Hitwise, an internet statistics site, published a recent report showing that search engine queries with higher word counts are becoming more and more prevalent every year. Most searches are still only one, two or three words long, but they are down 3%, 5% and 1% respectively.

And while two-word searches still make up the largest portion of online queries, accounting for 23.47% of total searches, searches containing 4 to 8 words or more have experienced a growth that ranges from 3 – 20% each year. Just between February 2008 and February 2009, searches with more than 8 words increased by 20% and searches averaging 5 to more than 8 words were up 9%.

Industry insiders like Kevin Lee, one of the founders and CEO of search agency Didit, say that the growing popularity of long word-count searches is a sign that search engine users are getting smarter. “Longer queries are a sign of the searchers becoming more educated and savvy and essentially being trained by the fact that results for shorter queries tend to return less relevant results than longer searches,” said Lee.

So it is the need to cut through the search engine clutter that has led to the development of more sophisticated online users. The VP of technology at Ask.com, Keith Hogan, agrees. The expectations of search engine users have risen, he says. Most people today are not willing to simply type in a company name into a search engine and then navigate through the company’s own site to find what they need.  “Before, users might enter a query like ‘periodic table’ looking for the atomic weight of Boron,” Hogan said, explaining that, now, a searcher will type in a more detailed, full question because he wishes to be led directly to the desired information straight from the search results page.

One strategy that many sites are using is to promote large, user-generated question aggregator sites, Hogan said. “That’s not the place that search engines want to pull information from. They want it from an authoritative source.” He recommends instead that brands include things like FAQ pages on their websites, as these allow search engines to extract more information from them.

As search trends continue to change along with an increasingly internet savvy searcher population, search engines are working out better ways of predicting the intentions of internet users, even users type in short, unspecific searches. Kevin Lee explains: “[Search engines do this] through a combination of searcher profiling—prior search behavior or user volunteered data—and use of additional non-search data such as geography, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and perhaps connection speed.”

The Hitwise report showed the four major search engines undergoing less than a 1% change in its number of users since January 2009. Google was the only major search engine that has continued to experience user growth, its share increasing about 8% since February of last year. Shares for Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask all went down by 17%, 20% and 10% respectively.

For more internet marketing tips visit Best Rank’s SEO Blog.

To find an online marketing agency to help you with your business efforts, fill out our form and we’ll connect you with online marketing experts.

It depends how you do it.

Going to cocktail events and social hours, grabbing business cards and tossing yours around, brief handshakes while looking over that person’s shoulder for the door or the next person in the room.

Nope, that doesn’t work.

Connecting, helping others first, taking a sincere interest in them and their business, helping them see opportunities they may not see themselves.

That’s what I’m talking about.

And yes, it is work. Just like building any relationship, it requires commitment, follow up, and heart.

And it’s worth every minute.

Do you make networking a regular part of your business and marketing strategies?

Are you connecting in person (or over the phone if geography is a challenge) with people you meet online?

How are you contributing to your networking relationships? Just this morning, on a call with a colleague, I thumbed through my mental Rolodex for a connection that will help her grow her network and her business.

Easy, peasy, Japaneasy. It took about 5 minutes to make the connection and a warm introduction. She’s off and running, with gratitude, and I feel very good about it.

How’s that for honoring a “Givers Gain” philosophy?

How do you use networking in your business? How has it helped you? Tips to share?

In the current economic climate, many small businesses are going, or will be going, through cash flow shortage problems. However, there are some ways in which small business owners can use the tax benefits that apply to them to help ease their financial troubles.

Tax planning involves analyzing different tax strategies to see how best to run your small business so that your taxes are reduced or eliminated. Important parts of tax planning include reducing taxable income and accelerating deductions.

When looking to reduce taxable income, it is essential for small business owners, as well as self-employed contractors and freelancers, to take advantage of all the tax deductions available to them. Maximizing your deductible expenses reduces your taxable profit, which translates into you keeping more of your money.

There might also be some personal perks that you can enjoy via business expenditures. A new car or a combined business trip/vacation can result in a cozy tax break if you know how to use the tax rules to your advantage.

Here are some costs of doing business to consider and keep track of for the next time you file your taxes, or speak with your accountant.

Car Expenses

This is a common write-off for self-employed persons, and it applies to some small businesses as well. The rule is that you can deduct the costs of operating a car only when that car is being used for business purposes. Determining when you can and can’t deduct auto expenses can be tricky. Keep track of the miles you drive and add them up at the end of the year.

If you get a new car and use it primarily for business, you will get a larger deduction come tax time. Larger repairs and maintenance costs will be easier to justify. The current deduction rate is 50.5 cents per mile for business related driving.

Travel

In addition to car travel, you can also deduct the cost of plane fare, taxis, lodging, meals, etc. as long as a trip was undertaken primarily for business purposes. Small business owners might not use this deduction as much as C-Corporation and other larger operations, but it is an option.

Taking your family along is okay, but you can only deduct your expenses. Again, the trip must be primarily for business purposes.

Cost of Going into Business

All expenses involved in getting your business up and running are tax-deductible: anything from advertising, utility costs, office supplies and building repairs. However, they cannot be deducted before the business opens its doors to the public. Such expenses are considered capital expenses and are thus deducted over the first five years of business.

How can you get an upfront deduction for expenses paid before opening up the business? If you expect to make an immediate profit as soon as you open up your business, you can delay the payment of start-up costs until after you are operational. Or, simply start doing a small amount of business before the business is fully operational so that you can be officially up and running and thus eligible do deduct these start-up expenses. It is only a good idea to do this if you are sure you will be making a profit during the first year of business.

Education

As a small business owner, staying up to date on the intricacies of your industry is important to run a successful operation. You can deduct education expenses if the courses you take are related to your business field and help improve skills required to run your business.

Entertainment

If you pay for, say, the tab on a lunch meeting with a prospective customer, you can deduct 50% of that tab when you file your taxes.

Any entertainment expenses you paid for that are related to business matters or when business matters were discussed can qualify as tax-deductible. The rule is that the expense must be either “directly related” to the business, as in a catered office event, or “associated with” the business, as in when entertainment takes place directly before or after a business discussion.

Software

Most software programs bought for business have to be depreciated over a period of 36 months. However there are exceptions.

If software is only useful for less than a year, you can deduct its cost as a business expense in the year that you buy it. With the rapid change in technology and software constantly being updated and replaced, this is becoming a more common source of tax savings.

Deducting Full Cost of New Equipment

Depreciation of machinery and equipment bought is usually treated in the IRS form 946. It provides a pretty broad list of the kinds of things you can deduct – everything from desk chairs, to computer systems, to shrubs. But the IRS sets the depreciation schedule at three to 15 years.

However, a Section 179 deduction can sometimes allow a small business owner to write-off the full costs of new equipment in the same year they were purchased. The rule is that you can only write-off up to $250,000 in expenses. Businesses that spend more than $1,050,000 a year on equipment are not eligible.

Carryback

In addition to tax-deductible expenses, executing a net operating loss (NOL) carryback is another good way for small businesses to recoup, through federal tax filing, some of the losses they suffered in the rough 2008 fiscal year.

The carryback works like this. If, for example, you lost $500,000 in 2008 after making a $250,000 profit in the previous two years, you can carry the loss backwards. Simply have an accountant amend your 2007 returns to offset all the profits for that year.

By doing this you would be due a refund on federal taxes that you paid on that profit. About a third of the states also offer refunds in addition to the federal refund.

Yes, on this day, it’s going to be a strong day for bar owners. But, interestingly enough, the past year has also been strong. This is according to a new study from BizEquity on the business valuation of bars.

Over the past year, the typical bar saw a 5% increase in value – to $82,306. Let’s face it, as the economy continues to fall off, there continues to be steady business for bars.

In fact, some cities have posted robust growth. For example, there was a 28% increase in Dallas and Las Vegas is up 30%.

For more, you can click here for the report.

n a recent case, California’s Appellate Court used the Responsible Corporate Officer Doctrine (“RCOD”) to hold officers personally liable for $2.5 million in environmental penalties. In People v. Roscoe (Cal. Ct. App. 2008, WL 5378254) the court held the corporate officers personally liable, without piercing the corporate veil, for civil violations.

This is a significant departure. The RCOD has been used before in California to hold responsible corporate officers personally liable for their company’s violations of strict liability public welfare statutes. In the past the doctrine was only used for criminal violations of state statutes. But now, as this new case indicates, California will use the RCOD for civil violations.

In the Roscoe case, Ned and John Roscoe owned and operated an underground storage tank in Galt, California through a corporation called the Customer Company. When their tank leaked 3,000 gallons of gasoline into the ground the Roscoe’s notified the Sacramento County authorities and hired an environmental consultant to take care of the remediation. When the cleanup did not happen quickly enough the county sued the Customer Company and the Roscoes. While the court did not find enough evidence to pierce the corporate veil, (the Roscoes had followed corporate formalities) it did use RCOD to hold the Roscoes personally liable for $2.5 million in civil penalties.

The Roscoe case illustrates the hazards of doing any sort of environmental related business in California. Regulators in California are free to seek huge cumulative penalties using their per-day and per-violation fine system. (Note that the Roscoes identified the problem to the county and hired someone to clean it up but it wasn’t fast enough for the regulators, thus the run up in fines.) And now the California courts are backing up the regulators by assessing personal liability against officers – even when the corporate formalities have been followed.

If you must do business in California involving any sort of environmental regulations be certain to have the systems in place to deal with such risks. More broadly, if you do any sort of business in California whereby administrative penalties may be assessed, be aware that California regulators and courts may someday seek to hold you personally liable as a responsible corporate officer. As if there weren’t already enough reasons to leave California…

Contact me to make sure you are protected.

During tough times, it’s easy for people to say “stay positive,” and it gets annoying after awhile. None of the people telling you “don’t worry, be happy” have to pay your mortgage. Still, I’m going to join the chorus and say that this recession has a silver lining. The reason: I know what it’s like to manage a business in a recession.

I had the opportunity to work in the domestic auto industry for most of the last 10 years, and I can tell you that domestic automakers have been in a steady decline since my first days all the way back in 1998. Granted, there were some exceptional points in time (the sales spike in late 2001, for example), but most of my days in domestic auto sales were marked by year over year declines, shrinking sales, and slimming margins. The domestic auto industry has been in a recession much longer than the US economy, and I can tell you that managing a business during a recession is tough, especially one with razor-thin margins.

Still, one of the most important lessons I took from my time in the car business was this one, simple fact: Even if the market as a whole is shrinking, your business can still grow by grabbing more market share.

A recession is a great time to gain market share - here’s why:

1. Mismanaged competitors will bleed customers. Poorly managed businesses can survive (and sometimes thrive) when the economy is booming. After all, there are plenty of opportunities available to cover-up bad practices during the good times. For the next 18-24 months, however, your poorly managed competitors will be coughing up customers left and right. Attack your marketplace by investing in new technology - develop a strong Internet marketing presence today and take advantage of your reeling competitors.

2. Customers use tough times to re-evaluate. During tough times, many people review each and every one of their expenses looking for ways to save. More and more people are using search engines to investigate their options and seek out alternatives. A search engine advertising campaign is a great tool for educating potential customers about the value that your company provides.

3. Customer service counts. During boom times, customer service isn’t necessarily essential to success. In boom times customers don’t have a lot of alternatives, so they’ll usually endure the occasional bad experience to get what they want. However, during a recession, customers have many options available and they don’t need to tolerate poor service. Can your customers (or potential customers) find your business online? Does your company web site provide useful information? Can someone contact you from your website? Are their emails being responded to quickly? If you’re answering “NO” to any of those questions, your customer service is lacking.

4. Your employees will do more. It’s human nature - when the economy is good, everyone relaxes. Your staff isn’t too concerned about job security, so they’re not always interested in taking on new responsibilities or working extra hours. During a recession, however, employees tend to look for ways to make themselves irreplaceable. Now is the time to ask your staff to do more.

5. Trimming the fat is easier. Every business has “fat.” Perhaps you have an employee or a vendor that consistently underwhelms. During boom times, it’s hard to sever that relationship because of your concerns about capacity and keeping momentum. During a recession, it’s much easier to get leaner, meaner, and more efficient. Cut loose employees and vendors that aren’t performing to your satisfaction. When it comes to advertising expenses, ask your advertisers one question - “How much business are you generating for me, exactly?” If they don’t have an answer for you, it’s time you looked at advertising online. Most Internet marketing firms can tell you exactly what your ad budget is accomplishing in terms of web site visitors, email leads, and phone calls.

6. There’s no better time to expand. It’s anathema to recommend business expansion during an economic slowdown, but I’ve seen many auto dealers expand or acquire competitors during tough times. The rationale is simple - during an economic boom, it’s difficult (and expensive) to expand. Hiring new employees, buying real estate, equipment, etc is always pricey when times are good. During a recession, however, things change. Hiring is much easier - you’ll be amazed at the quality of talent you find just sitting on the open market. Capital costs - like buying new equipment and expanding your office - are lower too. It takes guts to expand during a recession, but if you’ve got cash flow, a good product, and a good team, the long-term benefits can be immense.

The bottom line: By utilizing technology, emphasizing results, and improving customer service, your business can gain market share and grow - even in a recession.

Author Jason Lancaster is a Search Engine Expert and President of Spork Marketing, a Denver Internet marketing firm.

As a business owner, you know how important it is to keep up with the local, national, and international economy. Your financial decisions largely depend on the happenings of the business world and the decisions your competition makes.

For those of you that can’t afford a flat screen television in your office, here’s a list of 12 business news site you can check out online and for free.

1. MSNBC Business
   MSNBC provides a sweeping view of the business world with links to a variety of business stories. From the state of RV sales to the President’s latest statement on the economic stimulus plan, you can find them all in a single page. And while it might be too much to take in at once, scrolling over the tabbed sections on the left-hand side of the page will reveal the top headlines of the day.

   

2. CNBC Business News
   CNBC is an excellent site for international business and foreign markets news. They have separate tabs for the United States, Europe, and Asia that you can easily locate on the main page. On this site, you can also find out what the world’s CEOs have to say about the day’s top business headlines.

   

3. CNN Video
   CNN has an easy to use media player. You can search through the top stories of the day and create a playlist of the ones you find interesting. Another useful feature is the 5-6 minute-long Business Bulletin, which provides you with the business news highlights of the day for when you’re low on time.

   

4. ABC News
   Here you can find the latest U.S. business news, especially as it pertains to the American household and the ways in which national business affairs affect people’s day to day activities. There’s a section dedicated to small business, and Money Matters offers practical tips for personal finance.

   

5. CBS News
   While it doesn’t have the depth of other sites, or even a distinctly labeled business or money section, CBS always has videos that cover the latest and most prominent bits of news concerning the national economy. If you’re looking for a quick overview of the most popular stories of the day, this site is the place to go.

   

6. USA Today
   USA Today’s news video site is straightforward and simple with a selection of channels you can scroll through. All you have to do is click on the Money channel and select from the categories, which go from recent headlines to personal finance.

   

7. FOX Business
   Unlike many of the other news sites, which treat their business sections as simply that, FOX has a much heftier site, foxbusiness.com, dedicated exclusively to business news. The video player works well, and you don’t have to sludge through the other news categories to find what you want. Here, it’s all business.

   

8. SBTV
   Small Business Television: the name says it all. This is the most comprehensive video news site dealing with the world of small business. From the latest news and resources to upcoming events and useful stories on how market and run a more efficient company, this site has it.

   

9. Reuters
   A good site for national and international business news, Reuters covers a variety of business topics having to do government policies and the world of big business. A good place for investors and those interested in how politics affects the market.

   

10. Bloomberg TV
    Bloomberg TV is a site that provides in depth analysis of worldwide financial markets, as well as real-time financial updates on stocks, currency and trade. An excellent, comprehensive resource for those looking to find accurate and up-to-date numbers and statistics.

    

11. Yahoo Business News
    A straightforward look at the day’s business highlights, Yahoo business news videos come as a single, constantly updated list. Just scroll through to find what you’re looking for.

    

12. Businessweek OnlineAside from publishing one of the leading business magazines in the country, Businessweek has a fairly wide-ranging and comprehensive website where you can watch the latest market updates as well as news on how the latest technologies are affecting American business.

Of course, small business owners are deeply concerned about the future. And, this is being reflected in a variety of surveys, such as from the latest report from the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business.

And, as things get worse, the wealth of small business owners continues to deteriorate. This is clearly evident on the business valuation database of BizEquity.

But, even during bad times, there are silver linings, right? Definitely.

For example, it is more cost-effective to start a business, in terms of supplies, labor and so on. At the same time, customers are looking for alternatives. Thus, if your business has a relatively competitive overhead structure, you may be able to snag some good business.

Something else: you are likely to find good valuations on businesses for sale. With few buyers in the marketplace, you should be able to negotiate a strong deal. And, as the economy eventually comes back, the rewards can be significant.

All in all, it’s still smart to be cautious. But, in this environment, there are still some potentially great opportunities.

Local search is on the rise.  Search engine users are moving away from the one or two word search terms and continue to get more specific.  For example, the individual that is in need of a dentist would have searched for “dentist” in the past.  Over the past few years the average web user has learned how to get better results by typing more information into the search box.

A large portion of these three or four word search phrases include a city or area name (ex. New York Dentist).  When you search on Google with a [(city/area term) + (product/service keyword)] you frequently see a map within the search results.  This is commonly referred to as the 10-pack.  These results have a completely different set of rules in relation to the standard organic or natural results.

For more information on local search make sure to register for an upcoming webinar entitled “Local Search for National Brands”.  Although the title refers to national brands, any business will gain a better understanding of local search from the presentation.

According to recent data from the U.S. census, small businesses create 98% of new jobs.  Businesses with less than 100 employees generate more than 50% of the nation’s GDP.  So it’s with good reason that President Obama promised help for small businesses as part of the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the “stimulus plan” for short.  So what help does the plan give to small businesses?  How can you take advantage of changes to tax rules and lending restrictions?

The stimulus plan provides several different provisions that can save small companies money on taxes, increase access to loans, and provide grants for certain small businesses.  For applicable information about any of the tax provisions, consult your tax preparer.  Here are a few of the ways you can take advantage of the stimulus plan:

What the plan does: Extends last year’s expanded §179 deduction, allowing a business to deduct up to $250,000 in capital expenditures.
What this means: If you purchased business equipment last year (and haven’t filed your taxes yet) or plan to make a purchase this year, you can “write off” more of the cost.  If you’ve got the available budget, now is a good time to make big purchases like copiers or pos systems.

What the plan does: Extends last year’s increased 1st year depreciation deduction, allowing businesses with less than $15 million in receipts to deduct 50% of the value of property placed in service in 2008 or 2009.
What this means: If you haven’t filed a 2008 tax return and made some big purchases last year on machinery, equipment, or other business assets such as phone systems, you can claim a depreciation deduction of 50% of the cost.  If you’ve been holding off on purchasing new equipment, buying it this year can net some big savings in the form of lower taxes.

What the plan does: Expands the carryback of net operating losses from 2 years to 5 years for businesses with less than $15 million in gross receipts.  This provision also applies to the 2008 tax year.
What this means: If you had a bad year last year, or are on track to post a net operating loss for 2009, you can “carry back” the loss for up to 5 years, applying it to prior returns.  This means that ’08 and ’09 losses can be used to offset tax amounts from more profitable prior years.

What the plan does: Provides a tax credit of 40% of the first $6,000 wages paid to members of 2 new groups: unemployed veterans and disconnected youth.
What this means: Unemployed veterans are service members discharged from 2008-2010 who received unemployment benefits for 4 weeks or more in the year before your business hired them.  “Disconnected youth” are workers aged 16-25 who have not attended school or had regular employment for 6 months.  These groups can be great hiring pools. Military veterans have often received expert training, and younger workers are in plentiful supply.  The work opportunity tax credit applies to other groups, as well.  Ask your tax preparer for more information if you think you might qualify.

What the plan does: Allocates $730 million to the Small Business Association.  Here’s where some of the money goes:
•    Reduces or eliminates fees on certain SBA loans
•    Increases the loan amount the SBA will guarantee, up to 90% for some loans
•    Creates a new loan program that helps businesses meet existing debt obligations
•    Expands the SBA’s microloan program
•    Expands amounts for technical assistance grants to microlenders

What this means: You’ve heard of big companies getting bailouts, right?  These loans and grants are designed to help small businesses in the same way, by providing immediate funds to help smaller businesses stay in operation.  For more specific information, visit www.sba.gov.

The stimulus plan also provides loans, grants, and other methods of financial assistance to companies in certain industries, specifically alternative energy and renewable resources, among others.  You can visit www.grants.gov, www.govbenefits.gov, or www.cdfa.gov for more information.  Make sure you get your information from a reliable source, and that you don’t pay for applications, CD-ROMs, or other forms of information.  Information about government programs is always free- make sure you never give up your own financial information, credit card number, or bank account number over the internet to learn more about government grants.

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only, and is not intended for use as tax or legal advice.  For information about the tax provisions specified here, please consult your attorney or tax preparer.