Steve Ellsworth - President at Primus, Inc.

Paul W. Strickland - Owner, The Voyager Group, Inc.

Vanessa Rose - President at The Voyager Group

Roxane Yballe - searching for the right company/organization where I can make a positive impact in business operations and program management.

Art Tinajero - Partner at Hired Gun Marketing

Lowell Petrie - Vice President of Marketing at Daphne’s Greek Cafe

Shannon (Cooling) Troyka - Sr. Manager, Client Services at Pierce Promotions

Today’s LinkedIn.com update to my contacts brings me up to 565 contacts.

Thanks for the connections!

Ruben S. Gonzalez

Dot Fulfillment Services

Rick Kagasoff - CEO/President at Advent Visual

Kenesha Hylton - Creative Director at Coral Avenue

Today’s LinkedIn.com update to my contacts brings me up to 558 contacts.

Thanks for the connections!

Ruben S. Gonzalez

Dot Fulfillment Services

Google is typically the top search engine optimization priority for Web site owners. Here are four best practices for optimizing your Web site for improved organic rankings with Google:

1. Make your Web site indexable. A Web site first must be indexable in Google’s search results. Technologies such as JavaScript and Flash can impede Google from indexing a Web site. Pages behind forms also are typically not indexed because Google cannot fill out forms on a Web site.

If you want to include Flash or JavaScript content and make it indexable, add the key components of that content into the <noscript> tag on that page, as Google can read the information contained in that tag. If you have content behind forms that needs to be indexed, provide ways for Google to reach the same content without filling out the form — perhaps a link from your site map directly to the content.

2. Select appropriate keywords. Another important element to Google is how often a keyword appears in the Web page’s content. Choose keywords that reflect what your site is about and have ample search volume. A good tool for finding keywords is Google’s keyword tool.

3. Include these keywords in site content. How often a keyword appears in Web site content is fundamental to the way Google ranks a Web site. After all, how does Google know what subject a Web site is about if the words contained within the site don’t communicate that message?

The eight main areas of Web site pages where targeted keywords should appear include the following:

• file name;
• title tag;
• meta keyword;
• meta description;
• heading tags (H1, H2, etc.);
• bold text;
• link text; and
• overall body copy.

Each area of a Web page carries a different ranking weight in the Google algorithm. For instance, it’s widely believed that Google highly values keywords appearing in title tags, perhaps more than keywords appearing in meta keyword tags.

4. Build inbound links to your Web site, with links containing your keywords in the anchor text. An inbound link is a hyperlink from one domain to another. The quantity and anchor text of inbound links have great bearing on organic rankings in many search engines. Google highly values inbound links as part of its ranking algorithm, perhaps more than any other algorithm ranking factor. The Google PageRank overview explains, “in essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B.”

Even a Web site with the most inbound links may not rank at the top position for its target keyword searches in Google. While the quantity of inbound links is important to Google, it’s the total number of inbound links with specific anchor text that has the greatest effect on Google rankings. The more inbound links that contain a given targeted keyword, the more likely the Web site will rank high with Google for that keyword term.

By Janet Driscoll Miller as seen in this weeks e-issue of e marketing & commerce

Form the habit of making decisions when your spirit is fresh. To let dark moods lead you is like choosing cowards to command your armies. Charles Horton Cooley

You ever have one of those days where you just can’t get the answer you want right now!  What happens? Either your spirit is fresh and your mood is right to roll along and realize that we are not saving lives with our work and there is no end of the world scenario going on today or you can charge ahead like a bull in a china shop rolling over people, saying harsh mean things and in the end hurting the relationships you have with your fellow travelers  and for what? Just a thought is it worth it to react immediately  or pause before speaking and take a deep breath. Some have this inherent skill others have to cultivate and nurture it.  As Mr. Cooley notes it is a habit and all habits require a commitment to sustain.

Ruben S. Gonzalez

Dot Fulfillment Services

Natalie Barreiro - Public Relations and Marketing Professional

Jami Delperdang - Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BrandMuscle, Inc.

Chris Georgieff - Owner/Partner at Generator LLC

Michael Anderson - Area Manager at Team One Employment Specialists

Glenn Baxter - Consultant at Electrical Metering Firm

Terrence Branley - Partner, Maverick Marketing Tactics

Today’s LinkedIn.com update to my contacts brings me up to 556 contacts.

Thanks for the connections!

Ruben S. Gonzalez

Dot Fulfillment Services

Linda’s always insightful in her weekly writings - I cannot tell you how many times when someone is trying to sell me they won’t ask me what I want or even take the time to listen to my answers. They are always to busy with thier planned sales pitch speech to be bothered with my silly questions. Questions like how will this help my company and our customers.

Ask Prospects and Customers One Smart Question

Sometimes a sale is closer than we think if we ask potential buyers one simple blue-sky question. “What do you wish you could buy right now?” The follow-up question is just as simple. “How would that help you?” If you established a solid relationship, you get real information. If the buyer treats these questions like they’re jokes, you know they aren’t willing to reveal their deepest secrets to you. Armed with that information, work on creating a stronger connection

The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies. Thomas Jefferson

We have a saying around the ranch here at Dot Fulfillment. Always tell the truth no matter how painful. Why not tell the customers what you think they want to hear? Because the truth will always surface anyways. Maybe not today but it always comes back to bite you. How many times have you had a vendor tell you that they are on schedule and that you should have your order on time. When the on-time arrives it’s not there. You call them up and ask them where is my order - they tell you it’s running a little bit late but should be there in an hour or so. Well I have danced this dance many times with vendors and it goes round and round for hours sometimes days. Finally after many calls and blown deadlines they admit the truth. Something went wrong and they can’t deliver on time. Rather than dance this dance of deception why not tell the truth to begin with - in  advance.

We train our employees to tell the truth early in the day when we can make adjustments rather than wait until the last minute when all hell breaks loose and everything becomes an emergency. Tell the truth early and stressful situations can be avoided. It may not be the most comfortable thing to do at the moment but it sure is allot less painful than working in crisis mode.

Personally I have had 2 different vendors put me in this bad situation in the last month. If possible I will never use them again. Once bitten - twice shy. If they would have provided me with the correct information to begin with we could have made the proper adjustments and revised expectations. As it was, what could have been avoided was not. What did they say afterwards? Nothing. That made it so much worse.  No remorse for having added burdens to other peoples day. Lesson learned and passed on.

I look forward every week to reading Mark Potter’s email. As usual this one was insightful and hit home.  Thank you Mark I love to share your thoughts with others. Ruben S. Gonzalez/ Dot Fulfillment Services

CANVAS Weekly Newsletter - June 22, 2009
“So, You Want to be Successful?”

Back in October of last year, I was on cloud 9.  We had just completed the first full year of CANVAS, made some dough, and were busy pursuing our vision of building a stewardship to this community.

In November, I found myself on about cloud 2.  Advertising budgets dried up, people were operating from a position of fear and I wondered, just for a moment, if people really understood that CANVAS readers are the leaders of the new day.

After sulking a bit through the holidays, I thought about John Wooden, the famous UCLA basketball coach who won 11 straight championships.  “The Wizard of Westwood” was well known for his “Pyramid of Success” and other fascinating leadership ideas.  However, one specific idea of his stays with me today and will continue everyday.  Adversity is your Ally!

Seriously, did I think this would be easy?  Was I really going to use the economy as an excuse?  Excuses are for losers.  It doesn’t matter what you are trying to accomplish.  More sales, losing weight, or building a successful business.  I told myself, if you really want to build a successful platform for the brightest people in our industry, then get over yourself and stop making excuses.

Imagine a new recruit for the Marine Corps making an excuse about his boots being too tight or the weather not cooperating with his training.  Wouldn’t his sergeant just laugh and say, “So, you want to be a Marine huh?”

So, you want to be a great sales professional huh?  Well, if it were that easy, then everyone would be doing it!  Adversity builds character.  And believe me, those people who just want things to go back to normal and are using the economy as an excuse not to innovate, incubate, and create will ultimately be cast aside.  Those that remember the heroes that built this country and the challenges they overcame will be reminded that excuses are for the weak.

We have a choice.  Some of us will embrace the obstacles that we are all encountering and use them as launching pads.  Unfortunately, others will view them as excuses and retreat.  Choose!