Friday, April 22, 2011

Alt Attribute & SEO Optimization

SEO Optimization images is becoming more and more important in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for websites. The ALT attribute is really a critical step that is sometimes forgotten. This can be a lost chance of better rankings.


In Google's webmaster guidelines, they advise using alternative text for that images in your site:

Images:. Make use of the alt attribute to supply descriptive text. Additionally, we recommend using a human-readable caption and descriptive text around the image.

Why would they ask us to achieve that? The answer is easy, really; search engines like google have the same problem as blind users. They cannot begin to see the images.

Many webmasters and inexperienced or unethical SEOs abuse using this attribute, trying to stuff it with keywords, looking to achieve a particular keyword density, which isn't as relevant for rankings now as it was previously.

On the other hand, high keyword density can, on some search engines, trigger spam filters, which might create a penalty for the site's ranking. Even without this type of penalty, your site's rankings won't benefit from this tactic.
This method also puts persons who use screen readers in a greater disadvantage. Screen readers are software-based tools that really read aloud the items in what's displayed on the screen. In browsing the net, the alt attributes of images are read aloud as well.

Imagine listening to a paragraph of text which is followed by repetitions of numerous keywords. The page will be far from accessible, and, to put it mildly, would be found quite annoying.
What is an Alt attribute?

An ALT attribute shouldn't be used as a description or perhaps a label to have an image, though lots of people use it in that fashion. Though it may appear natural to assume that alternate text is a label or a description, it's not!

What used within an image's alt attribute ought to be its text equivalent and convey exactly the same information or serve the same purpose the image would.

The goal is to provide the same functional information that a visual user would see. The alt attribute text should function as a "stand in" in the event that the look itself is unavailable. Think about this: If you were to replace the image with the text, would most users receive the same basic information, and would it generate the same response?
Some examples:

 

Some SEO Optimization Tips

If a search button is really a magnifying glass or binoculars its alt text ought to be 'search' or 'find' not 'magnifying glass' or 'binoculars'.

If the image is meant to convey the literal contents of the look, then a description is suitable.

If it is designed to convey data, then that information is what is appropriate.

If it is designed to convey the use of a function, then the function is what should be used.

Some Alt Attribute Guidelines:

Always add alt attributes to images. Alt is mandatory for accessibility and for valid XHTML.

For images that play merely a decorative role in the page, use an empty alt (i.e. alt="") or perhaps a CSS background image so that reading browsers do not bother users by uttering such things as "spacer image".

Remember that it's the function from the image we're trying to convey. For instance; any button images shouldn't range from the word "button" within the alt text. They should emphasize the action performed through the button.

Alt text ought to be determined by context. The same image in a different context may need drastically different alt text.

Attempt to flow alt text with the rest from the text because that's the way it will be read with adaptive technologies like screen readers. Someone hearing your page should hardly remember that a graphic image can there be.
Please keep in mind that utilizing an alt attribute for each image is needed to meet the minimum WAI requirements, that are used since the benchmark for accessibility laws in UK and the rest of Europe. They are also necessary to meet "Section 508" accessibility requirements in the US.

It is important to categorize non-text content into three levels:

Eye-Candy
Mood-Setting
Content and Function

I. Eye-Candy

Eye-Candy are stuff that serve no purpose other than to create a site visually appealing/attractive and (in many cases) satisfy the marketing departments. There is no content value (though there might be value to a sighted user).

Never alt-ify eye-candy unless there is something there which will enhance the usability from the site for somebody using a non-visual user agent. Make use of a null alt attribute or background images in CSS for eye-candy.

II. Mood-Setting

This is actually the middle layer of graphics which might serve to set the mood or set happens so to speak. These graphics are not direct content and may 't be considered essential, but they're important in that they help frame what's going on.

Try to alt-ify the second group as makes sense and it is relevant. There may be times when doing this might be annoying or detrimental to other users. Then try to avoid it.

For example; Alt text that's just like adjacent text is unnecessary, as well as an irritant to screen reader users. I suggest alt="" or background CSS images in such instances. But sometimes, it's vital that you understand this content inside for all users.

Usually this will depend on context. The same image in a different context may need drastically different alt text. Obviously, content ought to always be fully available. The way you go in this case is really a judgment call.

III. Content and Function

This is when the image may be the actual content. Always alt-ify content and functional images. Title and long description attributes may also be in order.
The reason many authors can't figure out why their alt text isn't working is they don't know why the pictures exist. You have to figured out precisely what function a picture serves. Think about what it is concerning the image that's important to the page's intended audience.

Every graphic includes a reason behind being on that page: because it either improves the theme/ mood/ atmosphere or it is advisable to what are the page is trying to describe. Knowing what the image is for makes alt text simpler to write. And exercise writing them definitely helps.
A method to look into the usefulness of alternative text is to imagine reading the page on the phone to someone. An amount you say when encountering a particular image to make the page understandable towards the listener?

Besides the alt attribute you have a couple more tools available for images.
First, in level of descriptiveness title is in between alt and longdesc. It adds useful information and may add flavor. The title attribute is optionally rendered by the user agent. Remember they are invisible and not shown as a "tooltip" when focus is received via the keyboard. (A lot for device independence). So use the title attribute just for advisory information.
Second, the longdesc attribute points towards the URL of a full description of the image. When the information contained in an image is essential towards the concept of the page (i.e. some important content would be lost when the image was removed), an extended description compared to "alt" attribute can reasonably display ought to be used. It can offer rich, expressive documentation of the visual image.

It should be used when alt and title are insufficient to embody the visual qualities of an image. As Clark [1] states, "A longdesc is a long description of an image...The aim is to use any length of description necessary to impart the details of the graphic.

It would not be remiss to hope that a long description conjures an image - the look - in the mind's eye, an analogy that holds true even for the totally blind."

Even though alt attribute is mandatory for web accessibility as well as for valid (X)HTML, not all images need alternative text, long descriptions, or titles.

Oftentimes, you are better off just going with your gut instinct -- if it's not essential to incorporate it, and if you don't possess a strong urge to get it done, don't include that longdesc.

However, if it's essential for the whole page to operate, then you have to include the alt text (or title or longdesc).

What's necessary and what's not depends a lot on the function of the image and its context on the page.

Exactly the same image may need alt text (or title or longdesc) in one spot, but not in another. If an image provides absolutely no content or functional information alt="" or background CSS images might be appropriate to make use of. However, if the image provides content or adds functional information an alt will be required and maybe even a long description would be so as. In many cases this kind of thing is a judgement call.

Image Seo optimization Tips


Listed here are key stages in optimizing images:

Select a logical file name that reinforces the keywords. You can use hyphens within the file name to isolate the keyword, but avoid to exceeding two hyphens. Avoid using underscores like a word separator, such as "brilliant-diamonds.jpg";

Label the file extension. For instance, if the image search engine sees a ".jpg" (JPEG) file extension, it's going to assume the file is really a photo, and if it sees a ".gif" (GIF) file extension, it's going to assume that it is a graphic;

Ensure that the text at the image that's highly relevant to that image.
Again, do not lose an excellent chance to help your site with your images in search engines. Begin using these steps to position better on all of the engines and drive more traffic to your site TODAY.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Website Optimization


OwnLocal is a Y-Combinator bred startup that helps local newspapers survive on the Internet. OwnLocal swoops into small towns sprinkled across America’s less tech savvy plains and puts on quite a clever show. In no way are they grifters; but with their guaranteed promises of success, small town publishers don’t stand a chance.


Lloyd W. Armbrust, II, OwnLocal’s Founder and CEO, puts its technology in the hands of local publications, newspapers or television stations, so that they can then sell successful modern digital strategies like owning a website, blogging, SEO optimization, design, group deals and more to local businesses. In other words, OwnLocal acts like a web development department for local newspapers providing them with simple, sellable products including a white label daily deal product and a white label Yelp-like product.


“In rural America, small businesses would rather the Internet didn’t exist, but it does. We sell a package through their local newspapers that creates a website for them, writes relevant blog posts for them and pushes out media to Twitter and Facebook. So, we manage all of that for them but we do it through their newspaper.”


-Lloyd W. Armbrust


OwnLocal trains local media employees and shows them how to put on a “Web a la carte” presentation for small businesses even though the local businesses may have never heard of Groupon, Yelp or LivingSocial. To date, OwnLocal has powered more than 1,000 small businesses and over 100 publications.



OwnLocal also sells its product, “AdForge” as “the best print-to-digital ad conversion software in the world.” AdForge is designed to take print ads and put them on the web, on mobile and on tablets. AdForge easily converts print ads into clickable, shareable, printable, mappable and sendable digital ads.


Say you’re a lawyer or a plumber, OwnLocal will create websites optimized for search engines and deal with social media elements like blogging, tweeting and Facebooking, saving these small service businesses a lot of time and effort. Businesses can choose from a variety of different websites from simple splash pages to editable, manageable sites. OwnLocal then taps into its network of college students and stay at home moms to write the company’s blog posts. But again, all of this is through the local newspaper.


Today, OwnLocal announces its “Arcade” partnership with HeyZap, another YC startup, to bring more than 50,000 social and casual games to newspapers and local media. Rather than just having a few puzzle games like crosswords and Sudoku, newspapers will have access to games that reflect what their audiences have come to expect from social networks and social game sites. Initial launch partners include A.H. Belo Corp.‘s The Press-Enterprise and Impre Media, the largest Spanish language newspaper group in America as well as 25 other newspapers. OwnLocal expects that newspapers will see financial benefits, increased time-on-site and more return visits.



In York, Nebraska– a town with a population of 10,000– OwnLocal made The York News Times $140,000 last year. OwnLocal takes 30% and the newspaper gets the remaining 70% of revenues from its tech products sold. $100,000-300,000 is an easy number to make for local papers, says Armbrust.  OwnLocal doesn’t work with media outlets that have circulations less than 1,000. And its sophisticated system tell them exactly how much money they can make just from circulation numbers. Guaranteed revenue reports based on circulation for dying newspapers? Maybe dreams do come true.


“The community newspaper I worked at was purchased and sold to Gatehouse Media. I started thinking, what can we do? Is there a situation where you can make this product that’s all-encompassing that could make these newspapers money? I felt for these guys. Print is declining.”


–Lloyd Armbrust


Armbrust has worked in the newspaper industry for 11 years, including two years working on OwnLocal. His Co-Founder Jason Novack is the hardcore hacker in the pair. Armbrust says their main competitor, ReachLocal charges 5 times as much as OwnLocal because they utilize a network of 1,000 local sales reps.


To date, OwnLocal has received just under a million seed funding from Y Combinator, Baseline Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures, Paul Buchheit, Joshua Schachter and Alex Moore.


seo optimization services


SES Chicago 2010 – Video SEO Panel by Voodoo Buddha

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Bench Craft Company on the focus of hotel

"Getting data privacy 'right' is an economic and social imperative. Trust and confidence in the security and privacy of the critical systems of our planet - especially the digital version of its central nervous system, the Internet - is foundational to individuals' continued engagement and reliance on such things as online commerce, e-health and smart grids. If individual consumers don't feel that their privacy and security are protected, they will not support modernization efforts, even though the capabilities of technology advancements are proven and the potential benefits to society are extensive.



"Here's an example of the tensions we face: The ability of smart grids to conserve resources relies on the ability of, and commitment from, consumers to monitor and modify their individual usage. An individual using a smart meter understands the difference in the cost of using electricity at peak versus non-peak hours and could opt to lower their usage during more costly time periods. At the same time, data from the meters can reveal sensitive information such as work habits, shower schedules, use of medical devices such as dialysis, and whether or not a house is occupied."



"I don't worry that the technology will have a negative impact on consumer privacy," wrote Mark Roberti, founder of RFID Journal in a June overview of the state of the RFID market where privacy is concerned. "Instead, I worry that ignorant legislators trying to score points with uninformed voters will pass laws that limit the many benefits RFID can deliver--and that is a much bigger threat to consumers."



Today's agreement in Europe appears not to be the kind of legislation Roberti feared. As a framework focused on self-reporting it may be too little, ultimately, but it's a start.












bench craft company

Kansas ticket office official sentenced to 57 months for role in scalping scandal


A former associate director in charge of the University of Kansas ticket office and "gatekeeper" for stolen tickets was sentenced Thursday to 57 months in prison for her role in the $2 million conspiracy.


bench craft company

Great <b>news</b>: Working population percentage drops to three-decade <b>...</b>

Great news: Working population percentage drops to three-decade low.


bench craft company

Taptu allows iPad owners to “DJ your <b>news</b>” | VentureBeat

Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining ...


bench craft company








Seas0nPass jailbreak tool has for both Windows and Mac has been updated with the latest untethered exploit to untether the jailbreak on second generation Apple TV, running on the latest iOS 4.3.1 (4.2.1)



For those of you who don’t know, Seas0nPass jailbreak tool is like PwnageTool for Mac, or Sn0wbreeze for Windows, which can can create custom jailbroken .IPSW files for your second-gen Apple TV.


Before you proceed with the jailbreak, you will need the following:



  • A Micro-USB cable

  • iTunes 10.2.1

  • iOS 4.2.1 (Based on iOS 4.3) for Apple TV

  • Seas0nPass


All download links are posted at the end of this article.


Step 1: Download and launch Seas0nPass.


Step 2: Now select “Create IPSW” option to build your own custom jailbroken 4.3.1 firmware for Apple TV.



Step 3: Now wait for Seas0nPass to download all the files required for creating custom firmware.



Step 4: When prompted by Seas0nPass, connect your Apple TV using a micro-USB cable (leave power disconnected), and hold-down both the ‘MENU’ and ‘PLAY/PAUSE’ buttons for 7 seven seconds.



Step 5: iTunes should now open automatically to start the restore process.



Step 6: iTunes will confirm the restore when complete. Once done, your Apple TV will be fully jailbroken, untethered on iOS 4.3.1.


Once complete, remove the USB cable and connect the HDMI cable.


Once you are done with the jailbreak, you can install the following apps on your jailbroken 2nd-gen Apple TV:



  • How to Install XBMC Media Center on Apple TV 2G [Guide]

  • Plex Has Been Ported to Jailbroken Apple TV 2G ! [VIDEO]

  • How to Install NitoTV Weather and RSS App on Apple TV 2G [Jailbreak]

  • Apple TV 2G Gets Web Browser and Last.fm Apps via aTV Flash [Video]

  • Exposed VNC Server Plugin Enables Remote Access On Apple TV 2G


Required download links are as follows:


Download iOS 4.3.1 (4.2.1) for Apple TV
Download iTunes 10.2.1 for Mac OS X
Download Seas0nPass for Mac OS X
Download Seas0nPass for Windows


You can follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook fanpage to keep yourself updated on all the latest iPhone jailbreaking and unlocking releases.















bench craft company

bench craft company


 



The Business Rusch: Royalty Statements


Kristine Kathryn Rusch


Imagine this:


Pretend you run a very large business.  The business has a lot of built-in problems, things not easily fixed.  You’re aware of the problems and are trying to solve them.  A decade ago, you actually had hope you could solve them.  It will simply take time, you thought, but back then, your business was a leisurely business.  Back then, you had no idea that the word “leisure” would leave your vocabulary and never return.


In that decade, your business has changed dramatically. Your corporate masters sold out to large conglomerates, so now you can no longer point to your small but steady profit as normal for your industry. The conglomerate doesn’t care.  All the conglomerate cares about is quarterly profits, which should rise steadily.


Your industry doesn’t work that way, but you do your best to make those quarterly balance sheets work for the conglomerate.  Unfortunately, that means any long-term outlook you used to have no longer works for your corporate masters.  Now you can only look one year ahead, maximum, because that’s all the focus the conglomerate will allow.


One of your business’s largest problem comes out of the nature of the industry itself. The success of each product cannot be replicated.  Just because you build one really good widget doesn’t mean that your next widget will sell at all.  Your business has a luck aspect to it, an unpredictability that no matter how much you plan, you can’t fix.


The other built-in problems mentioned above cause your prices to verge on too high.  If you solve the built-in problems, you might lose even more revenue, because most of those problems benefit the stores that sell your product. Those stores have made it clear they will not order from you if you take those harmful (to you) perks (to them) away.  So your prices hover at a point too high for an impulse purchase, even though your business does better when consumers can buy your product on impulse.


You have maintained this system for decades now, trying different ways to fix the built-in problems.  None of the solutions work, because the only way to fix the built-in problem would be to have an industry-wide change, one that all of the businesses in the industry agree to.  Unfortunately, if all of the businesses in the industry make that change, it will hurt stores, which will say that the industry businesses colluded to hurt their retail business—and sadly, the stores, under U.S. law, would be right.


So the easy solution is impossible, and all other solutions are half-assed.  You hang on and your business maintains a consistent, if unspectacular, profit year after year after year.


Then some changes hit your industry that force you to cut costs where you can.  Some of that cost cutting comes in employees.  You have to lay off necessary folk and hope that the remaining staff can pick up the slack.  These things have happened before, and you believe that you’ll be able to rehire in a few years.


Only this time, the economy “craters” and a global recession hits.  Every business loses much-needed revenue and products like yours, which are not necessities, sell to fewer and fewer consumers because the consumers have less disposable income.


You anticipate, cutting everything you can, dumping real estate, abandoning rent, maybe even negotiating your way out of some long-term contracts.  At the very end, though, you can’t prevent it: You cut staff to the bone.


Now, in some departments of your business, one person quite literally does the job that five people used to do as recently as a decade ago.  You have no flexibility left.


And then the industry you work in undergoes a technological revolution, one so big, so profound, that it changes the way business gets done.  Because you aren’t flexible, you adapt to the change late.  You can’t hire new employees to help with the shift without firing the remaining good, valuable (and dare we say it), unbelievably efficient employees that you kept when the recession started.  Yet your old employees can’t adapt to the new world.


Worse, this new world requires new systems.  You have to figure out new ways to produce your product.  You need to shoehorn these changes into the existing contracts with your suppliers.  You need an entirely new production crew because the old ways to produce your widgets are becoming obsolete.


And, most annoyingly, you need to develop an entirely new accounting system, because everything you’ve known, everything you’ve done, no longer applies in this brand-spanking new technological age.


But you can’t hire employees who can actually help you develop these systems.  Because those employees won’t earn you any money.  At best, they’ll prevent a loss of revenue. At worst, the systems they develop will cost you money because your suppliers, whom you pay a percentage of the retail price of the product they supply, will realize you’ve been inadvertently shorting them since the technological change hit at the same time as the beginning of the global recession.


In other words, to fix this problem, you will need to invest—in  new employees, in brand new technological systems, in new ways of doing business.  More importantly, you will have to take a huge loss as you make this change.  A loss that might eat into your profits for not one, not two, not three quarters, but maybe for two to three years, something your corporate masters will never, ever allow.


Better to close your eyes and pretend the problem doesn’t exist.  Better to hope no one notices.  Better to keep doing business as usual until profits rise, the recession ends, the world becomes wealthy again, and you can make the changes without causing a series of quarterly losses on your balance sheet.


Better to keep kicking this problem down the road until you retire or move to another company, preferably one which has already solved this problem so you don’t have to deal with it.


Does this scenario sound familiar? It should if you watch the evening news or read a daily newspaper.  Industry after industry suffers a variation of these problems, some caused by inefficiency, some by technological change, and all exacerbated by the worst recession to hit in the last eighty years.


But this blog deals with publishing, and what I just described to you is the situation at traditional publishers—the big publishers, the ones most people mistakenly call The Big Six (there are more than six, but leave it)—all over New York City.


Last fall, I dealt with these problems in depth.  Before you decide to comment on this post and tell me that traditional publishing will die (which I do not believe), read the first few posts I did in the publishing series, starting here.


I’m grappling with the changes in publishing just like everyone else is.  I knew that the changes—particularly the rise of e-publishing—would hit traditional publishing hard.  And it has, although not as hard as I initially thought.  As Publishers Weekly reported earlier in the month, traditional publishers have remained profitable in the transition so far.


The reasons why should sound familiar to those of you who read my earlier posts.  Publishers Weekly puts it succinctly:  “While the improvement in the economy helped all publishers in 2010, companies where profits improved all pointed to two main contributing factors—cost controls and skyrocketing e-book sales.”


Right now, e-books comprise about 10% of the book market, but some analysts believe that e-books will be as much as 50% of the e-book market by 2015.  Some see evidence that e-books will grow faster than that.  A month ago, a Barnes & Noble executive made news when he stated in a speech that e-books will “dominate the market” in 24 months.


We all know these figures are important.  Daily, writers tell me about their careers and then ask me if they should become independent publishers or go to traditional publishing.  As I’ve said repeatedly, I see no harm in doing both.


Earlier this month, however, I opened my mail to find a big fat warning sign of the future.  And if the problem that I—and hundreds of other writers—noted doesn’t get resolved, then traditional publishing will cease to be viable for all writers.


What happened?


I got a royalty statement for backlist titles of one of my on-going series.  The statement came from a traditional publisher.  Let me give you some background.


A few years ago, the publisher refused to buy the next two books in the series saying that while the series had some growth, the growth was not enough to justify the expense of a new contract.  I started writing some novellas in that series and publishing them in the magazine markets while I searched for a new publisher.


Then the e-book revolution hit, and as an experiment, I put up two of those novellas as e-books. Since they were the first two e-books I had ever done, the covers—in a word—sucked.  I did no promotion and no advertising, except to say in the cover copy that these e-books were part of this particular series.


In the first six months of 2010, those badly designed short novels sold about 300 copies each on Kindle, the only venue they were on at the time.  No advertising, bad covers, just hanging out waiting for buyers to find them.


I would occasionally check the Amazon sales ranking (that weird number you see on each book Amazon publishes, the thing they use to compile their hourly bestseller list).  Even though that ranking did not give me actual sales numbers, I did note that the sales of the novellas were less than the sales of the traditionally published e-books on Kindle in the same series.


In August, I wrote to the traditional publisher, asking that my rights revert.  The kind woman in rights reversal explained to  me that she couldn’t revert the book rights because the e-books were “selling too well” to revert.  Okay. All well and good. What I care about is getting books into the hands of my readers. I figured I would eventually be compensated for this.  I just had to wait until the royalty statement hit.


Which it did. At the beginning of this month.


How many e-books did the traditional publisher say I sold? 30.  That’s right. 30.


When the novellas, which had worse sales rankings from Amazon, sold 300 each.


That 30 number didn’t pass the sniff test for me.  So I talked with other writers who have books in the same genre with the same company. The writers I talked with also had some e-book savvy.


Guess what? They had been shocked by how low their e-book numbers were as well, especially in comparison with their indie published titles.  The indie books which had Amazon rankings indicating fewer sales sold more copies than the traditionally published books by a factor of ten or better.


Let me indulge in another sidebar for a moment.  I’m involved with four different indie publishers, two of which allow me to see the day-to-day operations, and one of which I own part of.  We’ve been having trouble setting up an accounting system that works efficiently for more than 100 different e-book titles.  The problem is, in short, that the ebook distributors report sales by publisher and then by title, and not by author, so if you’re published by AAA Publishing and your book is called  The Embalming and I also have an older book called The Embalming through AAA Publishing and they’re both in e-book, AAA Publisher will get sales figures on a daily basis for The Embalming. Which Embalming does that statement refer to?


Also, the e-stributors report at varying times throughout the year (some daily, some monthly, some quarterly), so if I want to know how many copies my book The Embalming sold in March of 2010, I can’t easily get that information because the info might not have been reported yet from some e-bookstore in some faraway country.


What all of the various indie publishers have figured out is that using a standard spreadsheet for each title is labor-intensive.  You can easily input data into a spreadsheet for one or two or even ten novels.  But when it comes to 50 or 100, the data-entry—figuring out what book belongs where and when (even if you use the estributor’s the computerized spreadsheet)—becomes prohibitive.


What we need is a cloud-based system that can be queried.  For example, the system should easily answer these two questions: How many copies did KKR’s The Embalming sell worldwide in March; and how many copies did KKR’s The Embalming sell through Kobo’s out-of-country distribution channels?  Right now, no spreadsheet program can answer that information easily from a pool of 100 titles and various e-book outlets without a lot of man-hours of data entry.


Traditional publishers—and indie publishers, for that matter—don’t have the staff with the ability to organize this wealth of information. Still, traditional publishers must —by contract— report the information to the best of their ability on royalty statements.


To do so, they revert to an old pre-computer accounting method.  The method existed back when there was too much data to be quickly processed. We all learned it in school.  They used little snippets of data to estimate, often using an algebraic equation that goes something like this:   If The Embalming sold (x) copies in January and e-books sales rose on a trajectory of (y) copies over a six-month period of time, then (x) times 6 adjusted for (y) equals the number of sales of The Embalming.


Close enough.  And frankly, I would be satisfied with that, if the number the publisher had come up with wasn’t so wildly off.


For me, in the instance with the traditional publisher I mentioned above, the difference between 30 copies per title and 300 copies per title is pennies on the dollar.  It’s not worth an audit.


But I never think in small terms.  My training in three fields—journalism, history, and the extrapolative field of science fiction—forces me to think in terms of the future.


Right now, e-book rights are a subsidiary right, negligible and relatively unimportant.  Between two and five years from now, e-book rights will become the dominant book right.


If traditional publishers do not change their accounting methods now, then these accounting methods will end up costing writers hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.  (In some writers’ cases, millions of dollars.)


Those of you who have any knowledge of journalism have just looked up and asked, Why the hell did Rusch bury her lead? That’s the story: publishers are screwing writers on e-book royalties.


But those of you who have had journalism careers know why I buried that lead.  When I was a news director faced with a reporter who had brought me information like the information I gave to you above, I would have said, Sounds like a good story.  But it’s all supposition.  Now get me something concrete.  Somthing I can use.


So that’s what I tried to do.  Last week, I contacted dozens of traditionally published writers who also had put up some backlist on their own in electronic format.  The writers who had the information handy responded with actual numbers.  The writers who didn’t told me that they had worried about their royalty numbers when the statements arrived, but had no real proof that anything had gone awry.


I also spoke to some trusted agent friends, several lawyers who are active in the publishing industry, a few certified public accountants, and other professionals who see a lot of publishing data cross their desks, and I asked those people if they had heard of a problem like this.


To a person, they all confirmed that they had. All spoke off the record, none with numbers.  A few hinted that they couldn’t talk because of pending action.


In other words, I got the confirmation I needed, just nothing that a reputable journalist could print.  Most people spoke to me on what’s called deep background, confirming my theory, and giving me some suggestions of places to look, and people to contact.  Several people, mostly writers, spoke on the record, but rather than using their information in isolation, I’ve chosen to keep their statistics confidential and to only go with mine.


Frankly, what I’ve learned is this:


Right now, some—and I must emphasize some, not all—traditional publishing houses are significantly underreporting e-book sales.  In some cases these sales are off by a factor of 10 or more.


This is a problem, but at the moment, not a serious one.  When e-books are 10% of the market, we’re talking a relatively insignificant amount of money per author. As one long-term writer said to me, “Ever since I got into this business, I expect my publisher to screw me on the sales figures.  This is no different.”


If you don’t understand that writer’s point of view, read the trust-me post I wrote a few weeks ago.


In the past, I would have agreed with that writer.  But I don’t in this instance.  We’re at an important moment in publishing.  We have the opportunity to change the behavior of traditional publishers.  We can, with an effort, get them to change their accounting practices.


The reason I started the blog post the way I did is this: I wanted to explain, before I got to the heart of this post, how traditional publishing works.  I wanted understanding before I worried some of you.


Because here’s the truth: traditional publishers are not indulging in a criminal act. They’re doing the best they can out of necessity.  They see no reason to spend precious dollars revamping their accounting systems to accommodate e-publishing when those dollars can be used elsewhere in the company.  Especially when an accounting change will cost them money, and might lead to payouts that will hurt quarterly profits for months to come.


It’s up to writers—and writers organizations—to force publishers to allocate those scarce dollars to develop systems for accurate e-book accounting.


If you are a traditionally published author, do not—I repeat, do not—write a blistering letter to your publisher accusing him of stealing your money.  Instead, contact any writers organization you belong to and point that organization to this blog.


What needs to happen is this: writers organizations need to band together and order group audits of e-book sales on behalf of their traditionally published authors.  One organization cannot handle the cost of this group accounting alone.  It’s better to have all of the writers organizations work in concert here.


A group audit of all the traditional publishers in various publishing divisions will force an accounting change—and that’s all we need.  But we need it before e-books become the dominant way that books are sold.


If you’re a traditionally published author who has also produced some self-published e-books and you want to do more than contact your organization, do this:


1. Look over all of your royalty statements.  Compare your indie e-book sales to your traditionally published e-book sales.  Make sure your comparison is for the same time period. For example, do not compare January 2011 sales to January 2010.


2. Compare similar books.  It’s best if you have books in the same series, some indie published and some traditionally published.  If you don’t have series books, then compare books in the same genre only.  Comparing romance sales to science fiction sales will not work because romance novels always outsell sf novels.


3. If you see a discrepancy, report that—with the numbers—to your writers organization.  Be clear in the letter you send to your organization as to what level of involvement you want in this issue.  Are you only there to provide background information? Will you take part in a group audit? Will you work on this project?


I’ll be honest.  I’m not going to participate in any group action.  Even though I’ve published with every single major publisher in New York, I only have two books caught in this problem.  I’m more interested in getting the rights in those books reverted than I am in insignificant back royalties.


If I was still a reporter, I would spend the month or two going after this story with a vengeance. But I am not.  In  nonfiction, I am just your humble blogger, stirring up the pot.  My career is in fiction, and I have found no problem with the publishers of my frontlist books.  I also have six novels with firm deadlines that won’t allow me to take time away from fiction writing to pursue this.


So all I can offer is a blueprint.


If you’re a reporter who specializes in the publishing industry and you want to tackle this story, e-mail me privately.  I’ll tell you what I can without revealing confidential sources.


If you’re a traditionally published writer, please follow the steps above.


If you’re an indie-only writer, stop gloating and for heavens’ sake don’t tell me or anyone else that this is proof traditional publishing is dead.  The majority of writers don’t want to self-publish, even when told how easy and financially beneficial it is.  They want a traditionally published novel.


Here’s what I believe: If a writer wants to publish traditionally and can secure a contract, then that writer should be treated fairly, with accurate sales reporting and good royalty rates.


Let me state again for the record.  I do not believe that anyone in traditional publishing is setting out to screw writers on this issue.  I do believe the scenario I wrote in the first 800 words of this blog: I think traditional publishers are overwhelmed and stretched to the limit.  Accurate e-book sales reporting is not even on their radar.


Right now, changing the accounting system is not high on their priority list.  It’s up to the writers—acting in concert through their writers organizations—to make accurate e-book sales reporting and accurate e-book royalty accounting a number-one priority in publishing houses across the country.


Let’s work together to solve this glitch before it becomes an industry-wide disaster for writers—anywhere from two to five years from now.


Last week, a few of you asked in e-mail why I have a donate button on this blog.  Also, last week, this blog marked its two-year anniversary. Every Thursday for two years without a miss, I have published an article on freelancing, business, writing or publishing (and sometimes on all four of those topics).  For the first 18 months, those blog posts were part of a book I was writing called The Freelancer’s Survival Guide (which, even though it’s now published, is still available for free on this website).


Initially, I had hoped to make my publishing articles into a book as well, but the industry is changing too fast.  I cannot make the publishing articles into a book that will be accurate in the short time it takes to produce.  So when this month rolled around, I did the numbers like I always do.  When I do a strict economic analysis, I am losing about $100 per week on each post—even with donations.  That’s because I can’t leverage these posts into any other income source.


However, I always ask the next question: am I getting something besides money out of these blogs? Right now, I am.  I would be doing the same research, the same work, and the same analysis with or without the blog.  I would be discussing the changes with my writer pals.  But I would lose the week-to-week contact with writers all over the world, who comment on the blog or in e-mail, sharing their own stories.


And that would be a significant loss.  It more than makes up for the financial loss.  But the donate button is here to minimize some of the financial damage, and to encourage me in busy or difficult weeks to carve out the time to write my post.


I hope that answers the question.  As always, I appreciate the feedback and all of the support.








“The Business Rusch: Royalty Statements” copyright 2011 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.


 


 




It’s not such a wonderful time to be a doctor, patient, hospital, health plan or pharma company, but judging by the quality and quantity of entries received for this edition of the HWR, it’s a wonderful time to be a wonk.


A couple weeks ago CMS released draft rules for Accountable Care Organizations. Several bloggers weighed in on that development:



  • Mark McClellan and Elliott Fisher at Health Affairs provide some historical context and argue that “those who care deeply about health care reform all have a common interest in the success of ACOs as a way of avoiding more classic fee-for-service payment cuts to providers.”

  • On a more downbeat note, The Road to Health concludes, “Dr. Berwick and his colleagues at CMS appear to have taken the ACO concept and made it into a financial program that only delusional practice administrators, or physician organizations bent on financial self-destruction, could love.”

  • The Healthcare IT Guy expects ACOs to be “far more lucrative and disruptive than Meaningful Use and likely to yield more patient quality improvements.”

  • GE Healthcare puts the emphasis on ACO change management challenges: “Healthcare executives and management teams are left to focus on preparing their organizations for a cultural shift of seismic proportions.”

  • HealthBlawg reviews the proposed rules and produces 8 takeaways. #2: “This is the Frankenstein regulation: A Medicare beneficiary must sit on the board of the ACO, CMS must approve all marketing materials before they are used.”


In the midst of the battle over funding the 2011 budget, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan came out with a plan to radically restructure Medicare and Medicaid starting in 2012:



  • The Apothecary likes much of what he sees and thinks the proposal may force Democrats to devise a credible plan of their own

  • John C. Goodman’s Health Policy Blog contrasts PPACA and the Ryan plan. “Obviously, the path we are on leads to an impossible place. So the only question is whether we are going to get off the current path in a planned, orderly way or whether we are going to let unplanned chaos do the trick.”

  • Wright on Health is less impressed and wonders, “if Rep. Ryan is so adamant about reducing the deficit, why is he cutting taxes for the wealthy and cutting programs for the poor and the elderly?”

  • Managed Care Matters is decidedly unswayed. “If you were looking for real solutions to the health cost problem, you’re going to be sorely disappointed… Unfortunately, he’s fallen into the same trap his Democratic colleagues did with their version of health reform – the Ryan plan does little to address costs.”

  • The Incidental Economist takes issue with Ryan’s plan to convert Medicaid to block grants and cut spending. “Should Medicaid be cut back, more people will be uninsured. Contrary to what some wish you to believe, those who become uninsured will suffer worse health outcomes”


As if the ACO rules and Ryan plan weren’t enough, there’s more on Medicare in the blogosphere:



  • The Covert Rationing Blog –always good for a lighthearted pick me up– “asserts that we are one giant step closer to the day when it will become illegal for all Americans to spend their own money on their own healthcare.”

  • Dr. Liberty discusses CMS’s deliberations on whether to pay for Provenge, a pricey prostate drug. “Decisions are made on the basis of politics, and the drive is to cover everything, leading to higher costs.”


Amid all the federal policy blogging, there’s still some room for technology talk:



  • Healthcare Talent Transformation has had it with Health Net’s repeated goof up’s leading to loss of confidential data. Although it may seem like there’s not much the average person can do, the blog argues, “You can make an impact on the security of your sensitive data by conducting due diligence when it comes to your insurance provider.”

  • The Healthcare Blog offers a video collage of the new Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health. “The Center is  a pretty fascinating place–part tech and idea showcase and part meeting room. Certainly no other health care organization that I’m aware of has spent so much on a place designed to stimulate the imagination and enhance conversation–under the nose of the folks on Capitol Hill.”

  • Meaningful HIT News features a podcast with mHealth Initiative’s Peter Waegemann, who’s shifted over from EMRs to ride the mobile wave

  • Healthcare Economist delves into new papers that, “examined how to develop accurate algorithms to account for cancer stage in studies using claims data.”


It was encouraging to receive a couple submissions about  journalism:



  • Disease Care Management Blog asks, “Is the kerfuffle over National Public Radio (NPR) the long delayed comeuppance for liberal bias run amok, or a narrow-minded attack on the inconvenient truths from journalistic excellence?” The blog reaches into the world of medicine and discusses of “framing” and its impact on patient decision making to provide an answer

  • HealthNews ReviewBlog cites, “daily evidence of the need for improvement in health care journalism – especially when we see examples like hype of a tiny, preliminary study of strawberries for esophageal cancer.”


We always have room in the Health Wonk Review for some posts on medical ethics:



  • Nuts for Healthcare looks at the pharma industry and concludes, “Doctors need to take a more definitive stand against the specter of industry influence. A good target? Industry sponsorship of continuing medical education.”

  • Health Care Renewal is concerned that so-called government run programs are more private than we think. “The majority of Medicaid has been out-sourced to private health care insurance companies… We need to have some real discussions about the rise of corporatism in US health care, in other aspects of US society and around the world.”


And finally, a few odds and ends



  • Workers’ Comp Insider provides resources for employers concerned about radiation exposure

  • Colorado Health Insurance Insider chronicles the decline of bipartisanship in the creation of a health insurance exchange for that state. “Healthcare reform has become such a polarized topic that it’s difficult for lawmakers to have any stance other than for it or against it.  Even though the health insurance exchanges would be marketplaces that sell private health insurance, the word ‘exchange’ has been thrown around so much during the reform debates that many opponents of the PPACA see it as synonymous with ‘ObamaCare.’”

  • Last week I went to a health care direct to consumer marketing conference to see former TimeWarner CEO Jerry Levin interviewed by OrganizedWisdom CEO Steve Krein. I also shared my thoughts in the video clip below



Thanks for reading the Health Wonk Review! The Incidental Economist hosts the next edition.




bench craft company

Taptu allows iPad owners to “DJ your <b>news</b>” | VentureBeat

Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining ...


bench craft company


How <b>News</b> Corp Got Lost In Myspace | Yinka Adegoke | Voices <b>...</b>

As Rupert Murdoch stepped into the Grand Ballroom of San Francisco's Palace Hotel at the Web 2.0 conference in October 2007, the developers and engineers who packed the room fell into a respectful hush.


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Roofing Contractors Vancouver - 5 Inquiries to Wonder

Roofing Vancouver - Faq's


1. Repair or Replace?

There's no opinion like an expert opinion. Most contractors will provide you with a free estimate. Get a list of a couple trusted contractors and contact them well in advance of when you want to obtain your homes roof fixed so you can compare costs and opinions.


2. Beauty versus Practicality?

Discuss this together with your spouse or partner. (The kids could care less...at least the young ones.) The fact is, nobody wants an ugly roof the same as nobody wants to be seen with bed hair. If you've got a great quality roof and you simply have to repair it, it's worth it to pay the price of the initial shingle instead of doing patchwork. A roof replacement doesn't happen frequently (hopefully!) and thus make a choice that best suits you and your loved ones well or it'll stick out like a sore thumb everyday you decide to go home.


3. Must i replace the rooftop so I can sell the house for more?

Think about this very carefully prior to making a choice. With respect to the roofing material you select, a new roof lasts between twenty, fifty, to one-hundred years! This means you have to check the year from the roof that's currently too deep first. Are you at year 18 of the 20-year warranted roof or year 30 of the 50-year warranted roof? Obviously, the quality is the reason why the roof keep going longer, but when you're not planning to stay in your current home for the rest of your lifetime, the larger expense may not be worth your investment. Although a brand new roof can enhance the worth of your value, the increase might not be enough to cover your investment and that's bound to hurt your wallet.


4. Is it a good idea that i can repair the roof myself?

Sure it's. Before you need to do, consult an expert first. You can perform it yourself, however, you shouldn't be a complete ‘lone ranger.' Depending on the extent of your repair, you might or might not change your mind. In either case, it helps to get a professional eye on the problem first and perhaps a free quote to help you do the math later and find out if it's truly worth your time and effort, sweat, and cash to become mister or miss fix-it.


5. When is a good time to get the roof replaced?

Weather may cause delays from days to weeks. Most people plan ahead to have their roof replaced in the summer once they know someone will be home throughout the day for a solid two weeks. Once you've this period in your mind, create a call to a trusted contractor months ahead of time to obtain a quote. Some companies get reserved fast and chances are, they're the most reputable. Preparing in advance from the summer also provides you with time for you to ask around more and compare costs...especially if you want to have the roof made by a specified date.

 

The Top Roofing Contractor In Vancouver!

Is there a leak inside your home's roof? Perhaps you have lost shingles or tiles inside a storm? Have overhanging branches caused damage? Is the roof more than 20 years old and showing wear and tear? Are your gutters overwhelmed and draining poorly?

If the response to any of these questions is "Yes" it's time to call the top roofing company Vancouver - Crown Roofing & Drainage.

For more than a century Crown Roofing continues to be the roofer of preference among our Vancouver neighbors. We offer complete roofing services, from emergency repairs and roof restoration, to complete roof replacement. All using the finest quality materials, installed with precision and the highest degree of customer support.

YOUR Vancouver ROOF DESERVES NO LESS!

The rooftop of your Vancouver house is the very first type of defence against wind, rain, snow, ice and other weather elements. Be sure it is up to the job. Among Vancouver Roofing companies, only Crown Roofing has the depth of expertise and successful track record to make sure your roofing system will be properly designed and installed.

NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS.

One reason Crown Roofing has been probably the most successful roofing company in Vancouver is our commitment to our neighbors. We treat your house as if it were our own and that we were creating a roof to safeguard our very own family. That's what neighbors do, and you can count on Crown Roofing being here to support you and back our work. After all, we've been repairing and replacing roofs in Vancouver since 1902!

Obtain a FREE INSPECTION AND EVALUATION OF YOUR Vancouver ROOF.

Go to the Roofers Vancouver for any FREE inspection and evaluation of your roof. Give you the very best roof for your Vancouver home, at the best value. We build roofs to last!

 

Monday, April 11, 2011

Tacoma Roofing company: Make your Home Beautiful

Very few people view the worth of a solid roof, your knowledgeable Tacoma Roofer does. From first hand experience, they'll be in a position to tell you the reason why you require a strong, secure, and leak-free roof in your home.

The local Tacoma Roofing contractor is knowledgeable how important a financial investment your house is for you, especially since it is a lasting one. Your house may have been damaged slowly through the years and you have to take steps to reduce this damage. For a number of people, keeping their house beautiful is also a few pride. There are those too who'd like to turn their house into a cost effective and efficient living place. Your roof is an integral part of your property and plays a role in each of the aspects mentioned previously. Because of this, you should employ the services of qualified a Tacoma Roofing company.

Types of Roofs installed with a Tacoma Roofer


Among the more prevalent types of roofs are asphalt shingles, steel or metal sheeting, fiberglass, slate and terra cotta tiles.

Each type of roof invites distinct problems, however they can all be easily looked after with a trusted Tacoma Roofing contractor. It's vital that you nip roof problems within the bud before they become too costly or dangerous. You are able to schedule an appointment using the Tacoma Roofing company to consider a look at your roof to determine if you will find any issues or potential issues with it. If you will find, they may be able to let you know how to deal with them.

A Tacoma Roofing company Helps you to Build Strong Homes


The exteriors associated with a house, primarily the rooftop and gutters, face the onslaught of bitter and varying weather conditions, every single day. Painting, repairing, and cleaning gutters may be necessary. In some cases you may have to replace them completely. Usually, when your gutters show signs of trouble, your homes roof also needs to be inspected for problems. Whatever issues there might be, an experienced Tacoma Roofing contractor can examine them at length and suggest the remedy.

If your gutters tend to clog too often, or there are leaks across the walls of your home, it might imply that there's debris piled-up on the roof. Loose branches, piles of leaves, and other light objects that are swept on your roof during a storm can all contribute towards damaging your roof, which damages can be lasting. A knowledgeable Tacoma Roofer will explain that birds, mice, along with other types of rodents often build nest in the debris that collects on the top. While these nests may look rather innocent, they're great at collecting moisture, which can lead to loose shingles, mold, and indoor leaks in your house. In addition, this may also cause vermin infestation. After a storm, your Tacoma Roofing contractor will claim that you inspect your roof for any signs of debris or damage.

Reverse Damages by using a Tacoma Roofer


However high quality the roof may be, it is going to wear down with time. There are shingles that are referred to as "25 year" or "30 year" shingles, but those numbers are only related to warranty produced by the manufacturers. They hardly ever last that long. Realistically speaking, "25 year" shingles won't last a lot more than a few years. In an area that's prone to storms, shingles or even the entire roof should be replaced every 10 years. With a Tacoma Roofing company, the price is going to be lower than what you believe.

If there you lose any shingles, or there's some damage to them, a Tacoma Roofer can assist you to. Damaged shingles can lead to indoor leaks, since the substrate from the roof becomes subjected to the elements. Shingles that are loose or broken can slip off and pose a possible hazard to individuals standing below. Missing shingles produce a gap which allows rain, wind, ice, and debris to develop underneath the adjoining shingles, which creates a "domino effect" that affects other shingles plus they become loose or broken. A comprehensive investigation is going to be made by your local Tacoma Roofing company, if you call them up with your suspicions of loose or missing shingles.


Your Tacoma Roofer will be in a situation to inform you what the best option is perfect for your homes roof. In case your roof is not inside a good condition, it is advised you have it replaced completely. The Tacoma Roofing contractor may take you through the different roofing options available to you that will fit your requirements as well as your budget.

Tacoma Roofer: Improving your Home's Efficiency


Your homes roof shelters you against storms, sleet, and hail. By giving adequate ventilation, your roof protects your house from overheating, and by holding in the heat, it keeps your house warm. That's why you need to ready your roof from indoors as well as outdoors for just about any sort of weather emergency. A professional Tacoma Roofing contractor can provide assist in this situation.

To begin with, inspect your roof thoroughly for just about any and all sorts of kind of damage, prior to the beginning of the new season. The gutters should be clear, debris shouldn't be piled on or trapped under shingles, there should be no homes of squirrels or birds within the eaves or attic, and also the roof should be structurally sound. For that last part, you will need the assistance of the local Tacoma Roofer. It may be quite dangerous to climb onto the roof of your house. This is when the contractor from Tacoma Roofer is available in. He will check out the strength and security of your roof and shingles, and perform a general inspection from the entire roof structure, to make sure that it's in proper working order. They'll be in a position to point towards problems that you need to keep close track of and problems you may not have spotted.

You'll need all the help you can get in the Tacoma Roofer. You are able to help your roof by installing a gutter guard or leaf cover to assist prevent debris from forming inside your gutters. The extra weight of debris prevents the gutters from draining and can even tear them down. Check the fasteners in your gutters and if they are loose, tighten them. Take steps to change worn screws and brackets. For those who have a chimney in your house, inspect the bricks and mortar signs and symptoms of wear. A trusted mason could be recommended because of your Tacoma Roofing company, if there are any repairs to be done.

Tacoma Roofing contractor: Someone You Can Rely on
In the event that you know or suspect that there's a problem, your Tacoma Roofing company ought to be contacted. They can use their knowledge and expertise to obtain your home in ace condition simply by working on the rooftop. Your roof deserves attention. So call them today, so that they can get down to caring for your roof.

 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

What is Distinction between Commercial Roofing Companies From Residential Roofing Companies

If you are hiring a roofing company to re roof your home or building then you can be wondering what are the differences are between residential roofing companies and commercial roofing companies. To begin with, the one huge difference is usually that times a commercial roofing company might have signed a contract with and be obligated to some roofing union in able to focus on union commercial jobs.

If this is the case then their labor costs will prohibit them from focusing on non union residential jobs. Beyond that, if your commercial roofing company hasn't signed an agreement with a union they may be outfitted simply for commercial jobs and that means that their workers and equipment might not be in line with smaller residential jobs.

Residential roofing contractors generally often run smaller companies and hence, tend to be more in a position to bid competitively on residential jobs, which tend to be smaller than comercial jobs. Actually, quite often residential roofing contractors will run one man operations, where the contractor that you speak with may be the one which actually does the job about the building.


commercial roof fliers by roofershane

Also, liability insurance for commercial roofing is more epensive and a larger bond is required for any commercial roofing work which can make it not cost effective for any commercial roofing contractor to do residential roofing jobs.

Still one more factor is the fact that commercial jobs can run on tighter time frame for just about any number of reasons, requiring an industrial contractor to employ a larger crew or crews which again makes smaller jobs less profitable on their behalf.

 

Distinction between Commercial Roofing and Residential Roofing

Did you know that the rooftop of the building includes a huge impact on the entire structure itself? Damage caused to roofs because of natural or other disasters leads to a considerable lack of property everywhere. The type of materials accustomed to construct the rooftop which should be sturdy and long-lasting, the manner where the roof has been installed as well as its timely maintenance are very crucial. There's two types of roofs which are utilized on all the buildings that we see around us: commercial and residential. Even though it may seem that commercial roofing is done only for businesses or offices and residential roofing is done for apartments and houses, the truth is the differences are much more complicated than that.


Residential Roofing During by Kellys Property Services

Residential roofing is generally completed just by one hired contractor but commercial roofing usually takes a whole team to complete the job. This is because a commercial roof tends to be larger when it comes to square feet than a residential roof.
Commercial roofs need to be made carefully keeping the nature and purpose of the building in your mind. For instance, when there is a cafe or restaurant in the building then external components like ventilation systems, smoke stacks and pipes is going to be required. Residential roofs tend not to have such components other than a chimney or two at most.
Commercial roofs is commonly flat in design to accommodate further changes in a later period, whereas most residential roofs have peaks along with other architectural features like roof gardens.
Commercial roofing is much more expensive than residential roofing due to the special tools, materials and safety equipment which are needed onsite. Usually the patching or maintenance jobs are completed in segments unlike for a residential roof where the repair or replacement work can be completed in a short time. This is one more reason why the gear employed for residential roofs is often smaller and less expensive as well.
Commercial roof installations take a longer time to accomplish in comparison to residential roof installations and therefore are usually constructed in large sections. During this phase however, it is important to make sure that there are no leakages, cracks or any other visible wear and tear signs as it can certainly cause considerable harm to the whole building.
You should install the right roof for any building depending on its purpose. Ensure that you hire a construction company that uses first class materials and it has the best equipment to do the job or your investment risk turning to be a huge loss later.

 

Commercial Roofing Contractors: How to Find a Qualified Commercial Roofing Company

If a clients are seeking to have work done on its roof, it is important to use commercial roofing contractors that have a keen understanding of any special needs that a business may have. For example, a roofing job is often disruptive for that operation of business as usual. Because of this, it might be essential for the company to become temporarily turn off, or for the roofing to take place after business hours have ended. A roofing contractor that understands these needs can function plus a business in order to make certain these types of issues are minimized.


Las Vegas Roofing Pros by shennahlavka

First of all , a business must do when it is trying to find commercial roofing contractors is to find out who other businesses in the region will work through. Obviously, this information will not be helpful whether it comes as a suggestion from competitors, but there are circumstances in which it is not too hard to locate these details from suppliers or retailers. Since roofing is not an industry-specific service, this post is easily available.

It's a good idea for any business to get touching a minimum of three commercial roofing contractors to create bids about the price. In this manner, the business can often obtain a better price. It's also vital that you make sure that each one of the roofing contractors is licensed and bonded. This information can be found by getting touching their state contractor's board. This assists you to determine if there has been any claims filed against the company in the past.

When examining bids, it is only as important to check out what services are being offered and which products is going to be used as it is to check out the total cost. The prices can vary quite drastically, but as tempting as it can be to choose the cheapest bid, this isn't always your best option. In many cases, more costs now will mean fewer costs in the long run due to a poor roofing job. To help investigate the caliber of the work, it is a good idea to check with the Better Business Bureau to be able to see if the company has been accredited, and when it's not, to a minimum of see what its rating is.

 

Picking out a Commercial Roofing Contractor


Weather the Storm 1 photo contest with Lenzr lightening by Roberrific

When you're searching for a roofer for the commercial roofing project you have to look for a contractor who understands the special needs of a commercial roofing project. For example it can be harder to work on the business during business hours so either the business needs to be turn off for the repair or replacement or even the job needs to be done after conventional business hours. May be the roofer you are considering for the job ready to operate around your schedule constrictions that might involve working weekends or evenings?

When you start your research for a roofer you don't only have to answer those questions however, you should also hire a company that will perform a top quality job without a lot of time delays. Going about finding someone can seem as an obstacle by itself but there are some ways to result in the search easier.

Ask friends and family for referrals and try to find at least three contractors to give you written bids on your job. Before you go any further you need to ensure that the contractors you are thinking about are fully licensed and bonded. A simple search with the state contractor's board will verify if your roofer is licensed and when there are any past judgments or claims against their license.

Once you select three or four roofers to place bids, you should prepare yourself for the bids to become widely varied. Roofers may have brand preferences which will vary and may element in more or less compared to next guy for a labor estimate. The more detailed a written bid is the more helpful it will be to focus on in which the cost are going to be incurred. Don't, however, select a roofer based solely about the bid price. Any low ball bids may be tempting to consider, but if they're low because of poor quality workman ship it may not be worthwhile ultimately.

As they say, you generally get what you purchase, if you are able to afford a mid-priced bid it's always a good idea to increase within your budget instead of down. Additionally you ought to decide your roofer depending on how professional these were and how comfortable you anticipate you'll be working with them.

Finally your cost will be different depending on which kind of roofing material you choose as well as the cost to haul your old roof towards the landfill. If you are looking for places to chop corners on your roof, rather than cutting labor cost you might want to inquire about metallic roof option. Metal roofs can be cost effective and efficient making them overall money savers for that long term, and on commercial buildings they may be very low maintenance. Plus since they can be placed on top of a current roof, you don't need to possess the old one removed and hauled away, which can make a large impact on your cost.

Choosing a comerical roofing company in your local area, doesn't have to be a struggle. For more information, visit http://www.vancouverroofers.net

 

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Seattle Roofing Contractors - How To Find The Best

In the home of rain and sleet, commercial coffee and grunge, and the famous space needle, you'll find a house that will suit you. Seattle, Washington could be a good place to construct a home, but you need Seattle roofing contractors to help you out. Your homes roof is, in the end, the crowning glory of your house, and your strongest line of defense against the elements. You need to have something which is not only created to last, but built to attract making your house more beautiful

Harsh Weather

Why are roofing contractors so important within this the main country? Because Seattle is often bombarded by rain along with other harsh climate conditions, you need a roof that may withstand all the forces of nature. With this thought, you need individuals who be aware of Seattle weather best, and who know what materials can best get into your homes roof in order for it to last far longer in the region. On top this, you need to blend with the remainder from the houses in your living area, which means you cannot simply get whatever roof you please.

In all these aspects, a Seattle roofing contractors will be able to assist you. All you need to do is look for Seattle roofing contractors online to be able to obtain the best value for your money without wondering if the contractor will suddenly run away with it and leave you roof-less.

Why the Contractor Model Works

If you want to put up your roof on your own, you will have to purchase a good deal of materials, secure permits and licenses, and obtain materials that are suitable for keep you safe against harsh extremes of Seattle weather. This means that if you are a DIY kind of guy or gal, you'll have to go through a good deal of legwork to get the task done.

On the other hand, a Seattle roofing contractor can do all of the jobs for you personally and provide a package that may help you save money and time. Because contractors operate under licenses and buy materials in bulk, they are able to get discounts on building materials that you'd not otherwise get should you be buying merely for your own personel home.

Roofing Associations


Roofers Toy - 1957 Bel Air Pro Mod (2004-2006) by Pixeleye Interactive // Dirk Behlau

Most roofing contractors also belong to roofing organizations which are bound by strict guidelines and standards. If they do well on their roofing job, they are able to showcase their roofing contractors association; if they do poorly, they can ruin the trustworthiness of their roofing contractors association and keep other contractors inside the association from getting good roofing jobs. There is lots of pressure to complete well, so you can be confident that prefer a roofing job completed in Seattle, you can get a contractor from the roofing association to assist you.

For instance, Seattle Roof Brokers operates with over 500 roofing contractors within the Puget Sound. This group has over fifty years of roofing experience and experience working with Seattle roofing contractors, so it will know what kind of roofing you want. The Roof Brokers group can put you in contact using the contractor that you need so that you don't have to search for contractors individually.

What Should You Demand from Your Contractor?

Whenever you finally obtain a contractor in the Seattle area, you need to do lots of research on the roofing contractors themselves. Request a summary of previous companies or persons the contractor worked with in order to get a clear view of the roofing contractor's work ethics and roof quality. Your roofer must also possess the appropriate working licenses and city licenses needed by the Seattle city government.

Select a Seattle roofers that insures its employees, and that has courteous workers who'll respect your thinking and ensure that your needs are met. Ensure that you obtain the best bang for your buck: if you are unsatisfied with the job, you need to be guaranteed either money-back, or a free, new roof. Moreover, you also need the workers to find the job done on time, so be strict with your deadlines - and discover a contractor that is as strict as you are.

You'll need guarantees and warranties on your roof, so locate a contractor that may meet your financial allowance and roofing needs. If you achieve touching good Seattle roofing contractors, you can be guaranteed a great roof and a better house right in this fantastic city.


Selecting the Right Roofer Company for Replacing Your Roof

The shingles in your roof need replacing and you are minded to find a roofer to change the them. Maybe you have already called a few and are evaluating which contractor to use for your upcoming roof repair. How can you choose the best contractor for working on your roof? Here are several things you should look at when searching for the best roofing contractor.

Where is the roofer located? It is important to hire a roofer that is local. Then you will receive the next step and services information when the roofing company can be found near your house or comes with an office near your residence.
References. To look for the toughness for the contractor, references ought to be provided of the previous customers who're willing to vouch that excellent service was received. This should not be the only real factor in choosing your future roofer as some may claim they value the privacy of their clients and don't wish to bother them. If this sounds like the case, ask for business related references. The locations that provide the contractor with supplies can reveal the amount of materials and regularity of supplying the contractor to help determine their stability.
So how exactly does the roofing contractor company handle complaints? There's a large number of problems that can arise during the progress of a roofing replacement. Ask what their process is perfect for handling complaints when they arise. It is also an excellent idea to get a past client reference who were built with a complaint which was resolved to the satisfaction of the client.
Terms of payment. What are the the payment schemes for the job? What's the deposit and amount due upon completion? While it is certainly reasonable that a substantial payment be produced before a contractor begins focus on a project, it is strongly advised that full payment is not made until after the entire job is finished.
Written contract. All terms of the roofing replacement ought to be place in an itemized contract. No the main contracting job should depend on verbal assurances.
Bonding. You will find stuff that can go wrong with roofing installations that end up costing a substantial amount of money to repair. Should this happen in your roofing replacement, you will feel a great deal better knowing that your roofing contractor is bonded. This can supply the funds to repair whatever mistakes were made. Look for a roofing contractor that's bonded.
Manufacturer Warranty. Quality materials for roofing typically come with a warranty. You should verify that there's actually a warranty on the materials being installed. Request a copy of the warranty.
Length of Time running a business How long has got the company you're interviewing been in business? A short amount of time in business may reflect instability. When the contractor has been in business under 3 years, verify how long they have actually been in the industry. A new contractor might have many years experience focusing on roofs before they form their own business. Seek a company that's been around for 3 years, or where the contractor has had a lot more years performing roofing replacements. It can shouldn't be the only real factor, all of us have to begin sometime. Balance this with referrals and the other points raised in this article.
Appropriate Permits. A Seattle roofer ought to know what permits are required for repairing your roof. They should be conscious of how you can obtain these permits for you. Ask the contractor whether they will obtain the permits essential to repair the rooftop.
Liability. If a worker becomes injured, who's responsible for the workers comp? When the contractor's equipment damages your house, who is responsible for the repairs? A good contractor will give you certificates of insurance for liability and workers comp before they begin repairing your roof.
Subcontractors. Verify if the contractor is going to be using subcontractors. If so, it is strongly advised that everything contained within this article for verifying if the contractor is credible should also be relevant to subcontractors. You should get the names and license numbers of all subcontractors. You need to verify whether each subcontractor can also be insured so you aren't held liable for their accidents.
Pending Legal Actions. You should verify whether there are any legal actions against the contractor. This is not merely necessary for verifying if the roofing company is legitimate (credible roofing companies should not need to defend themselves in court), it's also important just because a lost lawsuit might lead to the contractor to visit bankrupt. If you have made a substantial deposit for services immediately before the company goes bankrupt, you can lose thousands of dollars and not have your roofing completed.
Material Disposal. Who is responsible for disposing of the waste generated in the roof being replaced? Will your contractor handle every aspect of this? Can there be an additional cost for getting rid of this waste?
NRCA Membership. Membership in local or national roofing associations, like the NRCA, shows resolve for staying current with the most effective methods for roof replacement and maintenance. Look for a roofer with a high standard of education regarding their trade.
Replacing your roof is really a significant investment. It makes good sense to ask serious questions before using a roofer. Here are a few more tips that you ought to consider when choosing the best roofing contractor for the upcoming roofing replacement.

Payment. Don't create a full payment for services unless all jobs are finished.
Inspection. Don't make a full payment without doing your final inspection of services rendered.
Workers liens. Do not fully purchase the roofing replacement job until worker's lien releases have been obtained.
Oral Agreements. No agreement should be made verbally without backing up on paper. Every point which are important to you ought to be produced in writing.

 

For the SEO needs, you can examine out Vancouver web design and Vancouver Seo agency

It is true the internet is among the most biggest financial market nowadays. Practically things are anchored on the web. To date, there are more than 182 million web sites on the net whilst still being counting. If each of these websites offers opportunities to earn money, just think of the limitless opportunities that may be perfectly located at the internet. More importantly, with the emergence of web sites, the need for website hosting and Search| Engine Optimization is significantly defined.

Search Engine Optimization is actually the operation of improving the visibility of a site. As a result, if you want your web site to be visible to visitors, you ought to search for Search engine optimization company. The optimization strategy considers how search spiders work and what individuals usually and what keywords they'll use. The main objective of SEO is making sites visible browsing sites from the natural or organic way.


Web Site Designing Development SEO Services Company India Delhi by gingerwebs

Organic search optimization or natural search engine marketing can be a term used in describing unpaid, algorithm-driven outcomes of any particular engine. In other words, organic SEO uses natural strategies in achieving search engine results ranking. While there's two camps with which search engine optimization companies may fall to, which will be the 'White Hat' and also the 'Black Hat', organic SEO would never come under the 'Black Hat' camp.

Organic search engine optimization is really a highly specialized and complex practice which could literally dictate the failure or success of your online business. Since search sites often modify their algorithms, organic SEO just isn't super easy whatsoever. When search bots modify their algorithms, factors that enable your web site to appear in front of potential clients are drastically changed also. Thus, to be able to deal with one of these changes, SEO tactics and methods should be employed.

It is usually ethical to make use of search engines engine optimization since search sites nowadays are becoming extremely advanced they can easily determine whether an online site is attempting to manipulate their search indexes. Thus it is empirical to utilize seo practices which can be completed in a way that appear natural.

The approaches employed by organic search engine optimization and artificial SEO are really significantly different. Basically, organic SEO uses content when compared with artificial SEO's technical loopholes. Moreover, natural search engine optimization provides attracting links as opposed to linking schemes utilized by artificial SEO. Natural SEO also creates valuable resource contrary to artificial SEO's algorithm chasing. With all of these, it's possible to clearly understand why search engine optimization is better than artificial seo. Although the latter may be harder and complicated, it creates favorable results which can be beneficial for any web site. Fortunately, there are plenty of Vancouver SEO companies today that offer the organic method in affordable rates and packages.


Search engine marketing Appears in this area


Free Online Marketing Startegy Consultation  by frankykerney

Once when search engine optimization was actually not essential.

Whilst late being a decade ago, should you developed a Website anywhere, Google indexed it and also you gained visibility in the search results. Your page could have been with a free "estates" where anybody could give a page and Google didn't mind. It might also provide been a pure affiliate page without original content and Google still indexed it.

Things are unrecognizably different now.

Affiliate pages with "cookie-cutter" content duplicated everywhere might never reach the Google index; the same fate is probably for those pages you toss in over a free-for-all website. And also "proper" websites with your own personal url of your website failed to achieve visibility one of the proliferating sites in millions.

These would not have mattered, except for something. It absolutely was Google that provided the bread and butter for that an incredible number of small enterprises that could not afford expensive marketing campaigns. If the site was among the top few sites the appeared before a searcher's eyes when see your face searched for your products, you have hundreds and even 1000s of visitors, many of whom even bought your product or service.

Search engine optimization (SEO) entered the scene. Internet search engine specialists "reverse-engineered" to identify the standards that Google consider for showing websites near the top of its search engine results pages. These factors were then consciously included in your Web pages with the aspiration that Google can have your site the primary ten results it showed around the first page.

Weight loss of your competitors adopted search engine marketing practices, things became difficult again. Your situation started to slip if your competitors did the SEO better. SEO battles became serious fights with every dirty trick being employed.

There were "black hat" SEO practitioners who showed one page to look engines and the other to human visitors. As search engines weren't bothered with readability, you can fill the "search engine" page with pure gibberish, but gibberish written in a way that the engine dutifully indexed high.

A war of wits followed between unscrupulous SEO practitioners and appearance engines. Google changed its ranking algorithms regularly to be effective around practices that allowed low value content to look near the top of its search results. In the end, Google's success been dependent on providing value to searchers, not merchants. And SEO practitioners developed new tricks.

We will look at search engine marketing in a series of articles, beginning having an look and feel at on-line or Web marketing.

 


To your SEO needs, you can check out vancouver web design and Vancouver SEO company.

 

Cedar Roofing: Benefits

Cedar shakes are only in regards to the most great looking shakes currently available. Frequently designed from red-colored cedar about the coniferous forests of northwestern Usa, they're only the best roof covering materials for proprietors who prefer supplying his or her roofs a natural look.

Unique cedar shingles are naturally resistant to the weather, this is the key answer why cedar shingles are widely-used generally throughout various climatic conditions. They're generally for sale in several specific qualities. A minumum of one will be the shingle made out of red cedar as the other is produced out from the vibrant variety. Red cedar shakes are made from tight-grained particles that will be previously saturated with tannic acidity that experts say is surely an all-natural additive. Red cedar shingles that will be dipped in creosote to prevent corrosion and therefore are desirable to homeowners simply because they put in a rich and unique check out one's property or home.

It is critical to observe that red cedars usually change dark-colored if exposed continuously to seaside weather. Because of this, sea side homes need white cedar shakes. Red cedar shingles are usually a lot more expensive when compared with white cedar types, despite the fact that cost factor doesn't diminish its reputation in anyhow. They might be preferably perfect for classic Colonial houses while white cedar shingles appear to be image suitable for bungalows and bungalows that have been built-in Nantucket design.

Over time, classic cedar shakes have mislaid in a place to synthetic shingles that emulate the cedar appear. Superior systems are used to make these types of shingles have a for an extended period life-span when compared with unique cedar shingles. Most include advanced UV inhibitors and also have about 5 decades of steady guarantee. These shingles in many cases are great insulators and many superior ones offer a much cooler inside during summer season and a warmer inside during harsh winters.

Cedar shakes, mostly accessible in honey, cinnamon, and silvery gray colors, need several level of repairs and maintenance. They might need initial procedure ahead of installation. White cedar shakes for instance, may be addressed with bleaching oil which needs to be done nearly every six to seven years to improve their durability.

Cedar shakes and cedar shingles are either CCA treated or otherwise not CCA treated. CCA stands for chromated copper arsenate. CCA can be a chemical that stops the rise of mold, mold and fungus therefore it assists in keeping insects from eating away your personal wonderful cedar roof. CCA cedar could make your homes roof keep going longer, but CCA isn't A fireplace TREAMENT. Cedar that has been fire treated can be acquired, however your roofing company must special order it. CCA treated cedar shingles cost 15 - 20% greater than non-CCA cedar. Most cedar roofs are usually not CCA treated.


New Cedar Roof by Stephen Rees

Cedar shakes and cedar shingles are excellent, plus they are also a good purchase. Information of terms for example CCA, advanced quality, Number 1, blue label and black label will assist you to pick the right cedar roof for use on your home.

Elite Roofing & Home Improvements, LLC provides detailed information about shingles, cedar shakes, fiberglass shakes plus more. Elite Roofing & Home Improvements, LLC is associated with the nation's Roofers Association.

Uncover more about cedar shingles, and obtain more articles and resources about cedar shakes at cedar roofing materials and shakes website.

 

Cedar Shingle Roof Vs Asphalt Shingle Roof


A cedar shingle roof remains highly coveted by homeowners. It's one of many oldest roofing products which includes continued to be constantly used within the centuries. Around new roofing materials continue being developed, cedar shakes still endear themselves to many. Below is really a comparison analysis of the cedar roof versus an asphalt roof.

Pros of Cedar Roofing shingles

Cedar shakes contribute to much better air flow inside the entire home. The shingles permit the the place to find breathe well without trapping moisture around. This assists to maintain the structure of the property who is fit longer. Cedar Shakes are durable and strong. They like an increased capacity bugs. A cedar shingle roof will fully stand up well on the various weather onslaughts. Storms, hurricanes, powerful winds and flying debris will barely damage the outer lining of your cedar roof. Along with matures beautifully with all the passing years, which makes it much more desirable. A cedar roof adds a definite charm to your residence. Cedar is instantly for sale in lumber yards and require a lot of expertise or specialized tools to set up.

Cons of Cedar Shakes

If rot shows its head, choosing compelled to alter the whole lot. It is not easy extracting just the affected pieces. They may happen to be nailed down in a fashion that each elimination proves difficult. Cedar Shingles don't last well to constant wetting. If you live in an area where rainfall is heavy or frequent, cedar shingles aren't a great choice. Frequent wetting causes mold or mildew to create in. Replacement and repair could be a costly business. Your very best self protection against constant wetting should be to use wide overhangs. Also, if the property is shaded by many trees or nearby buildings, cedar shingles often develop mold. You'll be compelled to replace them earlier than you planned. Cedar Shingles tend to be more flammable than asphalt shingles. Many areas use a building code in place that restricts cedar shingles to minimize the danger of fire. To set up a cedar shake roof, you need to have your budget about the higher side. Frequent maintenance can be essential to keep the roof in good shape. Mildew and rot are ever-constant threats for some cedar roof.


Red Cedar Roof with Copper work by Cazeault Roofing &amp; Exteriors

Pros of Asphalt Shingle Roof

An asphalt roof is probably the least expensive to get and install. They are available in various designs and colours, including a typical, flat turn to a 3-dimensional look. Asphalt shingles have a great capacity fires unlike cedar roofing. An asphalt roof can certainly reduce the risk of fires due to flying embers. Asphalt roofs are easier and cheaper to set up than cedar. They're also low maintenance roofs.

Cons of Asphalt Shingle Roof

Algae is more susceptible to grow on asphalt roofing than cedar shingles. It causes the top to develop somewhat with the stain which spoils the look. You will get an anti-algae coating done in your asphalt shingles but this enhances the cost. When it comes to stability, an asphalt roof is more apt to be blown off by strong winds than the usual cedar roof.

You can learn more about cedar roofing materials, and acquire more articles and resources about cedar roofing shakes at cedar roof shingles and shakes website.