothes, the
traditional abaya for women and thawb’s for men, with a focus on modern designs
and embroidery that add to the stylistic value of the apparel. The apparel will
feature a company logo and purpose its marketing as such to promote the
attractiveness of the logo. The brand will focus on the following mission,
vision and key values:<br /><a name="_Toc91712119">Vision Statement<br /></a>“To inspire and empower generations of Arab people with
fashion of their taste”<br /><a name="_Toc91712120">Mission Statement<br /></a>“To introduce and inspire modernity and sustainability into
the Arab fashion world by fusion of modern arts and cultural clothing of the
Middle East.”<br /><a name="_Toc91712121">Key Values<br /></a>The key values offered by the business to its customers is a
unique product offering, sustainable apparel products and quality in produced
works.<br /><a name="_Toc91712122">Products and Services<br /></a>The boutique store will produce and
sell various fashion apparel related to Arabic clothing such as a custom range
of abayas, thawbs, and various other clothing accessories such as earrings,
headbands, hijabs etc. Services will include custom fittings and alterations
based on customer requirements that will be provided at minimal cost.<br /><a name="_Toc91712123">Legal Status and Ownership<br /></a>The boutique store business will
run under a sole proprietorship business structure. This is a project I am
passionate about and I will dedicate all my time and resources to this
business. Within a sole proprietorship structure, owners make all the important
business decisions and have more control on the day to day of the business
running. The benefits are that all income generated can be strategically used
by me to re-invest into the business and create a brand that is closer to its
customers and the values set by the business. In the future, based on growth
rate, provisions will be made to expand the business by introducing
partnerships to bring more capital investments and addition of management
expertise to the brand and business.<br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /><o:p> <br /></o:p><a name="_Toc91712124">Market Analysis<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In order to
focus our marketing efforts and develop a strategic plan we identify the
segments of the market our business will participate in. The following section
identifies different sections of our conducted market analysis and details the Market
Segmentation, Target Market Selection, Buyer Behavior, and Competitor Analysis.<br /><a name="_Toc91712125">Market Segmentation<br /></a>Market segmentation is defined as the process in which our
target market into different approachable groups based on four known
categories: geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral. The two
prominent segmentations chosen for our brand is described below:<br /><a name="_Toc91712126">Demographic segment<br /></a>The demographic segment would
represent the age, gender, and other demographic characteristics of the target
population. Based on our intended products of modern clothes, our target
demographic would be the age group of 18 to 32-year-olds, both males and
females. This group represents the young population who would be looking for an
addition of fashionable clothing choices to their wardrobes. Another
demographic aspect would be the income group and based on our product pricing,
our target audience would be working graduates and students with income of AED
9,000 to 20,000.<br /><a name="_Toc91712127">Psychographic Segment<br /></a>This type of segmentation represents the psychological
characteristics of the target market. For fashion customers, this segment would
be represented by those that are outgoing, sociable, and who tend to value
appearances when deciding on the purchase of their outfits. Another aspect
would the attitude of the customer towards changing fashion trends where basic
cultural clothes are altered to meet the needs of present fashion. Customers
receptive to changing fashion trends would represent this psychographic
segment.<br /><a name="_Toc91712128">Target Market Selection<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The segment
that we specifically target is the psychographic segment that is based on
customer lifestyles and values that will drive sales and attraction towards our
brand. The target audience is hard to differentiate based on gender alone but
however given the lifestyle choices and modern thinking of the youth, this
target market represents the customers willing to embrace the change brought by
our apparel products.<br /><a name="_Toc91712129">Buyer Behavior<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Insights
into buyer behaviors have been researched from various resources online. Buyers
of fashion especially the younger generation are looking towards reasonable
prices but greater quality of products <w:sdt citation="t" id="1805808576"><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Vog21 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Vogue Business, 2021)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>. Additionally, the research shows
that buyers are more attracted towards convivence of online shopping. Buying
behavior has been known to be influenced by consumers peers and social media.
Since the product offered by our company is not going to be overpriced or
ultra-luxury, buyer decision making is more of variety seeking, where they
would look for clothing that is unique and different from other brands in the
market. Buyers are often influenced through social media and make a decision
based upon visual imagery they come across about the attractiveness of the
apparel. They would then look for sizes and fitting before making the final
purchase.<br /><a name="_Toc91712130">Competitor Analysis<br /></a>Our brand is a new initiative in
the local market and thus it is hard to conduct competitor analysis in the
local market. However, when compared with international brands, there is a
level of competition due to already existing businesses aimed at modernizing
Arabic clothing to suit the changing fashion needs of target audiences.
Analyzing such competitors helps inspire new ideas and helps us develop
strategies in order to gain competitive advantage over them.<br /><a name="_Toc91712131">Mondanisa<br /></a>Modanisa is an online clothing retailer that focuses on
stylish and modern modest clothing, offering worldwide delivery from its home
country. As shown in <!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>REF _Ref91445283 \h <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span><![endif]-->Figure <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">1</span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:data>08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600390031003400340035003200380033000000</w:data>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]-->
below, the brand focuses on modernity and latest designs for women.<br /><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><img height="355" src="file:///C:/Users/Hilal/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" width="480" /><br /></span><a name="_Ref91445283">Figure </a><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-bookmark:
_Ref91445283'></span><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-bookmark:_Ref91445283'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ
Figure \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-bookmark: _Ref91445283;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">1</span></span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-bookmark:_Ref91445283'></span><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-bookmark: _Ref91445283;"></span>: Modanisa Homepage <w:sdt citation="t" id="1273828257"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Mod \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Modanisa,
n.d.)<br /></span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On further
detailed analysis, we learn that the company is limited in boutique locations,
primarily focused on the UK market. Moreover, the brand focuses only on women
clothing with no option for men. Although the brand has marketed itself as an
international store that can ship products to any country, it lacks physical
stores and an omnichannel experince where customers could potentially try out
the clothes before purchase. Lastly, the clothing lines are missing cultural
elements found in local dresses of the UAE and thus would not suit well with
the wants of customer base in the UAE.<br /><a name="_Toc91712132">Niswa Fashion<br /></a><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><img height="463" src="file:///C:/Users/Hilal/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image004.gif" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_6" width="520" /><br /></span>Niswa Fashion was established in
2016, to provide customers with modest fashion for women with different modern
designs <w:sdt citation="t" id="1677840072"><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Nis21 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Niswa Fashion, 2021)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>. The fashion studio
is based in the state of Illinois, United States, with a physical branch there
and sells in retailers in Canada and Australia <w:sdt citation="t" id="-1427565219"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Nis211 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Niswa Fashion, 2021)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>. The website also
sells using its online platform and attracts customer using sales and
discounts. The brand has an active following on social media with 165,000+
Instagram followers <w:sdt citation="t" id="-1699162128"><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION nis21 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(niswafashion, 2021)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt> and uses various promotion tools such
as giveaways, affiliate programs and gift cards.<br />One drawback of the business is
that it is primarily centered around women fashion, and although it has the
right products, it is limited in geographical range of western countries. Our
aim would be to bring modern designs to the GCC market while also catering to
apparel for men.<br /><a name="_Toc91712133">Economics of the Business<br /></a><a name="_Toc91712134">Marketing Plan<br /></a>The marketing plan for my fashion label and boutique
business has been detailed in this section where I have detailed each aspect of
marketing mix: product, place, pricing and distribution for the business
marketing purposes. The aim of strategic planning is to help achieve the
objectives of the business by understanding key marketing aspects to improve
the effectiveness in marketing our brand.<br /> <a name="_Toc91712135">Product<br /></a>First and foremost, the product being offered to the target
market is quality material, unique designs and clothing made out of sustainable
practices. Our clothing products include formal and casual wear for both
genders male and female and launch designs for corresponding seasons (Summer,
spring, winter, autumn collections etc.) every year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, our product will reduce waste by
incorporating recycled hangers and use of sustainable materials in the product.
The product furthermore will have the brand logo to make it distinct from other
clothing available in the market.<br /><a name="_Toc91712136">Price<br /></a>Our pricing strategy to provide
affordable prices compared to the big fashion labels in the market. Our
clothing lines will have different categories with the everyday styles at
affordable prices and the high-end occasion clothes such as wedding dresses and
party dresses at a premium price. In order to enhance the attraction with
customer and ensure sales of leftover stock, end-of-season/clearance sales with
discounts up to 50% to ensure that the stock is cleared to make room for the
upcoming seasons and new designs. Additionally, fitting services will be
charged at fixed rates in addition to the purchase of the clothing product and
dependent on the type of alteration required.<br /><a name="_Toc91712137">Promotion<br /></a>For our promotion marketing we
will use advertising such as billboards and shopping mall displays as well as
promotion on social media. In-store and store displays of various clothing on
mannequins will promote the prominent designs to the customers visiting the
mall or passing nearby the shops. Additionally, social media influencers will
be partnered with to promote our brand dresses in their posts to their
followers. Emphasis will be placed on the brand logo to promote attraction
towards the dresses based on built prominence and brand image.<br /><a name="_Toc91712138">Distribution<br /></a>The distribution channel will be
through our stores and outlets in various malls around the UAE. Given the
increasing retail activity taking place in prominent malls across the emirates,
we will strategically select and launch outlets in those malls. Furthermore, we
will launch an online retailing platform that serves as a virtual store where
users can browse our catalogue and order clothing from the comfort of their
home and from anywhere in the UAE. Customers can visit the stores to try on the
different sizes and request alteration based on their measurements by visiting
one of our various stores found around UAE.<br /><a name="_Toc91712139">Sales Process and Tactics<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The sales
process would involve directly selling to the customer. However, to enhance the
relation with the customer and to assist in making a successful sale. Employees
will be trained on good customer service and regarding various aspects of
fashion such as color coding, sizing etc. in order to assist the customer and
build in-depth knowledge of the product. Customers visiting the store will be
greeted and shown the latest fashion designs. Interested customers will be
shown catalogues and suggestions based on their requirements. Every successful
sale will contain a follow up strategy such as the use of loyalty program and
customer feedback request in order to improve the service and increase loyalty
for future sales. Additionally, online sales will be enhanced through a
referral program that rewards customers for sharing our products, which would
represent word of mouth marketing.<br /><a name="_Toc91712140">Product Design and Development Plan<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In order to
create the product, designs will be created from scratch with inspirations
taken from various modern designs and colors. In order to create products that match
with the wants of the customer, we will first conduct preliminary design, followed
by an interview with fashion experts and conduct focus group studies in order
to judge their perception to the new designs.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fashion
design experts will be hired to create and decide on designs for each line of
products corresponding to the seasons and themes for the year. Sketches will be
prepared and vetted for final decision by the head designer. Once approved,
prototyping will begin. This will be led by the manufacturing department of the
company. Prototype dresses will be prepared and inspected for any manufacturing
defects or further alterations.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Initial
production will include a few hundred units that will be used primarily for
marketing purposes and to tease new designs prior to official product launch.
Full production will take place once all outstanding issues with the current
designs have been resolved.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Product
design in the fashion industry poses a lot of risks due to the emphasis on
design and looks, more than the emphasis on functionality which is the
objective of other products.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, the
products need to be designed in a fashion that does follows trends, and if a
new trend is to be created, which would be profitable, we need to ensure that
the design will be successful and does not ruin the brand image.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fashion is
a competitive landscape where unique designs are the selling point for clothes.
With increasing threats of copycats and copyright infringement in the fashion
world, it is important to create protections to guard the creative works of our
company. First and foremost, the brand logo and name will be the trademark used
across all products and services. Appropriate legal channels will be used to
register our trademark logo and name after selecting and ensuring no
duplications exist with other trademarks. For our clothing products, to prevent
copycats, we will apply for copyright protection on the range of products in
order to protect our products from being copied and discourage copying through
legal means.<br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /><o:p> <br /></o:p><a name="_Toc91712141">Operations Plan<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
business operations are divided into three activities. On the backstage, we
would have the production and management operations, and on the front stage we
would have the marketing operations and the running of the stores.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
backstage activities would involve the setting up of production facilities to
process fabrics into finished clothing apparel products. The management
operation would be the hiring of staff and ensuring management of the company
to ensure smooth running. Additionally, this would involve maintaining
relationships with suppliers, dealing with them and ensuring that all
management related issues are sorted out in a timely manner.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On the
front stage, our marketing operations will ensure that customers are well
informed about our products and its value to the customer. Furthermore,
marketing operations will include covering every research on the markets to
develop and target new segments based on gained feedback. Lastly, the store
operations would ensure that products are rightly stocked, dresses are
correctly displayed, and customers are well interacted with to increase sales.<br /><a name="_Toc91712142">Geographic Location<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our headquarters
will be located in Dubai Design District. The location is strategic as it
connects many other fashion, arts and design companies and talent from around
the world and is well connected to various fashion events taking place in the
country. It is near Downtown Dubai and close to Dubai Mall which gives us an
advantage in being heart of the fashion related activities and managing the
business.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
boutiques will be launched in various malls in the UAE such as Dubai Mall, Abu
Dhabi Mall etc. Shopping malls are popular in the UAE and oversee much of the
retail activity in the region. According to one survey, 6 out of 10 residents
visit the mall once weekly and spend AED100-500 per trip with a majority
spending on clothes and goods <w:sdt citation="t" id="168143212"><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Cle15 \l 1033 <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Maceda, 2015)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt>. Thus based on our research, malls are
the perfect place to attract customers for our business.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
manufacturing location will be situated in industrial areas such as Musaffah,
to help lower the cost of transport and logistics. Industrial areas contain
many other manufacturing businesses and suppliers and thus would be a strategic
location for our clothes factory, reducing any risks of raw material shipping
delays or logistical failures.<br /><a name="_Toc91712143">Management Team and Company Structure<br /></a>The business would function under
Sole Praetorship and thus would have a lean organizational management structure.
This is due to the small size of the business initially. In due time once a
high level of growth is achieved the firm will plan to expand into different
company structure such as a corporation. However, in the beginning, the
operation size will be small and thus the organization chart will be as
detailed in <!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>REF _Ref89732020 \h<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>\* MERGEFORMAT <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->Figure
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">2</span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:data>08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600380039003700330032003000320030000000</w:data>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]-->.
A board of directors will be elected in the future once the firm has gained
enough growth. They will be hired based on experience in the fashion industry
and qualifications from reputed institutions and specializations that are
advantageous to the organization. The company would additionally look towards
hiring board of directors that are in line with the company’s vision and
values, with the emphasis on sustainability. Additionally, strong ethical
values would ensure that people working in the organization are inspired and pick
up on those values, creating a strong ethical culture in the company.<br /> <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><img height="292" src="file:///C:/Users/Hilal/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image006.gif" v:shapes="Diagram_x0020_5" width="650" /><br /></span><a name="_Ref89732020">Figure </a><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-bookmark:_Ref89732020'></span><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-bookmark:_Ref89732020'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ
Figure \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-bookmark: _Ref89732020;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">2</span></span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-bookmark:_Ref89732020'></span><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-bookmark: _Ref89732020;"></span>: Organizational Chart of our fashion
startup<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lastly, a
board of advisors would be elected, consisting of individuals with years of
industry experience in the world of fashion and fabric businesses. This would
help bring more experience to the management aspects, enhance problem solving
and help mitigate issues before a disaster can happen based on the insights of
the board of advisors hired by the firm.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><a name="_Toc91712144">Overall Schedule<br /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
business plan has been categorized into 5 stages. The first stage would be the
business planning stage whereby all business-related planning occurs including
market analysis, product research and design, marketing planning and researching
suppliers for the business.<br /> This would be followed by
incorporating the venture: capital will be raised over a period of 3 months to
fund business operations. Once enough capital is secured, business, trademark
and other legal registrations will be conducted. Facilities, office space and
commercial space for the boutique store will be rented after that. Staff hiring
will take place over the next two months and the website platform will be
launched.<br /><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><img height="547" src="file:///C:/Users/Hilal/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image008.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2" width="514" /><br /></span>Figure <!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ Figure \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">3</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]-->:
Project Schedule<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The next
stages would be the development of the product and initiating the production
processes for the clothing apparel to build inventory for the launch of the
brand. Marketing will follow where social media ads and influencer partnerships
will be used over a period of two months. During these two months outdoor
advertising tools such as billboards, mall advertisements etc. will be used
along with placed advertisements in fashion related magazines. On conclusion,
the product will be launched along with the opening of the stores to sell the
product to the awaiting customers. Detailed Gantt Chart is posted in Appendix A.<br /><a name="_Toc91712145">References<br /></a><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Briedis, H., Harris, T., Pacchia, M., &
Ungerman, K. (2019, August 09). <i>Ready to ‘where’: Getting sharp on apparel
omnichannel excellence</i>. Retrieved from McKinsey & Company:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/ready-to-where-getting-sharp-on-apparel-omnichannel-excellence<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Iftahy, A., Mellens, M., Walia, N., & Youssef,
A. (2019, December 06). <i>A closer look at the fashion industry in Gulf
Cooperation Council markets</i>. Retrieved from McKinsey & Company:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/a-closer-look-at-the-fashion-industry-in-gulf-cooperation-council-markets<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Jain, S. (2021, December 13). <i>UAE ranks 14th
globally in retail spending, survey shows</i>. Retrieved from The National:
https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2021/12/13/uae-ranks-14th-globally-in-retail-spending-survey-shows/<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Maceda, C. (2015, October 04). <i>About 6 in 10 UAE
residents visit a mall at least once a week</i>. Retrieved from Gulf News: https://gulfnews.com/business/retail/about-6-in-10-uae-residents-visit-a-mall-at-least-once-a-week-1.1594705<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Mack, B. (2019, August 26). <i>Revealed: The value
of retail fashion in the UAE</i>. Retrieved from Gulf Business:
https://gulfbusiness.com/revealed-value-retail-fashion-uae/<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Modanisa. (n.d.). <i>Modanisa</i>. Retrieved from
Modanisa: https://www.modanisa.com/en/<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Niswa Fashion. (2021). <i>About Us</i>. Retrieved
from Niswa Fashion: https://www.niswafashion.com/pages/about-us<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Niswa Fashion. (2021). <i>Retailers</i>. Retrieved
from Niswa Fashion: https://www.niswafashion.com/pages/retailers<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">niswafashion. (2021). <i>niswafashion</i>. Retrieved
from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/niswafashion/<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Shahbandeh, M. (2021, January 22). <i>Global Apparel
Market - Statistics & Facts</i>. Retrieved from Statista:
https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/<br /></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Vogue Business. (2021, August 20). <i>Gen Z shopping
trends uncovered</i>. Retrieved from Vogue Business:
https://www.voguebusiness.com/consumers/gen-z-shopping-trends-uncovered-pay-pal<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p><a name="_Toc91712146">Appendix<br /></a><img height="442" src="file:///C:/Users/Hilal/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_3" width="655" /><br /></div>
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</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">100</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">155500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">18000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">200</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">11000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">161000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">36000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">300</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">16500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">166500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">54000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">400</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">22000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">172000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">72000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">27500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">177500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">90000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">600</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">33000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">183000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">108000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">700</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">38500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">188500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">126000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">800</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">44000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">194000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">144000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">900</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">49500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">199500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">162000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">55000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">205000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">180000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1100</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">60500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">210500</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">198000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 13; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 80.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="107">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1200</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="75">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">150000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 70.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="93">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">66000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 58.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="77">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">216000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">216000</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><br />TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-30090448738403077732021-12-30T22:49:00.000-08:002021-12-31T03:18:49.610-08:00Fundamentals of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Business Plan<p> <span style="text-align: center;">Fundamentals of
Innovation & Entrepreneurship (GEN302)</span></p><p><br />
</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Fundamentals of
Innovation & Entrepreneurship (GEN302)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<h1><a name="_Toc57992286">Vision and opportunity</a><o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><span style="text-align: center;"></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Upon graduating from university, my
focus is to take on a course in cloth design, launch my own cloth store, and
kickstart a career in cloth design working on my ideas for women wear and
designing new sustainable clothing products for customers.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">My purpose in life is to empower
myself and the women of by attaining financial freedom. My key values are determination,
responsibility and hard work.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">My vision in life is to become a
successful and independent entrepreneur in the cloth industry. My mission is to
create multiple cloth clothing lines that benefit customers through unique and
sustainable clothing products that benefit the customer.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The three guiding question that will guide my choices in my
life are:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Is this decision serving my end goal?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Is this step that I take serving a purpose to the
customer or people around me?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Does this step relate with my values and how I want to
be remembered by?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><a name="_Toc57992292">In the
United Arab Emirates, the cloth retail industry is dominated by international
brands that focus on western clothing and have limited expertise in traditional
clothing. Thus, in this market there is a huge opportunity for small businesses
to launch Arabic clothing lines that have a modern touch and are clothable for
the local customers. Due to this, I aim to work towards a career in creating my
own cloth brand that focuses on Arabic clothing such as cloth abayas for women and
thawbs for men with a hint of luxury and use of sustainable materials.<o:p></o:p></a></p><h1>Market and Implementation Strategy<o:p></o:p></h1><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">As an entrepreneur working on
clothing products, my aim will be to work for the society. I will benefit those
who are looking for local businesses that create clothable Arabic clothing that
is related to their dressing needs, employs and empowers local women. I aim to launch
a local brand and hire local cloth designers to create a cloth line of clothes
using my creative ideas dedication and willingness to contribute to society.
Unlike other western brands that focus on western clothing, I aim to bring more
culturally appropriate and clothable Arabic clothing to the marketplace.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">The other fellow students aim to work
in different jobs and serve multinational clothing companies that create value
around western clothing. I however, using my determination aim to take risks
and start a brand based on a unique idea and products for the cloth business in
the UAE. Unlike other entrepreneurs, I aim to not only make a sustainable
business but also hire more women and empower them to give the benefit to
society.<o:p></o:p></p><h1><a name="_Toc57992293">Risks and Mitigation</a><o:p></o:p></h1><p class="MsoNormal"> Key
milestones in my plan include: (1) Getting a degree in cloth design from a
reputed university, (2) Launching an Arabic cloth clothing brand and (3)
Reaching over 1 million customers.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> The first
milestone can be measured through checking my coursework and grades to see I am
studying and progressing well in my cloth design degree. The second would be
setting up a brand, getting the business license and raising funds for the
business and measuring each step through reflection of progress. For the last
one I will measure through how many customers we reached in our sales and
adjust my business plan to achieve this target. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">External factors that can
adversely affect my plan is the reemergence of lockdowns due to COVID. It can
lead to less people going out to purchase clothes and thus reduce sales. Also,
the rising cost of living, inflation, or market turmoil are factors that can
affect spending by people and thus fail my business. Lastly, market
competitors, especially those existing can increase spending on advertising or
reduce prices to make their product more attractive and I lose business.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"> To mitigate these problems, I will introduce
an online shopping platform, using Instagram and social media tools to create a
virtual shopping experience. This will increase sales and reduce costs for my
business. Secondly, I will try to make my products cheaper by finding other
suppliers with competitive rates without compromising on quality to ensure that
people are able to afford my business’s products. Lastly for the market
competitors, I will create a unique branding for my company to market itself as
a unique product in order to attract customers and make them focus on my local
business, enhanced customer relationship and quality offering in comparison to
the existing multinational competing companies.<o:p></o:p></p><h1>Entrepreneurial Ethics, Personal "Board of Directors"<o:p></o:p></h1><p class="MsoNormal"> In my
everyday actions, I plan on following good ethical principles of conducting
myself with honesty, integrity and fairness. I aim to practice following of
good ethical conduct in my personal and professional life. I shall ensure that
no customer is harmed by my products. I shall also ensure that I hire women
with equal opportunity without any favoritism. I will reflect on my actions to
make sure I abide with good ethical conduct in my daily activities. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> In order to
mentor myself through my journey as an aspiring cloth designer and
entrepreneur, I would first and foremost like to take the help of my father who
has been an inspiration to me. My father has given me expert advice and as a
successful entrepreneur, inspired me to follow his footsteps. Secondly, I would
nominate, Emirati entrepreneur and owner of jewelry shop. The reason for this
is because similar to my plan, he introduced modern jewelry that is connected
to Emirati heritage and has successfully set up multiple stores selling their
products. Lastly, Ms. Grace Wales, an award wining cloth designer and owner of
Wales Bonner who has worked with adidas on collaboration. Her success story of
launching her own brand, sustainability and cloth with deep meanings has
inspired me a lot. Given her expertise and knowledge in the world of cloth and
her career path, I believe she would be a perfect fit as my mentor.<o:p></o:p></p><h1>6-Word Summary<o:p></o:p></h1><p class="MsoNormal">Budding entrepreneur, empowering the local community.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-91260270469368318952011-09-16T10:37:00.000-07:002011-10-07T20:58:27.883-07:005 Reasons Why Copying Links is Bad for You<div id="post_body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
When you start out in link building, almost everyone recommends
to check out your competitors. And I agree: it is very important to know
who you're dealing with in the SERPs.<br />
Many people additionally
recommend to "get" all those links your competitors have built so far.
However, this can be a potentially dangerous and rather inefficient
approach to link building. Let me tell you why.<br />
<strong>1. You will never truly lead the rankings</strong><br />
It
sure does sound promising and logical. Just copy all the links that can
be copied of, say, the top 20 ranking websites for your target
keywords. Depending on your niche, this may or may not be a ridiculous
amount of work, but it can be done if necessary.<br />
However, this
has one implication: even if this works out great and you reach the top
(e.g. rank #1), you will never become an actual leader. Your ranking
will probably stick for a while, but if just one of those 20 competitors
is actively building links on a daily basis, he passes you in no time.<br />
Now if you approach the issue more thoroughly, you can try to copy all <em>new</em> links as soon as they appear in your favorite link research tool as well. This still has a serious problem to it, though: <strong>it's not natural.</strong><br />
<strong>2. It's unnatural and may get you penalized</strong><br />
Google
watches link growth and link building velocities very closely. If all
of a sudden, you start "obtaining" a healthy chunk of your competitors'
links (which they probably acquired over a couple of years), your site
is likely to be checked by one of Google's quality raters.<br />
This
can trigger severe penalties, rendering all of your work useless. If
you're really unlucky, Google may even trust all of your links less,
effectively devaluing even the links you've had before.<br />
<strong>3. You risk being reported</strong><br />
SEOs really don't like to see their hard work copied. But it happens all the time nonetheless.<br />
However,
some competitors might take this very seriously and report you to
Google - and you may be in for a penalty and link devaluation once
again.<br />
<strong>4. You depend on link research tools</strong><br />
I
bet if there was no Yahoo! Site Explorer (and similar services), 90% of
all link-building SEOs would be out of work. Way too many SEOs actually
depend on other peoples' link building strategies.<br />
<strong>5. You're not seeing all the links there are</strong><br />
All
available tools can only return a limited set of link data. Some do a
better job than others, but no tool can show you all the links that
Google has actually taken into consideration to build their rankings.<br />
Savvy competitors hide their own link networks anyway.<br />
<strong>But I need those links!</strong><br />
I
know you do. But if you're really dependent on copying other peoples'
links (which you shouldn't be!), at least do it the smart way.<br />
This means absolutely not getting a link on the very same page on a target domain unless it's highly relevant.<br />
Also,
slow and steady wins the race. Don't pull one allnighter after another
acquiring all those precious links at once. Set limits! Depending on
your niche this may be one link a week or ten links a day. This also
greatly depends on your existing link profile.<br />
If you're just starting out, get your first links elsewhere anyway!<br />
But most importantly, and this is my advice to you, instead of being a copycat, try to <strong>learn, understand, adapt and apply.</strong> Find new link sources, discover new link opportunities, broaden your horizon. If you do, the sky is the limit.<br />
</div>
TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-39951570410435312332011-09-02T04:40:00.000-07:002011-09-02T04:40:13.401-07:00Why Your Linkbait Fails and How to Fix It<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<div class="upgrade_noticeC" id="promoted_from_ugc" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(219, 219, 219); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-size: 0.84em; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 14px; padding-left: 14px; padding-right: 14px; padding-top: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">
This post was originally in YOUmoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of MaxSEO</div>
</span></div>
<div id="post_body" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.1em; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 30px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="font-weight: bold;">Howdy Mozzers,</strong></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
I've been spending a couple of weeks this summer in the Distilled office looking at the way they do linkbait in order to write up a guide on it.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Whilst researching and reading around what people had posted before, it became clear there were a handful of problems which kept cropping up why people were failing at linkbait. In this post, I hope to address some of the biggest headaches SEOs had.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">We've Had Very Limited Success</strong></em></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="font-weight: bold;">1. No Outreach Plan</strong></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Don't wait until you've hit publish to start thinking about outreach. Like a marketing campaign in itself, you wouldn't build prototypes, injection-moulding systems and have a container load of widgets shipped across from China before you've spoken to and got reassurance from your customers well in advance that they'd love to buy it; ideally with pre-orders.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The same applies to linkbait.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
You want to reach out to at least some of the linkerati beforehand and get your "guaranteed five links" before you even start your piece of linkbait. The good news is if lots of people are interested from the beginning and think it's a good concept, other people will probably like it and link to it later on too.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
I interviewed some of the London Distilled SEO and PR team on their tips for effective outreach. Here's a sneak peak:</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<object height="345" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="560"><embed width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/--tgnMLD9g4?version=3&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></object></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
If you've already launched, Wiep Knol has some excellent tips for <a href="http://wiep.net/talk/link-building/linkbait-failed-now-what/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">breathing life back into your linkbait</a> here.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="font-weight: bold;">2. Your Concept Sucks</strong></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Tough love, but if your concept doesn't keep your linkerati wide awake at night buzzing about what you've just created (or have told them you're going to create) then your concept needs some improvement. <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/help-my-industry-is-boring-viral-marketing-research" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Even in the most boring industries</a> this is possible - harder perhaps, but possible.</div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Find out the motives for the linkerati being online; is it their job? Their hobby? Something they're expert in? Perhaps offer to interview them to build up a relationship to post on your website in advance to figure out what they're really passionate about - this will help with refining a pitch to them, even better when it's a warm lead.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">3. You're Not Working Hard Enough</strong></div>
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It's simple enough. You haven't worked hard enough. Now there may be some genuinely good reasons for that - family bereavement, hospitalization or some other horror - but most of the time it's down the lack of effective work.</div>
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You probably need a to hire a link building trainer...</div>
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<img alt="Paddy Moogan" height="360" src="http://www.distilled.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/paddy-link-building-training.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="500" /></div>
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… or get on a diet of <a href="http://the99percent.com/tips/browse/3/Action-Method" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">productivity tips from the99percent</a> pronto!</div>
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It's probably rooted in the fact that you're not excited enough. You haven't got a team around you grinning as you show them the latest update or the graphics back from the designer. You haven't got a clear purpose why you're creating a piece of linkbait. It'll help to identify why your creating this linkbait and what it means to people involved - that can be motivating.</div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">My Linkbait Gets Copied by Competitors</strong></em></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">1. You've Got Nothing or Little Unique</strong></div>
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You don't have or you're not using something that's unique and can't be copied. Use proprietry data, your own contacts or something else which competitors don't have and can't acquire easily. It's only a really big problem if it's cannibalizing your links and preventing you from reaching future link targets. If it isn't though, don't fret too much - use it as a link prospecting tool though for future.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">2. You're Not Thinking Creatively</strong></div>
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Don't forget, you can still play the "first mover advantage" game if your kind of linkbait can be replicated fairly easily. That includes mashing up different linkbait tactics and hooks; perhaps an infographic linking back to an interactive tool. Try to maintain at least two different assets which are unique to you - that way you've got enough of a one-up over your competitors.</div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">We Haven't Got the Resources</strong></em></div>
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This one sounds plausible, but I still don't buy it for a second. Bootstrapped linkbait is harder yes, but still possible. You've just got to be more choosy in picking tactics and hooks to get links; there are some easy wins on a budget:</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">1. Design</strong></div>
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If you've got a designer, or a designer friend or someone who's good but not ridiculously expensive.</div>
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Designers expect money in exchange for work. That's the way it works, even if you are on a wafer-thin budget. Look at crowdsourcing designs perhaps via 99designs or looking at the people using Fiverr for cheaper designers, at least to get in touch with them.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">2. How-to Tutorials</strong></div>
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You can't always outspend your competition, but you can out-teach them. Think of all the countless books on learning to program, and then Y Combinator startup <a href="http://www.codecademy.com/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Codecademy</a> comes along - I can't wait to see what else they've got in store, but it's a fantastic, interactive how-to tutorial.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">3. Interviews</strong></div>
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Provided you can put together some riveting questions and pitch an interview in a way that doesn't tie up all their time. <a href="http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/how-to-produce-2-3-quality-blog-posts-in-1-hour-a-month/2011/02/10/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Wil Reynold's Pro Tip</a>: Call them up with Google Voice [US only. Grrr...] during their commute or other "dead time", record your call and get it transcribed.</div>
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A good time to grab top end interviewees is when they're just about to launch a book. Hat tip to Andrew Warner of Mixergy.com for that one - when you're in a self-promotional mood, an interview opportunity is hard to turn down.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">4. User-generated linkbait</strong></div>
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Perhaps you've got a small email list, blog or twitter following you could work with to <a href="http://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/forget-ugc-discover-user-generated-linkbait/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">brainstorm and create effective linkbait?</a></div>
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One of my favourite tactics is to sound out a forum, put together a skeleton outline of what the article or guide might look like in <a href="http://writeboard.com/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Writeboard</a>, then let the community edit it. If you establish yourself in the community first - be human and sincere like you would be face-to-face, not a self-promotional a-hole! - then it can be a incredibly effective way to crowdsource expert content. I've even had my spelling mistakes corrected for me :) Make sure to cite your contributors however; always be sincere.</div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">It's All Overwhelming and Chaotic. I can't cope with it.</strong></em></div>
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You've got no effective process. Try and map out the big picture of what needs to happen where before you start. With that all mapped out (maybe even as a printed chart on the wall), you can work on the very next step. By forcing yourself to jump over little hoops and checkpoints regularly your far more likely to produce effective linkbait.</div>
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<img align="middle" alt="Linkbait" height="334" src="http://www.distilled.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/linkbait-process-blogsize.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="640" /></div>
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There's plenty more tips and ideas like this in the <a href="http://www.distilled.net/linkbait-guide/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">linkbait guide</a>, as well as a chance to get your questions answered in our <a href="http://www.distilled.net/linkbait-guide/#qa-webinar" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Q&A Linkbait Webinar</a> where two Distilled SEO Consultants will be answering your questions.</div>
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What's been your experience creating linkbait? An exhausting path of misery or a thrilling success story?</div>
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TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-90384166768308583692011-09-02T04:36:00.001-07:002011-09-02T04:36:57.567-07:004 Tips for Creating Link Bait<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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While link bait is frequently seen as more "fun", and it's definitely more creative, than doing things like guest blogging or emailing people asking for links, it has its challenges. I wanted to share a few things I've learned about creating link bait from my experiences. If you have other insights, I'd love to hear them in the comments.</div>
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Keep a Tight Scope</h2>
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In most cases you will want to keep your content extremely focused around your target, or the person that you are going to get to link to you (Justin wrote more about this process <a href="http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/content-based-outreach-for-link-building/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here</a>). While it’s tempting to try and cast as wide of a net possible, typically you will be more successful focusing on targeting one or two targets (and shaping the content around these demographics) rather than trying to create content that targets everyone.</div>
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While this is really important for a lot of link bait content, there will obviously be exceptions to this rule. A couple examples come to mind (if you can think of others, feel free to leave a note in the comments):</div>
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<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If your content or subject <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">really</em> is universally applicable – While this is very rare, there is some content topics that apply to almost everyone on the web. A good example of this would be Facebook; just about everyone on the internet has a Facebook account and has an interest in changes (especially when it involves privacy settings).</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Creating exhaustive guides – Super in-depth and extensive guides and documents can receive a lot of links if they are done <i>really</i> well. Think about <a href="http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?page=1&site=www.seomoz.org%2Fbeginners-guide-to-seo&sort=page_authority&filter=followed&source=external&target=page&group=0" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">how many links</a> SEOmoz’s <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Beginners Guide</a>has received.</li>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.seomoz.org/img/upload/likelihood%20of%20success.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div>
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Keep the scope tight especially with revisions and additions. When you want to add in more content to make it better, or the client wants additions, you need to ask: “Will adding X improve the linkability of the link bait”?</div>
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Offer Something New</h2>
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There are two aspects of this: perspective and information.</div>
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<b>Perspective</b></div>
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The internet is huge; sometimes it feels like everything has already been written about. Fortunately people tend to write the same thing. If you want to write about a topic that has already been written about a lot, come at it from a different angle. If everyone is writing about why something sucks, write about why it’s awesome. And don’t just say it’s awesome, back it up and make a case for why it’s awesome.</div>
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<b>Information</b></div>
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Though it seems like just about everything has been written about think about what you can contribute that other people don’t know. Here are a few types of information you can use:</div>
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<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sales data – you can analyze your sales data and segment it by population, gender, or other information you collect in the sales process to contribute something new. Yes this data might not be completely accurate as it is your sales data and may not be representative of the market. That said, it is still new and typically unavailable to people.</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">User data – When users register, ask them for information. If they have profiles on their site, ask them for information. Then anonymously aggregate this information and present it with pretty charts and graphics (<a href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/content-marketing-for-the-talent-impaired" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">More on this from Dr. Pete</a>). OK Cupid does a great job of this with most of their blog posts. Check out this one on <a href="http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-real-stuff-white-people-like/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">stuff white people like</a> (<a href="http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">original stuff white people like</a>).</li>
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<img alt="" height="644" src="http://www.seomoz.org/img/upload/stuff-white-people-like.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="487" /></div>
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<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do your own research – Offering brand new data is great because no one else has it so you get to be the definite (linked) source for forthcoming references. This can be really helpful with infographics – if you are having a hard time finding research that someone has published, do the research yourself. Tools like <a href="http://aytm.com/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ask Your Target Market</a> are great for this as they provide you with a large panel so you can get quick responses and you can focus your time on creating your link bait, not doing research.</li>
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Publish your data from the research you did and provide excel/csv downloads for people to be able to use the data to do their own research as a way of earning links. You can even go as far as requiring attribution to use the data.</div>
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Feedback is Key</h2>
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You need to make sure that your infographic is correct and there aren’t mistakes or typos. These will get your link bait torn apart on sites like Reddit. You should minimally have people looking at:</div>
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<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Spelling/Proofreading – do you have typos or misspellings. It happens. A lot. Get someone who is really nitpicky and uptight to go over it.</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Technical details – Make sure that the content is technically correct and that you aren’t wrong. Find a subject matter expert and have them verify your work.</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Readability – While the linkbait might make complete sense to you and your cohorts, you this is your baby (and nobody thinks their baby is ugly) so some things that might seem obvious to you really aren’t obvious to everyone else. Have your mom look at this, kind of like when you were in grade school and your mom checked your homework. Get someone object who isn’t invested in the project verify that it makes sense (and that it’s cool).</li>
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Get subject matter experts (especially those who you would like a link from) involved in the project – reach out to them before the project launches, tell them they are awesome and ask them to review it because they know so much more than you. When it goes live tell them and thank them for their help. Then encourage them to share it. They have invested time in the project and are more likely to share.</div>
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Have a Killer Hook</h2>
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You can have great data but if you don’t have a hook, then it is significantly less likely to succeed. Todd Malicoat has a great overview of link baiting hooks <a href="http://www.stuntdubl.com/2007/01/12/linkbaiting-hooks/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here</a> that you should take a read through. I will list them here quickly for you though - to get the full explanation you'll have to read the post ;):</div>
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<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">News hook</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Contrary hook</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Attack hook</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Resource hook</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Humor hook</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ego hook</li>
<li style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Incentive hook</li>
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While each of these hooks are effective, you should choose the hook based on who you are ultimately targeting and who you want to link to you. While a humor hook may work well for broad appeal, if you want to increase topically relevant links you might want to go with something like a resource hook or contrary hook.</div>
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If you have a strong community you can often use the ego hook to scale your link building and <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-get-your-community-to-build-links-for-you" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">get your community to build links for you</a>.</div>
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Likewise Copy Blogger has a crash course on <a href="http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0b72ba; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">magnetic headlines</a> that you should read through. Having really strong headlines will not only help improve the number of people reading your content but can have a big impact on how well-shared your link bait is. As such make sure your title contains a hook.</div>
TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-53308857226302110672011-09-02T04:35:00.000-07:002011-09-02T04:35:40.290-07:00Do You Want Social Friends or Business Leads?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #efefee; font-family: Arial, Verdana, san-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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Social media marketing is a great way to humanize your brand and connect with your target audience in an unobtrusive and personal way. A strong and loyal social network can help spread your messaging strategy and defend your brand from online trolls, not to mention drive sales. But a lot of companies are approaching <span class="Apple-style-span">social media</span> marketing from the wrong angle. It’s not just about how many Fans or Followers you have, or how many people Like your content on a daily basis. In the end, social media marketing should help drive traffic to your site and increase your conversion rate.<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Why Likes don’t matter</strong></div>
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When social media marketing first burst onto the scene, the only real tangible way to measure your campaign success was to see how many connections your company could create. The <span class="Apple-style-span">Facebook</span> Like was the end-all-be-all benchmark of success. However, as social media has matured, the Like isn’t worth nearly as much as once believed. For instance, many companies will offer a promotional deal via Facebook, where users can get a sample of a new product or discount code if they Like the company. But how many of those users are actually interested in building a rapport with your brand and how many are just doing it to get free stuff? Many companies see a quick decline in the number of Likes they have once the promotion is over. The simple truth is that a Like doesn’t mean a consumer is actually interested in what you have to say.</div>
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Facebook Shares are much more valuable to a company. When someone Shares your content by posting it to their Facebook wall, they are broadcasting to their network that this content is valuable in some way. Peer recommendation is a powerful marketing tool that can help push your content in front of a wider audience. The more frequently a piece of content is Shared, Tweeted, posted and so forth, the more trust that content has with the search engines as well.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social is the path, not the destination</strong></div>
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Social networking sites are a great place to interact with current and potential customers. It’s an even playing field where large brands are expected to play by the same rules as the consumer. Getting a user to click through to your social profile means you have something that they want, but don’t just let them stay there. Social profiles should be looked at as yet one more gateway to your main site. If you are going to post blog posts to your Facebook page, don’t publish the whole post. Leave a teaser snippet that captures your audiences’ attention and them pulls them through to the actual blog. Invite visitors to check out you latest products on their respective product pages, allow them to sign up for your company newsletter and more.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Don’t push traffic away</strong></div>
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If one of the goals of a social networking site is to drive traffic through to the main site, than why to do many website ask visitors to head back to those same social sites? While you want to be able to connect with your audience on a social media site, do you really need to have a huge “Like Us on Facebook” button taking up valuable webpage real-estate? Once someone has arrived to your site, you should be focused on getting them to convert, not following you on Twitter. Getting social connections is a secondary goal of your website.</div>
TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-63812878931556782482011-09-02T04:34:00.000-07:002011-09-02T04:34:02.672-07:00Google Killed Surfing<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #efefee; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, san-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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People are always talking about how the growth of Google and its automated search index has killed off all the other search engines and directories. It is mostly considered a problem of reduced choice and less competition. However, Google has actually changed the way we used the Internet.</div>
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In the days before search engines people used to surf the web. Also the phrase is still used today its meaning has changed. To surf the web used to mean finding an interesting new website, usually by first visiting your favorite web directory, and then following the links on those pages to other interesting websites on a similar subject.</div>
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This method of navigating the web may seem extremely inefficient today but 15 years ago it was the only way to get around the web.</div>
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The Invention of Google PageRank</h2>
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Because in the good old days of the Internet webmasters used to link freely to other websites that they liked and trusts, Larry Page decided to use this rule as a fundamental part of his PageRank mechanism which allowed him to start building a automatically indexed search engine.</div>
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The idea being that each link would be followed by Googlebot much in the same way that a human surfs the web. If some sites or pages get linked to more, i.e. if Googlebot lands on the same page more than once, then it is assumed that this must be a good page, so it gets ranked higher.</div>
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Even after Google search started to become popular people would still surf the web as the search results really only provided a clue as to which pages were best to look at. More often than not you would have to crawl through the first few pages of results in Google before finding anything really useful, so when you found a good site you stayed there and let that webmaster then guide you further.</div>
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The Rise of Spamming and Selling Links</h2>
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A major spin off of the rapid development of the PageRank mechanism for ranking pages was that people soon realised that to get their sites to rank well they needed to get links on related websites that are already popular. So this gave rise to more and more requests to webmasters for a link on a “blogroll” (although blogs came a little afterwards), or in the footer or on the home page of the site.</div>
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To start with this did not affect the results too much but as more webmasters realised that they could game the system link asquisition turned into an arms race. Suddenly every webmaster and then SEO (who was the first SEO I wonder?) was trying to get links faster than their competitors. This lead to all manner of spamming for links, although in the pre-Web 2.0 days spamming was less common as many of the good sites were still static html pages.</div>
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However, as some webmasters realised that their pages were in high demand they started charging people to place links. Google made an effort to stop this practice by introducing the nofollow tag, but no all webmasters wish to adopt this practice. Some feel that it is just a method introduced by Google to workaround the flaws in its algo, and so prefer not to pander to Google’s suggestions.</div>
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The End of Web Surfing</h2>
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Google continues to improve its search engine algorithm which means that more often than ever people are finding good pages direct from Google search. Although many bloggers still share lists of similar sites on their blogrolls and many people in the web community link to their websites when discussing articles on blogs, the bulk of new referrals for most sites is still coming from Google.</div>
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So, you may remember the day you used to surf the web, just as I do. For kids growing up with the Internet the concept of surfing is alien to them. Now it is all about sharing and tweeting. Maybe one day search will be driven by social media interaction and not html links. If this happens then maybe the idea of surfing will survive.</div>
TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-3878656945782243272011-09-02T04:32:00.000-07:002011-09-02T04:33:30.897-07:00Back to Basics: Seven Simple Sources for One-Way SEO Backlinks!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #efefee; font-family: Arial, Verdana, san-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">SEO</strong> can be mainly split into two key areas, which both must be looked into if you want to get anywhere with the search engines. Firstly there is the onsite SEO, where the website is looked at from a technical perspective in terms of how ell built it is and how good the content is on it. A lot of technical people can get on these easily but struggle on the second SEO technique, which is offsite link building.</div>
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Other websites need to mention and cite yours in order for them to send you some authority. Think of it as reputation. If Google visits a site and sees they are referencing yours, they will send you some power for the keywords and themes around that link. This is the basic principle why you should link build. Posting links on Twitter and Facebook with a <strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">URL shortener</strong> might not work though, because these websites are ‘no follow’ meaning power is not passed onto the link destination. But where do good one-way links come from?</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Directory submissions</strong> – There are few good articles directories nowadays, but some of them are still worth the effort. Make sure the directory you are submitting to is unique-content-rich!</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Article marketing</strong> (don’t confuse with guest blogging!) – This is a broad way to get links, and includes writing of articles that you can publish on other people’s sites with your website as a link.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Blog commenting</strong> – Commenting on other people’s blog posts can be a good way to get links.<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Comment naturally though</strong>, by reading the post and having a good comment to say. You can drop a link in the post here or through your name when you submit the comment to be moderated.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Forum links</strong> – Similar to blog commenting, you can post your website on forums to get a little bit of power. Users on profiles will sometimes have your website as a link in their profile signature meaning your link can be seeded over a large number of pages on a website. Of course, a link should not be your priority: get involved and network! <strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Add value to the community to avoid being called a spammer!</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Homepage links</strong> – These are getting links directly on homepages of other websites on their blog roll, footer, or sponsored link section. <strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Don’t overdo with these</strong>: homepage links make Google think you are a spammer</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social bookmarks</strong> – Join some social bookmarking websites and submit your articles, website and blog posts (<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">don’t spam!</strong>). Submit other people’s articles as well to add value to the social network, don’t just link-drop.</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Web 2.0 properties</strong> – These are like platforms you can create to put links wherever you want. Websites such as WordPress, Blogger and Squidoo are great places to make websites and pages where you can link to your site. Don’t forget a presence on Twitter and Facebook too as every little helps.</div>
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Remember a mix of anchor text when getting your links because it needs to look natural to Google. Don’ spam out your site with thousands of bad links with the same anchor text. I hope you have found some of these link sources useful, and good luck getting to page 1!</div>
TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-9767517153221900872011-02-08T04:21:00.000-08:002011-02-08T04:21:11.545-08:00How do I rank my website on Google?Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is one of the most popular and competitive web based services available. As <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0) ! important; font-family: inherit ! important; font-size: inherit ! important; font-weight: inherit ! important; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="font-family: inherit ! important; font-size: inherit ! important; font-weight: inherit ! important; position: relative;">business</span></span> becomes more competitive, so does web based marketing (i.e. making sure your website shows up in search engines and outranks your competiton).<br />
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What exactly is search engine optimization? Don’t websites automatically get ranked on google? these are some of the questions i get asked on a daily basis. Search engine optimization is a service- it is not generally included in normal web development as it requires time, attention to detail, extensive research and an excellent understanding of search engines and how they work. Websites usually do find their way into Google’s index, but if the site is not properly optimized, it will probably show up on page 99,999… which is pointless.<br />
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The point of search engine optimization is to get your website ranked for specific keywords. These keywords should be the products or services you offer, or a topic of discussion on your website. Don’t get fooled by people who will get your website ranked for your company name or website address- this happens anyways, so you are essentially paying someone for no work at all. <br />
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What do you need to know in order not to get ripped off? you need to first understand how a website gets ranked on a search engine:<br />
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Search engines send out a ‘bot’ (robot, spider, whatever you want to call it) which is an automated program that crawls the internet and bounces off HTML links. Most bots will first target major directories, like DMOZ (the largest human edited directory on the internet) and the big search engines, as all search engines feed off each other. When they find their way into a directory or different search engine, they will bounce off the link to the websites and ‘visit’ them. When the bot arrives, it is looking for specific instructions, or ‘meta tags’ to help direct it around the website, and understand what the page is about. There are a variety of robot commands that can be used, which need to be hard coded into your websites pages. After reading the meta tags, the bot will then proceed into the text content of your page, and should then (hopefully) find it’s way to your other pages.<div style="position: fixed;"><div id="new_selection_block0.22053732289213246" style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Read more at http://www.articlealley.com/article_2014894_62.html?ktrack=kcplink</div></div>TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-75860424503340876602011-01-28T03:35:00.001-08:002011-01-28T03:35:47.886-08:005 Most Effective SEO Methods<span class="style59">Off-page optimization or Link Building is one of the most important <b>SEO</b> challenges every website owner has to face. You can do whatever changes you wish to make on your website: changing structure, playing with keyword density and so on and optimize your content in different ways, but when you wish to make other people do something on their site for you, it's a different story.<br />
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The important question is "how to get links to my website?' well there are <b>5 effective ways</b> to build links to your website in order to boost your link popularity and get you better <b>search engine optimization</b> rankings.<br />
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<b>1. Article Submission</b><br />
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Write unique articles on a topic relevant to your website and submit them to the biggest article directories like ezinearticles, articlebiz, etc. There are lots of them on the Internet and most of them allow you to put 1 to 4 links to your website either in the body of the article or in the resource box or both. <br />
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The link value you get from article submission is not very big, but the upside is that you shape the content yourself; therefore the link will come from a topically relevant page. As an extra bonus you get some traffic from the article and if it's good enough it will be republished on more websites and blogs.<br />
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<b>2. Blog Commenting</b><br />
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Blog commenting is another link-building technique that has become quite popular these days. Search the web for authoritative blogs in your niche that allow do-follow commenting and share your mind there. Make sure you read the post before commenting and try to make a point with your comment; don't just go on spamming blogs with links to your website, or you'll just get your comments deleted and end up with no links and a spoiled reputation.<br />
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<b>3. Social Media</b><br />
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Social media websites can provide tons of valuable links if you manage to bring your <b>SEO</b> to the top. But you'll need all your creative power to do that and maybe a bit more. Since social media sites are seeing more and more spammy content submitted to them by marketers of all sorts and fashions, running a successful social media campaign gets harder every day. <br />
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<b>4. Submission of Press Release </b><br />
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Write a press release about your company or product and submit it to PRWeb and similar resources. Take the time to make your press-release newsworthy and the chances that it will get syndicated increase depending on how good you manage to make it.</span><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<span class="style58"> <span class="style61">5. Directories Submission</span></span></b> <span class="style59"><br />
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There are a lot of directories on the internet where you can submit your website. Although links from them won't give you any drastic jump ups in the rankings, they are still worth submitting to, especially if you have a young website. Make sure you submit your URL into a relevant category. These link building techniques will get you quality and relevant links that will add good value to your website's search engine rankings. To get the best results in SEO with your link building always keep track of the links you get and evaluate your off-page optimization campaign. The most efficient way to do it is to use special tools for link building. </span>TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2738638376954105609.post-65209892554196662542011-01-28T03:05:00.001-08:002011-01-28T03:22:53.664-08:00Welcome to my BlogHey there and thanks for visiting my blog, i will be discussing about various SEO methods and ways to monetize your online content!TheHelper705http://www.blogger.com/profile/15197097296575457113noreply@blogger.com