A recent study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of music listening in reducing depressive symptoms.  Researchers systematically searched 9 databases and reviewed 17 studies.
They found that listening to music over a period of time helps to reduce depressive symptoms in the adult population. All types of music potentially worked, depending on the preferences of the listener.

According to the study, as reprinted on the website Green Med Info:

“There is a need to conduct more studies, which replicate the designs used in the existing studies that met the inclusion criteria, on the level of efficacy of music listening on the reduction of depressive symptoms for a more accurate meta-analysis of the findings and reflect with greater accuracy the significant effects that music has on the level of depressive symptoms.”

Sources:

Complementary Therapies in Medicine December 2011; 19(6): 332-348

  Green Med Info

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“Twenty years ago when we were environment adult a tiny business, we had to go and buy a personal mechanism or a tiny server … and we had to have an IT veteran and we had to run it in-house.

The right thing for a tiny business to do now is to not have any computers solely a things that are on people’s desktops and on their smartphones … and do all in a cloud.   … The components would be an email system, a calendar system, a sales force automation system, and afterwards a things that’s straight for whatever their business is.”

These comments constraint a elemental change that tiny businesses are going through, within a past decade.  Increasingly, we tiny businesses are transitioning a computing needs to a “cloud computing” model.  While we don’t cruise it’s probable for all tiny businesses to discharge internal servers and use program that is totally in a cloud as Schmidt suggests, one thing is clear:  gradually, year by year, we are headed in that direction.

Today we not usually can get email and calendar applications “in a cloud,” though we can find any series of other business applications:

• request creation, spreadsheet and presentation
• HR and payroll applications
• inventory management
• accounting
• invoicing and remuneration applications
• email marketing services
• project government apps
• CRM software
• helpdesk
• and most more

In fact, The Small Business Web lists 26 opposite categories of Web-based program applications in a office of scarcely 200 apps for tiny businesses.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

The expansion of cloud computing is a clear certain for tiny businesses, given of pivotal money-saving advantages.

Usually there is no vast up-front responsibility in a form of a large program license.  Instead we compensate a most smaller monthly use fee.  This allows we to widespread out your costs, and eases your money flow.

You also are relieved of a complexity and responsibility of loading and progressing program on your possess computers.  All we need are computers for finish users to entrance a focus with an Internet tie and a Web browser.  And given we don’t have to say a program internally, we can by with a smaller IT staff (or maybe get by with no in-house IT).

What to Consider When Choosing a Cloud App

But as some-more program moves to a cloud, certain considerations take on larger significance.  Here are 3 things to cruise when choosing  Web-based program applications

(1)  Does a program app confederate with other program or apps we have? – Most apps tend to do a slight set of functions.  If you’re perplexing to automate your whole business or a routine end-to-end, we will substantially have to square together mixed program apps from opposite providers. If a online program services do not interoperate with one another, we and your staff could finish adult doing primer work to pierce information from one complement to another around spreadsheets or by keying in a same information into mixed systems.  Or, you’ll have to go by a responsibility of profitable for program growth to make opposite packages interoperate.

The Small Business Web helps with some of this issue.  In a directory, it indicates that program apps integrate  with other program apps.  It also indicates either there’s a published API — that way, if we do have to formula some program in sequence to pierce information from one app to another or make dual program packages integrate, a charge will be easier, cheaper and faster.

(2)  How secure is a information going to be? – With Web-based program services, your information used in a applications will be sitting on a server somewhere “in a cloud.”  In other words, your information will be in a hands of another company.  Inquire of a association what they do to keep information secure and private.

It’s an critical doubt to ask, though tough to get answers we can verify.  One approach to prove yourself is to hunt in Google to see if there have been open reports of confidence breaches involving a company.   Also, cruise a distance of a program provider.  Large companies tend to have review and word mandate that force them to consider their processes and put in place safeguards opposite information breaches.  Small providers and startups might have looser (or nonexistent) policies and procedures for doing your data.

(3) Will a businessman be around for a prolonged haul, and continue ancillary and enhancing a app? This is critical to ask for any software, it takes on new definition when a association has your trusted data.

About a Author

Anita Campbell is a Founder of Small Business Trends that has been following trends in tiny businesses given 2003. She is horde of a weekly Small Business Trends Radio Show, with over 300 interviews logged; and owners of BizSugar, a social media site for tiny businesses.

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Posted via email from chiromarketing posterous

Great post about making sure your chiropractic marketing and websites are optimized for mobile search. Do this.

http://www.cikmarketing.ca

Is your business using search engine optimization to reach potential customers searching for information online? Of course. But is your search engine optimization designed to work on mobile phones? Reports from CTIA show that more than 90% of US households access the internet via mobile networks; compare that to an estimated 74% of at home Internet users (according to Nielson). A shift is happening has happened online – is your business aware of the change?

Onsite Optimization Practices for Mobile Marketing

If you’re new to the world of mobile optimization, don’t worry – here are a few tips to help get you started:

1. Remember to use valid code.

If you haven’t made the switch to XHTML, there’s no better time than the present. Many website designers don’t consider using valid code as a best practice; unfortunately, this will be to their detriment when they start coding mobile layouts. Mobile search engines may have trouble digesting invalid code.

2. Follow accessibility practices closely.

Accessibility helps ensure that your content can be read by all mobile platforms, including mobile search engines. Unfamiliar with accessibility? Check out the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiatives for pointers and tips.

3. Follow traditional SEO best practices.

Web companies used to spend time crafting mobile specific domains (.mobi). These sites were equipped with lighter content and faster load times to help accommodate early mobile browsers. Of course, much has changed since those early mobile devices. Mobile browsers are far more “normalized” nowadays, which means they function very similar to Internet browsers. Mobile search optimization standards are now much closer to standard seo practices, so follow the rules. Need a refresher on optimizing techniques? Check out this post for tips.

Make Sure Your Mobile Site is Indexed

There’s long been a misconception regarding how exactly small business owners can get their mobile websites indexed by major search engines. Most people think that just because your regular site is indexed in the traditional Google algorithm, your mobile site with automatically find its way into mobile search results. To better the chances of your mobile website being indexed, don’t forget to create a mobile sitemap (instructions are posted on Google’s Webmaster Central). You can then submit this directly to Google from your Webmaster’s Tool account. Yahoo also has a submission form for mobile websites to help improve your chances of being found.

Make Connecting Easy on a Mobile Site

Blackberry, iPhone, and Android operating systems have one major thing in common – they all allow users to call phone numbers that are listed on mobile-friendly websites. Talk about convenient! Not sure if the phone numbers listed on your mobile website are “click to call?” Check to see how they’re rendering on your smartphone – if the number is “clickable” it should be underlined in your browser.

Don’t Forget About Social Networking

Smartphones have taken social networking to a whole new level. In fact, the vast majority of people prefer to poll their social network when in search of information rather than consult a search engine or phone book. If your small business isn’t present on these networks you’re missing out on a major pool of potential customers. Facebook and Twitter applications are practically standard on cellphones these days, so remember to spend time updating your fans and followers about store promotions and upcoming events. You never know who could be reading your status updates!

Posted via email from chiromarketing posterous

Interesting podcast on using color for branding your chiropractic website.

What are “medical” colors on the internet? I’d say blue, and green some orange.(check out www.webmd.com)
Next question, is it important to use these recognized, although subconscious, colors?

Let me know what you think.

Color As Branding Element

via Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch on 7/13/10

Color As Branding Element

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Kate Smith (Click to play or right click and “Save As” to download – Subscribe now via iTunes

Color has built in meaning and symbolism and can be a strong element of your brand when used strategically.

In this episode of the Duct Tape marketing podcast I visit with Kate Smith Color Expert, Career Color Trend Forecaster, and Editor of Sensational Color, a site featuring a wealth of information on the subject of color.

In this episode we talk about the various meanings of color such as red, green, and blue, and how the physiological impact and messages certain colors contain can play out in your business. Kate also reveals her 5 steps for using color in business.

Another great resource for all things related to color is ColourLovers.

In this podcast:
Why Color has Meaning
Common Color Associations
Five Steps for Color and Your Business
Companies that use Color Well
Color Combination and Your Message

Image credit: quinn.anya

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• Powered by Contextual Related Posts

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Posted via email from chiromarketing posterous

Creating content either via blogs or through a website is a vital part of seo. Using a blog or website to become an authority on chiropractic topics is essential for long term passive link building. The more high quality content a chiropractor can create to help perspective patients find his or her website, the better chance another chiropractor or health professional will stumble upon it and link back to that chiropractor’s website.

Creating great websites and building links are still at the core of SEO, but it is important to create video and social strategies given how the search engines have changed. Search engines will continue to experiment with social media to customize results for users based on their social network as well as incorporate “real time” data via Twitter and other micro-blogging services. It is very important for businesses to stay on top of these changes in order to take advantage of any new opportunities.

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Great article on the latest news about Yelp.

Yelp Answers Extortion Claims With Major Site Changes

via Small Business Trends by Lisa Barone on 4/6/10

The big news you need to know today is this: In the face of February’s class action lawsuit and claims of extortion, Yelp is rolling out a number of major site changes to increase transparency and remove any question of impropriety once and for all.

What’s changed and what does it mean for small business owners and advertisers? Here’s a rundown.

Users will now be able to see ALL reviews left for a business

The first change to Yelp will allow users to see every review that has been on a business profile, including reviews that had been previously filtered out. Yelp’s review filter has come under attack lately as users began to wonder why certain reviews would “disappear” over time. A few weeks ago Yelp released a video on its review filter, explaining that sometimes legitimate reviews that were either overly negative or overly positive were filtered out to create a median effect. This meant that a user was never able to see every legitimate review that was left for a business. With this morning’s change, now they can.

Yelp hopes the increased transparency will help users to see that the review site is not filtering out reviews to favor advertisers and that all businesses are being treated fairly. According to Mashable, the additional reviews will be made available through a new link on all business pages and will show every review left for a business. Of course, be careful what you wish for. With Yelp now showing ALL reviews, it means everything that is left about your business, whether Yelp feels it’s legitimate or not, will be available for public consumption. For example, the nasty review your competitor left you? It’s now viewable. On the upside, all positive reviews that Yelp had previously filtered for being “too positive”  will also be seen.

Yelp will discontinue Favorite Reviews

Much of the controversy around Yelp came from the Favorite Reviews feature which allowed advertisers to select the first review that showed up on the page. There had long been some confusion (and rumor) that advertisers were given preferential treatment and could also have negative reviews removed for the right price or control what appeared on their page.  Yelp has strongly denied these allegations and has now removed the feature to put an end to any further speculation.

From the NYT article:

“Despite our best efforts, there’s still obviously confusion out there about what you can buy on Yelp, so we’re making a change to simply drop this feature,” [Yelp’s co-founder and chief executive, Jeremy Stoppleman]said.

According to reports, the Favorite Reviews feature will soon be replaced by one that allows business owners to post videos to their Yelp page, which seems pretty cool.

Overall, this is a big move for Yelp. As I mentioned, it wasn’t more than a few weeks ago that Yelp released a video explaining the workings of its review filter. Now, users are getting an even larger peak behind the curtain. While I applaud the increased transparency of Yelp here, I wonder if they’re not about to shoot themselves in the foot. By allowing users to figure out which reviews have been filtered out, you start to show your cards a bit in terms of how your algorithm works, thereby making it easier for those with bad intentions to game it. Obviously, the entire Yelp site is based on the integrity of reviews, which is why Yelp is making these changes to begin with.  The more public your filter becomes, the more of your ’secret sauce’ you’re letting out.

From a user standpoint, however, the changes will hopefully shed a bit of light on how Yelp works and show Yelp to be an unbiased source of reviews. As search becomes more local and with services like FourSquare nipping at Yelp’s heels, the review site needs to re-emphasis its commitment to the small business community. And these changes focus on doing exactly that.

Posted via email from chiromarketing posterous

One of the best kept secrets of the search engine optimization and search engine marketing industry is the expired domain name auctions that exist out there. If someone does not renew their domain name, it is frequently put up for auction on by the registrar itself, like Godaddy. If you do not renew your domain name at Godaddy.com, then there is a good chance that the domain name will appear on their expired domain name auctions.

The expired domain name auctions are a best kept secret in the search engine optimization industry because many do not take advantage of these expired domain name auctions. Sure, you may have an existing website. But what if you were able to purchase the domain name of a competitor and redirect all of their traffic over to your website? Whether or not redirecting that traffic to your website helps your search engine ranking is debatable (and may change in the future). But, simply buying an expired domain name of your competitor and redirecting it to your website should bring some more traffic and sales, right?

I do own my share of domain names, and from time to time will list the domain names I am not going to use for sale. Here is a list of the domain names that I have for sale this week and a link to their domain name auction:

One of the reasons why I suggest that you buy a keyword rich domain name from a service like the Godaddy Expired Domain Name auction is because keyword rich domain names are going up in value every day. If you just buy a keyword rich domain name as an investment, then you will make money from it in the future. But, if you are looking to develop a website then it is a good idea to find a domain name that contains your keywords, not only for search engine ranking purposes, but because people will know exactly what the website is about.