Tools to Market Your Business Online Locally | ICM

Local search is an inexpensive way to get your business found by prospective customers. In the world of the online business, traffic to your website is the most valuable of assets. And in today?s tight economy, business owners are constantly looking for more efficient ways to market their products or services without breaking the bank. One of the most effective ways to market your business online is locally. People tend to trust local businesses more than they do, for example, one on the other side of the globe. Local marketing online is one of the most cost-efficient yet easy methods of which to market on the Internet. And because most companies already have a web site and a blog, local marketing is easier than ever.

Top 10 Tips for Marketing your Business Locally:

1. Merchant Circle ? Claim Your Profile on Merchant Circle. If your business is not already listed on Merchant Circle, sign up and within 5 minutes, you can get your business more exposure on the Internet. Be sure to include correct and relevant information such as your legal business name, street address, hours of operation, and business categories. Categories are important because they help ensure your listing is found easier by searching customers. Add deals and promotions to your Merchant Circle listing. Deals include coupons, sales and offers and are a fantastic way to encourage browsing customers to visit your website.

2. Google Places ? Claim your business on Google Local Business Center. In a previous blog entry, we outlined the steps necessary to get your business listed on Google Places for free. 97% of consumers search for local businesses online and because the power of Google, many of your potential customers could be looking for the products and services that you offer online at Google Places. Be there when they?re looking for you with Google Places for business. Again, this is a free local platform from Google.

Help your business stand out by adding photos, videos, and offers to show customers why they?ll want to choose you. Display special promotions, post live updates, and respond to reviews from your Places for business account.

3. Yahoo Local ? Claim your business on Yahoo Local. Potential customers from your area visit Yahoo! Local every day and could be searching for your products and services. Yahoo Local is easy to setup and gives you the ability to add descriptive information about your business and upload images from your computer. It is simple to manage. You do not have to bid on keywords and you can edit your listing at your convenience, twenty-four hours a day.

These are the building blocks of getting your business found online. These top three sources of website traffic are easy to use and- best of all ? they are free.

Next, we will detail some other strategies for building visibility to your business online. Some of them are free, and some of them require an initial deposit to get started. But all of these sources are excellent ways of which to build website traffic, which as we all know equates to more sales!

4. City Search ? Add a Business Listing. If you cannot find your business and your business isn?t listed on CitySearch, you can add your business to their directory by completing this form. You need a CitySearch account to submit a new business to them.

5. Local.com ? Add a Local.com Business Listing. Setting up your free Local.com business listing is quick and easy and takes just a few simple steps. Get started by entering your business information, preview your listing and edit it with details and special offers to enhance your visibility.

6. MapQuest ? Promote your business with MapQuest. The MapQuest Local Business Center listing is free. You can add your business listing within minutes to MapQuest.com by creating a MapQuest Merchant Account. MapQuest powers local search for all AOL properties. You can also buy advertising on MapQuest that gets seen on Yahoo, Yelp and SuperPages business directories.

7. SuperPages ? Also called SuperMedia ? and is an excellent resource for business owners looking to gain instant access to the millions of potential customers that view the SuperPages business listings each month.

8. YellowBook360 ? With a YellowBook360 listing, you are adding your business to one of the top 50 Internet properties on the web. Put your business in more places and reach more customers with YellowBook360.

9. YellowPages.com ? The tried and true method of adding your business to the YellowPages is still a strong business strategy. YellowPages has re-branded their business and is now called YP.com, but make no mistake, this directory is still as solid a business investment as ever. Your business can advertise with premium ads and if you are just getting started or are on a strict marketing budget, YP.com offers free business listings.

10. Yelp.com ? This website has grown into one of the fastest expanding user communities for reviewing and researching local businesses. Businesses can advertise on Yelp.com with any size budget. Yelp is an excellent website for advertisers to reach an actively engaged audience.

By incorporating each of these steps into your local marketing strategy, you can build a more successful business. Look at these steps and follow through with each one, as your budget allows, and in time you will see more traffic to your website, which will result in more business and sales.

Starting to get the picture? Yeah, you can build traffic, visibility and sales! Give yourself every advantage. Give yourself a better chance to achieve success on-line.

Oh, and don?t forget ? go green with green website hosting.

Source: http://www.icm2010.com/tools-to-market-your-business-online-locally.asp

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Birds of Burden: 7 Ways Humans Harness Avian Abilities [Slide Show]

Our avian friends are capable of far more than singing or dressing a table

By Adam Hadhazy

HONEYCATCHER: Honeyguides, and in particular the Greater Honeyguide, are famous for?as their name implies?guiding people to bee hives. Image: Frans Vandewalle

Many of the 10,000 or so bird species on the planet are pretty, melodic or tasty. But birds are much more than that. Over the centuries, humankind has come up with some distinctive and surprising ways to take advantage of the unique abilities of our feathered friends. At various points in the history of civilizations, birds have served as hunters, guides and messengers. And we haven?t run out of new things for them to do. Farmers have employed raptors to strike terror into the hearts of crop-destroying birds, such as starlings and seagulls, scattering them back into the wild. With the proper training, birds might one day perform search and rescue.

With a nod to International Migratory Bird Day, May 11, here is a slide show showcasing many of the ways we have teamed up with our avian counterparts.

View the Birds of Burden slide show.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4c7774db670b2e6aa0acd5be85fc02fd

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how safe are chennai cell phone towers? |india news network

HOW SAFE ARE CHENNAI CELL PHONE TOWERS?

By CJ Sunita Pillai in Chennai

With the mercury levels soaring, increasing the possibility of fire-related incidents, a blaze that gutted the shelter room of a cell phone tower in Jayaram Nagar, Nerkundram, raises questions about the safety of hundreds of the tall steel structures dotting the city?s skyline. Of prime concern is the fact that there appears to be neither any regulations for installation of the towers in both residential and commercial buildings nor a monitoring mechanism at present.

Due to the incredible proliferation of mobile phones and wireless communication devices, there are more than 1,500 cell phone towers in Chennai. Police sources said around 1,300 of them have been constructed by leading player Indus Towers and 250 by American Tower. For safety and maintenance, the cell phone towers are let out to private companies like Powerlink and Mahendra. ? ??

The fire that broke out in the shelter room of a 21-metre high tower atop a residential building in Nerkundram, located under Koyambedu police limits, on May 5 is suspected to have been caused by an electrical short-circuit. The tower, installed by Indus and used by leading mobile phone operators Airtel and Idea, is being maintained by Powerlink.

According to S Subhash, who works as technician in the company, the entire Koyambedu area experiences low voltage problems, causing frequent fluctuations in the power link to the tower. ?This results in short-circuit, especially during summer,? he pointed out. ?The shelter room, which has a lot of equipment, is already heated and a spark can easily trigger a fire,? he said.

Hence, by the time the house owner noticed the smoke and flames billowing out of the shelter room around 2.20 am and alerted the company and a patrol police party called the fire services, the stabilizer, power plant, rectifier and battery bank inside the unit was totally gutted. Had the flying sparks landed on the nearby residential houses, the losses would have been greater, said a senior police official.

In fact, all safety parameters appear to have been in place at the cell phone tower, said investigating officer Muthukumar. ?But we have sought the safety manual from the company for further investigation,? he added.

The towers have an automated alarm system in the event of a fire, regular power cuts or any unauthorised entry into the shelter rooms, sources said. A fire alarm goes to the main company, which relays it to the maintenance firm and technicians like Subhash, who are assigned to an average of 20 towers, receive an SMS text on their mobile phones and rush to the spot. ?I asked the house owner to pull out the fuse first,? Subhash said.

Unlike high-rise buildings and other structures, which require a no-objection certificate from the fire and rescue services department for CMDA approval, there is no such protocol for installation of cell phone towers. ?It is an agreement between the building owner and the company, say for 10-15 years,? the sources said.

For fire service officials, their safety concerns revolve around the residential buildings, particularly slums, located near the towers. ?Whenever I received information that cell phone towers were going to be installed under my jurisdiction, I voluntarily used to visit the site and offer my suggestions,? recalled a retired senior fire official.

Echoing him, Divisional Fire Officer (south zone) Saravanakumar said the department only conducted a cursory inspection of the ground room to check whether there were fire extinguishers and fencing.

The retired officer suggested 24 hours manual supervision of the cell phone towers to prevent such incidents. The companies should also install automated fire detection and suppression systems.

Added Assistant Commissioner of Police (Koyambedu) S Senthil Kumaran: ?While we cannot rewind technology, the cell phone towers should have all safety parameters in place.?

Related Posts : TEMPLATE ERROR: No dictionary named: 'post' in: ['blog', 'skin', 'view']

Source: http://hyd-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/how-safe-are-chennai-cell-phone-towers.html

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Ohio kidnap suspect is father of child born in captivity

By Daniel Trotta and Kevin Gray

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - DNA tests showed that Ariel Castro, a former school bus driver charged with kidnapping and raping three women who were held captive at his Cleveland house for more than a decade, is the father of a 6-year-old girl born to one of the victims, the Ohio attorney general said on Friday.

Castro, 52, was arrested shortly after Amanda Berry, her 6-year-old daughter, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found in his house in a run-down neighborhood of Cleveland on Monday.

Attorney General Mike DeWine DeWine said in a statement that forensic scientists obtained a sample of Castro's DNA late Thursday afternoon and "worked throughout the night to confirm that Castro is the father of the six-year-old girl born in captivity to one of the kidnapping victims."

Berry's baby was born in a plastic inflatable children's swimming pool on Christmas Day, 2006, authorities have said.

The FBI is checking Castro's DNA sample against national cases, DeWine said. Local authorities have said Castro is not a suspect in other cases.

The Cuyahoga County prosecutor vowed on Thursday to seek murder charges, which could carry the death penalty, against Castro because police say there is evidence Knight suffered forced miscarriages.

Knight had at least five miscarriages that she told police were intentionally caused by Castro starving her and beating her in the abdomen, according to an initial police report.

She remained hospitalized, listed in good condition, while Berry and DeJesus went home with family members on Wednesday.

The hospital released a statement on Friday saying: "Michelle Knight is in good spirits and would like the community to know that she is extremely grateful for the outpouring of flowers and gifts.

"She is especially thankful for the Cleveland Courage Fund," the statement said. "She asks that everyone please continue to respect her privacy at this time."

During their captivity, police said, the women endured beatings, rapes and at times confinement in ropes and chains.

Investigators found a lengthy note written by Castro in the house detailing his own sexual abuse and talking about suicide, a city councilman said on Friday.

"He alluded to his own sexual abuse.... Presumably it was when he was young," said Councilman Brian Cummins, who said he was briefed by someone who read the note. "And if he was to carry out his suicide, he wanted to split the money from his house between the three women."

Castro also wrote "it was the victims' fault" that they were abducted, "deflecting the blame away from himself," Cummins said.

All three told police this week that they were abducted by Castro when they accepted his offers of a ride in the same West Side Cleveland neighborhood where they were found.

Their imprisonment came to an end when neighbors, alerted by cries for help, broke through a locked door of Castro's house and freed Berry, who had disappeared the day before her 17th birthday in 2003 on her way home from work at a fast-food restaurant.

DeJesus, 23, vanished at age 14 after school, and Knight, 32, was 20 when she went missing in 2002.

Castro's daughter Angie Gregg told CNN she had been in her father's house several times and noticed nothing suspicious.

Looking back, however, she said, he always played loud music, would not let her upstairs to see her old bedroom and kept the basement locked.

"It's like a horror movie," she said.

About two months ago, he showed her a photograph of a little girl he said was his girlfriend's daughter. Gregg said she thought at the time that the girl resembled her younger sister Emily but did not give it much more thought.

"But when I first saw the picture of Amanda in the hospital bed with the little girl on TV, I knew that was her because I never forgot that face," she said.

She also said she will never speak to her father again.

"He's dead to me," she said. "He's nothing but a memory anymore."

Castro made his first court appearance on Thursday to face three counts of rape and four counts of kidnapping brought by the city attorney's office, and he was ordered to remain in custody on an $8 million bond.

County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, who has jurisdiction over all felony cases for Cleveland, said he intends to expand the charges.

"I fully intend to seek charges for each and every act of sexual violence, rape, each day of kidnapping, every felonious assault, and each act of aggravated murder for terminating pregnancies that the offender perpetrated," he said.

Under Ohio law, the crime of aggravated murder includes the unlawful termination of a pregnancy and is a capital offense.

Castro's court-appointed lawyer, Kathleen DeMetz, said her client would be placed on suicide watch in jail and was expected to be held in isolation.

In order to win release on bail, he would need $800,000 cash - 10 percent of the bond amount.

Berry told police that her escape on Monday had been her first chance to break free in the 10 years that she was held, seizing the opportunity during Castro's momentary absence.

(Additional reporting by Kim Palmer and Mary Wisniewski; Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Grant McCool, Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prosecutor-seek-murder-charges-against-accused-ohio-kidnapper-043801822.html

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John Kerry Becomes First Secretary of State to Hold Google Hangout

John Kerry is set to make some digital diplomacy history Friday by becoming the first sitting secretary of state to take part in a Google Hangout.

During the Hangout, Kerry will discuss his view of the United States' role in global affairs and take questions on American engagement with foreign countries.

Kerry will be joined at 1:30 p.m. ET by Sarah Hill, a digital storyteller for the Veterans United Network with a strong following on Google Plus; Corrie Fraiser, founder of a social good consultancy firm; Adolfo Garcia, a 20-year U.S. marine who's twice been deployed to Afghanistan; Emily McKhann, co-founder of mom blogger network The Motherhood; and Andrew White, president of Comptus Inc., which produces weather instruments.

"What this technology does essentially is reduces the physical space between us," Hill told Mashable. "It's human media. I have the ability to be in the secretary of state's office, he has the ability to be in my living room ... and we can ask questions of him in real time."

Several of the participants will be soliciting questions via their various social media accounts. The State Department will not be made privy of their questions prior to the hangout.

NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell will moderate the Hangout.

While the partipants will probably ask a wide-reaching range of questions, likely to arise is the controversy over the September attacks on an American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. While Kerry's predecessor Hillary Clinton was in charge of the State Department at the time, this week's House Intelligence Committee hearings on the incident has put it and the State Department's role in handling it back into the national discussion.

Kerry's taking part in a Google Hangout is also an indicator that his State Department plans on continuing the legacy of "digital diplomacy" left in Clinton's wake, as Clinton's former Senior Advisor for Innovation Alec J. Ross told Mashable he would.

Kerry has long been an active social media user, formerly tweeting from @JohnKerry and now sending the occasional message from @StateDept signed "-JK."

The John Kerry hangout will be broadcast live in the embedded video player above and at the State Department's Google Plus page. What would you ask Kerry if you had the chance? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/05/10/john-kerry-google-hangout/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss

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Pope Francis prays for 'full unity' with Copts | Morocco World News

VATICAN CITY, May 10, 2013 (AFP)

Pope Francis on Friday prayed for ?full unity? with the Coptic Orthodox Church as he received Patriarch of Alexandria Tawadros II for an historic visit in the latest sign of closer ties between the Catholic and Orthodox worlds.

?Our persevering prayer, our dialogue and the will to build communion day by day in mutual love will allow us to take important further steps towards full unity,? Francis told Coptic Orthodox leader Tawadros at their meeting in the Vatican.

?We long for the day when, in fulfilment of the Lord?s desire, we will be able to communicate from the one chalice,? he said, acknowledging that there had been ?centuries of mutual distrust? between their two Christian churches.

This was the first such meeting in 40 years.

Tawadros? predecessor Shenouda III visited the Vatican in 1973 to meet pope Paul VI and the two had launched a process of dialogue between Catholics and Copts and pope John Paul II also visited Shenouda in Egypt in 2000.

Francis spoke of ?an ecumenism of suffering?.

?Just as the blood of the martyrs was a seed of strength and fertility for the Church, so too the sharing of daily sufferings can become an effective instrument of unity,? he said.

?And this also applies, in a certain sense, to the broader context of society and relations between Christians and non-Christians: from shared suffering can blossom forth forgiveness and reconciliation, with God?s help,? he added.

The four-day visit was the high-point of a tour of Europe by Tawadros, who was elected in November 2012 as leader of a Christian Church faced with the rise of radical Islam and growing emigration.

Copts account for up to 10 percent of the population in Egypt, where tensions and clashes with the majority Muslim population have increased since the fall of Hosni Mubarak?s regime in 2011.

Copts have been critical of President Mohamed Morsi?s leadership and of a new constitution seen as favourable to Islamists. Clashes between Copts and Muslims have left dozens dead in Egypt.

The spiritual leader of the world?s 250 million Orthodox Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch Batholomew I, attended the pope?s inauguration in March in an important gesture of rapprochement.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/05/90265/pope-francis-prays-for-full-unity-with-copts/

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After IRS Apology to Tea Partiers, McConnell Seeks Review (ABC News)

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