Posts Tagged ‘google’

The importance of working in a healthy environment

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

If you ask a group of people which factors are decisive for a job to be pleasant, their answers will be various. Some of them will surely mention the salary, for some others the fact that the job should be creative and not repetitive, but probably all of them will agree that a healthy and pleasant environment helps keep the temper high and, indirectly, produce more.

An environment that is healthy in every aspect.

Building a luminous, bright office, with some plants to remind us that we are not in a factory but rather in a growing environment, coloured walls to awaken our creativity, spacious desks and some little comforts such as a well-equipped break area where you can relax for some minutes: these are all investments that will surely be paid back daily by the satisfaction given by all employees, at all levels.
Anyone entering your office will have the pleasant feeling that should always pervade the places where a high concentration is required for many hours every day. From the customer to the employee, everybody will breathe a healthier air, where smiles are welcome.

Clearly, according to the company’s dimension and financial conditions, these elements can be taken care of with different degrees, but it is necessary that every company leader is committed and does not underestimate this crucial aspect.
Google, for example, has aroused interest (also) in this sense, ending up at the top of the hit of Fortune, one year ago, which put the American giant at the first place among 100 companies as “Best Company to Work for”.

Salaries surely have an influence in making Google’s work environment so special, but what was mostly appreciated at the time was the possibility to try new experiences in a lively context, as you can see in the video made after Fortune’s research or in the one above.

There is no need to reach the excesses of Google, which in a golden moment had even hired specialized cooks to prepare free food for its employees. But when you start up a new activity – considering of course the difficult times we are going through – do not forget to focus some of your attention on this aspect. A healthy environment is important for everybody.

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Posted in TamTamy, Uncategorized, enterprise 2.0 | 1 Comment »

Search Engine Optimization: the importance of contents

Monday, February 9th, 2009

One of the most important elements to make your site or corporate blog known on the Net is its indexing by search engines such as Google (SEO).
Even if most 2.0 tools available at the moment (blogs, wikis, etc.) are already optimized so that contents can be well used and indexed, with some tricks it will be much easier to increase your Page Rank and have a good ranking.

- The title. As far as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is concerned, it is not important that the title is particularly impressive, as it should be for the reader. It should rather be made of keywords that express the concept that will be developed in the post or in the article.
A good title will thus be obtained with a balance between these two values, so that both parts (SEO and readers) are satisfied.

- The “slug” = URL of the post. When you create a post, you must always check that the corresponding URL recalls its title. Most blog platforms already do this automatically or enable the user to set it (see WordPress). Always remember to check that this function has been correctly set and possibly choose a platform in conformity when you decide to open a corporate blog for yourself or for a customer or partner.

- Tags and categories. Tags and categories are generally always connected from a blog’s homepage through tag clouds or links. Consequently, the Page Rank of the pages of tag archive and category archive will increase “inheriting” part of the rank associated to the homepage. It is thus important that they are always used correctly.

- Opening of the post. The first two or three lines of the post are those which are read and found by search engines, so they must synthesize the subject that will be then developed in the post.

- Names of the images. When you insert a photograph or an image in a post or in a web page, you should not underestimate the importance of the name which will be associated to it, as well as the one inserted in the ALT tags.

- Links. When you link another blog, site or webpage in your blog, it is fundamental that you associate it to a word or a sentence which describes it properly. For example, it is recommended not to link words such as “here” or “in this page” when you refer to external and even more to internal links. If you are talking about companies, for example, you can insert the link on the word “Enterprise 2.0” or on the name of the company itself.
In this way, search engines will associate that word to a specific link and, should these be very numerous, this will help that keyword to appear in the first places in the lists of results.

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Posted in TamTamy, enterprise 2.0 | No Comments »