Concentric®

May/June 2008 Newsletter

The Concentric Currents newsletter is designed to deliver important information on new products, enhancements, market data, and the latest how-to tips in an easy-to-use format. If you’d like to receive email alerts about new products and updates, login to the Concentric Center, go to "Menu Map | My Profile" or select the tab "My Profile" and, under Preferences, select "Yes" next to "Receive Newsletter". It’s the easiest way to stay current.

Super Charge your SEO

Concentric Professional Services team now offers advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Basic SEO can entail one or more specific techniques to help you improve your search engine rankings. Concentric Professional Services advanced SEO is a holistic offering that takes advantage of a suite of techniques to help you fully optimize your Web site for search engines, including:

  • Web site indexing
  • Web site (HTML) optimization
  • Content optimization
  • Traffic/rank optimization
  • Web site analytics

Our advanced SEO package includes Web site analysis tools to help you see what is actually occurring on your Web site, from page statistics to user behavior. Analyzing the results your Web site is currently getting is the first step to understanding how your Web site is working for you.

Call us today at 1-866-500-9696 to set up a consultation or speak to one of our Professional Services team members about how we can help you with your SEO needs today.

MSSQL Update: ASP.Net Membership Support Now Available

Concentric now offers the ability to automatically create a Microsoft® SQL Server Database with the ASP.NET Membership capability enabled. Together, the Microsoft SQL Server and ASP.NET Membership create an environment that allows users to develop powerful web sites or implement third-party applications with built-in user authentication based on the .NET Framework. ASP.NET membership gives site developers the ability create and manage users and the ability to allow only trusted and authenticated users to visit the ASP.NET Membership-enabled site.

Using ASP.NET Membership reduces design and development time since the foundation code for creating and maintaining users, roles, and logins is ready to go immediately after the initial creation.

Existing customers that have already enabled Microsoft SQL Server and are on the Windows 2003 ASP.NET 2.0 Platform can go to the Databases Tab and Microsoft SQL Sever and check the box to create ASP.NET membership when adding a database. This will create the needed ASP.NET membership tables and schemas for application development. If you are not currently on the Windows 2003 ASP.NET 2.0 Platform and are interested in this new capability please call us at 866-500-9696 for information about migration options.

Find more information about ASP.NET Membership at these sites:

Get Free & Confidential Business Advice from SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business

Concentric has recently partnered with SCORE®, a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth, and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

SCORE has 389 chapters throughout the United States and its territories, with 10,500 volunteers nationwide. Volunteers are working or retired business owners, executives, and corporate leaders who mentor new entrepreneurs and share their wisdom and lessons learned in business.

If you just starting a new business venture, here are some useful tips:

Need a Mentor? 5 Tips to Getting a Good One

  • Think about the end result. Let your mentor know what advice you want for success. Do you need advice on managing cash flow or a mentor to help keep you energized and motivated? Both are good. Be clear.
  • Be prepared. Share a snapshot of your business today. Share goals so your mentor has a picture of your dream for success. Then, ask questions and listen for great ideas.
  • More is better. Develop a network. No one person has all the answers. Not you, your CPA, or your mentor. You may want a mentor for business planning and a mentor for finance and one for cash flow issues.
  • Cash is king. Good cash flow is important, especially at start-up and growth stages. Always be wary of economic slow-downs. A mentor can help you plan a collections policy, make plans for a line-of-credit, and project cash flow based on sales.
  • Seek industry expertise. Find a mentor who can address your industry-specific issues.

Visit SCORE to see how you can find a trained mentor who has been where you are today.

Taking Advantage of Google Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools enable you to submit your sites and URLs to Google’s index. After you have added your site and sitemaps, you can view detailed reports about the visibility of your pages on Google. Not only does this help with SEO, it provides valuable insight into how visitors are navigating your site.

Google Webmaster Tools are easy to add. Go to www.google.com/webmasters/tools and login with your Gmail account. If you do not have a Gmail account, you will need to sign up for one, which is free. Once you login, you should be on the Dashboard page. Add your site’s URL using the form on this page.

Next, you need to verify your site. Choose one of the two methods offered and Google Webmaster Tools will crawl to your site. Once Google has verified your site, you will have access to all kinds of useful information and statistics such as:

  • Errors in the html code
  • Broken links on your site
  • Top keyword search queries
  • Where your site ranks in search results
  • Reports on sites that link to your site

Using Google Webmaster Tools provides insight to help you optimize your site for Google’s search engine and study user behavior on your site, so that you can continue to improve how your Web site performs for your specific business goals.