luni, 14 noiembrie 2011

SEO.com Newsletter: Let Infographics Boost Your SEO ...

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Let Infographics Boost Your SEO

Though the popularity of infographics has exploded over the past few years, questions may always linger about how to design and promote graphics that generate leads, build your reputation or expand your company's reach on Facebook and Twitter.

Infographics, also known as information graphics, are visual representations of data or knowledge. They present complex information in a quick, clear manner that makes it interesting to the average person.

Some examples of infographic topics have included: “Father’s Day vs. Mother’s Day”, “How Are Smartphones Being Used?” and “What is a Stock.” The information was presented using colorful pictures, graphs and charts. And the data came together in the end as one image known as an infographic.

Infographics are powerful tools for improving your website search engine optimization. They boost SEO by providing visibility and brand awareness, generating social signals and creating natural backlinks.

Infographics also generate visibility by pushing your brand to the forefront of social media marketing ... Read Full Article »

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Client Spotlight

Company sees boom despite slow economy

One of the largest industries in the United States is the automobile industry, and Michigan is its hub. The state also bears the stigma of a gloomy economic landscape. However, for Alta Equipment Company, this is not the case.

Alta Equipment Company is a family-owned business, which was founded by Steve Greenawalt in 1984. The firm provides industrial forklifts, heavy construction equipment, and warehouse solutions to a variety of companies in the Midwest. They currently have 14 branches located in Michigan, Illinois and northwestern Indiana, and they carry an array of brands from Combilift forklifts to Volvo construction equipment. ... Read Full Article »

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SEO Tip of the Month

Two awesome tools for link prospecting

Citation Labs has created some useful tools you can use for search engine optimization. These two tools -- the Outbound Link Scraper Tool and the Contact Finder -- may be found at citationlabs.com. They can save you lots of time (and headaches) when it comes to prospecting ... Read Full Article »

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Industry Events

SES Chicago

Chicago; Nov. 14-18

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Singapore; Nov. 22-23

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SMX Social Media Marketing

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Seth's Blog : Adversity and the route to success

Adversity and the route to success

Resource-rich regions often fall behind in developing significant industrial and cultural capabilities. Japan does well despite having very few resources at all.

Well-rounded and popular people rarely change the world. The one voted most likely to succeed probably won't.

Genuine success is scarce, and the scarcity comes from the barriers that keep everyone from having it. If it weren't for the scarcity, it wouldn't be valuable, after all.

It's difficult to change an industry, set a world record, land big clients, or do art that influences others. When faced with this difficulty, those with other, seemingly better options see the barrier and walk away.

Why bother? The thinking is that we can just pump some more oil or smile and gladhand our way to an acceptably happy outcome.

On the other hand, people who believe they have fewer options take a look at the barrier and realize that even though it will be difficult to cross, it's the single best option they've got.

This is one of the dangers of overfunded/undertested startup companies. Without an astute CEO in charge, they begin to worry more about not losing what they've already got than the real reason they started the project in the first place.

 

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duminică, 13 noiembrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Australia in Recession; Spending Slide Spreads from Housing to Service Sector; Australia's Double Whammy; US Dollar Safe Haven?

Posted: 13 Nov 2011 08:29 PM PST

The Australian economy is toast. Forget about GDP and distortions of it thereof. Australia's housing bust will linger for years, and as I expected it has spilled over into retail spending and now the service sector.

Westpac, Australia's second biggest lender says Spending Slide Spreads
KEY parts of Australia's services sector are being hit by the slowdown in consumer spending.

Figures released by Westpac, the second biggest lender, shows that the well-publicised impact on the retail industry has spread to hotels, the construction industry and the finance and insurance sectors. Cafes and restaurants have suffered as consumers have closed their wallets and concentrated on paying down debt.

Along with hotels, with which they are bracketed, food outlets have incurred one of the biggest jumps in percentage terms in the number of impaired loans and bad debts incurred by Westpac over the 12 months to the end of September this year. The figures cover 14 major sectors of the economy including property, manufacturing and mining.

According to the data released on Friday as part of the bank's compliance with risk and lending rules, Westpac saw impaired loans run up by the hotel and food hospitality sector rise by $71 million to $205 million. It also recorded a small increase - of $5 million to $54 million - in the money it has set aside to cover debts that it may not recover.

Big increases in impaired loans year on year were recorded by construction companies (up $69 million to $180 million) and the finance and insurance industries (a rise of $63 million to $213 million). Westpac has also raised its specific provisions for likely loan losses for those sectors.
Australia's Double Whammy

The above article by The Age goes on and on. That snip is about half of it.

This certainly is not unexpected (at least by me), as a natural progression of the housing bust. Moreover, Australia faces a "double whammy".

China is slowing and that will effect commodity prices as well as Australia's export sector.

Those thinking Australia will be immune from recession because of China have another thing coming. Indeed, Australia will bust even if commodity prices stay firm.

US Dollar Safe Haven?

Those playing the Australian dollar as a safe haven might wish to reconsider. For more on currencies, please see Perfect Storm; Eight Reasons to be Bullish on the US Dollar.

By the way, I need to point out my liking of the US dollar is in comparison to other fiat currencies (not gold), and that my opinion fluctuates with the circumstances. Long-term, the US dollar is not a safe haven.

This is not a change in stance. This has been my position all along as evidenced by my opinions on gold stated numerous times over the years.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Yuan Deposit Growth Slows; Investors Dump Yuan for Dollars; What Would Happen if China Floated the Yuan?

Posted: 13 Nov 2011 05:03 PM PST

Inquiring minds are reading the South China Morning Post which says Yuan deposit growth slowing
Yuan deposits in Hong Kong may have dropped significantly last month due to falling trade volumes with the mainland and a weakening of the currency in the offshore market, analysts said. Bankers and analysts said while the brake could be a positive for local banks in the short term, if the trend continued it could impact their strategy to bet big on yuan business. The slowdown could also drag the pace of the internationalisation of the yuan, while not derailing it.

Daniel Hui, HSBC foreign-exchange strategist, said this week that yuan deposits in October could show "a sizeable decline". This would be a huge reversal from the upbeat expectations markets had at the beginning of the year, when forecasts reached 1 trillion yuan.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has yet to release October figures on yuan deposits, but by the end of September there was about 622 billion yuan in the city.  "Based on recent trends, I would be doubtful that the figure could top 700 billion yuan at the end of the year," said Frankie Kwong, treasurer of Wing Lung Bank. He said if the trend continued into the first quarter of next year it could pinch banks betting big on pushing their yuan business, meaning they would have to adjust their strategy accordingly.
Investors Dump Yuan for Dollars

Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets had lengthy comments and an interesting chart on the above article via email. Here is a short text snip (minus the chart) in the sake of fairness. His complete article will appear on his website shortly.

Pettis writes ....
China of course suffers less from flight capital risk than Europe, but hot money does seem less eager than in the past to enter the country, and outflows seem still to be increasing.  Regular readers know that I have always been skeptical about the excitement over RMB internationalization, and I consider much of the evidence to be exaggerated or misleading.  What drove the redenomination of trade into RMB, I have always believed, was not transactional interest but largely speculative interest.

One of the strongest pieces of evidence for my saying this was that nearly all of the trade that had been redenominated into RMB had to do with Chinese imports, and almost none of it with Chinese exports.  Remember that Chinese imports in RMB leave the seller long RMB in their offshore accounts.

In that case as long as there was speculative demand for RMB, it made sense to redenominate Chinese imports into RMB in order to provide off-shore investors with legal long positions in RMB.  But now that the speculative demand for RMB seems to have dried up, at least temporarily, some of the excited talk about the glowing future for offshore RMB business is fading.

In the past couple of months the value of the RMB during daily trading has plummeted, even more sharply than it had after the Lehman crisis, and the PBoC has had to set the morning parity at a premium to the previous day's close in order to maintain the appreciation trend of the RMB. 

Daily trading seems to suggest that investors are eager to dump RMB against dollars.  If this is true, it is not surprising that central bank reserves in the third quarter rose by so little ($4 billion) even though the current account surplus was around fifteen times that amount.
What Would Happen if China Floated the Yuan?

For months China was attempting to slow appreciation of the Yuan to the consternation of the Fed, Congress, and Treasury Secretary Geithner.

Now China is acting to prop up the Yuan. Thus, and contrary to popular myth about the alleged massively undervalued Yuan, were China to let the Yuan float right now, the currency might sink because "hot money" has given up.

Imagine the uproar in Congress if China did float the Yuan and it held steady or dropped.

A slowing China is bullish for the dollar (at least in isolation). For details and a complete discussion, please see Perfect Storm; Eight Reasons to be Bullish on the US Dollar.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Slovenian Economist Emails "Our Banking System is on Brink of Collapse"; Housing Crash and Incompetent Bureaucrats Blamed

Posted: 13 Nov 2011 09:56 AM PST

In response to last Friday's post Slovenian Bond Yield Breaks 7%, First Time Since Euro Entry in 2007 I received an interesting email from a Slovenian economist who says "Our banking system is on the brink of collapse."

Luka Gubo writes ...
Hello Mish!

I am an economist from Slovenia (I have written you before about social unrest in Slovenia). I just want to point out few facts about Slovenia.

  1. Slovenian debt to GDP ratio has doubled since 2009 (one of highest growing on the planet)
  2. Our banking system is on the brink of collapse. Biggest bank (Nova Ljubljanska Banka - NLB) is owned by the government and almost all the money it has lent is sub-prime (much worse than in US up to 2007/08) or it was lent politically to chosen people who now can't pay the debt back. NLB has 15% bad loans (payments being late more than 90-day) and the number is getting higher.
  3. Our housing market is frozen. Prices are not falling because no one is buying or selling. Most of the construction companies are bankrupt and they owe lots of money to banks. (percentage of loans that payments are late in construction sector is mind boggling 25%! - and is even growing!)
  4. Government has recapitalized NLB with 250 million €. It will probably do it again with 400 million. I have calculated that if the bank was for sale it would be sold for no more than 400 million €! So taxpayers have already 250M and will pay another 400M for what? For saving some banker's ass because of his bad decisions? (And they call the bank "Slovenian silver"!)
  5. There is no interest in Slovenia to leave EU. Moreover, it may be better for incompetent bureaucrats from EU to run the monetary system because things would be much worse if run by incompetent Slovenian bureaucrats.
  6. Slovenian banks will need to borrow at least 5 billion € in 2012 and get about 1 billion € of fresh capital. Do you know someone who will give them the money? I truly hope it will not be the taxpayer.
  7. When the banks start selling real estate, the market will collapse 20-30% in a year or two. That will further deteriorate bank balance sheets and the problems will be much worse.
  8. Our labor market is totally inflexible and unemployment rate is getting higher (currently at 11.5%)

So if someone says to you that Slovenia is healthy just tell him the facts. Slovenia is not healthy. It has a brain-tumor that is getting worse.

By the way, Bostjan Vasle is a great economist but he works for incapable government. When he says there is a possibility for recession, we know there is a 100% chance recession is coming. He doesn't say so directly out of fear the government will implement some Keynesian silliness or other crazy ideas.

Best regards from Slovenia!
Luka Gubo, frustrated with Slovenian government analyst and worried about banking system economist

Luka Gubo
Senior Analyst and Economist
Finančni trgi d.o.o.
The surprising thing to me was not his candor, but the willingness of Luka to share his full name. A quick search led me to Finančni blog, where he shares his views.

Thanks Luka. Good luck to you.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Seth's Blog : Independence and subjugation

Independence and subjugation

Tribal management often involves power struggles. One thing that's been shown again and again--subjagating another tribe, taking it over--it almost never works. It can take hundreds of years before the two tribes get into sync, if ever.

On the other hand, granting independence to a rising tribe, letting them go--this is harder to swallow but it generally leads to a quick and beneficial relationship between the two new groups.

When Atari was struggling after it was acquired by Warner, many top programmers left, some to start companies like Activision. Activision, ironically, was one of the bright spots for Atari after that. The passion and creativity of the nascent group was exactly what the original group needed.

Or consider the excellent relationship that the UK has with both the United States and India. In both cases, the wars of independence weren't as nearly brutal or as drawn out as they could have been.

While conventional views of power and authority seem to indicate that you should co-opt and capture other tribes, you can often achieve more by freeing your own people to maximize their vision alongside yours.

 

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sâmbătă, 12 noiembrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Le Voyage de Fubar - Elephants Take Flight

Posted: 12 Nov 2011 10:36 PM PST

Sunday funnies returns to celebrate the resignations of Greek prime minister George Papandreou and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. We bid them "fond" farewell on their long overdue farewell tour.



German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy also have farewell tours scheduled (they just don't know it yet).

The image, sent by a reader who did not wish any credit says "I re-worked a 1932 French children book cover Voyage de Babar. Hope you like it."

The reworked image initially only contained Merkel and Sarkozy. I suggested adding Papandreou and Berlusconi and the words "next up" and there you have it.

The true original is in public domain, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Babar2.jpg.

In the spirit of Sunday Funnies I invite you to read a true comic sent in by the father of an 11 years old posted earlier.

In case you missed it please see European Crisis Through Eyes of 11-Year Old in Comic he Created

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


EFSF Bail-Out Fund Buys Its Own Debt Because Not Enough Others Will

Posted: 12 Nov 2011 03:48 PM PST

To raise "bailout" money the EFSF sells bonds. In its first auction after the new Merkozy agreement, not enough investors wanted the garbage and the fund ended up buying some of its own bonds.

The Telegraph reports Eurozone bail-out fund has to resort to buying its own debt
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) last week announced it had successfully sold a €3bn 10-year bond in support of Ireland.

However, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that target was only met after the EFSF resorted to buying up several hundred million euros worth of the bonds.

Sources said the EFSF had spent more than € 100m buying up its own bonds to help it achieve its funding target after the banks leading the deal were only able to find about €2.7bn of outside demand for the debt.

The failure of the EFSF will increase pressure on the European Central Bank to effectively become the lender of last resort for the eurozone, a move it has strongly resisted.
Bizarre Setup

The EFSF raises money by selling bonds that few investors want. So it buys its own debt effectively raising no cash. Is this supposed to work?

Given there are still no terms on the EFSF debt, agreements on leverage, amount of guarantees, etc., the amazing thing is not that the EFSF had to buy some of its debt, but rather anyone else was interested at all.

This helps explain why the IMF went on a tour of Russia and China begging them to buy the garbage. No one else wants it, and the EFSF suspected as much in advance.

For details on the IMF dog-and-pony show in Asia, please see World has Major Funding Gap; IMF Begs Russia and China for Money; Italy and Greece Demand Deposits Collapse; Run on Greek Banks?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Trim Tabs CEO on Entitlements, Government Spending, Stock Buybacks, and What's Propping Up Equity Markets

Posted: 12 Nov 2011 09:32 AM PST

TrimTabs President & CEO Charles Biderman discusses how global financial markets are suffering from years of borrowing to pay entitlements to citizens, stock buybacks by corporations, and other topics in a short 2:16 video.



Biderman had predicted a collapse in equity markets but says stochttp://beta.blogger.com/img/blank.gifk buybacks by corporations have, for now, prevented that collapse.

Ending Quote

"In 2009 with interest rates dirt cheap companies have sold around $3 trillion in bonds and about $800 billion in new shares. Companies are currently the only buyers of stocks as individuals remain net sellers. $2 billion a day of company buying can take the market higher. That is until companies stop buying and start selling lots of new shares."

Here is a link if the video does not play: Biderman's Daily Rant for 11/3/2011

For every buyer there is a seller and vice versa. Moreover, stocks can go up or down whether corporations are buying or selling. However, it is important to note that the frequently touted corporate "cash on the sidelines" is for the most part debt.

A handful of tech companies with huge piles of cash and little debt is the exception, not the rule.

If companies squander their "cash" on buybacks, they will once again be back in a situation of high debt and no cash when the market bottoms, because buybacks or not, the market is overvalued and eventually will get to where it's going.

BTW, here is something I came across the other day: A link to all the videos I have used in this blog.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List


Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Elderly Chinese Choir Bizarrely Covers “Bad Romance”

Posted: 11 Nov 2011 10:03 PM PST



The elderly members of this Chinese choir show Lady Gaga how its done, remixing her song "Bad Romance" in a way only an elderly Chinese choir can. They bring senior citizen style and flair to Gaga's slamming track, proving that you're never too old to rock the party.


The World’s Most Expensive Photograph

Posted: 11 Nov 2011 09:32 PM PST

A seemingly ordinary snapshot broke the record for world's most expensive photograph, at a Christie's auction Tuesday night. Andreas Gursky "Rhein II" fetched $4.3 million, smashing the previous record set by Cindy Sherman's "Untitled #96" which brought in $3.89 million last May.


Source: theatlanticwire


Weekly Address: Honoring Our Veterans for Their Service and Sacrifice

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Saturday, November 12, 2011
 

Weekly Address: Honoring Our Veterans for Their Service and Sacrifice

President Obama speaks from the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego during Veterans Day and calls on all Americans to rededicate themselves to serving our brave men and women in uniform as well as they have served us.

Watch the video.

Weekly Address

Weekly Wrap Up

Jobs for Veterans:  On Monday President Obama announced the launch of a suite of new tools designed to help our veterans transition more easily into the workforce. The Veterans Job Bank, which will help put our veterans in contact with companies that appreciate their skills and are eager to hire them, has more than 550,000 job postings from military-friendly employers and is continuing to grow. On Thursday, the First Lady joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to announce that a range of businesses have committed to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014. Later that day the Senate approved the Wounded Warrior and Returning Heroes tax credits, provisions of the American Jobs Act which will offer businesses a $9,600 tax credit for hiring disabled veterans and create additional tax credits for employers who hire veterans who have spent four weeks or more out of work.

Honoring our Veterans: Friday morning President Obama honored the millions of Americans who have served in our nation's military by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. In his speech the President called for all Americans to commit to helping our vets when they return home: "So on this Veterans Day, let us commit ourselves to keep making sure that our veterans receive the care and benefits that they have earned; the opportunity they defend and deserve; and above all, let us welcome them home as what they are -- an integral, essential part of our American family."

Head Start: President Obama announced historic reforms to the Head Start program that will require all Head Start grantees that fail to meet a new set of rigorous quality benchmarks to compete for continued federal funding. These changes are designed to ensure that all children in Head Start are attending top-notch programs that will help them reach their full potential. 

Saving You Money: President Obama signed an Executive Order telling Federal agencies to cut their spending on travel, printing, and IT by 20 percent, which will save billions of dollars. This initiative is only one part of the administration-wide Campaign to Cut Waste, headed by Vice President Joe Biden that promises to eliminate government waste, save taxpayer dollars and make government work more efficiently. The President also announced the four finalists in the SAVE Award, an annual contest for federal employees to submit their ideas for cutting costs by making government more efficient. Submit your vote for your favorite idea today.

West Wing Week: Check out your video guide to everything that happened at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

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