Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in three different flavors. They are White Hat, Gray Hat, and Black Hat. White Hat SEO refers to techniques that meet two requirements. First, they are socially acceptable, by that I mean virtually no one is going to accuse you of being “shady” for using a White Hat technique. Second, using a White Hat technique brings with it an extremely low chance of getting your site banned from a search engine.

Understanding White Hat makes it easy to define Black Hat. Black Hat techniques are almost universally considered “shady” and bring with them a serious chance of getting banned from search engine(s) if anyone catches on to what you are doing. Grey Hat as you have probably guessed by now are those SEO techniques that inhabit the middle ground between white and black. More…

Over the last few years small businesses have been engaged primarily in two forms of over seas outsourcing.  The first type of outsourcing to hit the seen in a big way was the outsourcing of programming and web development. Initially India was the destination of choice but soon after countries like Russia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Romania and others began to offer competition in the bottom dollar programming market.

The next advance in outsourcing has been the outsourcing of products to factories in China. Medium and Large sized companies have been outsourcing there products to China for years. Companies like Wal-Mart depend on China for the majority of their products. For these reasons China has become known as “the world’s factory.”

Small businesses are now learning that there are advantages of following in the footsteps of the big boys and more and more American entrepreneurs are catching flights to China to shop factories for the best possible deal.

The latest development in outsourcing is the development of engineering projects, and once again Indian firms have been the first to land on the scene in a big way. So if you have an idea for a doohickey the requires electrical, mechanical, or some other form of engineering, one option is to outsource the prototype design oversees. Once you have a working prototype you’ll have to consider your options and figure out the best location to mass produce you’re your masterpiece.
                                                                                                                                                                     Beware that while outsourcing can offer cost saving advantages it can also offer significant pitfalls. Before you attempt to outsource any work oversees you owe it to yourself to do your research before hand, and to watch your step through every step of the production cycle.

This article is intended to be a basic overview of SEO for those not familiar with the subject. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is the art / science of showing up near the top of the search results for a particular keyword, on a specific search engine. Each search engine uses its own algorithm to decide how heavily to value different attributes of a particular website to determine how it should rank in comparison to other websites with “similar” subject matter.

A website that ranks as the #1 result for a specific key word today on Google is not likely to be found on the tenth page of results for the same keyword in Yahoo. Two different algorithms may treat the attributes of a particular website similarly but the point to remember is that it’s highly unlikely for them to spew results in an identical manner. More…

Pick a niche, any niche… let’s say cigars and cigar related accessories. Since according to eBay’s  “Prohibited and Restricted Items – Overview” eBay does not allow the sale of tobacco products through the U.S. version of its site (except possibly for some special circumstances) you can sell cigar related accessories on eBay and reap a harvest of physical addresses. Every time you make a sale on eBay you will be gaining a prequalified lead. These buyers are prequalified because not only are they interested in cigars, they are interested enough to spend money!

Even if you make an average profit of zero dollars per sale from your eBay auctions you should be happy. With every sale you will be gaining something of significant value, something that will pay dividends in the future. As your direct mail list grows you will be building a gold mine for yourself that you can mine for years to come.

Would you build your future on a house of cards? If so, how secure do you think that future would be? In October of 2007 I had the pleasure of attending the Texas state fair. While at the fair I got a chance to see the current world record for the world’s tallest house of cards. I had got there a few days after the record was officially broken and Guinness Book had already handed out the certificate. What amazed me about the exibit was the story behind it.

The house of cards, which measured over 25 feet in height,  was built by Bryan Berg and shattered this own previous record. By the time I saw the exhibit Mr. Berg was still hard at working on a rendition of the Dallas Skyline to accompany his masterpiece. The event was complete with a corporate sponsor, Metro PCS, whose logo seemed to adorn the back of every playing card in site.

The plaque on the wall explained that Berg had had passion for building structures out of ordinary playing cards since childhood. At age 17 he had originally captured the title for the “World’s Tallest House of Cards” and later he even attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design to further his unique career.

According to Mr. Bergs own website, http://www.cardstacker.com/, his clients have included companies such as Disney, Coca-Cola, Proctor and Gamble, and the National Hockey League, just to name a few.

So what is the point, and what in the world does this have to do with online business? Well for one thing Mr. Berg is an entrepreneur…a  risk taker. Anyone responds to the question “what would you like to do when you grow up,” by answering that they would like to build card houses for hours on end is bound to encounter at least a few quizzical glances now and again.

The point of the story is that no matter what your online niche may be, one the factors which will determine your success or failure is how far you are willing to push it.  How extreme, passionate, and persistent are you at establishing yourself in that niche?