Alt Attribute & Search engine optimization

SEO Optimization images has become more and more essential in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for websites. The ALT attribute is really a critical step that is sometimes forgotten. This is often a lost chance of better rankings.

In Google's webmaster guidelines, they advise the use of alternative text for the images in your web site:

Images:. Make use of the alt attribute to provide descriptive text. In addition, we recommend using a human-readable caption and descriptive text round the image.

Why would they ask us to do that? The answer is easy, really; search engines have the same problem as blind users. They can't see the images.

Many webmasters and inexperienced or unethical SEOs abuse the use of this attribute, trying to stuff it with keywords, looking to achieve a particular keyword density, which is not as relevant for rankings now since it once was.

On the contrary, high keyword density can, on some search engines, trigger spam filters, which might result in a penalty for your site's ranking. Even without such a penalty, your site's rankings won't benefit from this tactic.
This method also puts persons who use screen readers at a greater disadvantage. Screen readers are software-based tools that actually read aloud the items in what's shown 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 then 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 should not be used as a description or perhaps a label for an image, though lots of people use it in that fashion. Although it may appear natural to assume that alternate text is really a label or perhaps a description, it's not!

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

The thing would be to provide the same functional information that the 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 question: Should you replace the image using the text, would most users receive the same basic information, and would it create the same response?
A few examples:

 

Some SEO Optimization Tips

If your search button is a magnifier or binoculars its alt text should be 'search' or 'find' not 'magnifying glass' or 'binoculars'.

If an image is supposed to convey the literal contents of the look, a description is suitable.

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

If it is meant to convey the use of a function, then your function itself is what ought to 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 only a decorative role within the page, make use of an empty alt (i.e. alt="") or a CSS background image so that reading browsers don't bother users by uttering things like "spacer image".

Remember that it is the function from the image we're trying to convey. For instance; any button images shouldn't include the word "button" in the alt text. They ought to emphasize the action performed through the button.

Alt text ought to be based on context. The same image inside 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 is going to be read with adaptive technologies like screen readers. Someone hearing your page should hardly be aware that a graphic image is there.
Please keep in mind that utilizing an alt attribute for every image is needed to satisfy the minimum WAI requirements, that are used as the benchmark for accessibility laws in UK and the remainder of Europe. They are also required to meet "Section 508" accessibility requirements in america.

It is useful 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 make a site visually appealing/attractive and (in many cases) fulfill the marketing departments. There isn't any content value (though there may be value to some sighted user).

Never alt-ify eye-candy unless there is something there which will enhance the usability from the site for somebody utilizing a non-visual user agent. Use 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 actually set the atmosphere or set the stage as it were. These graphics are not direct content and may 't be considered essential, but they are essential in that they help frame what is going on.

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

For instance; Alt text that is identical to adjacent text is unnecessary, and an irritant to screen reader users. I suggest alt="" or background CSS images in such instances. But sometimes, it's important to understand this content inside for those users.

Most times 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 use this example is a judgment call.

III. Content and Function

This is where the look may be the actual content. Always alt-ify content and functional images. Title and long description attributes can also be in order.
The reason many authors can't understand why their alt text isn't working is that they don't know why the pictures are there. You have to determined precisely what function a picture serves. Consider what it's concerning the image that's vital that you the page's intended audience.

Every graphic has a reason behind being on that page: since it either improves the theme/ mood/ atmosphere or it is critical to what are the page is trying to describe. Understanding what the look 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 over the telephone to someone. An amount you say when encountering a specific image to create the page understandable to the listener?

Aside from the alt attribute you've got a couple more tools available for images.
First, in degree of descriptiveness title is within between alt and longdesc. It adds useful information and may add flavor. The title attribute is optionally rendered through the user agent. Remember they are invisible and never shown as a "tooltip" when focus is received via the keyboard. (A lot for device independence). So make use of the title attribute only for advisory information.
Second, the longdesc attribute points to the Link to a full description of an image. When the information found in an image is important towards the meaning of the page (i.e. some important content will be lost when the image was removed), a longer description compared to "alt" attribute can reasonably display ought to be used. It may 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 the image...The goal is to use any period of description essential to impart the details of the graphic.

It wouldn't be remiss to hope that a long description conjures a picture - the image - in the mind's eye, an analogy that is true even for that totally blind."

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

In many cases, you're better off just choosing your gut instinct -- if it's not necessary to incorporate it, and if you don't possess a strong urge to do it, don't include that longdesc.

However, if it's necessary for the whole page to work, then you have to add the alt text (or title or longdesc).

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

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

Image Seo optimization Tips

Listed below are key steps in optimizing images:

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

Label the file extension. For instance, if the image internet 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 likely to assume that it is graphic;

Make sure that the written text nearby the image that's highly relevant to that image.
Again, do not lose a great opportunity to help your site together with your images searching engines. Use these steps to position better on all the engines and drive more traffic to your site TODAY.

Website Optimization

Note the Client companies are based in either the US or Canada and the “percentage of traffic outside key service areas” are based on each client’s target market.

For instance, if a client only services the US only, any traffic outside the US would be traffic outside their service area.

Evaluating Your Own Traffic For Relevance

To use our own web design and Internet marketing business as an example, we service both Canada and the US, but were getting 24% of our traffic from other international countries. Big portions of that traffic were companies looking to sell their services to us.

These international visitors would fill in our web forms and call us to inquire, untimely skewing our website analytics data by not giving us a real understanding of how our website was performing to quality prospects.

A solution had to be implemented to significantly reduce the amount of resources we were dedicating to people outside our service areas.

Ultimately, we didn’t want to be contacted from people we couldn’t help. The four possible solutions we considered were:

1. Create a custom report in Google Analytics to filter out the unwanted data (reporting related)


2. Adjust the content of our website (website related)


3. Block the traffic from specific Countries from viewing our website (server related)


4. Don’t change anything.

Option #1

When evaluating the first solution, creating a custom report to filter out this data in Google Analytics, this would clear up our analytics data. Implementing a filter would provide a more realistic picture of quality prospects we could service in our geographic area instead of those prospects or solicitors in other counties we don’t service.

This option didn’t run the risk of blocking any traffic or robots that we do want. It’s also a simple filter to add in Google Analytics. We set up another Profile with the country exclusions filters. A new Profile was the preferred approach, rather than going through the extra steps of creating Custom Reports.

However, setting up analytical filters doesn’t fully resolve the issue, since these visitors could still access our site, fill in web forms, and contact us, ultimately wasting resources that we could dedicate elsewhere.

It wouldn’t give us a true picture of what was going on. It also wouldn’t resolve the problem – we didn’t want to be contacted by companies from some outside countries.

Option #2

Updating the website content to say you only service a specific area is another solution that we considered.  This would inject more geo-targeted keywords into your site, which would help in local SEO. Adding a graphical map, drop-down options and/or links that allow the visitor to select their country would help qualify visitors.

Some of the downfalls of this option include spending a much higher amount of time to implement versus the other options. The success of this would also be dependent on how honest the visitor is.

Assuming visitors are reading your website content, adding geo-targeted keywords into your site would set a clearer expectation of service area delivery. However, this option still doesn’t resolve the issue of sharing contact information that allows unsolicited visitors to contact us and invalid web form data.

Option #3

How about blocking or filtering visitors automatically based on their IP address? When considering to block website visitors by IP it’s important to first evaluate the reliability of the IP address(es). The accuracy of an IP list is over 99.5% on a country level and 80% on a city level. The smaller the location, the less reliable the IP address.

Internet Service Providers change IP addresses they designate to customers. Some change them more frequently than others, which is why you want to keep the database of IPs updated. Scheduling a monthly update is typically a good routine if city level IP authentication is required. Country level is much more static.

The benefit of blocking the country via IP address would not only clean up analytical data, but also ensure our sales funnel was more efficient and provide a more accurate picture of real prospects in all systems. We needed to consider other issues in this approach.

One concern was the potential for a search crawler coming from an IP in the location we were planning on blocking. For example, there was a possibility that Google’s search crawler would also be blocked if it came from the same country. The implementation of this option is more technical. One would need to obtain a list of IP addresses for the desired locations and update the websites htaccess file.

In our example, the inquiries from some countries became so frequent that we couldn’t ignore it any longer. After much debate, we decided to ban the countries; however, we would only ban one at a time to evaluate the effects.

For instance, one of the largest traffic sources, accounting for approximately 20% of this, was from India, a market we don’t service. These Indian visitors were companies looking to sell their services to us.

We executed the ban in the polite Canadian way. We also implemented the Google Analytics profile with the country filter to monitor future website statistics versus the past.

Those visitors that came from our blocked list would land on a different page that displayed a nice message. It read: “Thank you for visiting. However, we don’t provide services in your area.”

In sum, the tests have gone over very well. Banning the country from our website has significantly cut down the number of unsolicited calls, emails and web form requests. It also gave us a much more accurate picture of how our website was performing within our own target market and service area.

Considerations For Blocking Traffic By Location

If you’re considering this strategy, some factors to consider when filtering visitors include:

• Why do you want to filter website traffic?


• Which locations would you want to filter?


• How much traffic do you currently get from locations outside your service area?


• How important is this traffic?


• How to funnel visitors outside your service areas?


• The accuracy of the IP addresses locations in mind.


• Effects of non-human visitors.

A few months after we implemented this, we received a direct mail package that contained pens with our logo on them from a company that wished to sell us branded pens.

Guess what it said under our logo? “Thank you for visiting. However, we don’t provide services in your area.” We had a good laugh. Someone obviously didn’t read what they printed. It was evidence that our website block was working and a nice souvenir.

The key takeaway, as always, is monitor your traffic and conversions. Track where your quality traffic is coming from and decide for yourself if you should block the traffic of certain countries. Make sure to proceed with caution to ensure that you are not missing some opportunities.

Think outside of the box for other ideas of how you can use that traffic. Perhaps referring the traffic to a partner or creating a unique service for specific markets is another option to consider.

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: 100% Organic - Search Engine Optimization Tips | SEO: General

Search engine marketers and usability engineers want to understand why we go to websites and what we do after we arrive at a search results page. They ask questions like:

• Are we satisfied with where we landed?


• Did the engine provide accurate results listings?


• Was our click choice a positive one?


• Did we stay on the site or leave?


• If we left, what search result better matched what we wanted to find?


• Was it the search results or did we have a bad experience with the web page we landed on?

Both search engines and human factors related fields study our intent.

Author Matt Bailey points to the depth of the importance of intent in his new book, Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day.

“Search engines are integrating more multimedia and allowing deeper access to documents and media earlier in the search process. They are attempting to determine the intent of the searcher and deliver results accordingly.”

What is our intent? Why do we visit the Internet? Why do we use search sites such as Google and Youtube?

In a 2009 ComScore study (comScore, 2009), they found that “Nearly one out of every ten minutes a person spends online around the world is spent on a Google site.” This includes the search engine itself, Youtube, which they own, Google books, email, Google reader and more.

Clearly, marketers want to be sure their clients’ websites perform well in Google’s web properties. Not doing so can wreck the success of a business.

Search Behavior = People Who Search

Shortly after search engines and information sites appeared on the Internet, case studies zeroed in to understand why, who, where, when, where and how humans use them. Hot on the trail, too, were analysts interested in learning about site traffic, popularity, rank and how to make money from it.

Many of you were guinea pigs during the 1990’s when web page backgrounds were gray with black text, and animation, 3D images, scrolling text boxes, rotating banners and blinking images were all part of a typical user interface.

As fun as all those things were to create (I loved animating images), web designers had to buckle to user preferences.

Search engines learned what we really come to the Internet for. Perhaps search engine sites are not suitable for certain subject types when it comes to information searches. In order to improve search engine design and SEO marketing efforts, we try to understand user intent and goals for searching.

It’s been well established at this point that search engines are used by us to find information. What kinds of information are most popular?

A recent study from Australia on who uses search engines found that half of search engine queries were looking for a particular website, while the other 50% were split between ecommerce and popular culture searches.

The study also pointed to what is referred to as “leisure searches”. The findings present the idea of search sites not only for information gathering or shortcuts to web sites, but they’re also sources for leisure, with one in six of all searches estimated as being leisure searches.

The Australian study offered some surprising details for anyone wondering what we’re searching for, by subject. Adult site searches fell into the middle, with ecommerce being second, edged under a tad by popular culture topics. Health, weather, contemporary affairs and government are the least popular searches.

The study stood out from others because it included and factored in the lifestyle of their participants. This is different than user testing labs or Eye tracking tests. To their surprise, lifestyle choices had no measurable impact on the type of search queries. In fact, new questions were raised on user –searcher behavior.

For example, do Internet users tend to go to particular trusted web sites for information on healthcare, computing and contemporary affairs, rather than use search engines? Does the distribution of the most ranked subjects searched for represent user interests or the suitability of search engines for looking up certain types of topics?

Another study (Broder, 2002) narrows search engine user behavior as informational, navigational, transactional and leisure. Half the searches in the study were navigational and one-third, transactional. Half of all searchers know where they want to go.

What Does This Mean To Search Marketers?

The most obvious is that it’s time to accept usability studies into marketing strategy. And, user experience professionals can no longer devalue the role of search marketers. Both camps provide essential skills and expertise needed for web site projects.

A lot of what’s happening on the Internet is relationship building. The global community wants this so badly they invented social networking sites and social marketing to drive interest and generate revenue from these new site sources.

Emotional web design is no accident. We’re emotional beings. Empathy makes us connect with others.

“In life and business, focus on creating win-win situations. Look beyond the immediate sale in order to connect with customers as people.” – Steve Harper, The Ripple Effect.

Despite our developing mental models and creating user personas, we remain on the edge of understanding who uses our stuff. Wouldn’t it be grand if stakeholders got out of their offices and actually interacted with the people who use their websites?

I’ve often wished I could video people who multi-task at home, with one hand on a laundry basket, an ear to the cell phone and a hand reaching for the laptop nearby. What does that busy person search for and how? Can we make their experience less stressful?

Division between marketing and user experience will dissolve as both approaches discover they need each others’ data to do a better job for their clients.

There’s no question that a passion for usability and search engine marketing leads to their fascinating cousins, like information architecture, findability, captology, analytics and neurology. There’s also no question that money can be made by optimizing for and advertising in search engines.

Studying user behavior is a win-win for search engine technology, search marketing and website usability and human factors.

Cited Resources:

Broder 2002; A Taxonomy of Web Search (PDF)

Waller, Vivienne 2010; Not Just Information: Who Searches for What on the Search Engine Google?

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Just Behave

seo optimization services

Bench Craft Company on the art of interesting

Fewer than 1 percent of website visits come directly from a social media URL according to research just released by customer satisfaction analytics experts ForeSee Results.

The company surveyed 300,000 consumers on more than 180 websites across a dozen private and public sector industries. The referring social media sites covered were not just the usual suspects like Facebook and Twitter, but over 40 sites including Flickr, Foursquare, Scribd, Stumbleupon, Meetup and Youtube.

It’s not all bad news for social media marketeers. 18 percent of site visitors (averaged across surveyed websites) report being influenced by social media to visit a website. However, there was considerable variation in the results for different companies.

The social media budgets of marketers is constantly increasing as the survey data to the right shows. Forsee Results’ research showed that the resources companies put into social media and the results they receive vary wildly. Spending more money does not automatically lead to higher numbers of visits to websites, brand awareness or sales.

Promotional emails are also sometimes neglected in favor of the more glamorous social media, in spite of the fact that such emails influence 32 percent of purchases.

Companies themselves seem a bit confused about their objectives when it comes to social media. Internet Retailer Magazine surveyed 400 U.S. companies (19 percent of them retailers) in December 2009 and January 2010. It found that 74 percent of companies wanted social media to drive traffic to their websites, while only 56 percent wanted it to increase sales. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Next Story: Why mobile app success is more than just download numbers Previous Story: Battle brewing at Microsoft over retail store expansion

Fewer than 1 percent of website visits come directly from a social media URL according to research just released by customer satisfaction analytics experts ForeSee Results.

The company surveyed 300,000 consumers on more than 180 websites across a dozen private and public sector industries. The referring social media sites covered were not just the usual suspects like Facebook and Twitter, but over 40 sites including Flickr, Foursquare, Scribd, Stumbleupon, Meetup and Youtube.

It’s not all bad news for social media marketeers. 18 percent of site visitors (averaged across surveyed websites) report being influenced by social media to visit a website. However, there was considerable variation in the results for different companies.

The social media budgets of marketers is constantly increasing as the survey data to the right shows. Forsee Results’ research showed that the resources companies put into social media and the results they receive vary wildly. Spending more money does not automatically lead to higher numbers of visits to websites, brand awareness or sales.

Promotional emails are also sometimes neglected in favor of the more glamorous social media, in spite of the fact that such emails influence 32 percent of purchases.

Companies themselves seem a bit confused about their objectives when it comes to social media. Internet Retailer Magazine surveyed 400 U.S. companies (19 percent of them retailers) in December 2009 and January 2010. It found that 74 percent of companies wanted social media to drive traffic to their websites, while only 56 percent wanted it to increase sales. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Next Story: Why mobile app success is more than just download numbers Previous Story: Battle brewing at Microsoft over retail store expansion

bench craft company

NFL owners, union resume mediation in Minneapolis

The NFL and its locked-out players have completed their first day of mediation under a court order and will meet again Friday as they try to resolve their labor dispute.

bench craft company

GWU Suicide Tragically Coincides with Obama Speech - FoxNews.com

George Washington University students in Washington, D.C. learned of a tragic coincidence of timing on their campus Wednesday. As President Obama delivered a speech on deficit reduction in the Jack Morton Auditorium, ...

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Wii 2 to be revealed at E3 – report <b>News</b> - Wii - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our Wii news of Wii 2 to be revealed at E3 – report.

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Apple should see a material dip, on top of the one that occurred
after I indicated that I was short the stock on March 16th. Before we
delve into my opinion, let’s peruse the news from 1 a.m. this morning:

WSJ: Apple Crunched in Nasdaq Rebalance- In
a move likely to ripple across the stock market, Nasdaq OMX plans to
announce a rare rebalancing of its Nasdaq-100 index, which will reduce
the big weighting of Apple, which currently makes up more than 20% of
the index.

Bloomberg: Apple’s Weight in Nasdaq-100 to Be Reduced as Microsoft, Cisco Are Raised

So, why do you think Nasdaq decides to reduce Apple’s weighting now?
Well, the competitive pressures that Apple faces are nigh guaranteed to
make it impossible for it to fulfill the pie in the sky expectations
that are being built for it.  That in combination with a 20% weighting
create a recipe for a guaranteed crash in the Nasdaq unless something
was done about it. Signs of heavy reliance on on or two products for 70%
of their profit, while sourcing the most important parts of those
products from their biggest competitors, were starting to show. iPad 2
supplies are tight due to Japan’s woes, and Apple does not have the
mobile computing product diversity to handle it like the 150 or so
Android competitors it is battling. This means much more than just a gap
in profits for the quarter. These companies are in race, and Apple is
being forced to give up some of its lead due to diversification issues –
issues that Android manufacturers (who are more diversified because
there are so many more of them from different places) don’t have, or at
least not to the extent that Apple does. Thus, Samsung, LG, Asus, HTC,
etc. will be rolling out to customers who may have had an Apple iPhone
or iPad.

This is also another (of many) massive triumphs of BoomBustblog
research over that of the most esteemed Godman Sachs who put a $430
price target on Apple just as it was making all time highs and in direct
contravention to BoomBustBlog’s stated logic. See Shorting Apple and Why Software Developers Can Make More Money On Android Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

I have finally started dabbling with Apple
shorts and puts. My OTM S&P put positions were profitably stopped
out due to trailings yesterday when the market recovered some of its
losses. I have decided to use Apple in the place of the S&P puts
for the time being. Medium to long term, the trade is more evident and
obvious to anyone who is objective and follows BoomBustBlog. It is
significantly more risky shorter term. Alas, there are marginal gains
already, and once they accrue to the point of indemnifying my trailing
stop, I will add more. After I finish the current leg of my global real
estate research to be disseminated to institutions, I will offer
tidbits of the modeling (I have already offered subscribers significant
info on why I think Apple is a risky long play). From a contrarian
standpoint, it may be safe to go short with tight stops, after all
although Apple Gears Up To Combat The Margin Compression That Apparently Only It, Google & Reggie Middleton Sees Coming, we still have those guys over at West Street… Goldman’s
$430 Target, Screaming Buy On Apple At Its All Time High Is In Direct
Contravention To Reggie Middleton’s Logic – Who’s Right? Well, Who
Has Been More Right In The Past? I have taken The Challenge To Goldman Sach’s Apple Proclamation One Step

Farther, Apple’s Closed System Risks
Failure! Listen, everyone, regardless of what investment positions or
tech products you may have in your stable, needs to ask themselves the
appropriate “What if’s”. I have spurred the conversation with “Will Google Win The Mobile Computing War? Let’s Walk Through Where They Stand Now & How To Value Them”

Remember, I may not always be right, but it does pay to look at the track record…  Did Reggie Middleton, a Blogger at BoomBustBlog, Best Wall Streets Best of the Best? More attention should be paid to the little guy, after all by now it is Now Common Knowledge That Goldman’s Investment Advice Sucks!
Didn’t you get the memo? I’m sure many traders have spurned Apple due
to the Japanese market being cut off right at the launch of the iPad 2,
but the issues go deeper than that. I will cover it in depth at a later
date, though.

Additional thoughts on the Apple short:

1. Note For The Few Realistic Apple Bears… Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
2. Buffet on Apple – Common Sense! Monday, March 21st, 2011
3. Competition Heats Up In The Mobile Computing Space On Many Fronts – Prices Driven Down Once Again By The Big Players Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
4. How the “I Love Apple, There Is No Other Fever” Adds To The Attractiveness Of An Ever So Unpopular Apple Short Monday, March 21st, 2011

And that Research in Motion short alert
given to subscribers is working like a charm – even more so if it get’s
caught in  NASDAQ storm: Research in Motion Drops 10% After Hours, Precisely As We Warned Two Months Ago – MARGIN COMPRESSION!!! Thursday, March 24th, 2011

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bench craft company

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.

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class="dropcap">Bill Thomas used to be a climate change skeptic, not believing that humans could have influenced the dramatic atmospheric shift, but two weeks in the woods — and chats with scientists — changed his mind.

“I remember vividly that first day with Dr. Jess Parker; he showed us a chart of CO2 levels increasing about the time of the industrial revolution,” says Thomas, who works for HSBC bank and participated in a 2007 Climate Champions training program. There, a personal epiphany led to a job title change — the former relationship manager for HSBC Technical Services is now group head of HSBC Technology and Services Sustainability.

Teaching employees the science behind green corporate values and how to make their workplaces sustainable isn’t just for “green” show — done right, it’s good business strategy.

“There seems to be a huge growth of interest among companies to not just keep the environmental initiatives within a subset of employees, but to make it a pervasive part of the corporate culture,” says Krista Badiane, who manages the business and environment program at the National Environmental Education Foundation.  And unlike broad, mandated rules — such as carbon caps — companies that create their own initiatives take ownership and credit for sustainable changes, which may well go beyond what laws would have dictated.

By cultivating current workers’ energy-saving ideas and environmental passions, companies can save resources, energy and money as well as boost their eco-friendly reputation. The key is to help employees learn why sustainability matters — for instance, unless it’s slowed, climate change could alter global landscapes and increase natural disasters in our lifetimes. And if employees realize what’s at stake, they’ll find ways to save resources at work — as well as at home.

Worker to Citizen Scientist/> In a patch of woods in Edgewater, Md., bordering Smithsonian Environmental Research Center campus buildings, HSBC technology managers are intently straightening a measuring tape wrapped around a mature oak. Phil Clarke, from Portland, Ore., leans in and meticulously gets a reading of its diameter: 94.8 inches. During this weeklong Sustainability Leader training, he’s learning what scientists do and what shape the planet is in. He knows that the measurements taken today — even though what they reveal won’t be known for awhile — will help guide decisions that will keep our world sound for future generations.

His employer, HSBC bank — a global financial services company with 300,000 employees working in 8,000 offices and pre-tax profits topping $11 billion — decided to go carbon neutral in 2005. For the past three years, HSBC bank has partnered with EarthWatch Institute for an international study on climate change’s effects on tree growth, as well as a program that trains employees around the world in sustainability. When workers return to the office after their forest immersion, they find ways to integrate newly learned sustainability lessons in their spheres of influence.

Clarke and the other HSBC technology services managers from around North America — key decision-makers hand picked for the training — earn the title of Sustainability Leader. A larger two-week program trains HSBC employees from all levels — from cashier to marketing staffer — to become Climate Champions.

Such citizen science training helps corporate employees understand the mechanics of science — that systems are complex, and that there are no easy answers. “You learn what a critical state the world is actually in,” says Annette Fasolino of HSBC’s payment operations division in Buffalo, N.Y.

Having that up-close experience with scientists and ecosystems helps employees better grasp how climate change is impacting, and may impact, the world. “Many of these people go back and question their decisions, and make sure they’re making the most sustainable decisions,” says Thomas.

Cultivating the Grassroots/> Though the partnership between HSBC and EarthWatch is unique, other companies are also looking to their staff for sustainable solutions. “There’s no one best program for a company to educate their employees,” Badiane says.

Some companies or groups of motivated employees organize green teams, which promote eco-friendly changes and teach colleagues sustainable alternatives. Initiatives range from banning disposable utensils in the lunchroom to redesigning an operating system to save raw materials. “Ideally, you’re getting some new ideas out of your employees,” says Deborah Fleischer, president of Green Impact, a sustainability consulting service.

Businesses also use social media sites such as Yammer — a private social network for companies — or online training to generate sustainable ideas.

Other companies dangle a carrot — awards and incentives — to get workers to make sustainable choices. Yogurt maker Stonyfield tied facility energy savings (based on energy use per ton of product) to employee bonuses. In this way, the company reduced energy use by more than 22 percent, according to a NEEF report.

To engage workers of all levels, eBay employed competition: a Big Green Idea Contest. To enter, employees identified ways the company could meet greenhouse gas reduction goals; then, employees voted on the top ideas. One idea, the eBay Box — simple, eco-friendly packaging that’s meant to be reused for eBay shipments — has become a useful tool that saves money and resources.

Unfortunately, some companies’ efforts are no more than greenwashing stunts to appear eco-friendly and keep up with their competition. Producing disposable trinkets with “green” logos or launching environmental-focused public relations initiatives while pushing pollution limits does not jive with true sustainability. The companies mentioned here, however, offer genuine solutions that leave a lighter footprint.

Two Kinds of Green/> Such engagement can yield significant savings: One North American HSBC Climate Champion noticed that co-workers weren’t shutting down their PCs every night, wasting energy. Now, NightWatchman software automatically shuts down more than 6 million computers left on. During fiscal year 2010 in North America, the software coupled with an awareness program saved 4 million kilowatts per year of electricity and about 900 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which shaved $332,000 on energy bills.

At defense contractor Lockheed Martin, a Camden, Ark., building uses a software system to control lighting and air conditioning, leading to more than $200,000 in reduced costs and savings of 2,332 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the NEEF report. And at drugmaker Genetech,  green teams slashed the use of bottled water, saving the company $200,000 a year by using filtered water machines paired with reusable bottles, according to a white paper by Fleischer, “Green Teams: Engaging Employees in Sustainability.”

But benefits to a company can’t always be calculated in dollars.

“By creating an engaged employee base, we’re really putting it into hearts and minds of employees, and that’s going to be much more powerful and long-term than saying ‘you must turn off your PC,’” says Sharon Walck, senior vice president of sustainability at HSBC North America.

Investing in and teaching sustainable values to workers also boosts retention, according to NEEF, which is extremely important to large corporations. The foundation says losing and replacing a good employee can cost a company between 70 percent and 200 percent of that employee’s annual salary.

And, Badiane says, “employees who are motivated want to work for a company that has the same values.”

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Small Business <b>News</b>: Small Biz Social Media Tips

In recent weeks we've shared articles on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others. Now it's time to look at how all these tools are.

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Roofing Companies Vancouver - 5 Questions to Ponder

Roofing Vancouver - Frequently Asked Questions

1. Repair or Replace?

There's no opinion like an expert opinion. Most contractors will provide you with a totally free estimate. Get a summary of a couple trusted contractors and phone them well ahead of time of when you wish to get your 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 children.) The fact is, nobody wants an ugly roof just like nobody wants to be viewed with bed hair. If you've got a good quality roof and you just need to do the repair, it's worthwhile to pay for the price of the initial shingle instead of doing patchwork. A roof replacement doesn't happen very often (we hope!) and thus make a choice that suits you and your loved ones well or it'll stick out just like a sore thumb everyday you decide to go home.

3. Should I replace the rooftop so I can sell the home for additional?

Consider this very carefully before making a decision. Depending on the roofing material you select, a brand new roof lasts between twenty, fifty, to one-hundred years! This means you have to check the year of the roof that's currently too deep first. Are you at year 18 of a 20-year warranted roof or year 30 of a 50-year warranted roof? Obviously, the standard is what makes the rooftop last longer, but if you're not planning to stay in your present home for the rest of your life, the larger expense might not be worth your investment. Although a new roof can enhance the value of your value, the increase might not be enough to pay for neglect the and that's definitely going to hurt your wallet.

4. Is it advisable for me to repair the rooftop myself?

Sure it's. Before you do, consult a specialist first. You can do it yourself, however, you shouldn't be considered a complete ‘lone ranger.' Depending on the extent of your repair, you may or may not change your mind. Either way, 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, sweat, and money to become mister or miss fix-it.

5. Just when was a good time to find the roof replaced?

Weather can cause delays from days to weeks. Most people prepare yourself to have their roof replaced in the summer once they know someone will be home throughout the day for any solid two weeks. Once you've this era in your mind, make a call to a trusted contractor months in advance to get a quote. Some companies get reserved fast and odds are, they're the most reputable. Preparing in advance of the summer also provides you with time to discuss with many compare costs...especially if you need to possess the roof made by a specified date.

 

The very best Roofing Company In Vancouver!

It is possible to leak inside your home's roof? Perhaps you have lost shingles or tiles inside a storm? Have overhanging branches caused damage? Is your roof more than Two decades old and showing wear and tear? Are your gutters overwhelmed and draining poorly?

If the response to these questions is "Yes" it is time to call the very best 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 accomplish roof replacement. All while using finest quality materials, installed with precision and the highest level of customer service.

YOUR Vancouver ROOF DESERVES Believe it or not!

The roof of your Vancouver home is the very first line of defence against wind, rain, snow, ice along with other weather elements. Make sure it is up to the task. Among Vancouver Roofing companies, only Crown Roofing has the depth of expertise and successful track record to ensure 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 resolve for our neighbors. We treat your home as though it were our own and we were building a roof to safeguard our own family. That's what neighbors do, and you will 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 the Vancouver ROOF.

Visit the Roofers Vancouver for any FREE inspection and evaluation of your roof. Give you the very best roof for your Vancouver home, in the cost effective. We build roofs to last!

 

Tacoma Roofing company: Make your Home Beautiful

Not many people understand the value of a solid roof, but your knowledgeable Tacoma Roofing contractor does. From first hand experience, they will be able to let you know why you require a strong, secure, and leak-free roof on your home.

The local Tacoma Roofing company is well aware how important a financial investment your house is for you, especially as it is a lasting one. Your home might have been damaged slowly through the years and also you have to take steps to reduce this damage. For a number of people, keeping their property 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 one of the aspects mentioned above. Because of this, you need to employ the services of qualified a Tacoma Roofing contractors.

Kinds of Roofs installed by a Tacoma Roofing contractor

One of 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, but they can be easily taken care of by a trusted Tacoma Roofer. It's imperative that you nip roof problems in 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 see if you will find any issues or potential problems with it. If there are, they might be able to tell you how to deal with them.

A Tacoma Roofing contractor Helps to Build Strong Homes

The exteriors of any 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, whenever your gutters show signs and symptoms of trouble, your roof also needs to be inspected for problems. Whatever issues there may be, a skilled Tacoma Roofer can examine them at length and suggest the remedy.

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

Reverse Damages by using a Tacoma Roofing contractor

However high quality the rooftop might 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 just associated with warranty made by the manufacturers. They seldom last that long. Realistically speaking, "25 year" shingles won't last a lot more than fifteen to twenty years. In an area that's prone to storms, shingles or the entire roof may need to be replaced every ten years. With a Tacoma Roofer, the price is going to be less than what you believe.

If there you lose any shingles, or there's some harm to them, a Tacoma Roofing company will be able to help you. Damaged shingles can lead to indoor leaks, since the substrate of the roof becomes exposed to the sun and rain. Shingles which are loose or broken can slip off and pose a potential hazard to people standing below. Missing shingles create a gap which allows rain, wind, ice, and debris to build up underneath the adjoining shingles, which results in 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, should you call them track of your suspicions of loose or missing shingles.

Your Tacoma Roofer will be in a position to tell you what are the best option is for your roof. In case your roof is not in a good shape, it's advised that you have it replaced completely. The Tacoma Roofing company may take you thru the different roofing possibilities for you which will fit your requirements as well as your budget.

Tacoma Roofing company: Enhancing your Home's Efficiency

Your homes roof shelters you from storms, sleet, and hail. By providing adequate ventilation, your roof protects your house from overheating, by holding within the heat, it keeps your home warm. That's why you need to prepare your roof from indoors in addition to outdoors for any kind of weather emergency. A professional Tacoma Roofing contractor can provide assist in this case.

First of all, inspect your roof thoroughly for just about any and all sorts of kind of damage, prior to the beginning of the year. The gutters should be clear, debris shouldn't be piled on or trapped under shingles, there should be no homes of squirrels or birds in the eaves or attic, and the roof should be structurally sound. For your last part, you'll need the help of the local Tacoma Roofing company. It can be quite dangerous to climb to the roof of your house. This is when the contractor from Tacoma Roofer is available in. He'll read the strength and security of your roof and shingles, and do a general inspection from the entire roof structure, to make sure that it's in proper working order. They'll be able to point towards problems that you need to keep close track of and problems you might not have spotted.

You will need all of the assist you to could possibly get from the Tacoma Roofer. You are able to help your homes roof by installing a gutter guard or leaf cover to assist prevent debris from forming in 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 when they're loose, tighten them. Do something to alter 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 can be recommended because of your Tacoma Roofer, if you will find any repairs to become done.

Tacoma Roofer: Someone You are able to Count On
In the event that you realize or suspect that there is a problem, your Tacoma Roofer should be contacted. They are able to use their knowledge and expertise to obtain your home back in ace condition by simply focusing on the rooftop. Your roof deserves attention. So give them a call today, so that they can get down to working on your roof.

 

What is Distinction between Commercial Roofing Companies From Residential Roofing Companies

If you are getting a roofing company to re roof your home or building then you can be wondering what the differences are between residential roofing companies and commercial roofing companies. To begin with, the main one big difference is that often times an industrial roofing company may have signed an agreement with and be obligated to a roofing union in in a position to focus on union commercial jobs.

If this is the situation then their labor costs will prohibit them from working on non union residential jobs. Beyond that, if your commercial roofing company has not signed an agreement having 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 tend to run smaller companies and therefore, tend to be more capable of bid competitively on residential jobs, which are usually smaller than comercial jobs. Actually, quite often residential roofing contractors will run one man operations, where the contractor that you simply talk to may be the one which actually does the job about the building.

Also, liability insurance for commercial roofing is more epensive along with a larger bond is needed for any commercial roofing work which will make it not cost effective for a commercial roofer to complete residential roofing jobs.

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

 

Difference Between Commercial Roofing and Residential Roofing

Did you know that the roof of the building includes a huge effect on the whole structure itself? Damage caused to roofs due to natural or other disasters leads to a considerable lack of property everywhere. The type of materials accustomed to construct the rooftop that ought to be sturdy and long-lasting, the way in which the roof has been installed and even its timely maintenance are extremely crucial. There are two kinds of roofs which are used on all of the buildings that people see around us: commercial and residential. Although it might seem that commercial roofing is done just for businesses or offices and residential roofing is done for apartments and houses, in reality the differences tend to be more complicated than that.

Residential roofing is usually completed just by one hired contractor but commercial roofing usually takes a whole team to complete the job. The reason being an industrial roof tends to be larger when it comes to sq ft than a residential roof.
Commercial roofs need to be made carefully keeping the character and reason for your building in mind. For instance, if 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 apart from a chimney or two at the most.
Commercial roofs tends to be flat in design to support further changes in a later period, whereas most residential roofs have peaks along with other architectural features like roof gardens.
Commercial roofing is a lot more expensive than residential roofing because of the special tools, materials and safety equipment which are needed onsite. Often the patching or maintenance work is completed in segments unlike for any residential roof where the repair or replacement work can be carried out a short time. This really is one more reason why the equipment employed for residential roofs is usually smaller and less costly too.
Commercial roof installations take a longer time to accomplish compared to residential roof installations and therefore are usually constructed in large sections. During this phase however, you should ensure 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 a building based on its purpose. Ensure that you hire a construction company that uses first class materials and has the right equipment for the job or your investment may turn to be considered a huge loss later.

 

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

If a business is looking to have work done on its roof, it is important to work with commercial roofing contractors that have an enthusiastic knowledge of any special needs that the business might have. As an example, a roofing job can often be disruptive for that operation of economic as usual. For this reason, it might be necessary for the business to be temporarily turn off, or for the roofing to take place after business hours have ended. A roofer that understands these needs can work plus a business to make sure that these kinds of issues are minimized.

First of all , a company must do when it's trying to find commercial roofing contractors is to discover who other businesses in the region are working through. Obviously, this article not be helpful whether it comes as a suggestion from competitors, but there are circumstances by which it is not too difficult to locate these details from suppliers or retailers. Since roofing isn't an industry-specific service, this information is easily available.

It's a wise decision for any business to get in touch with a minimum of three commercial roofing contractors to make bids about the price. In this manner, the company could get a better price. It's also important to make sure that each of the roofing contractors is licensed and bonded. These details can be found by getting touching their state contractor's board. This also makes it possible to determine whether there have been any claims filed from the company previously.

When looking at bids, it is just as vital to look at what services are being offered and which products will be used because it is to look at the overall cost. The prices can differ quite drastically, but as tempting as it can be to go for the cheapest bid, this is not always the best option. Oftentimes, more costs now means fewer costs over time as a result of a poor roofing job. To help investigate the caliber of the job, it is a wise decision to check on with the Bbb in order to find out if the company continues to be accredited, and when it's not, to a minimum of see what its rating is.

 

Selecting a Commercial Roofing Contractor

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

When you begin your search for a roofer not only do you have to answer those questions however, you should also find someone which will do a top quality job without a lot of time delays. Going about finding someone can feel like an obstacle by itself but there are several ways to make the search easier.

Ask people around you for referrals and try to find a minimum of three contractors to give you written bids in your job. Before you go any further you need to ensure that the contractors you are considering are fully licensed and bonded. An easy search with the state contractor's board will verify in case your roofer is licensed and when you will find any past judgments or claims against their license.

When you select three or four roofers to put bids, you should get ready for that bids to be widely varied. Roofers will have brand preferences which will vary and may factor in more or less than the next guy for any labor estimate. The more detailed an itemized bid is the more helpful it will be to focus on in which the cost are going to be incurred. Don't, however, pick a roofer based solely on the bid price. Any low ball bids might be tempting to consider, but when they are low due to low quality workman ship it may not be worth it ultimately.

As they say, you generally get what you pay for, so if you can afford a mid-priced bid it's always a good idea to increase in your price range instead of down. Additionally you should select your roofer based on how professional these were and how comfortable you anticipate you will be dealing with them.

Finally your cost will vary depending on what type of roofing material you select along with the cost to haul your old roof to the landfill. If you are looking for places to cut corners on your roof, instead of cutting labor set you back might want to ask about a metal roof option. Metal roofs can be cost effective and energy efficient which makes them overall money savers for the long run, and on commercial buildings they can be very low maintenance. Plus given that they can be put along with an existing roof, you don't need to possess the old one removed and hauled away, which can make a big impact on your cost.

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

 

Seattle Roofing Contractors - How To Find The Best

In the home of rain and sleet, commercial coffee and grunge, and also the famous space needle, you'll find a home which will suit you. Seattle, Washington can be a great place to construct a house, 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 that is not only created to last, but built to attract and make your house more beautiful

Harsh Weather

Why are roofing contractors essential within this the main country? Because Seattle is usually bombarded by rain along with other harsh weather conditions, you need a roof that can withstand all the forces of nature. With this thought, you need people who know the Seattle weather best, and who know what materials can best get into your homes roof for it to last far longer in the area. On top this, you have to blend with the remainder from the houses inside your living space, so you cannot simply get whatever roof you please.

In all these aspects, a Seattle roofers will be able to assist you. All you need to do is search for Seattle roofing contractors online so that you can get the best bang for your buck without wondering when the contractor will suddenly run away with it and leave you roof-less.

Why the Contractor Model Works

If you want to set up your homes roof on your own, you'll have to purchase a whole lot of materials, secure permits and licenses, and get materials that are suitable for keep you safe against harsh extremes of Seattle weather. This means that if you are a DIY sort of guy or gal, you'll have to undergo a large amount of legwork to get the job done.

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

Roofing Associations

Most roofing contractors also fit in with roofing organizations which are bound by strict guidelines and standards. If they do well on the roofing job, they can showcase their roofing contractors association; if they do poorly, they are able to 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 do well, to help you be reassured that if you need a roofing job completed in Seattle, you can aquire a contractor from the roofing association to assist you.

For instance, Seattle Roof Brokers operates with more than 500 roofing contractors in the Puget Sound. This group has over fifty years of roofing experience and experience working with Seattle roofing contractors, therefore it will know what kind of roofing you want. The rooftop Brokers group can hook you up using the contractor that you'll require so you do not have to look for contractors individually.

What In the event you Demand from Your Contractor?

Whenever you finally obtain a contractor in the Seattle area, you must do lots of research on the roofing contractors themselves. Ask for a list of previous companies or persons the contractor worked with to get a definite view of the roofing contractor's work ethics and roof quality. Your roofer should also have the appropriate working licenses and city licenses required by the Seattle city government.

Pick a Seattle roofing contractors that insures its employees, and that has courteous workers who'll respect your thinking and ensure that your needs are met. Make sure that you get the best bang for your buck: if you are not satisfied using the job, you need to be guaranteed either money-back, or perhaps a free, new roof. Moreover, you also require the workers to get the job done on time, so be strict together with your deadlines - and discover a contractor that is as strict as you are.

You need guarantees and warranties in your roof, so look for a contractor that may meet your financial allowance and roofing needs. If you get in touch with good Seattle roofing contractors, you can be guaranteed a great roof and a better house right in this fantastic city.

Choosing the proper Roofer Company for Replacing Your homes roof

The shingles in your roof need replacing and you're simply minded to find a roofer to replace the them. Maybe you have already known as a few and are evaluating which contractor to use for your upcoming roof repair. How do you select the best contractor for caring for your roof? Listed here are a number of things you should look at when looking for a legitimate roofer.

Where is the roofing contractor located? You should hire a roofing contractor that is local. Chances are you will get a higher level of service when the roofing company can be found near your house or has an office near your residence.
References. To look for the toughness for the contractor, references should be provided of their past clients who're prepared to vouch that excellent service was received. This will not be the only real element in deciding upon your future roofer as some may claim they value the privacy of their clients and do not wish to bother them. If this is the case, request business related references. The places that supply the contractor with supplies can reveal the quantity of materials and regularity of supplying the contractor to assist determine their stability.
How does the roofer company handle complaints? There's a multitude of problems that can arise during the progress of the roofing replacement. Ask what their process is 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 towards the satisfaction from the client.
The payment schemes. Do you know the terms of payment for the job? What's the down payment and amount due upon completion? While it is certainly reasonable that the substantial payment be produced before a contractor begins focus on a project, it is strongly advised that full payment isn't made until following the entire job is finished.
Written contract. All the roofing replacement should be place in a written contract. No part of the contracting job should rely on verbal assurances.
Bonding. You will find things that can go wrong with roofing installations that wind up costing quite a bit of money to repair. If this happens in your roofing replacement, you'll feel a great deal better knowing that your roofer is bonded. This can supply the funds to repair whatever mistakes were made. Find a roofing contractor that's bonded.
Manufacturer Warranty. Quality materials for roofing typically have a warranty. You should verify that there is actually a warranty on the materials being installed. Request a copy of the warranty.
Length of Time in Business Just how long has got the company you are interviewing been in business? A brief amount of time in business may reflect instability. If the contractor has been around business less than 3 years, verify just how long they have been in the market. A new contractor might have many years experience focusing on roofs before they form their very own business. Seek a business that has been around for 3 or more years, or in which the contractor has already established many more years performing roofing replacements. This again shouldn't be the only factor, all of us have to begin sometime. Balance this with referrals and also the other points raised in this article.
Appropriate Permits. A Seattle roofing contractor ought to know what permits are needed for fixing your roof. They should be conscious of how to obtain these permits on your behalf. Ask the contractor whether they will obtain the permits necessary to repair the rooftop.
Liability. If your worker becomes injured, who's responsible for the workers comp? When the contractor's equipment damages your house, who's responsible for the repairs? A good contractor will provide certificates of insurance for liability and worker's compensation before they start fixing your roof.
Subcontractors. Verify if the contractor will be using subcontractors. If so, it is highly recommended that everything contained in this article for verifying whether the contractor is credible should also be applied to subcontractors. You should receive the names and license numbers of all subcontractors. You should verify whether each subcontractor is also insured so you are not held liable for their accidents.
Pending Legal Actions. It is important to verify whether you will find 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 the court), it's also important just because a lost lawsuit might lead to the contractor to go bankrupt. For those who have made a substantial down payment for services immediately prior to the company goes bankrupt, you could lose thousands of dollars and not have your roofing completed.
Material Disposal. Who's accountable for disposing of the waste generated from the roof being replaced? Will your contractor handle every aspect of this? Can there be one more cost for disposing of this waste?
NRCA Membership. Membership in local or national roofing associations, like the NRCA, shows commitment to staying up to date with the most effective methods for roof replacement and maintenance. Look for a roofing contractor having a high standard of education regarding their trade.
Replacing your homes roof is a significant investment. Celebrate good sense to ask serious questions before working with a roofing contractor. Here are some more tips that you ought to consider when choosing the best roofing contractor for the upcoming roofing replacement.

Payment. Do not make a full payment for services unless all jobs are finished.
Inspection. Do not make a full payment without having done your final inspection of all services rendered.
Workers liens. Do not fully pay for the roofing replacement job until worker's lien releases happen to be obtained.
Oral Agreements. No agreement should be made verbally without backing up in writing. Every point that are important to you ought to be produced in writing.

 

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

It is true the cyberspace is just about the biggest financial market nowadays. Practically things are anchored on the net. To date, there are more than 182 million sites online but still counting. If each one of these websites offers opportunities to earn money, think of the limitless opportunities that can be based in the internet. More importantly, with the emergence of sites, the requirement for internet hosting and Search| Engine Optimization is significantly defined.

Search engine marketing is simply the entire process of increasing the visibility of the web site. As such, if you would like your internet site being visible to visitors, you ought to seek for SEO Company. The optimization strategy considers how search spiders work and what individuals usually and what keywords they use. The key objective of SEO is making internet sites visible in search sites through the natural or organic way.

Search optimization or natural search engine optimization is a expression used in describing unpaid, algorithm-driven results of any particular engine. Put simply, organic SEO uses natural strategies in achieving search engine results ranking. While there are 2 camps with which search engine optimization companies may fall to, and these would be the 'White Hat' as well as the 'Black Hat', organic SEO would never fall under the 'Black Hat' camp.

Organic search engine optimization can be a highly specialized and complex practice that may literally dictate the success or failure of the internet business. Since search sites often modify their algorithms, organic SEO just isn't quite simple whatsoever. When search bots modify their algorithms, factors that permit your internet site to seem before potential clients are decayed too. Thus, in order to deal with these changes, SEO tactics and techniques has to be employed.

It is usually ethical to utilize search engines engine optimization since search sites nowadays have become extremely advanced that they'll easily determine if a web site is attempting to control their search indexes. Thus it really is empirical to make use of search engine optimization practices that are completed in wherein appear natural.

The approaches utilized by organic search engine optimization and artificial SEO are very significantly different. Basically, organic SEO uses content compared to artificial SEO's technical loopholes. Moreover, natural seo provides attracting links instead of linking schemes utilized by artificial SEO. Natural SEO also creates valuable resource contrary to artificial SEO's algorithm chasing. Effortlessly these, you can clearly realise why organic search engine optimization is better than artificial seo. Even though latter could be more challenging and complicated, it produces favorable results that are beneficial for any site. Fortunately, there are plenty of Vancouver SEO companies today offering the organic method in affordable rates and packages.

Search engine marketing Appears in this area

There was a time when search engine optimization was actually not necessary.

Whilst late like a decade ago, in the event you made a Web page anywhere, Google indexed it and also you gained visibility in the search engine results. Your page has been in one of the free "estates" where anybody could put in a page and Google didn't mind. It might also have been a pure affiliate page without any original content and Google still indexed it.

Situations are unrecognizably different now.

Affiliate pages with "cookie-cutter" content duplicated everywhere might never make it to the Google index; the same fate is likely for those pages you add in on the free-for-all website. And even "proper" websites with your own personal domain name did not achieve visibility among the proliferating sites in millions.

These wouldn't normally have mattered, aside from something. It absolutely was Google that provided the bread and butter for that millions of smaller businesses which 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 product or service, you have hundreds as well as a large number of visitors, lots of whom even bought your products or services.

Search engine marketing (SEO) entered the scene. Internet search engine specialists "reverse-engineered" to recognize the factors that Google consider for showing websites towards the top of its search results pages. These factors were then consciously integrated into your Web pages in the hope that Google will show your site among the first ten results it showed about the first page.

As more of one's competitors adopted seo practices, things became difficult again. Your role began to slip if your competitors did the SEO better. SEO battles became serious fights with every dirty trick working.

There was "black hat" SEO practitioners who showed one page to look engines and another to human visitors. As search engines are not bothered with readability, you might fill the "search engine" page with pure gibberish, but gibberish developed in wherein the engine dutifully indexed high.

A war of wits followed between unscrupulous SEO practitioners and appearance engines. Google changed its ranking algorithms regularly to work around practices that allowed low value content to look near the top of its serp's. After all, Google's success leaned on providing value to searchers, not merchants. And SEO practitioners developed new tricks.

We'll look at search engine optimization inside a number of articles, starting off with an look and feel at on-line or Online marketing.

 

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

 

Cedar Roofing: Many Benefits

Cedar shakes are simply in regards to the most great looking shakes on the market today. Frequently designed from red-colored cedar around the coniferous forests of northwestern Usa, they're only the best roofer materials for proprietors preferring supplying their roofs an organic look.

Unique cedar shingles are naturally resistant against sun and rain, that is the key answer why cedar shingles are widely-used generally throughout various climatic conditions. They're generally available in several specific qualities. A minumum of one may be the shingle made from red cedar as the other is produced out of the white colored variety. Red cedar shakes are designed from tight-grained particles which can be previously saturated with tannic acidity that experts say is definitely an all-natural additive. Red cedar shingles that will be drizzled with creosote to avoid corrosion and so are desirable to homeowners given that they put in a rich and unique turn to one's property or home.

You need to remember that red cedars usually change dark-colored if exposed continuously to seaside weather. As a result, sea side homes have to have white cedar shakes. Red cedar shingles are usually a lot more expensive when compared with white cedar types, although cost factor doesn't diminish its reputation in anyhow. They might be preferably suitable for classic New England houses while white cedar shingles appear to be image suitable for bungalows and bungalows which were built in Nantucket design.

In recent times, classic cedar shakes have forfeit in a place to synthetic shingles that emulate the cedar appear. Superior systems are utilized to make these kind of shingles possess a for an extended period life-span in comparison to unique cedar shingles. Most include advanced UV inhibitors and also have about 5 decades of steady guarantee. These shingles are often great insulators and lots of superior ones give a much cooler inside during summer months plus a warmer inside during harsh winters.

Cedar shakes, mostly obtainable in honey, cinnamon, and silvery gray colors, need several quantity of repairs and maintenance. They might need initial treatment solution in front of installation. White cedar shakes for instance, could be given bleaching oil which needs to be done virtually every six to seven years to improve their durability.

Cedar shakes and cedar shingles are either CCA treated or otherwise CCA treated. CCA means chromated copper arsenate. CCA is a chemical that stops the increase of mold, mold and fungus therefore it assists in keeping insects from eating away your own wonderful cedar roof. CCA cedar might make your homes roof go longer, but CCA isn't A fireplace TREAMENT. Cedar that has been fire treated can be obtained, your roofing company have to special order it. CCA treated cedar shingles cost 15 - 20% a lot more than non-CCA cedar. Most cedar roofs are usually not CCA treated.

Cedar shakes and cedar shingles are excellent, and they're another good purchase. Information of terms including CCA, advanced quality, # 1, blue label and black label will allow you to find the right cedar roof for use on your home.

Elite Roofing & Home Improvements, LLC provides detailed information about shingles, cedar shakes, fiberglass shakes and much more. Elite Roofing & Small remodels, LLC is connected to the nation's Roofers Association.

Discover more about cedar shingles, and obtain more articles and resources about cedar shakes at cedar roof shingles and shakes website.

 

Cedar Shingle Roof Vs Asphalt Shingle Roof

A cedar shingle roof remains highly coveted by homeowners. It really is among the oldest roofing products that has continued to be constantly in use within the hundreds of years. Just as much as new roofing materials carry on being developed, cedar shakes still endear themselves to a lot of. Below is really a comparison research into the cedar roof versus an asphalt roof.

Pros of Cedar Roofing shingles

Cedar shakes give rise to greater air circulation within the whole house. The shingles permit the where you can breathe well without trapping moisture around. It will help to maintain the dwelling of the home who is fit for longer. Cedar Shakes are durable and strong. They enjoy a greater capacity bugs. A cedar shingle roof will stand up well for the various weather onslaughts. Storms, hurricanes, powerful winds and flying debris will barely damage the outer lining of one's cedar roof. The color matures beautifully using the passing years, rendering it a lot more desirable. A cedar roof adds a distinct charm to your dwelling. Cedar is instantly accessible in lumber yards as well as doesn't need a lot of expertise or specialized tools to set up.

Cons of Cedar Shakes

If rot shows its head, you'd be compelled to alter the whole lot. It is not easy extracting merely the affected pieces. They could are already nailed down in a fashion that each elimination proves difficult. Cedar Shingles don't hold up well to constant wetting. If you reside within an area where rainfall is heavy or frequent, cedar shingles aren't an ideal choice. Frequent wetting causes mold or mildew to create in. Replacement and repair might be a costly business. Your very best protection against constant wetting is always to use wide overhangs. Also, if the house is shaded by many trees or nearby buildings, cedar shingles often develop mold. You will be compelled to exchange them sooner than you planned. Cedar Shingles tend to be flammable than asphalt shingles. Many areas use a building code in position that restricts cedar shingles to lessen the chance of fire. To create a cedar shake roof, you need to have your budget in regards to the higher side. Frequent maintenance can be essential to keep your roof who is fit. Mildew and rot are ever-constant threats to some cedar roof.

Pros of Asphalt Shingle Roof

An asphalt roof is one of the most inexpensive to purchase and install. They are available in various designs and colours, which range from a regular, flat use a 3-dimensional look. Asphalt shingles have a great effectiveness fires unlike cedar roofing. An asphalt roof can certainly reduce the risk of fires caused by flying embers. Asphalt roofs are easier and cheaper to set up than cedar. They are also low maintenance roofs.

Cons of Asphalt Shingle Roof

Algae is a lot more prone to grow on asphalt roofing than cedar shingles. It causes the cover to develop somewhat of the stain which spoils the look. You can get an anti-algae coating done in your asphalt shingles but this increases the cost. With regards to stability, an asphalt roof is much more likely to be blown off by strong winds compared to a cedar roof.

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