Data Scraping - Hand Scraped Hardwood Flooring Gives Your Home That Exclusive Look

Today hand scraped hardwood flooring is becoming extremely popular in the more opulent homes as well as in some commercial properties. Although this type of flooring has only recently become fashionable it has been around for many centuries.

Certainly before the invention of modern sanding techniques all floors where hand scraped at the location where they were to be installed to ensure that the floor would be flat and even. However today this method is used instead to provide texture, richness as well as a unique look and feel to the flooring.

Although manufacturers have produced machines which can provide a scraped look to their flooring it looks cheap compared to the real thing. Unfortunately the main problem with using a machine to scrape the flooring is that it provides a uniform look to the pattern of the wood. Because of this it lacks the natural feel that you would see with a floor which has been scraped by hand.

When done by hand, scraping creates a truly unique look to the floor. However the actual look and feel of each floor will vary as it depends on the skills of the person actually carrying out the work. If there is no control in place whilst the work is being carried out this can result in disastrous look to the finished product.

Many manufacturers who actually provide hand scraped hardwood flooring will either just dent, scoop or rough the floor up. But others will use sanding techniques in order to create a worn and uneven look to the flooring. The more professional teams will scrape the entire surface of the wood in order to create the unique hand made look for their customers.

Many companies will allow their customers to choose what type of scraping takes place on their wood. They can choose between light, medium and heavy. The companies who are really good at hand scraping will be able give the hardwood floor a reclaimed look by including wormholes, splits and other naturally-occurring features within the wood.

If you do decide to choose hand scraped hardwood flooring you will need to factor the costs that are associated with it into your budget. Unfortunately this type of flooring does not come cheap and you can find yourself paying upwards of $15 per sq ft. But once it is installed it will give a room a unique and warm rich feel to it and is certainly going to wow your friends and family when they see it for the first time.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Hand-Scraped-Hardwood-Flooring-Gives-Your-Home-That-Exclusive-Look&id=572577

Web scraping in under 60 seconds: the magic of import.io

Import.io is a very powerful and easy-to-use tool for data extraction that has the aim of getting data from any website in a structured way. It is meant for non-programmers that need data (and for programmers who don’t want to overcomplicate their lives).

I almost forgot!! Apart from everything, it is also a free tool (o_O)

The purpose of this post is to teach you how to scrape a website and make a dataset and/or API in under 60 seconds. Are you ready?

It’s very simple. You just have to go to http://magic.import.io; post the URL of the site you want to scrape, and push the “GET DATA” button. Yes! It is that simple! No plugins, downloads, previous knowledge or registration are necessary. You can do this from any browser; it even works on tablets and smartphones.

For example: if we want to have a table with the information on all items related to Chewbacca on MercadoLibre (a Latin American version of eBay), we just need to go to that site and make a search – then copy and paste the link (http://listado.mercadolibre.com.mx/chewbacca) on Import.io, and push the “GET DATA” button.

You’ll notice that now you have all the information on a table, and all you need to do is remove the columns you don’t need. To do this, just place the mouse pointer on top of the column you want to delete, and an “X” will appear.

Good news for those of us who are a bit more technically-oriented! There is a button that says “GET API” and this one is good to, well, generate an API that will update the data on each request. For this you need to create an account (which is also free of cost).

As you saw, we can scrape any website in under 60 seconds, even if it includes tons of results pages. This truly is magic, no? For more complex things that require logins, entering subwebs, automatized searches, et cetera, there is downloadable import.io software… But I’ll explain that in a different post.

Source: http://schoolofdata.org/2014/12/09/web-scraping-in-under-60-seconds-the-magic-of-import-io/

Scraping Services - Assuring Scraping Success with Proxy Data Scraping

Have you ever heard of "Data Scraping?" Data Scraping is the process of collecting useful data that has been placed in the public domain of the internet (private areas too if conditions are met) and storing it in databases or spreadsheets for later use in various applications. Data Scraping technology is not new and many a successful businessman has made his fortune by taking advantage of data scraping technology.

Sometimes website owners may not derive much pleasure from automated harvesting of their data. Webmasters have learned to disallow web scrapers access to their websites by using tools or methods that block certain ip addresses from retrieving website content. Data scrapers are left with the choice to either target a different website, or to move the harvesting script from computer to computer using a different IP address each time and extract as much data as possible until all of the scraper's computers are eventually blocked.

Thankfully there is a modern solution to this problem. Proxy Data Scraping technology solves the problem by using proxy IP addresses. Every time your data scraping program executes an extraction from a website, the website thinks it is coming from a different IP address. To the website owner, proxy data scraping simply looks like a short period of increased traffic from all around the world. They have very limited and tedious ways of blocking such a script but more importantly -- most of the time, they simply won't know they are being scraped.

You may now be asking yourself, "Where can I get Proxy Data Scraping Technology for my project?" The "do-it-yourself" solution is, rather unfortunately, not simple at all. Setting up a proxy data scraping network takes a lot of time and requires that you either own a bunch of IP addresses and suitable servers to be used as proxies, not to mention the IT guru you need to get everything configured properly. You could consider renting proxy servers from select hosting providers, but that option tends to be quite pricey but arguably better than the alternative: dangerous and unreliable (but free) public proxy servers.

There are literally thousands of free proxy servers located around the globe that are simple enough to use. The trick however is finding them. Many sites list hundreds of servers, but locating one that is working, open, and supports the type of protocols you need can be a lesson in persistence, trial, and error. However if you do succeed in discovering a pool of working public proxies, there are still inherent dangers of using them. First off, you don't know who the server belongs to or what activities are going on elsewhere on the server. Sending sensitive requests or data through a public proxy is a bad idea. It is fairly easy for a proxy server to capture any information you send through it or that it sends back to you. If you choose the public proxy method, make sure you never send any transaction through that might compromise you or anyone else in case disreputable people are made aware of the data.

A less risky scenario for proxy data scraping is to rent a rotating proxy connection that cycles through a large number of private IP addresses. There are several of these companies available that claim to delete all web traffic logs which allows you to anonymously harvest the web with minimal threat of reprisal. Companies such as offer large scale anonymous proxy solutions, but often carry a fairly hefty setup fee to get you going.

The other advantage is that companies who own such networks can often help you design and implementation of a custom proxy data scraping program instead of trying to work with a generic scraping bot. After performing a simple Google search, I quickly found one company (www.ScrapeGoat.com) that provides anonymous proxy server access for data scraping purposes. Or, according to their website, if you want to make your life even easier, ScrapeGoat can extract the data for you and deliver it in a variety of different formats often before you could even finish configuring your off the shelf data scraping program.

Whichever path you choose for your proxy data scraping needs, don't let a few simple tricks thwart you from accessing all the wonderful information stored on the world wide web!

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Assuring-Scraping-Success-with-Proxy-Data-Scraping&id=248993

Yellow Pages Takes Care Of All Your Needs

Yellow pages refer to the directory that contains information about all elements that one requires in a city. Yellow pages India services are provided by several companies that are working towards making things easier for the public. In today's world the main constraint is lack of time and this lack of time has taken a heavy toll on our lives. If we had all the things at our hands life would indeed have become much easier and we can take care of things easily. Lack of time will not longer be a hindrance, rather a boon if things work out properly. India is among one of the fastest growing developing countries of the world and this is the reason why all the big names in the business world are establishing their facilities in the country. This has opened up the opportunity for many people to relocate to India and particularly the capital city for Delhi for better opportunities.

In such a scenario yellow pages India is a boon to all those people who are out to earn their livelihood. Mobile phone users in India are very high and if someone can get all the information that they require in the mobile phones, then there is nothing better then that. Making information of the yellow pages accessible to the public through the mobile phones makes more sense due to the simple reason that the number pf people using mobile phones are high. Now this directory services India and local search service Delhi services are available on the web also, but to access this you need an internet enabled computer. Now this is something that many people may not have access to and even if they do have access to this, they cannot carry the computer at all times to all places.

In the yellow pages India you can find information of all the things. All you need to do is send in your request to the service provider through a short code. The message will be delivered to the service provider and you can get the information that you require instantly. Such is the power of communication that it does not take more then five minutes for you to get access to information of any kind at any place you want. The basic idea of all this search service providers is to enable you to be in control of a situation, rather then letting a situation control you.

In the yellow pages India service provided by the companies you can get information about hotels, shops, travel agents, restaurants, cinema complexes, hospitals, educational institutions and fitness centers. The yellow page service providers have made things really simple and you can be rest assured that lack of information about a certain thing will never be an issue. After all this is all so easy for you and you do not even need to make huge efforts for this. Yellow pages India are not printed in yellow pages in the traditional way, but this service is now provided through mobile phones and the web for reaching out to people easily and effectively.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Yellow-Pages-Takes-Care-Of-All-Your-Needs&id=574304

Media, the Internet, Yellow Pages, and Your Business

If you are reading this article, chances are you could use a little extra money. With the advent of the internet and the migration of advertising dollars from print to electronic (and this time, it's the real thing, I swear! Not one of those 1999 tech busts!...Seriously!) If you own a small business today, you look at many advertising mediums. The majority of these mediums lump themselves into 2 categories, creative or direct.

Creative has always been the crapshoot for the small business owner. A sales rep walks into your business, espousing the greater good of television or radio advertising, quickly moves past the ratings, viewers etc and into the sexiness of hearing your name at 6:57am Monday, Thursday and Saturday if you are watching station X or listening to station Y. If this product didn't work, a Super Bowl commercial price tag wouldn't make headlines every December (for how much Geico paid) or late February (to hear which is most memorable). The key with creative is frequency. If you have realistic budget for frequency, you can make the phone ring with a creative campaign. If you have that budget you probably aren't reading this article. Realistically speaking, you don't have a ton of money to risk on creative advertising effectiveness, haven't backed it up with a call to action, and you need, pound for pound, the least amount of advertising money possible, with the most phone calls...

Enter direct advertising. Classified sections in newspapers, they make your phone ring, if you're selling something people want. (For the record, advertising in the sports section of your local paper is creative advertising (people don't go to page 5 of the sports to regularly check out the latest prices on used cars.) Classified advertising is in the process of going from the newspaper industry's cash cow to taking it on the chin from EBay (ever heard of it?) and even more attractive small town slugger, Craigslist (you go Craig!). If you're business pumps out used cars by the pound, chances are you, or your salesmen are using these two websites to start realizing savings from Rupert Murdoch and his yacht-owning cronies. Even the best of EBay or Craigslist, however, doesn't put much of a dent in your P&L statement if you are service based like a contractor, or general retail, like a bookstore.

Enter the yellow pages...Pound for pound, no other medium makes the phone ring at your business like the good old fashioned yellow pages. Throw down your money, and answer the phone. You already know that. So do all the TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers in the country. The best protected advertising budget in any small business is the yellow page budget. Yellow pages are the scourge of the other guys. How many radio sales reps will walk into your store after you started your advertising campaign and say, "Tom, your $1,000 invested with my station this week got you 48 phone calls?" (If you find a station like that please send me the phone number, and I retract everything I said earlier) When someone wants a plumber, a pool boy, a new pool, or a divorce attorney for getting the new pool without his wife's approval, they pick up the weathered old yellow pages, leaf through a few adverts, and call someone that sells what they need.

So, am I telling you to advertise in the yellow pages?,,, Not so fast Skippy...First, let's look at the cost of the yellow pages,...You want the phone to ring in Miami, and you're a plumber? Better be ready to pony up some serious cash...say $3-4k per month. In Miami, the average cost of a service call could be around $65. If you don't have a crew, that ad needs to generate 61 calls to break even, not including the employee cost, travel costs etc. Not so bad? How many calls did you need to generate those 61 service calls? Did you go see everyone that called you? I would guess, for a contractor, you might get lucky and have a 50% close rate...122 calls...to break even. Don't forget to pay yourself...200 calls. Depressed? Better be glad you don't sell shoes. The same ad would generate a much lower close rate, and you need to sell an dump truck of shoes every month!

What's my point? Enter the ELECTRONIC yellow pages...No print bill, real time changes, and guess where all those print yellow pages are putting their money these days? BellSouth and SBC just paid $100M (you know, $100,000,000) for a new domain name, and combined their "competing" forces to make a better entry in the fray, thinking that you might remember yellowpages.com better than smartpages.com or realpages.com. (Makes you wonder where Google fits into the old branding and name recognition game.) Verizon seemed to get the concept a little better with superpages.com by aligning with Mr. Gates over at MSN right around the time Al Gore was inventing the internet. Getting back to the point, the internet yellow pages are going to do to print yellow pages what EBay and Craigslist have done to the newspaper companies. No paper, no ink, usage climbing (for electronic yellow pages, usage is climbing to as high as 70% of online searching, and buying) and real-time, do-it-yourself advertising. Advents such as community ranking, mini-sites, toolbars, pay per click, pay per call, and just about every way possible to pay for performance, track performance, and see what other buyers of your goods or services thought of your business. Due to the ever changing, "who's in first place" of the internet, there has yet to be determined if there is a Lance Armstrong in this race. Our own company USdirectory.com, via its partnerships, and investment into technology, is looking to become a late entry, blue-ribbon bearer. At this point, it's too early to clearly point out which one, or all, or none, of these companies will do to yellow pages what Google did to global search. That being said, even Google doesn't reflect enough tenure to ensure its own top position.

Who wins?? You do, the business owner. Technology is about to reduce your advertising budget the way Southwest and JetBlue changed the airline industry. Your customer base, as they migrate to the internet as vehicle of choice, will reach you at lower price points, and in greater volume, then ever before. Your mission, should you choose to accept, in investing in the right mix, at the right point, and try to cater not only to your existing radius of business, but around the planet with new and specialized niches...but that's another story.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Media,-the-Internet,-Yellow-Pages,-and-Your-Business&id=56566

Combine Your Yellow Page Ad and Web Site for Maximum Profits

A Yellow Page Ad isn't Enough Any More

An unquestioned "must" for any small business has been to run an ad in the Yellow Page Directory. Since most customers were local, that was enough to establish itself as "open for business." The annual Yellow Page ad represents the largest promotional expense for many enterprises. Yet, Yellow Page directory use is declining, while expanding segments of the public don't rely on them at all. Yellow Page advertising costs keep going up, and the complicated pricing structure is difficult to figure out. Worse yet, having a Yellow Page ad doesn't deliver like it used to.

People can find most of the information they want without ever opening a directory. Your business needs its Yellow Page strategy to be in tune with the times and your market. Like most business owners, you must squeeze maximum value from every promotional dollar spent. That requires you to move beyond treating a Yellow Page ad like it's a separate, stand-alone way to promote your business. It's not.

Your Yellow Page advertising needs to work in tandem with all the rest of the efforts you pursue. The Internet Expands Your Arena Every business needs to put itself in front of the people looking for what it does - and that's not just through the Yellow Pages any longer.

An increasing percentage of customers, who spend their money close to home, are Internet savvy. There's a major overlap between Yellow Page directory users and Internet users. That fact supports integrating your local and Internet promotional methods so they attract more new customers. Yellow Page users are likely to be Internet users as well. And a business that ignores online activities entirely may have a tough time getting access to or credibility with those customers. It is possible to make online and traditional (off-line) methods to attract customers work in tandem - improving the effectiveness of each alone.

So it's no longer an either-or, all-or-none choice whether to promote the business online or off. People who subscribe to online services consult the Yellow Pages 23% more often than non-subscribers.

Frequent Yellow Page Users are:

- 18% more likely than average to be Internet subscribers

- 32% more likely to be among the heaviest Internet users

- 18% more likely to make purchases on the Internet

- 27% more likely to spend more than $1,000 on Internet purchases

Source: Simmons

Customer Behavior is Changing

More and more, people are going to the Internet to find, learn about, or select products and services. Even local ones. That doesn't mean that they will buy online, however. People still prefer to spend their money locally when they can. But, even the smallest business can do a better job of being found by those who prefer to use both the Internet and the Yellow Page directory to make their buying decisions. And, it can be done very inexpensively, too. Even a 100% local business can pull in more business by getting its low-tech and high-tech advertising to mesh.

What Else has Changed?

- Buyers are less trusting and more willing to shop around

- Customers have more options and ways to find what they want

- Availability of Internet Yellow Pages

- Aging population uses the Yellow Pages differently than young people

- Development of unique niches and specialties

- More choices for a "better deal"

- More directories competing in a geographic area

- More immigrants, or those from other cultures, unaccustomed to Yellow Page use

- Area code proliferation fragments cities

- Larger cities have multiple directories, rather than one large one

- Development of specialized directories - like ethnic, non-English, women, minority, business to business

Become Visible Online - With or Without Your Own Web Site

If your business already has a Web site, treat it as a way to expand the reach of your Yellow Page ad and traditional marketing activities. Jettison the expectation that it should make sales - few do so. But an information-packed Web site can support your traditional marketing methods very well.

Even without your own Web site, your small business can establish an online identity that helps buyers to find you.

- Get listed in a variety of Internet Yellow Page (IYP) directories

- Send emails to your "regulars" with special offers and useful information

- Position yourself for Local Search - a method whereby customers use search engines to locate local businesses by town, state, region, zip code, etc.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Combine-Your-Yellow-Page-Ad-and-Web-Site-for-Maximum-Profits&id=1816

How Effective Are the Yellow Pages in Online Marketing?

Ever since when the internet came, yellow pages were become obsolete for some business. It is because the Internet showed a better way of promoting their local business and even international business. Nevertheless, the golden pages made a great impact to business world 10 years ago. It was popular for listing businesses and contacting them. You can also have good copies of any businesses you want from the golden pages.

As of today, there are still directory pages available for local market business although it is not that popular anymore. There are still businesses use yellow pages for particular marketing strategies. In online trade, golden pages are still visible but not that useable since we have several online classified directories. Directory Pages are optional but still effective for online marketing techniques. Directory pages can now be seen through online. There are several websites which are considered as golden pages.

There are databases storing particular data such as phone numbers, business name, basic business info such as business address, fax number, contact person, services offered and its categories. The directory pages information can be edit anytime you want as long as you have your log-in details. Most yellow pages are sorted according to its State and Cities. They are more useful for local business who wants to be on top on Google search engine. Since Google are now accepting golden pages as one effective way of promoting your business online.

Keywords and tags are also valuable matter to keep in mind when listing down your local business in common pages. It is more effective if you designate keywords or tags for you site. It could be word or phrases which are related to your website and make sure it is SEO friendly. Once your company is listed in yellow pages, if someone search your phone number, automatically your business name will appear on result pages and it could bring potential customers. However, if you're an international companies it is suggested to use directories and classifieds which is totally different to golden pages.

At the end of the day, it is best to list down your business in local yellow pages available near to your place so that it can be found in different places online since Internet is a big thing now. Yellow pages are still proven to be useful and effective for small business in local market into their online marketing strategies.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Effective-Are-the-Yellow-Pages-in-Online-Marketing?&id=6486646

Yellow Page Advertising For Lawyers - Where Have All The Calls Gone?

I get calls every week from lawyers saying they're not getting calls anymore from yellow page advertising. Having done quite well in the past, they're afraid to discontinue the advertising. They want to know what's going on and what to do.

Apparently, lawyers are not the only ones. In his article "Quit wasting money on Yellow Page advertising" by Peter Fernandez, D.C., a yellow page, print advertising and practice management consultant for chiropractors, Dr. Fernandez answers the question, "Why has advertising in the Yellow Pages changed from one of the best ways to advertise to one of the worst in just a few years?" (See 1, below)

This article will attempt to explain where all the calls went. I believe lawyers began advertising in the Yellow Pages much earlier than on TV because of the cost; most lawyers were reluctant to become pioneers of TV advertising; and lawyers were pursued by yellow page salespeople, but not by TV salespeople. Since 1976 through the mid-1980s, the Yellow Pages and classified newspaper ads were virtually the only place a potential client could find a lawyer advertising. Consequently, lawyers advertising in the Yellow Pages did not have much competition and had very good results.

Many more lawyers flocked to the Yellow Pages which then became very crowded. In the last few years, and after a few pioneers, many of the lawyers advertising in the Yellow Pages discovered what every other business has long known, that TV is by far both the most effective and cost-effective media. According to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, from January 2004 through September 2004 lawyers have spent $287.3 million on TV compared with only $71.3 million on print media, $11.4 million on radio and $4.1 million on Internet advertising. According to research done by the Television Bureau of Advertising, the public's perception of television gets the votes for Most Authoritative and Most Exciting. Both influential and persuasive, TV wins over other media, in both categories, by a wide margin among Adults 18+. TV scores 81.8% in the Most Influential category, with newspapers a distant second at 8.5%. TV scores 66.8% Most Persuasive with newspapers, again a distant second at 14.2%.

Just as buying something wholesale or in large quantities, your cost per person reached from advertising is reduced when you buy media that reaches more people. Broadcast TV reaches many times more people than a county-wide yellow page book and therefore costs much less per person reached. In the New York DMA (broadcast TV market), there are 29 counties reached by TV. If there was only one yellow page book in each county, you would have to advertise in 29 yellow page books to reach the same geographic area as TV. Unfortunately, there are several yellow page books in each county. Smaller community yellow page books produce even less of a return on investment because they reach even fewer people. Many lawyers have found out that for the cost of a full-page advertisement in just two county-wide yellow page books, you can advertise on TV with a respectable budget and reach the population of an entire DMA.

Today, due to the large number of lawyers advertising on TV, potential clients are being diverted away from yellow page books. Additionally, in the field of personal injury, the problem is compounded. Seriously injured people are usually in bed in a hospital or at home watching TV. Lawyers advertising on TV reach potential accident clients long before they can even
get to yellow page books.

When lawyers first began advertising, there was only one yellow page book. Now there are commonly three, four or even five county-wide yellow page books and several village, community or neighborhood yellow page books as well. Some advertisers have even lost their position in the Yellow Pages because they signed a contract with another yellow page book not realizing it was a different book and they couldn't afford two books. Because a consumer will typically keep one yellow page book and throw out the others, the question an advertiser faces is which yellow page book to advertise in or to advertise in all of them. Will your advertisement be in a yellow page book that's thrown in the garbage? I keep only one book and it stays in the closet, rarely used. Today, I use the Internet instead of a yellow page book.

While there was once only one Yellow Page book in town receiving 100% of yellow page advertising revenue, they are now losing a large share of that revenue to several competing yellow page books, but their operating costs remain fixed. All of the yellow page book companies must print and distribute the same number of books. Unless all advertisers advertise in all three yellow page books, the publishing companies have to increase advertising fees thereby increasing the cost of reaching a yellow page consumer. In an effort to increase revenue, yellow page books have even begun creating new real estate to sell including advertising on the covers, spine, tabbed pages and even Post-it Notes style ads. These high visibility advertisements also divert yellow page consumers from regular full-page advertisements.

Simply stated, there was once only one yellow page book in town; it was cheaper to advertise in the book; there were fewer lawyers advertising in the book; there were few lawyers advertising on TV; the Internet was not what it is today; and there were far more people using the Yellow Pages than there are today.

So what's a lawyer to do with yellow page advertising? If you're one of the three or four largest advertisers in your market with an advertising budget large enough for a substantial TV advertising campaign including billboards and radio, you may want to consider advertising in all of the yellow page books. If you're not one of the largest advertisers in your market, my suggestion is to discontinue advertising in yellow page books and to spend your money on TV. If you have a 1-800 vanity telephone number available and extra money in the budget, you should also advertise on billboards and radio.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Yellow-Page-Advertising-For-Lawyers---Where-Have-All-The-Calls-Gone?&id=75575

Beware of 'Magazine Style' Yellow Pages Ad Design

I have been doing Yellow Page design for the past 15 years. I have been fully submerged in the medium. Even as I sit here writing this article I have various Yellow Page directories from all over the US stacked on my desk.

It's an art form, I tell you. Few comprehend its power. Few understand the subtle blend of art and science that combines to create the successful Yellow Page ad design. It takes a true connoisseur to understand the underlying psychology of a masterfully crafted Yellow Pages ad design.

Now I know what your thinking. This guy is off his rocker. Oh, but I disagree. I intend to plainly illustrate a very disheartening trend developing in our local neighborhood Yellow Pages. I call this trend--the rise of the dreaded 'magazine style' Yellow Pages ad.

Now I love magazines too. I like to leaf through my Forbes Magazine as I leisurely sit by the pool. I occasionally glance at the pages of Elle when my wife leaves it lying around. I've even been known to flip through the pages of Wired when I'm ready for the latest rant on how Star Wars has changed the world. But when I turn to my local Yellow Pages the last thing I'm ready to face is the pages of Cosmopolitan.

With the recent rise of readily available, cheaply commissionable, Yellow Page ad design services it would seem our Yellow Pages are turning into a 'magazine style' nightmare.

Now I'm not saying your ad should be as ugly as your Yellow Pages advertising sales rep wants to make it, but if your Yellow Page ad is turning into an Ansel Adams exhibition, and your selling air conditioners there is something wrong here. I know, I said Yellow Page ad design is an art, but what I meant by art was the kind of Yellow Page ad that ultimately leads to someone buying something from you.

It's like Trump calls it--the art of the deal. That's the kind of art you are looking for in your Yellow Pages advertising. It's the art of getting peoples attention, and not losing it a half second later when they can't figure out what it is your selling. I mean, the heading says 'Plumbing' but with all these baby pictures it looks more like a Daycare heading. Which one of these guys is a plumber?

These clever ads may be all the rage as I'm sipping my cocktail by the swimming pool, but when I'm looking for a reason I should buy from you instead of your competitor, trying to baffle me with a clever picture that makes me think some Yellow Page flunky lost his job when he mistakenly pasted a Daycare ad in Plumbing, is not the way to do it. Yeah, you got my attention. Am I calling? Sure. I'm calling your competitor.

Nobody has the time to decipher your cute 'magazine style' Yellow Pages ad. Captivating your audience is important, making your Yellow Page ad design distinctive is paramount, but confusing people can make your Yellow Page advertising useless.

I have learned over the years to even steer clear of 'magazine style' layout for fear of lack-luster results. Many directories have phone company traps set up with 3 or 4 pages of these 'magazine style' Yellow Page ads for there own products and services. Yellow Page shoppers learn to tune them out quickly.

Stumble through 4 full-page full-color 'magazine style' Yellow Pages ads under 'Publishing' while you're on your way to the 'Printing' heading and you quickly learn what not to look for. Phone company traps can be set up under Advertising, Communications, Publishing, Internet, Telecommunications--always just a few pages away from where your Yellow Page ad is going to call home.

While magazine ads can be very entertaining, who doesn't like PacBell's cross-eyed dog that is guaranteed to be under seven headings of any given PacBell directory, the important thing to remember is Yellow Page shoppers are not there to be entertained--they are there to buy. Hopefully from you!

So be warned, from the desk of a 15 year veteran in the Yellow Page ad design field, if you are expecting great results with that clever, not so clever, magazine style Yellow Page ad design you are running this year, you might find yourself sadly disappointed.

There are better ways to grab people's attention with your Yellow Page advertising, AND get them to buy from you. Never sacrifice your company's sales for magazine style Yellow Page advertising.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Beware-of-Magazine-Style-Yellow-Pages-Ad-Design&id=48620

Starting a Business? Online Presence is the New Yellow Pages

Whatever type of business you are planning to start, an online presence is an absolute necessity. The internet serves as the new Yellow Pages...on steroids. Not only do consumers search the web for a specific business or service, but they are able to comparison shop and learn all about their options from the comfort of their living rooms. The online options range from a simple business card style page to a comprehensive ecommerce site, but the important factor is that your potential clients are able to find you with a simple web search.

Depending on the type of business you start, you may need only a basic business card-style website. Something as simple as a home page introducing your business, a contact page to help build your customer database, and a few pages of information to help your customers make the right selection of your products or services will go a long way in marketing your venture. In the information age, it is imperative that you provide useful knowledge to your customers. If you choose not to, plenty of your competitors will...and that's who will make the sale.

The information you provide online does not have to give away the house secrets, but should teach your prospective clients something about what you do. For example, a dog training business might include short article on house-training tips and descriptions of the various dog sports that you teach. A restaurant might include the menu along with articles about the right wine to select with different types of food. A service business might explain how using the available services will save the consumer time, money, or the like. The important factor is to offer useful information in a clear, coherent manner that shows your expertise and builds confidence in you and your business.

More developed websites can include ecommerce, where you customers can buy directly from you through your website. If you sell retail products, making them available online can increase your sales dramatically, often 30% or more. Including products, a shopping cart, and an online merchant account costs a bit more to set up, but the payoff is usually worth every penny. Selling your products on the web provides an opportunity to deliver your sales pitch for each item. Including a short paragraph about each product or service is common, and you can even incorporate a rating system or popularity scale for each. Consumers can find out all they need to know about your offerings without leaving the house.

All types of businesses are finding success using interactive websites. Some restaurants have had great success with allowing their take-out customers to order online. Some salons allow clients to set their own appointments online. And a mobile auto detailer we know fills over 50% of his schedule through online requests. The internet is the present and future of all business. If your startup isn't represented on the web, your growth potential is inherently limited. But if your website is a high-quality, informative, useful tool for your customers, you will give your venture the legs to grow and develop into a thriving company.

-K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur with a J.D. from Duke University, is founder of LaunchX and blogs about starting a business. The LaunchX System takes you step-by-step through the process of starting a business, including creating an appropriate web presence. It includes WebPlus website building software and 18 months free basic hosting services. Visit LaunchX.com to find out more about this revolutionary way to start a business.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Starting-a-Business?-Online-Presence-is-the-New-Yellow-Pages&id=3624154

Yellow Pages Phone Search - One of the Reliable Resources For Online Reverse Lookup

Like several major search engines, the Yellow Pages phone search allows you to do a reverse phone number lookup as well. There are several directory companies allow you to use their website and conduct reverse lookup for free. Searching for a telephone number on Yellow Pages provides you with the name, address of the owner, and a map to the address.

There are also a number or websites that offer the same free reverse phone number lookup service. These online directories are quite similar to the search engines like Google and Yahoo! The major difference is that only the phone lookup service is provided by a site like Yellow Pages.

Free Online Reverse Lookup Sites

There are several sites that receive around 37 million or so visitors every month in North America alone. Since 2008, their database includes more than 180 million Americans. These sites offer an option for an international phone no. lookup. Generated results provide the name, street address, map, occupation and even approximate age.

Other online companies are operated by one of the major phone companies in the United States, AT&T. These sites work in tandem with Yellow Pages. They conduct reverse phone lookup by using a database of information from local phone companies. It generates the same basic information when you get results. Just like most companies however, you can opt to get additional information for a fee.

Of course, if these free reverse lookup sites fail to generate the results you want, then you can always consult professional sites to find people by the number of their mobile units. There are possible reasons why free reverse lookup sites fail to generate results. Either the telephone number is unlisted or the number belongs to a cell phone. There are professional reverse lookup services that specialize in locating these types of number, generating the results instantly or in a couple of hours. However, they do charge a fee for these inquiries.

In general, using Yellow Pages and their free reverse lookup service using telephone numbers can help you save money when conducting a reverse phone number lookup. However, if this fails or you need more in-depth information, you can always consult the professional sites to aid you in looking up a particular number for a fee of course.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Yellow-Pages-Phone-Search---One-of-the-Reliable-Resources-For-Online-Reverse-Lookup&id=1669712

Should I Advertise With the Yellowpages or YP Online?

This is a company that's been around for over 100 years, so they seem like a solid company to do business with, right?

Well ultimately I'll leave the decision up to you because they can be good for certain businesses and do absolutely nothing for others. I'll lay out the pros and cons and let you decide at the end.

The Yellowpages, big yellow, grandma's booster seat... and now YP online. Advertising your business used to be as simple as buying the biggest ad in the book, then came the internet, multiple competitors in the phone book arena, coupon books, door to door sales people, community boards... the list goes on.

So where do you spend your money and how much should you spend?

That's a different topic that we'll be writing on in the future, but for now let's stick to the Yellowpages and YP online.

A YELLOWPAGES REP CALLED ME, NOW WHAT?

They're out there in the thousands, scavenging the community boards, competitor websites like Yellowbook online and Craigslist... if your phone number is out there and it's attached to a business you're likely to get a call (or multiple calls) from a YP rep. The best thing to do, even if you're not interested, is to use their resources to learn more about your competition and the marketplace as a whole. They have access to lots of information that normal folks don't and it doesn't cost you anything (monetarily at least) to get it from them.

If you want the goods, you have to play their game (at least little bit)

What this means is that they're not going to give you information if you tell them right away that you're not interested. So you'll have to play along, don't make any commitments and try to stay on the phone with them without making an appointment to see them if you can stand your ground long enough. Beware, they're going to be pushy because that's how they make their living (selling you something), and who can blame them; most of them are good people that are just backed by a not-so-good company (or so I would assume).

USEFUL INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN MILK FROM THEM

Want to know what some of your competition is doing? Ask them and they'll be able to tell you how many calls a lot of your competitors are getting from certain ads. That alone would be a great question to get out of the way early so that you can always combat their sales tactics with this (the call counts are usually low). When they tell you the call count you can also ask them what their program looks like. See if it contains print, internet, direct mail...

They do a lot more than just the book now-a-days, however you'll pay a premium to do business with them. Often times you can do things like direct mail from a local company for cheaper and with MUCH better fulfillment (since they often times outsource their work to other companies for things like web design (for great website design, see the bottom of the article), direct mail, SEO... pretty much everything but YP online and the phone book -as of this writing at least).

Want a free logo?

If you string them along long enough they'll make an ad copy for your advertisement (usually only works for the phone book or direct mail) and you can ask them to send you an e-copy (Their graphic designers aren't the best, but they're alright if you're looking to get something for free) of the ad and use that for your own advertising that you don't end up doing with them (I'm not too sure about how the copyright rules work with this, but if you're a small business you probably won't have an issue *note* We're not saying to do this because it MIGHT be illegal, however if you choose to do it, it's there for you).

SOME OF THE THINGS THEY TELL YOU, YOU CAN FIND FOR YOURSELF

If you're looking to see how some of your competition is doing (or what they're doing) as far as Google AdWords or other Pay Per Click advertising methods you can always check out SpyFu. This is a free way to see how much your competition is spending on a daily basis and what kind of traffic their getting for doing so.

Another way to spy on them is to simply check out their Facebook or Twitter pages to see if they're running any kind of sales to spark traffic.

The old school version of this is to just give them a call and act like a customer.

WHAT THEY'LL TELL YOU AND HOW TO INTERPRET IT

One thing that the Yellowpages has is a lot of information (they've been around forever). There are also companies out there that they hire to do research and make them look good (even though it's considered third party, unbiased information we're pretty sure that they leave out information that doesn't make them look so hot).

So what does this mean for you? You'll be hearing a lot of statistics (unless the rep can't remember them) about things that might not necessarily mean anything to you.

They'll tell you how many people in whatever area you service area searching monthly for the things that you do and it'll usually sound very impressive! But then when it comes down to how many calls are being placed (they have this information for each ad on YP online and some for the phone books) there aren't too many. They'll say that people on average look at 4 to 5 ads before making a call, and the higher you are to the top of the list the more likely you are to get a call... bla bla bla. Sure, that makes sense, if you're first on the list then you'll get the most attention; what they don't tell you is that the majority of the calls will be from solicitors and that the call tracking number they're giving you could have been (and most likely has) used by a different company and that you'll probably get calls for their stuff too and that accounts for some of the calls you should've gotten.

Have they mentioned a "free ad" or a "pay per call" ad to you? They're the same product and it sounds wonderful until you realize that less than 30% of the businesses that sign up renew it (meaning it doesn't work very well). Prepare to now have to pay for the solicitors that call you on that number as well as, as mentioned above, people calling for a business that used to have that phone number.

SO SHOULD YOU GET A YELLOWPAGES AD?

You're probably thinking that we hate the Yellowpages by now, and you'd be wrong (sorry if the first part of this came across that way). We don't hate anyone for trying to make a buck, but we don't like their fulfillment practices.

Think about this, the main guys running this company came from another company that nobody really hears about too much anymore (AOL; think of the 10 free hours you never used). Since many of their products are outsourced, and therefore more expensive, you're never really getting a good deal on anything except for things that are proprietary to them (phonebook and YP online).

Should you get a phonebook or YP online ad? This question can only be answered after answering a few other questions (sorry).

Ask yourself some of these questions before you decide to make the plunge.

    What's the age of your target demographic? Older people are more likely to use the phone book (in some instances)

    Is your business mostly based on the distance from the consumer? Consider restaurants and how you look for them. We LOVE to find new restaurants to go to no matter where we travel to, but when I do a search on my phone (YP or Yelp app) I always set it to a distance search. So regardless of their advertising efforts the business cannot become closer to my current location. Better reviews can skew our decision, however it doesn't really bother us too much as long as there aren't many negative reviews.

    Where is your target demographic looking for your services? This one's really obvious but we figured that we'd put it in there because sometimes people forget the importance of the basics. If you're a restaurant people most likely aren't looking for you in the phone book, at least in our personal experience. We are more likely to first search for coupons in the mail or online (for restaurants) and then if we aren't successful we go to the distance search that we mentioned before. Think about where and how people search for the things that you do. Don't know where to start, ask your friends and family how they searched for a business that resembles what you offer.

If you find that all signs are pointing to the Yellowpages phonebook or YP online then you should do that. Just remember that you're going to be signed to a contract (they're going to try and get you for a whole year but they can do a 3 month contract and usually won't tell you about it until you ask).

For some industries the Yellowpages and YP online is a great place to be.

KEY TIPS!

They have a program called MC2 (don't think Einstein, think last ditch effort) where they'll "guarantee" (but not actually guarantee) a certain amount of leads for your advertising campaign. What's great about this is that they can give you a "cost per lead" and this is a great way to really figure out if your advertising campaign will bring in money for you! If they don't bring you the amount of leads they're supposed to, they'll (they're supposed to at least) do some advertising for you at no extra cost.

Since they obviously don't want to spend money on their own part to cover for what their advertising campaign lacked, they'll usually give you a lower number on this so that they look like they're going to over deliver (can't say whether they usually do or not).

What we're getting at is, compare this number to the amount of calls that they say that you should get before you get into the MC2 information. The numbers will be dramatically different and you'll be able to tell whether or not it's actually worth it for you to move forward with the advertising.

Let's say that each lead costs you $100 and you're a widget seller that makes an average sale of $25 per widget sold. So you'd have to sell 4 widgets to every lead (not all of them are actually leads, solicitors are counted as leads as well) to break even, and at least 5 to make a profit. Would you go for this advertising campaign? We recommend that you run for the hills.

Now let's say that each lead costs you $15 and you close 3 out of 10 phone calls (including solicitors) and your average sale per customer is $100. Let's do the math:

10 phone calls will cost you $150

You make 3 sales out of those 10 phone calls (3x$100 = $300)

$300-$150= $150 left over after paying for the calls

If there's still profit after the $150 then you're doing alright because, if you work referrals like you should, it'll pay off with happy customers getting your name out there. If there isn't, the answer is simple.

*note, this article is in no way affiliated with YP Holdings LLC or any of its affiliates and is meant for entertainment purposes only

If you're looking for Simply Great Websites from a Wholesome company, check out The Cheap Website .

Websites are $49/mth and a portion of the monthly dues are donated to help wounded veterans.

No Contracts, No Setup Fees, No Nonsense... Just Simply Great Websites

Thanks for reading

This is a company that's been around for over 100 years, so they seem like a solid company to do business with, right?

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Should-I-Advertise-With-the-Yellowpages-or-YP-Online?&id=8170953

Data Mining vs Screen-Scraping

Data mining isn't screen-scraping. I know that some people in the room may disagree with that statement, but they're actually two almost completely different concepts.

In a nutshell, you might state it this way: screen-scraping allows you to get information, where data mining allows you to analyze information. That's a pretty big simplification, so I'll elaborate a bit.

The term "screen-scraping" comes from the old mainframe terminal days where people worked on computers with green and black screens containing only text. Screen-scraping was used to extract characters from the screens so that they could be analyzed. Fast-forwarding to the web world of today, screen-scraping now most commonly refers to extracting information from web sites. That is, computer programs can "crawl" or "spider" through web sites, pulling out data. People often do this to build things like comparison shopping engines, archive web pages, or simply download text to a spreadsheet so that it can be filtered and analyzed.

Data mining, on the other hand, is defined by Wikipedia as the "practice of automatically searching large stores of data for patterns." In other words, you already have the data, and you're now analyzing it to learn useful things about it. Data mining often involves lots of complex algorithms based on statistical methods. It has nothing to do with how you got the data in the first place. In data mining you only care about analyzing what's already there.

The difficulty is that people who don't know the term "screen-scraping" will try Googling for anything that resembles it. We include a number of these terms on our web site to help such folks; for example, we created pages entitled Text Data Mining, Automated Data Collection, Web Site Data Extraction, and even Web Site Ripper (I suppose "scraping" is sort of like "ripping"). So it presents a bit of a problem-we don't necessarily want to perpetuate a misconception (i.e., screen-scraping = data mining), but we also have to use terminology that people will actually use.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Mining-vs-Screen-Scraping&id=146813

Rely on Internet Local Search to Bolster Your Yellow Page Directory Category

The Internet can promote your services in unlimited relevant areas that buyers are looking for

Even when they both have a website, a service business (like window blinds) has to use the Internet differently than an online business does. For example, a chiropractor needs to provide different information a trucking firm, to supply what customers search for. While they both can benefit from Local Search exposure, what information they need to provide about themselves varies greatly.

Break down the limitations imposed by category thinking

We've been trained by the Yellow Page directory to look for a business within its primary category section. But Local Search allows a person to find what they want under many more descriptive terms. They can search for a sub-category, rather than a generic listing like "contractor". They're able to find a narrowly-defined specific service or product - if a business has said that they offer it.

To be listed in the Directory, a business pays for each category where it appears. But a website has no such limitations. It can show numerous specific offerings - like Dog Training, Dog Nutrition, Dog Books, Dog Toys, etc. And it can promote each area to different buyers.

So your business benefits from showing up in Local Search results as many ways as possible. Go out of your way identify such specific, narrow topics. You might find yourself without any competition in such search results.

Studies show that people who search with specific terms are more motivated, and likely to buy "Minolta camera" instead of "camera". They're ready to take the next step.

Categories that draw the most attention

Not all businesses rely to the same extent on their Yellow Page listing to attract customers. And I'm sure that will turn out to be true with Local Search as well. The following list shows which directory categories draw the most visitors. But if your business isn't listed among the top, you've got even more reason to begin marketing yourself online.

Internet exposure can provide a powerful marketing boost for almost any type of local business. Whether you have a website or not, you need to assure that accurate information about your business gets picked up by every major search engine, and Internet Yellow Pages. I've found the most reliable way to do that is through Register Local, [http://www.localsearchresources.com/register_local.html] For a small annual fee they keep your business information updated and accurate on every online database that matters. And you don't need a website, if you don't have one.

Top Yellow Page Headings (in this order)

1. Restaurants

2. Physicians & Surgeons

3. Automobile Parts - new & used

4. Automobile Repairing & Services

5. Pizza

6. Automobile dealers - new & used

7. Attorneys/Lawyers

8. Beauty Salons

9. Hospitals

10. Dentists

11. Insurance

12. Department Stores

13. Plumbing Contractors

14. Banks

15. Veterinarians

16. Theaters

17. Florists - retail

18. Airline Companies

19. Hotels

20. Hardware - retail

21. Lumber - retail

22. Tire Dealers

23. Real Estate

24. Automobile Renting & Leasing

25. Pharmacies or Drugstores

26. Churches

27. Furniture - retail & non-specific

28. Grocers - retail

29. Rental Service - Stores & Yards

30.Carpet & Rug Cleaners

31. Appliances - HH - Major Dealers

32. Glass - auto, plate, window

33. Electric Contractors

34. Schools - academic, secondary, elementary

35. Contractors - General

36. Government Offices - US

37. Travel Agencies

38. Taxicabs

39. Sporting Goods - retail

40. Roofing Contractors

41. Dry Cleaners

42. Book Dealers - retail

43. Optometrists O.D.

44. Heating Contractors

45. Pet Grooming

46. Computers - dealer

47. Motels

48. Automobile Wrecking

49. Building Materials

50. Government Offices - city, village, township

51. Appliances - HH - Major - Service & Repair

52. Golf Courses - Public

53. Landscape Contractors

54. Home Improvements

55. Pet Shops

56. Pest Control Service/Exterminators

57. Automobile Body Repairing & Painting

58. Government Offices - state

59. Photographers - portrait

60. Electronic Equipment & Supplies - Dealers

61. Movers

62. Carpet & Rug - dealer

63. Motorcycles & Motor Scooters - Dealers.

64. Office Supplies

65. Videotapes & Discs - Renting & Leasing

66. Printers

67. Chiropractors, DC

68. Lawn Maintenance

69. Child Day Care Centers 70. Service Stations - gasoline & oil

71. Television - cable, CATV & Satellite

72. Locks & Locksmiths

73. Apartments

74. Air Conditioning Contractors & Systems

75. Nursing Homes

76. Transmissions - automobile

77. Air Conditioning Equipment & Systems - repair

78. Television & Radio - service & repair

79. Fence

80. Paint - Retail

81. Nurseries - plants, trees, etc.

82. Schools - academic, colleges & universities

83. Clinics

84. Plumbing Fixtures & Supplies - new, retail

85. Employment Agencies

86. Bicycles - dealer

87. Government Offices - county

88. Jewelers - retail

89. Painting Contractors

90. Towing - automobile

91. Windows

92. Newspapers

93. Bus Lines

94. Truck Renting & Leasing

95. Shoes - retail

96. Mufflers & Exhaust Systems - engine

97. Tree Service

98. Bakers - retail

99. Computers - Service & Repair

100. Mortgages

Source: Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association (YPIMA)

Expand your visibility, and credibility with upwardly mobile buyers

Your business is faced with two urgent tasks, if you want to come to the attention of Internet searchers.

1.) Get listed with the resources they go to, so you'll be found among the results they get.

2.) Make sure your business information is consistent and accurate across the board. That's where Register Local can save you a boatload of time and headaches. Don't put this off because the Internet can bring you a steady flow of local buyers.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Rely-on-Internet-Local-Search-to-Bolster-Your-Yellow-Page-Directory-Category&id=134617

Local Search and Internet Yellow Pages - A Whole New Vocabulary for Small Businesss

Buyers want both online and local information about where to buy Most small businesses are local in nature, serving people who live nearby. Their customers found them through traditional methods like the Yellow Pages or newspaper ads. So far, the Internet hasn't figured prominently in their marketing efforts. That's about to change, as Local Search methods become more widespread.

Even for buyers expecting to spend their money close to home, more and more of them go to the Internet to locate desired products and services. They rely on search engines to find suitable vendors in the fastest, easiest way. Local Search combines the search query word or phrase with specific geographic terms, like city or zip code. That way, search results only include enterprises in that local area.

Instead of information about a small enterprise being lost among millions of pages of search results, it shows up in a small pool of local providers. That's good for them, as well as the person looking for what they provide.

Small operations can easily be located by a whole new group of buyers Consumers don't simply go to the Yellow Pages when ready to buy - as they once did. Studies show that an astonishing 36% of online searches are conducted to find local businesses. About a quarter of all Internet users already conduct local searches. They'd do even more of it, if the desired small business data were more complete.

Local enterprises need to prepare for the impact of changing customer habits. An easy first step is to include your business in Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), along with the printed Yellow Page directory. That puts your enterprise on the radar screen.

You'll find reliable advice from experts in Yellow Pages and Local Search so you can get more mileage from your promotional dollars. Start by getting comfortable with search concepts, and improve your odds of being found when people search online for what you offer. You don't even need your own Web site to benefit from Internet Yellow Pages and Local Search.

Learn the Relevant Terms

Search Engine - method for locating the information available on the Internet; a program that searches Web pages for requested keywords, then returns a list of documents where the query terms were found Google and Yahoo, the major general search engines, have both shifted gears to make Local Search a priority when delivering relevant results.

Spider (also called "crawler" or "bot") - goes to every page on every Web site and reads the information so it can be available to searchers; to "crawl" a site it collects and indexes information from it

Specialized Search Engines - narrow focus of information crawled and indexed, like medical, business, or shopping sites

Keywords - word or phrases used by search engines to locate relevant Web pages; words chosen to improve a site's search engine placement and ranking

Search Query - search request, which the search engine compares to the spidered entries, then returns results to the searcher

Search Results - compiled list of Web pages that a search engine delivers in response to a query; the number of items returned is usually overwhelming (in the millions), so searchers only bother to view results on the first pages

Relevant Results - the test of a good search is whether the results obtained relate to what the person wanted to find, without a lot of irrelevant links

Local Search - combining a geographic term in a search query to locate suitable providers in a specific area

Pay per Click (PPC) - method of building traffic whereby site owners bid on search terms (keywords) that link to their site

Geographic Terms - specific information about the local area that can be included in a local search: zip code, town, county, geographic region, state

Top Ranking - sites shown on the first page(s) of search results

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - fine-tuning keywords and page content so the Web site rates high in search engine results

Tags and Titles (on Web Pages) - provide site keywords and information to search engine spiders for indexing a site

Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) - directory of business phone numbers and locations in a geographic area, organized by category; searchable data base accessed on the Internet. Learn how your business can make the most of Local Search by visiting http://www.yellowpagesage.com.

Make your business easy for searchers to find

The public is embracing the convenience of searching on the Internet to find information about local businesses.

However, their searches for desired information are compromised because so many local enterprises don't show up in the databases as yet. Those that do have an edge in their local market. Climb aboard! Make sure searchers can find you. For little or no money, you can expose your enterprise to the whole world.

Whether or not your business has a Web site, you need to provide the information people are looking for in the places that they look for it. Local Search and Internet Yellow Pages open new avenues to buyers ready to spend. Best of all, they support and compliment your traditional methods of finding new business. So you cover all your bases. (c) 2007, Lynella Grant

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Local-Search-and-Internet-Yellow-Pages---A-Whole-New-Vocabulary-for-Small-Businesss&id=1894

Stand Apart From the Rest - Yellow Page Advertising and the Internet For Small Businesses

A lot of people use the Yellow Pages when looking for information about local businesses. That is why, one of the tried and tested small local business advertising tips is Yellow Page Advertising. Why? When a consumer references the Yellow Pages, it means he is ready to buy, will most likely call, and will buy at the place stated in the Yellow Page ad.

But a new trend is growing that can not be ignored: local searches in the Internet. Computer savvy consumers go to the Internet to look for products and services, with a high percentage of searches on specific localities. What about Yellow Page users? Studies conducted show that frequent Yellow Page users are likely to be Internet subscribers and heavy Internet users. And part of their online activities includes purchases via the Internet that sometimes amount to $1,000. A business that disregards online activities may do well to think again.

The convenience of online searching for local products and services is gaining acceptance. However, search results are not as comprehensive as the desired information for local businesses. Many small local businesses do not have online presence. Searching for specific services in a given locale is still done by referencing the yellow pages, as proven by the 13.4 billion Yellow Page references in 2006. After referencing the Yellow Pages, some consumers then turn to the Internet to check if the company has a website.

Who doesn't want a growing customer base? You can capture both Yellow Page users and Internet subscribers and users attention. Make online and offline methods of advertising work together. Make sure consumers find you whatever their method of searching is: online or offline. Cover all your bases. Yellow Page advertising for lawyers, doctors, and other professionals in a given locale may be effective. But having online presence in databases will give that edge over competitors in the local market. It increases your visibility and chances of being found by the people who need your services.

Put together search engine marketing, local search and yellow page advertising whatever your services are, e.g. marketing for personal injury lawyers, etc., will make you stand out not only in your locality, but also worldwide.

Marketing from the heart specializes in lawyer marketing and yellow page advertising for law firms.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Stand-Apart-From-the-Rest---Yellow-Page-Advertising-and-the-Internet-For-Small-Businesses&id=2177150

White and Yellow Pages Reverse Lookup Info

Anything from simple to complicated information can be traced by searching on via reverse look up directories. Whether its information regarding people, city or a state, friends or anything, one can get it online. With the help of online databases you can find their long lost childhood friends too! The information can be accessed at databases of 411 white pages, 411 yellow pages, city yellow page, America yellow pages and many more.

There are certain reverse searches that gives information required like delinquencies, names, old address, date of birth, social security, telephones, cell phone numbers, listed telephone numbers, unlisted telephone numbers, 800-900 numbers. Databases like 411 white pages, 411 yellow pages and others provide such information.

Reverse search by cell phones can give information about adoption records, arrest records, attorney records, background checks, bankruptcy records, birth records, child support lookup, court records, correctional files, credit reports, criminal files, criminal indictments, death records and much more.

Information available on reverse lookup includes adoption records, ancestry archives arrest records, attorney records, background checks, bankruptcy records, birth records, boat ownership, child support lookup, contractor records, court records correctional files, court records, courthouses, credit reports, criminal files, criminal indictments, deadbeat locators, death records, dentist record search and much more.

Some reverse lookup directories require service membership which starts with a nominal amount and online registration on the website. Once a person becomes a member he can locate vast information available on these databases.

I write articles on Marketing & Advertising, Yellow & White Pages, etc.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?White-and-Yellow-Pages-Reverse-Lookup-Info&id=163090

Coal Seam Gas - Extraction and Processing

With rapidly depleting natural resources, people around the globe are looking for new sources of energy. Lots of people don't think much of it, but doing this is an excellent ecological move forward and may even be a lucrative endeavour. Australia has one the most significant deposits of a recently discovered gas known as coal seam gas. The deposit present in areas such as New South Wales is far more significant than the others since it contains little methane and much more carbon dioxide.

What is coal seam gas?

Coal bed methane is the more general term for this substance. It is a form of natural gas taken from substantial coal beds. The existence of this material usually spelled hazard for many sites. This stopped in recent decades, when specialists discovered its potential as an energy source. It's now among the most important sources of energy in a number of countries, particularly in North America. Extraction within australia is actually rapidly developing because of rich deposits in various parts of the country.

Extraction

The extraction procedure is reasonably challenging. It calls for heavy drilling, water pumping, and tubing. Though there are a variety of different processes, pipeline construction(an initial step) is perhaps one of the most important. The foundation of the course of action can spell a real difference between the failure or success of your undertaking.

Working with a Contractor

Pipeline construction and design is serious business. Seasoned contractors may be hard to get considering the fact that Australia's coal seam gas industry is still fairly young. You'll find only a limited number of completed and working projects across the country. There are several things to consider when getting a contractor for the project.

Find one with substantial experience within the industry sector. Some service providers have operations outside the country, especially in Canada And America. This is something you should look out for, as advancement of the gas originated there. Providers with completed projects in the said area can have the solutions required for any project to take off.

The construction process involves several basic steps. It is important the service provider you work with addresses all of your needs. Below are a few of the important supplementary services to look for.

- Pipeline design, production, and installation

- Custom ploughing (to achieve specialized trenching requirements)

- Protection and repair of pipelines with the use of various liners

- Pressure assessment and commissioning

These are only the fundamentals of pipeline construction. Sourcing coal seam gas involves many others. Do thorough research to ensure the service provider you employ is capable of completing all the necessary tasks. Other elements of the undertaking include engineering plus site preparation and rehabilitation. This industrial sector may be profitable if one makes all of the proper moves.

Avoid making uninformed decisions by doing as much research as you possibly can. Use the web to your advantage to look into a company's profile. Look for a portfolio of the projects they have completed in the past. You can gauge their trustworthiness based on their volume of clients. Check out the scope of their operations and the projects they finished.

You should also think about company policies concerning the quality of their work, safety and health, along with their policies concerning communities and the environment. These are seemingly minute but important details when searching for a contractor for pipeline construction projects.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Coal-Seam-Gas---Extraction-and-Processing&id=6954936

White Pages Reverse Lookup - Technology Allows You to Find a Name or Address for Any Phone Number

There are times when we have all had mystery or harassing phone calls that have left us nervous and on-edge every time the phone rings. Sometimes there is a problem because you do not want them to call again, but you can't figure out a way to reach them. And sometimes it's a number on your partner's phone and you want to know who they have been talking to.

Phone traces are useful when we just need some help getting in touch with family and friends we may have lost track of. Every hour that passes thousands of traced cell phone numbers are researched for many reasons. Here's a list of the most common reasons, nevertheless there may be dozens of other reasons unique to each individual case.

1) To discover who their women or men talk to on their phone - you can know exactly what he or she is talking to them about and details like age, address, family members, neighbors, etc.

2) To find out who their children are talking to on their mobile phones - so many predators out there, and it's only natural that parents want to take as many precautionary methods as possible.

3) To find out who an annoying prank caller is.

A lot of people still believe that only private detectives can do it, I'm afraid that's not true anymore. A few years ago, that was certainly the case, but thank God no more. Private eyes were extremely expensive and extremely slow. If you search you will find that there are a number of reverse look up services available on the Internet and offer their services for free white pages.

These are times when the reverse look up sites are very necessary.

But for reverse number look up services, such white pages don't have all the answers, the free services usually only provide the name and address for a land line phone number, not for cell phone numbers.

The only viable alternative is one of the low-cost reverse number services available on-line, the small fee has to be charged because the service owners have themselves had to pay to obtain the cell-phone numbers.

These specialized companies that do white pages reverse look up searches are able to find up to 98% of all numbers, including mobile, unlisted, business, fax, and toll-free phone numbers. You can also see these services if their personal information is contained in the database.

Just type your mobile phone or land line number in the search box and see if your name and address is revealed. If you want to hide your information from researchers, you can ask to be removed from the list.

In addition, the resulting directory will put it together manually, and this is a lengthy and costly process. The reverse number search companies therefore have to recoup their costs, but they usually charge a small one-time fee. Although cell phone numbers cannot be found on the public white pages, you need to do your research before taking any action or buying any information.

In other words, they can keep the specific information secret but you need to know whether the number is in their database or not before you decide to pay.

In conclusion, if there is a phone number being used today, you can find out whatever you want by digging deep. It all depends on how much time you want to spend on your research.

Please visit my web blog to see my other interesting articles like; How to Search for and Find People Online, Search Arrest Records, Who Calls My Phone, How to Search for emails, and many more.

Please Visit my website and comment on my articles so I may better my quality of service to you.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?White-Pages-Reverse-Lookup---Technology-Allows-You-to-Find-a-Name-or-Address-for-Any-Phone-Number&id=6219741

How to Catch Content Scrapers?

Catching content scrapers is a tedious task and can take up a lot of time. The are few ways that you can utilize to catch content scrapers.

Search Google with Your Post Titles

Yup that is as painful as it sounds. This method is probably not worth it specially if you are writing about a very popular topic.

Trackbacks

If you add internal links in your posts, you will notice a trackback if a site steals your content. This way is pretty much the scraper telling you that they are scraping your content. If you are using Akismet, then a lot of these trackbacks will show up in the SPAM folder. Again, this will only work if you have internal links in your posts.

Webmaster Tools

If you use google webmaster tools, then you are probably aware of the Links to your site page. If you look under “Traffic”, you will see a page that says Links to your site. Chances are your scrapers will be among the top ones there. They will have hundreds if not thousands of links to your pages (considering that you have internal links).

Links to Your Site - Google Webmaster Tools

FeedBurner Uncommon Uses

If you have setup Feedburner for your WordPress blog, then you can see some uncommon uses. In the Analyze Tab under Feed Stats, you will see “Uncommon Uses”. There you will see a list of sites.

Source:http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-preventing-blog-content-scraping-in-wordpress/

Data Mining And Importance to Achieve Competitive Edge in Business

What is data mining? And why it is so much importance in business? These are simple yet complicated questions to be answered, below is brief information to help understanding data and web mining services.

Mining of data in general terms can be elaborated as retrieving useful information or knowledge for further process of analyzing from various perspectives and summarizing in valuable information to be used for increasing revenue, cut cost, to gather competitive information on business or product. And data abstraction finds a great importance in business world as it help business to harness the power of accurate information thus providing competitive edge in business. May business firms and companies have their own warehouse to help them collect, organize and mine information such as transactional data, purchase data etc.

But to have a mining services and warehouse at premises is not affordable and not very cost effective to solution for reliable information solutions. But as if taking out of information is the need for every business now days. Many companies are providing accurate and effective data and web data mining solutions at reasonable price.

Outsourcing information abstraction services are offered at affordable rates and it is available for wide range of data mine solutions:

• taking out business data
• service to gather data sets
• digging information of datasets
• Website data mining
• stock market information
• Statistical information
• Information classification
• Information regression
• Structured data analysis
• Online mining of data to gather product details
• to gather prices
• to gather product specifications
• to gather images

Outsource web mining solutions and data gathering solutions has been effective in terms of cost cutting, increasing productivity at affordable rates. Benefits of data mining services include:

• clear customer, service or product understanding
• less or minimal marketing cost
• exact information on sales, transactions
• detection of beneficial patterns
• minimizing risk and increased ROI
• new market detection
• Understanding clear business problems and goals

Accurate data mining solutions could prove to be an effective way to cut down cost by concentrating on right place.

We are online web research company specialized in providing comprehensive web based online research services and data mining services. We are providing high quality and accurate online web research services with an expertise in the field from last 17 years.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Mining-And-Importance-to-Achieve-Competitive-Edge-in-Business&id=5771888

Importance of Data Mining Services in Business

Data mining is used in re-establishment of hidden information of the data of the algorithms. It helps to extract the useful information starting from the data, which can be useful to make practical interpretations for the decision making.

It can be technically defined as automated extraction of hidden information of great databases for the predictive analysis. In other words, it is the retrieval of useful information from large masses of data, which is also presented in an analyzed form for specific decision-making. Although data mining is a relatively new term, the technology is not. It is thus also known as Knowledge discovery in databases since it grip searching for implied information in large databases.

It is primarily used today by companies with a strong customer focus - retail, financial, communication and marketing organizations. It is having lot of importance because of its huge applicability. It is being used increasingly in business applications for understanding and then predicting valuable data, like consumer buying actions and buying tendency, profiles of customers, industry analysis, etc. It is used in several applications like market research, consumer behavior, direct marketing, bioinformatics, genetics, text analysis, e-commerce, customer relationship management and financial services.

However, the use of some advanced technologies makes it a decision making tool as well. It is used in market research, industry research and for competitor analysis. It has applications in major industries like direct marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship management, scientific tests, genetics, financial services and utilities.

Data mining consists of major elements:

•    Extract and load operation data onto the data store system.

•    Store and manage the data in a multidimensional database system.

•    Provide data access to business analysts and information technology professionals.

•    Analyze the data by application software.

•    Present the data in a useful format, such as a graph or table.

The use of data mining in business makes the data more related in application. There are several kinds of data mining: text mining, web mining, relational databases, graphic data mining, audio mining and video mining, which are all used in business intelligence applications. Data mining software is used to analyze consumer data and trends in banking as well as many other industries.

Outsourcing Web Research offer complete Data Mining Services and Solutions to quickly collective data and information from multiple Internet sources for your Business needs in a cost efficient manner.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Importance-of-Data-Mining-Services-in-Business&id=2601221

Scraping Software Is Must For The Web Data Scraping – Why?

Twenty-four hours in the data web scraping to find the best way? Web scraping or harvesting, technically, one of several methods that you can remove material from a website via HTTP. Almost always marketed as a material for use in other contexts is converted to another format.

Web data scraping web crawler of the most common form, is used by sites like Google. Use a scraper to the most visited site, the content of a website that is an original, and all information is taken from existing sites to scrape. Many online programs, mostly private companies to the best way you to scrape away. Scraping data from individual applications for free or cheap, the company - quality scrapers can reach thousands of dollars.

Web data scraping issues with the common law invasion of privacy and breach of the conditions to be created by the user, otherwise serious legal action, in some cases be taken by the user.

Web data scraping to avoid searching for someone who wants to know a few ways. Some sites entries "in the robots.txt file scraper to obtain IP addresses and traffic monitoring and verification program can also block spam.

Business decision to rely heavily on data, regardless of their marketing plans and strategy, or maintaining your effective and should be used.

Not only expensive to do manually, but also much of your time. In addition, data collected as a result of human error for errors that can threaten and take several days for some employees.

Accurate and Structured

In addition, the data is automatically classified according to their field, and thus makes easy to fix.

There Is No Data Redundancy

In general; if several people work on different databases, it is likely that more than one person is the same result. At the end will result in redundant data. However, with a web scraping, in this case, because the device has the ability to easily find duplicates and not avoided. But now the question is how they are extracted?

There are several software methods for data extraction. Two of them are discussed in this article.

Web scraping is a technique by which information can be extracted from Web pages. Among the many methods of scraping, a popular web mining, usually carried out by the search engines. The process of scaling up the necessary information from a webpage and for ease of searching, including indexation.

Web applications, utilities, and office and server programs depending on the purpose of the request, can develop. URLs and web pages are encoded in the programs based on the data (like SMS or MMS) to win. Encryption can be in different languages such as Visual Basic

Other web-mining techniques for data analysis, objectives, there are three types of network mining, the use of mines and mining Web content Web structure. Like much in the process of mining companies (both public and private property), is used by international companies and government agencies. It is useful for organizations based on the economy, as a marketing, which the high volume of trade helps the customer exactly what he needs and is quick.

This allows potential customers to find and easy to maintain and redesign. She gave an overview of their own requirements based on the customer to cut production. The company also increased the profits, if the goal is to get the right value based on customer profiles can be entered to determine attract offers. In criminal activities and mining can be identified because of the excellent predictive power. Many elements of this new technology came as a blessing.

Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/scraping-software-is-must-for-the-web-data-scraping-why-5305316.html

Data Scraping Services with Proxy Data Scraping

Have you ever heard of "data scraping? Data Scraping is the process of gathering relevant information in the public domain on the internet (private areas even if the conditions are met) and stored in databases or spreadsheets for later use in various applications. Scraping data technology is not new and a successful businessman his fortune by using data scraping technology.

Sometimes owners of sites that are not derived much pleasure from the automated harvesting of their data. Webmasters have learned to deny access to web scrapers their websites using tools or methods that some IP addresses to block the content of the site here. scrapers data is left to either target a different site, or the script to move the harvest of a computer using a different IP address each time and get as much information as possible to "all computers finally blocked the nozzle.

Fortunately, there is a modern solution to this problem. Proxy data scraping technology solves the problem by using a proxy IP addresses. When your data scraping program performs an extraction of a website, the site thinks that it comes from a different IP address. For site owner, proxies just like scratching a short period of increased traffic around the world. They have very limited resources and tedious to block such a scenario, but more importantly - for the most part, they simply do not know they are scraped.

Now you can ask. "Where can I proxy data scraping technology for my project" The "do-it-yourself solution is free, unfortunately, not easy at all Creation of a database scraping proxy network takes time and requires you to either a group of IP addresses and servers can be used in place yet, the computer guru you need to call to get everything configured. You may consider hiring proxy servers hosting providers to select, but this option is usually quite expensive, but probably better than the alternative: dangerous and unreliable servers (but free) public proxy.

There are literally thousands of free proxy servers located all over the world are fairly easy to use. The trick is to find them. Hundreds of sites, list servers, but by placing a functioning, open and supports standard protocols that you need to a lesson in perseverance, trial and error will be. However, if you manage to find a working public representatives, there are dangers inherent in their use. First, you do not know who owns the server or activities taking place elsewhere on the server. Send applications or sensitive data via an open proxy is a bad idea. It's easy enough for a proxy server to keep all information you send or send it back to you to catch. If you choose the method of replacing the public, make sure you never a transaction through which you or anyone else would jeopardize the case of unsavory types are made aware of the data to send.

A less risky scenario for data scraping proxy is to hire a proxy connection that runs through the rotation of a large number of private IP addresses. There are a number of these companies available that claim to remove all Web logs, which you harvest anonymously on the web with a minimal threat of retaliation. Companies such as enterprise solutions offer a large http://www.Anonymizer.com anonymous proxy, but often carry significant costs of installing enough for you to continue.

The other advantage is that companies that own such networks can often help design and implement a set of proxy data scraping custom program instead of trying to work with a generic bone scraping. After performing a simple Google search, I quickly found a company (www.ScrapeGoat.com) that an anonymous proxy server provides for data scraping purposes. Or, according to their website, if you want to make life even easier, scrap goat can retrieve data for you and a variety of different formats to deliver, often before you could finish up your plate from the scraping program.

Whatever path you choose for your data scraping proxy need not let a few simple tips to thwart access to all the wonderful information that is stored on the World Wide Web!

Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/data-scraping-services-with-proxy-data-scraping-4697825.html

Data Scraping Services with Proxy Data Scraping

Have you ever heard of "data scraping? Data Scraping is the process of gathering relevant information in the public domain on the internet (private areas even if the conditions are met) and stored in databases or spreadsheets for later use in various applications. Scraping data technology is not new and a successful businessman his fortune by using data scraping technology.

Sometimes owners of sites that are not derived much pleasure from the automated harvesting of their data. Webmasters have learned to deny access to web scrapers their websites using tools or methods that some IP addresses to block the content of the site here. scrapers data is left to either target a different site, or the script to move the harvest of a computer using a different IP address each time and get as much information as possible to "all computers finally blocked the nozzle.

Fortunately, there is a modern solution to this problem. Proxy data scraping technology solves the problem by using a proxy IP addresses. When your data scraping program performs an extraction of a website, the site thinks that it comes from a different IP address. For site owner, proxies just like scratching a short period of increased traffic around the world. They have very limited resources and tedious to block such a scenario, but more importantly - for the most part, they simply do not know they are scraped.

Now you can ask. "Where can I proxy data scraping technology for my project" The "do-it-yourself solution is free, unfortunately, not easy at all Creation of a database scraping proxy network takes time and requires you to either a group of IP addresses and servers can be used in place yet, the computer guru you need to call to get everything configured. You may consider hiring proxy servers hosting providers to select, but this option is usually quite expensive, but probably better than the alternative: dangerous and unreliable servers (but free) public proxy.

There are literally thousands of free proxy servers located all over the world are fairly easy to use. The trick is to find them. Hundreds of sites, list servers, but by placing a functioning, open and supports standard protocols that you need to a lesson in perseverance, trial and error will be. However, if you manage to find a working public representatives, there are dangers inherent in their use. First, you do not know who owns the server or activities taking place elsewhere on the server. Send applications or sensitive data via an open proxy is a bad idea. It's easy enough for a proxy server to keep all information you send or send it back to you to catch. If you choose the method of replacing the public, make sure you never a transaction through which you or anyone else would jeopardize the case of unsavory types are made aware of the data to send.

A less risky scenario for data scraping proxy is to hire a proxy connection that runs through the rotation of a large number of private IP addresses. There are a number of these companies available that claim to remove all Web logs, which you harvest anonymously on the web with a minimal threat of retaliation. Companies such as enterprise solutions offer a large http://www.Anonymizer.com anonymous proxy, but often carry significant costs of installing enough for you to continue.

The other advantage is that companies that own such networks can often help design and implement a set of proxy data scraping custom program instead of trying to work with a generic bone scraping. After performing a simple Google search, I quickly found a company (www.ScrapeGoat.com) that an anonymous proxy server provides for data scraping purposes. Or, according to their website, if you want to make life even easier, scrap goat can retrieve data for you and a variety of different formats to deliver, often before you could finish up your plate from the scraping program.

Whatever path you choose for your data scraping proxy need not let a few simple tips to thwart access to all the wonderful information that is stored on the World Wide Web!

Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/data-scraping-services-with-proxy-data-scraping-4697825.html