Gasta.com Keywords

13/11/2010

11/08/2010

Gasta SEO: As good a guide as any from Fathom SEO

Fathom SEO guide (short version)

With online marketing, there is never a shortage of data. At the end of the day, however, it’s not the data that matters. It’s about NEW dollars. To shape and adjust your marketing strategies, you clearly can’t ignore data such as;

How many people visit your website

What keyword consistently ranks well

Who agrees to link from their website to yours

Ultimately though, you’ll want to judge your efforts by leads and sales generated from the site. .
The performance of any online marketing initiative
comes down to three core steps:

Get (traffic)

Convert (visitors)

Measure (revenue drivers)

If you’re going to invest in online marketing – at any level – set your sights on how many leads
and how much revenue the effort drives.
What we’re talking about here is Return on Investment (ROI). In this case, the investment is in
online advertising (e.g. SEO, PPC, Online Video, Email, etc.), so we call it ROA, Return on
Advertising in this context.
Coordinating multiple facets of online advertising to maximize ROA is what we call Multilateral
Online Marketing (MOM), a new industry term coined by Fathom SEO that more accurately
expresses what it takes to succeed online – coordinating multiple programs that can efficiently
reach the right target audience when diverse disciplines work well together.
Each stage – Get, Convert and Measure – requires a great deal of know-how. The following
insights may help your business as you consider each step.
GET
You can’t generate money from your website until you GET
potential customers there. Traditional advertising can help
build awareness for your site, but we’ll focus on the online
opportunities. We’ll look at three of them:
SEO
PPC
Off-site (i.e. link building, online PR, social media)

SEO
In the most basic sense, SEO is about content. Great content improves a site’s ability to rank
well (i.e. GET more quality visitors) and more effectively engage potential customers. Yes, the
website must be technically sound so that search engines can reach the pages. And yes,
websites must be effectively optimized with title tags, page headers, etc. to help pages rank well.
But it’s really the breadth, depth and quality of the content (supported by relevant, strategic
keyword phrases) that helps attract high-quality visitors in the first place.
We liken content to fishing. If you drop one line in the water, you have one shot at catching a big
fish. Smart marketers essentially cast many lines at the same time - by expanding the breadth,
depth and quality of their website content using well-researched and targeted keyword phrases.
Once you have done the exhaustive research to identify and select which keywords are most
likely to GET the highest potential visitors in a reasonable amount of time, you can integrate
these terms into your content using proper SEO tactics. Too often, websites have limited text on
website pages. Sometimes a website simply has too few pages. Marketers should take stock of
their websites and be honest about what is lacking.
A robust content strategy is essential. Here are some ways to expand content:
• Create and promote an informative guide
• Develop and distribute a white paper
• Solicit user-generated content (encourage them to share their experiences or participate
in contests)
• Add a blog and get the word out
• Write articles
• Expand an FAQ section
• Build case studies
• Post employee bios
• Provide product/service details
• Create a glossary
• Review products
• Add a company history
• Develop a Featured Products section
• Add testimonials
• Add content from your newsletter or PDFs
• Develop a resources section
• Create videos and landing pages.

Here are 10 additional tips to help you make the most of your SEO efforts:

1. Know your target market.
Think of the many ways potential clients may be searching for your products or services.
2. Focus on website design.
Make sure your website has clear Calls to Action and navigation that will encourage visitors to
explore, learn and connect with your business.
3. Be realistic about keywords.
You may want to rank for a keyword phrase, but your website may not be poised to dominate the
major search engines for that term or phrase. You gain favor with search engines if you have a
keyword in your domain, your website is older than your competition and/or you have quality
inbound links pointing to your website. Your content and source code also must support the
keywords.
4. Write content – lots of content.
Extra pages can support your most important keywords and inspire many other search terms as
you develop your website.
5. Favor text headers (like the headlines on your Web pages).
Reinforced by H tags, the right combination of keywords in a page header can help with
rankings.
6. Add your blog as a directory, not a sub-domain.
A blog can support keyword themes and build up your core content. A blog also opens up new
opportunities for inbound links. Your blog should be on your domain, and not a disconnected
entity.
7. Write compelling Meta descriptions.
Meta descriptions have lost their influence on rankings, but they still appear within search engine
ranking results. Make sure yours include Calls to Action, company attributes and keywords that
resonate with the keywords used to find your website.
8. Get more links.
Add your website to free and paid directories. Write articles and add your company name and
link, when possible, to your bio. Issue news releases about the expertise you showcase on your
website.
9. Monitor your website analytics (Google is free).
Ongoing traffic analysis is a critical part of any SEO effort. You need to understand what
keywords are driving traffic and converting that traffic into leads or new customers.
10. Watch your rankings.
Sometimes a keyword ranks well on more than one page. Pay close attention so you can
determine what page is best positioned to help you achieve higher rankings.

PPC
Yes, PPC (Pay Per Click) costs money. But paid search marketing can help GET quality traffic
quickly. PPC can also support a coordinated effort by providing accelerated feedback that can
be used to inform the SEO strategy that is inherently more long–term, thus improving long-term
results. Create and test ads, pointing them to compelling content and strong Calls to Action.
Don’t hesitate to make custom landing pages specifically tailored to your ad. New pages may be
better than some of the existing ones on your website (that may lack clear offers or include
distracting navigation options).
Here are some other suggestions to help you make the most of your PPC campaigns:
• Do extensive keyword research
• Leverage geographic, time of day parameters
• Use vital defining options: phrase match (quotes) and exact match (brackets)
• Do A/B testing
• Don’t delay: revise ads
• Offer discounts
• Use clear Calls to Action and incentives (Order Today. Free Trial. Save 20%.)
• Make use of negative keywords
• Make sure conversion tracking is fully in place
• Track conversions, not just the click-thru rate (CTR)
Additionally, you should consider:
1. Plan your ads carefully.
With Google, for example, you want to create ads that are each supported by up to 15 relevant
keywords.
2. Make more than one campaign.
Daily budget caps are based on campaigns. You may want more than one campaign so as to
have freedom with your ads. When all ads share the same budget, they will not appear as often.
3. Bid on branded keywords.
They convert well, but some travel companies avoid the branded keywords because they’re
already ranking well with organic search. Branded keywords often don’t cost much and the paid
search conversions can make for a profitable investment.
4. Don’t get too greedy and miss an opportunity.
Some businesses back away from keywords that aren’t as profitable as others. But you need to
know your numbers. If a keyword is profitable, it may be worth keeping. Don’t just focus on the
exceptional or high-volume performers.
5. Be careful with broad match.
Broad match is often inexpensive and drives a lot of traffic, but the relevancy of the audience
may miss the mark.
6. Content Match in Google can hurt campaigns.
Content Match can work – if you’re careful and watch your spend. The ads appear with relevant
content outside of Google, but the people who click may not be in a buying mode (perhaps
they’re doing research or simply clicking out of curiosity).
7. Share conversion data with your SEO team.
The SEO specialists will want to know what’s performing. But don’t assume that your No. 1
position for a paid ad will be No. 1 in the natural search engine results. Your success will depend
on your content, site age and many other factors.
8. Make custom landing pages.
Often a website design has weaknesses and a custom paid search page can offer compelling,
targeted content with a clear Call to Action.
9. Make paid search pages without all of your navigation.
For e-commerce, some navigation may be necessary to help someone buy what you’re selling.
In many cases, however – if you just want a lead – you can focus on one offer per landing page
and prompt someone to fill out a short form or call your toll-free number.
10. Bid up on profitable keywords.
Do you have a keyword that is profitable for you yet its average position is below 1.5? Raise
your maximum cost per click and you'll almost assuredly see more clicks and conversions.
Another way to get higher rankings is to improve your quality score by writing specific ad copy
for that keyword and putting it into its own ad group. Within a few weeks, if you write your ad
copy well and achieve a good click-thru-rate (CTR), you should see your quality score increase
and your average rankings go up with no additional cost.

A little creativity and the right relationships can help GET visitors from sources beyond your
website. Of course, your website is actually the main draw. A person will link to your website if
you have outstanding content worth someone’s time. Showcase and market your expertise.
Don’t hold back. Here are some best practices to follow:
• Write articles for industry magazines and newsletters
• Post pieces to popular e-zines
• Issue news releases (about your new products, educational guides, studies, trends)
• Produce and distribute videos
• Pay for links from relevant websites
• Get free links from relationships (i.e. you sell men’s jeans and another site sells shoes)
• Participate in online communities
• Join trade groups and other organizations

CONVERT
It’s time to land the fish! Conversion opportunities abound. You simply need to ask visitors to
engage – no matter how they GET to your website. Even if they simply sign up for a newsletter,
that’s a conversion that may ultimately lead to a sale. You still end up with an email that’s
invaluable. Stay in touch with your leads through email campaigns (you can even schedule how
often you’ll follow up).
Some of the most obvious conversion opportunities involve forms and trackable phone numbers.
With phone numbers, you should make sure they’re clearly seen. Too often, websites “hide”
them on a Contact Us page or bury them at the bottom of a page or even after the copyright
notice. Even though a potential customer is on your Internet website, many still prefer to pick up
the phone when they reach out to engage.
Forms should be clear, attractive and as brief as possible. Don’t just say “Contact Us Today.”
Introduce the form with “Make an Appointment Today” or “Download Our XYZ Guide.”
Throughout the content, you should remind the visitor that he or she can get more information by
following linked text or calling a number. Why wait until the end of the page to entice the reader?
Make an appeal high on the page.
Be sure to include a different number solely for the website to avoid confusion with other
marketing efforts. In fact, Fathom SEO offers Call Tracking - a way to record calls and track
potential customers who convert by calling you. Call-in conversions can be tied to natural search
engine visits and paid search activity.
The following graphic illustrates just a few of the many ways you can encourage a potential
customer to connect with your business.
Here are some best practices to use for conversions:
1. Focus on one primary CTA
• Each page of the website should have one primary call to action, not multiples.
If you have another primary call to action, it should have its own page. This is a
great opportunity to up-sell the client.
• Depending on the site, you may want to use a secondary CTA. This might be a
good idea for a home page, but not for a dedicated landing page.
2. Simple, clear and compelling
• Your primary CTA should be simple, clear and compelling. Remember, your
goal is to get the user to complete a certain action. Your primary concern is that
they know what that action is and how to complete it.
• Show them why they want to visit your website, buy your product, get more
information, etc. Show them the benefits to following your CTA immediately.
They’re only concerned with what’s in it for them.
3. Keep it above the fold
• The CTA should be the first thing a person sees when they visit the page. Your
primary CTA should be placed at the top of the page, or just below the header.
Also, be sure that the button, link or form used to complete the action also
completely appears above the fold.

• Above the fold is within the first 650 vertical pixels of the page. 90% of users
have a screen resolution height of 768px or greater. You must also factor in
approximately 100px for the browser.
http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php
4. Make it stand out
• The CTA should stand out from the rest of the page. Whether as a headline,
button or in the copy, make it different. You want to be sure it catches the eye
and does not blend in with the rest of the page. Some studies have shown that
the color of the CTA doesn’t matter as long as it stands out from the rest of the
page. Don’t be afraid to experiment with bright colors and adjust the size of
your CTA.
5. Page Design
• The design of the page should be created with the primary CTA in mind. It
should be done so that it supports this CTA and does not distract the user from
completing the action. In most cases, a simple design will work better than
something complicated and busy.
6. Page Copy
• The CTA should follow and build upon what you’ve already said in the text.
Some readers may want to read your entire page before making a decision;
some will scan or read just a few sentences before deciding if the product or
service is for them. Make sure there are CTAs in different locations to appeal to
these different types of people.
7. Location, Location, Location
• Your primary CTA should be used at the top of the page as well as on the form,
on the submit button, in the headlines and in the supporting copy. It is important
to also include a call to action at the bottom of the page so users don’t have to
scroll back up to the top of the page.
8. Testing
• You will never know if your call to action is effective without testing. No matter
how much traffic your site gets, you can do testing. Even A/B testing simple
things such as headlines and submit buttons can yield valuable results.
Examples:

MEASURE
A business can measure its efforts in many ways, but the most significant ones should boil down
to costs and new revenue. When you are able to measure the results of your online advertising
efforts, you can identify and replicate the most profitable activity.
Marketers should be able to compare search engine advertising (including SEO) to other forms
of advertising. What ROA does the company normally get for direct mail, TV, radio, tradeshows
and the like? For every dollar invested, what kind of sales can be expected? Does $1 invested in
an advertising campaign result in $4, $5, $7, $10 or more in revenue? When you are able to
measure your advertising efforts based on ROA, deciding on how to spend your precious
advertising dollars becomes clearer. ROA brings objective accountability to the forefront of
advertising spend decision-making.
Here are some basic questions to ask about your ROA:
• How do you market apart from SEO and Paid Search?
• How much do you spend to get a lead?
• How many leads do you need to get a sale?
• What is your average sale?
• What is your sales cycle?
• How are your most important products selling?
Understanding your sales cycle is crucial. If you have a sales pipeline, you can anticipate how
many pending deals are likely to convert over time (given historical data).
Before new leads roll in, it’s OK to start with some basic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs),
especially for an SEO program that takes time. If the KPIs are on track, we can anticipate that
the ROA is on its way.
The following GET KPIs reflect a scoring system based on improving organic ranking results.
Visibility, for example, refers to an index that rewards rankings with points – a No. 1 ranking gets
more points than a No. 99 ranking. Visibility trending is a snapshot of ranking progress. As
rankings improve, quality traffic improves, leading to more opportunities to CONVERT quality
visitors into revenue, which drives ROA.

Branding
Sometimes companies don’t sell anything directly as a result of their online advertising efforts.
Their goal is to increase awareness, not necessarily drive direct leads or sales. They attract
traffic for branding purposes and use the website to send visitors to dealers, retailers and more.
It’s possible to track many metrics. The aim should be to define what data is most essential
during different phases of a program. The tactics are the same: GET, CONVERT, MEASURE.
However, some KPIs (vs. ROA) may become the MEASURE focus. Here are just a few of the
possibilities;

Strategic keyword top 1, 5, 20, 30 rankings (per engine)
Search engine traffic
Overall traffic
Search engine traffic as a percentage of overall traffic
Page views
Traffic to a targeted page
PDF downloads
Newsletter sign-ups
Referring traffic (from other sites)
Indexed pages (how many pages/files are recognized by search engines)
Bounce rate (percentage of visitors who quickly leave the website)
Time on the website
Video performance (i.e. views)
Most-searched keyword phrases (branded vs. non-branded)
Call Tracking
Marketers also should leverage
Call Tracking for added insights.
A large portion of potential customers to your site prefer to CONVERT by picking up the phone. To effectively measure the results of your online advertising efforts, the calls must be included as conversions. Phone calls can be recorded and the call frequency can be measured in multiple ways
(including whether the call started with an organic or a paid search):

Automatically route calls based on pre-assigned rules
Place the phone number in PPC search ads and avoid pay-per-click charges.

Cost per Lead – Lower Isn’t Always Better
As you track and analyze results, keep in mind that achieving the lowest cost per lead should not
necessarily be the main objective. Sometimes leads may cost more, but result in more sales. By
measuring ROA, the picture becomes much clearer.

26/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

How to Target your Website’s Visitors for Optimized Traffic
Daniel McDowell is CEO of DLM International LLC
Over the past decade, the web has grown to such a scale that there are websites covering every single topic under the sun. Due to the sheer scale of it, it is near impossible to pin point the exact number of websites which are on the web; however, statistics show that in February 2007 there were an estimated 29.7 billion pages on web. Taking into consideration the speed in which the web has grown since it’s beginnings in the 1990’s, it is safe to say that this number has increased greatly over the past three years. When it comes to using the internet in connection to our business, targeting the right customers can be hard due to the level of competition our website has. There are various methods in which we may attempt to attract the right visitors as a means to increase our traffic, but some of the most effective methods are in actual fact the cheapest and easiest methods.

Increasing your website’s traffic is all about making your presence known on the web. Marketing and advertising strategies are the main way in which to do this, but in terms of traditional business these can be costly and take sometime to be effective. However, the internet is a fast paced business which allows for your campaigns to be made live in a much shorter space of time, as well as lowering your costs to almost nothing. One of the best ways in which to target visitors is through the use of back links. These can be placed on a wide variety of sites which gain high traffic such as social networking websites and blog sites, but can also be placed on other sites which you can partner up with, exchanging links. When using back links, the first thing you must take into consideration is what your website/product is and what your target market is. In doing this, you will have a clearer idea of what the best sites will be for you to target as irrelevant sites or sites which receive a low level of traffic will be of no use to your website. If you are fortunate to have capital to use, you can also use the aid of Pay per Click schemes. Large search engine sites such as Google can offer this to you but before deciding on this as a means to help your traffic, think about how much you can honestly afford as not to risk a loss in profits.

As businesses look for cheap ways in which to promote their websites, there has been a great increase in the amount of blogs and article directory sites on the web. These allow you to promote your product or service, as well as providing a link back to your website all for the simple exchange of your content on the website. This is a great way in which to gain more back links to your website, as well as s great method of advertising and self promotion. Different websites will have their own guidelines in terms of what you may submit to their sites, but in most cases this is one of the easiest ways in which to promote your business for free. The more external websites you use, the more links you will accumulate on the web which will help your overall traffic level. However, ensure you submit content to reputable sites which have some kind of relevance to your website so that you are targeting the right visitors for your market.

Finally there is one of the most beneficial forms of advertisement- word of mouth marketing. This is not necessarily something which you can achieve yourself, but rather a method of marketing which is completed by your current customers and visitors for free. Word of mouth marketing works by users of your site adding their own back links on to websites in the form of link sharing. Many companies and websites have benefited from this increasing their traffic thanks to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The way in which you can help this become possible is by providing a website and service which is worth talking about. By doing your own part in terms of promoting your website and your own marketing strategies on sites such as these, they are more likely to be noticed by visitors who will then be motivated to visit them. If they like what they see, they can then use bookmarking and other back linking methods to share with other web users they know, thus providing you with free marketing.

Generating traffic to your site is simple when you take into consideration what is right for your website. By looking at the way in which other websites are using the web to promote themselves, you too will soon discover the benefits which come from using simple, yet effective marketing techniques and see your traffic levels soar.

Daniel McDowell is CEO of DLM International LLC which operates globally providing products and services to their many clients, operating a variety of websites in many countries. To find out more about getting traffic to a website go to: http://www.trafficgrabsystem.com

23/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

Entrepreneur country

Monitise achieves two major milestones
Developing shareholdings and incentive packages
French 'superangel' network announces €25m first fund close
Join us at the upcoming Entrepreneur Country forum, In A World With No Money... 16 June 2010, London
Entrepreneurs Petition against AIFM Directive - Act by Sunday 25 April !

You'll find interviews with many of the UK and Europe's leading entrepreneurs at www.entrepreneurcountry.net.

Monitise Achieves Two Major Milestones
Leading mobile banking and payments provider Monitise has reached two key milestones over the last week. Firstly the company announced it now has over 2 million registered users in the UK and the US, driven by increased uptake of its smartphone apps, and secondly, it has achieved a market capitalisation of £102m.

Monitise provides its secure Mobile Money Manager platform to over 240 banks and financial institutions in the US and UK, with 100 million transactions processed by the platform every year.

Soren Bested, managing director of Monitise Americas commented: “Activity across the Monitise platform continues to increase, servicing millions of transactions every month as we enable more services by text, mobile app, and browser. Smartphones continue to have a big impact on mobile banking - downloading an app and banking on their handset is becoming second nature to many users.”

In the UK, Monitise has partnerships with major retail banks including HSBC, Lloyds TSB, first direct, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Ulster Bank. In the US, Monitise Americas provides mobile banking and payments services to over 200 financial institutions including banks, credit unions, and prepaid card issuers.

Developing shareholdings and incentive packages

by Andrew Moss, corporate finance partner at Duncan Sheard Glass

Issuing or selling shares can often represent a complex challenge for even the most savvy entrepreneurs to negotiate. Where a business is family-run or has personal ties, such decisions can take on an additional, emotive complication.

Whether considering a partial exit, employee share options or recruiting a non-executive, the decision must be made with the express purpose of improving the business. If the overall value of the business consequently increases, the remainder held by the entrepreneur should exceed the whole had the transaction not happened.

When a business owner has resolved to release shares in their business, a shareholder agreement can provide protection for all parties involved.

When drafting the agreement, entrepreneurs should include clauses that allow them to continue drawing money from the business in dividend form for tax purposes without being hamstrung by paying dividends to other shareholders under present legislation. This can usually be achieved quite easily by using different classes of shares.

Shareholder agreements will generally contain specific clauses to determine what happens upon exit and, perhaps more importantly, protect the majority and minority shareholders by barring one from selling their holding and leaving the other vulnerable. Imagine the consequences of a competitor gaining a shareholding in your business.

Read the article here

French 'superangel' network announces €25m first fund close

France's internet entrepreneurs look set to receive a boost with the announcement last week that ISAI, a 'superangel' fund started by some of France's most experienced internet entrepreneurs, has held a first close of €25m.

The fund, which bills itself as "by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs", plans to invest in round sizes between business angels and traditional VCs. ISAI aims to invest in 12 businesses with strong growth potential over the next 12 years. It will put EUR 500,000 to EUR 1.5 million into internet companies less than five years old that have gone through the proof-of-concept phase.

The fund's founding partners include Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, founder of French e-commerce site PriceMinister.com, Phone House France's Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, Former AOL CEO Stéphane Treppoz, and serial entrepreneur Ouriel Ohayon.

Jean-David Chamboredon, previously the head of 3i's VC arm in France, will lead the fund. His track record as a VC is impressive out of 11 early stage investments, 10 are either profitable, have been acquired or completed IPOs.

The majority of the fund comes from 60 founders who will act as a "brain trust" for ISAI, potentially taking board seats and co-investing personally alongside the ISAI fund.

In A World With No Money...

Entrepreneur Country Forum
16 June 2010
IET London: Savoy Place

We're pleased to announce a superb speaker line-up for our next Entrepreneur Country Forum, In A World With No Money...

The economic landscape today is perhaps the most challenging it has ever been for entrepreneurs looking to start businesses and companies trying to grow and expand. With investment capital scarce, businesses of all sizes are being forced to develop alternative growth strategies which are less reliant on substantial cash injections from external investors.

Founded by BBC Online Dragon and CEO of Ariadne Capital Julie Meyer, this must-attend event brings together entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders involved in the world of high-growth internet and technology businesses.

Top quality speakers will address the challenges of doing business in a world with no money:

Julie Meyer - CEO, Ariadne Capital
Lex Fenwick - Chairperson, Bloomberg LP
Rob Hersov - entrepreneur, catalyst and investor
Dominique Vidal - Partner, Index Ventures, co-founder of Kelkoo
Judy Piatkus - founder, Piatkus Books
Alex Cheatle - founder and CEO, Ten Lifestyle Management
Guy Rigby - Head of Entrepreneurs, Smith & Williamson
The day includes pitching sessions, lively panel debates, a showcase of pioneering digital businesses and workshops focused on specific business challenges.

In recognition of the challenging business environment and the theme of the forum, we are offering News, Views and Issues readers a super discount of £200 off the full delegate rate, bringing it down to a very affordable £95!

This is a limited time offer, available only until 14 May 2010, so register now using the discount code NVI2010 to secure your place.
http://entrepreneurcountry.eventbrite.com

If you have any queries, please contact enquiries@entrepreneurcountry.net

Entrepreneurs Petition against AIFM Directive - Act by Sunday 25 April !

Blog post from Fred Destin, Partner at Atlas Ventures

Euro Entrepreneurs, time to lobby! By this Sunday night, April 25, we need to get a significant number of European entrepreneurs to help the European Venture Capital Association in lobbying the EU and signing a petition against this damaging Directive.

Vote against an extensive Directive that will damage European Venture:

The directive sets out a number of measures ill-suited to venture capital and the financing of innovation. This is because it is designed to be a catch-all regulatory blanket that encompasses everyone from hedge funds to venture firms. The impact on both VC firms and startups is potentially significant:

Discriminatory disclosure requirements and administrative burden affecting startups backed by venture capital
Cost of compliance estimated at €30,000 per year for your companies
Absurd capital requirements imposed on venture firms
Requirement to use outside depositaries (i.e. custodians) and independent valuation agents, adding cost and complexity
There is a detailed review of these measures on EVCA.eu under "AIFM Directive". In a striking survey, the EVCA finds that 2/3 of investors questioned would reduce allocations to venture as a result of proposed regulation.

By emailing EVCA you will become a co-signatory to a letter published below, prepared by a fellow entrepreneur, Tom Van Aken of Avantium:

We represent a slice of the 25,000-plus population of European businesses that currently benefit from private equity and venture capital support. We are therefore increasingly alarmed by proposals within the EU’s draft Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive that would prejudice private equity and venture capital-backed companies such as ours, and ultimately restrict access to finance for Europe’s growth companies.

Act now:

Send an email to replies@evca.eu stating name, company name and HQ location and titled "Entrepreneur Petition against AIFM Directive"

20/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

The SEO industry is still in its infancy stage whether you want to admit it or not. The search engines are very young and sites like Google are just starting to get things right in the sense of really understanding how to catalog and display search data for users. Some websites come and go in short burst of energy and some stick around for the long haul. The same goes with various marketing efforts.

It is important to never avoid a marketing effort simply because you think it will not stick around for long. I still hear people say that Twitter is short winded and it will only be here for just a few years. Even if it is shouldn’t you be there trying to scoop up new business while you can? Everything in life is evolving including the business world. The internet has created a fast moving platform for people to express themselves and to communicate on. Regardless of an efforts life cycle you should always be using it to market yourself. In today’s marketplace there is no time or room for denial. Websites and marketing efforts move in large sweeping motions so it is important to take advantage of any new or existing marketing effort you can incorporate into your business plan.

5 Years ago MySpace was the big dog in the industry. Now the numbers have been steadily declining for about the last 24 months while websites like Facebook and Twitter have seen explosive growth leaping frogging the competition almost overnight. During the height of the MySpace era lots of businesses made a great deal of money and grew their business marketing themselves in that specific online community. Now the demographic has really shifted away as they continue to lose more users but that doesn’t mean that MySpace should have been avoided all together. If nobody used it years ago many of those businesses would not have made the revenues they did if they chose to avoid it all together. The point is many online communication vehicles are always changing so it is important to hop on now than to regret later you didn’t even show up for the party.

07/04/2010

Gasta Ireland Facts

The most northerly point is Inishtrahull Island, situated in the Atlantic Ocean 7 km north of Inishowen Peninsula, county Donegal. It lies at latitude 55.43ºN. Of mainland Ireland, the most northerly point is a headland 2 km northeast of Malin Head, Inishowen Peninsula, county Donegal. It lies at latitude 55.38ºN.
Most easterly point The most easterly point is Big Bow Meel Island, which is a rock situated 900 metres off the Ards Peninsula, county Down, at longitude 5.42ºW. Of mainland Ireland, the most easterly point is Burr Point, Ards Peninsula, county Down at longitude 5.43ºW. It is situated 2 km southeast of the village of Ballyhalbert.
Most southerly point The most southerly point is Fastnet Rock, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean 11.3 km south of mainland county Cork. It lies at latitude 51.37ºN. Of mainland Ireland, the most southerly point is Brow Head, county Cork, which lies 3.8 km east of the marginly more northerly Mizen Head. It lies at latitude 51.43ºN.
Most westerly point* The most westerly point is Tearaght Island, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean 12.5 km west of Dingle Peninsula, county Kerry. It lies at longitude 10.70ºW. Of mainland Ireland, the most westerly point is Garraun Point, Dingle Peninsula, county Kerry which is 2.5 km northwest of Slea Head. It lies at longitude 10.51ºW.
Geographical Centres

* The geographical centre of Ireland is to be found in eastern county Roscommon, at a point 3km (2 miles) south of Athlone town.
* The centre of Ulster is in county Tyrone, at a point 20km (14 miles) east of Omagh town, near the village of Pomeroy.
* The centre of Munster is in the north of county Cork, at a point 9km (6 miles) south-west of the village of Rath Luirc.
* The centre of Leinster is in western county Kildare, at a point 5km (3 miles) south-west of Kildare town.
* The centre of Connaught is in county Mayo, 6km (4 miles) south-east of the pilgrim village of Knock.
* The centre of Northern Ireland is in eastern county Tyrone, at a point 6km (4 miles) south-east of the town of Cookstown.
* The centre of the Republic of Ireland is in south-eastern county Galway, at a point 3km (2 miles) south-west of the village of Eyrecourt.

Highest altitude The summit of Mt Carrantuohill, county Kerry, rises to 1,041 metres (3414 feet) above sea level. The second highest point is the summit of Mt Beenkeragh, county Kerry, which rises to 1,010 metres (3314 feet) above sea level. The highest point in Northern Ireland is the summit of Slieve Donard, county Down, which rises to 852 metres (2796 feet) above sea level, and is the 8th highest peak in Ireland.
Tallest sea cliffs The sea cliffs at Croaghaun, Achill Island off western Ireland fall 668 metres (2,192 feet) into the Atlantic Ocean. Slieve League in county Donegal has a drop of 601 metres (1,972 feet) into the same ocean. Both cliffs are almost twice the height of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. However, as there is no vantage point to see the cliffs at Achill Island the Donegal cliffs are more famous.
(thanks to Michele of irelandyes.com for this information)
Most populated county The most heavily populated county is county Dublin, with 1,056,666 inhabitants at the last estimate. The next most heavily populated county is Antrim, with 566,400 inhabitants.
Most densely populated county The most densely populated county is county Dublin, with 1147.3 inhabitants per square kilometre at the last estimate. The next most densely populated is county Antrim, with 199.2 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Least populated county The county with the fewest inhabitants is county Leitrim with just 25,032 inhabitants at the last estimate. The next lowest is county Longford with 30,128 inhabitants.
Most sparsely populated county The most sparsely populated county in Ireland is Leitrim, with a mere 15.8 inhabitants per square kilometre at the last estimate. The next most sparsely populated is county Mayo, which has 19.9 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Largest settlements The largest city in Ireland is Dublin, which at 859,976 inhabitants, is home to almost 1 in 5 Irish people, and more than 1 in 4 in the Irish Republic. The next 9 largest settlements are Belfast (counties Down and Antrim, 475,968), Cork (county Cork, 174,400), Limerick (county Limerick, 75,436) Derry (county Londonderry, 72,334), Newtownabbey (county Antrim, 56,811), Dún Laoghaire (county Dublin, 55,540), Bangor (county Down, 52,437), Galway (county Galway, 50,853) and Lisburn (county Antrim, 42,110). More towns.
Largest county In terms of area, the largest county in Ireland is county Cork at 7,457 km². The next largest is county Galway, at 6,148 km². The largest county in Northern Ireland is county Tyrone, at 3,155 km².
Smallest county The smallest county in Ireland is county Louth, which is just 820 km² in area - 9 times smaller than county Cork. The next smallest is county Carlow, which is 896 km². The smallest county in Northern Ireland is county Armagh, at 1,254 km².
Longest river The longest river in Ireland is the river Shannon whose source is Shannon Pot, county Cavan, and which enters the sea between counties Clare and Limerick after a journey of 386 km (240 miles). It is, in fact, the longest river in the British Isles. The longest river within Northern Ireland is the river Bann, whose source is in the Mourne Mountains, county Down and which enters the sea in county Londonderry after 122 km (76 miles).
Largest lake Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland, which is 396 km² (153 miles²) in area. It forms part of counties Tyrone, Londonderry, Antrim, Down and Armagh. It is, in fact, the largest lake in the British Isles.
Closest to Britain The closest point that Ireland comes to Britain is Torr Head, county Antrim, which is just 23 km (14 miles) from the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. On most days, fields in Scotland can be seen clearly across the North Channel.
Largest island Besides Ireland itself (82,463 km²) the largest offshore island in Irish waters is Achill island, county Mayo, with an area of 148 km² (57 miles²).
Tallest waterfall Ireland's tallest waterfall is Powerscourt Falls, county Wicklow, where the water drops 106 metres (350 feet). It is the third tallest waterfall in the British Isles.
Sunniest town The town in Ireland which enjoys the most sunshine is Rosslare, county Wexford which has over 1600 hours of sunshine per year (4 hrs, 20 mins per day).
Cloudiest town The town in Ireland which receives the least sunshine is Omagh, county Tyrone which has less than 1200 hours of sunshine per year (3 hrs, 20 mins per day).
Wettest place The wettest place in Ireland is the area of the Maumturk and Partry mountains of counties Mayo and Galway, which receive annually over 2400 mm of rain.
Driest place The driest place in Ireland is Dublin city which receives less than 800 mm of rain per year.

*Excludes Rockall Island, which is situated in the north Atlantic 440 km northwest of county Donegal. Although it is merely an uninhabited outcrop of rock a few tens of metres across, it is important in that whoever owns it can claim the fishing and oil rights around it. It is currently in dispute between Iceland, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and Denmark. Rockall Island is at latitude 57.61ºN, longitude 13.70ºW.

22/03/2010

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Gasta.com Keywords

13/11/2010

Gasta search network

11/08/2010

Gasta SEO: As good a guide as any from Fathom SEO

26/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

23/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

20/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

07/04/2010

Gasta Ireland Facts

22/03/2010

Gasta Search Network - Working to build your promotions

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Gasta.com Keywords

13/11/2010

Gasta search network

11/08/2010

Gasta SEO: As good a guide as any from Fathom SEO

26/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

23/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

20/04/2010

Gasta Keywords

07/04/2010

Gasta Ireland Facts

22/03/2010

Gasta Search Network - Working to build your promotions

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