http://www.theinfofile.com/ Articles at The Info File.Com en-us http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/what-to-know-about-rss-and-search-engine-optimisation.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/what-to-know-about-rss-and-search-engine-optimisation.html Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:02:24 +0000
One of the most important elements of a RSS feed is the channel title. The channel title is the first thing a website visitor will see so it should make a first good impression to attract the visitor's interest. Put many keywords in the channel title that are relevant to the general theme of the RSS feed. This will also help search engines to properly categorize your feed. If you are going to use a company name or brand put it at the end of the RSS feed channel title not the beginning.

The channel description should give the reader a general synopsis of the feed's content. While it is good to include keywords and phrases for search engine optimization, the main purpose is to attract human readers. Therefore make it easy to read. Do not include any HTML in the channel description to keep compatibility with RSS readers. Search engines and RSS feed directories use the channel description when building an index to a feed. This makes a channel description a very important element in RSS structure.

RSS feed item titles should be written like a newspaper headline, about 50 to 75 characters long, and should contain keywords. Leave HTML out of titles. A well written title will attract readers.

Carefully proofread to catch all grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. While you do want to optimized the feed for search engines you still want to put the reader first. This is because it is the quality of the feed that will make the reader click through to your site. Poorly written feeds turn off readers and you will lose them forever.

Optimize your anchor text with specific keywords and phrases. This will help in getting your feed syndicated and being re posted by other publishers. A properly optimized anchor text will help in search engine website ranking.

Old items in your RSS feed should be deleted. Feeds that are too large will slow down RSS readers or not display. Perform regular maintenance on your feed items to prune old items.

An effective technique is to use the H1 and H2 header tags to show item titles. Separate URLs with hyphens not underscores. Include keywords in the header tags to optimize your page.

Using an image in your RSS feed is a great way to establish brand recognition. Expert recommend a 88x31 for the size of an image. An image will greatly improve the feed's appearance in an RSS reader. Warning: make sure to use the full URL of the image otherwise you will get a broken link if the feed is syndicated.

Many RSS feed directories will display your site's favorite icon. Use a favicon in the domain's root directory to make your feed standout when they are listed in a RSS feed directory. It is well worth the time to optimize your feed to obtain its full potential as a marketing tool. These simple tips about RSS and search engine optimization will have positive results in increasing traffic to your site. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/take-your-business-public-here-is-the-process.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/take-your-business-public-here-is-the-process.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:09:41 +0000
Prior to filing the registration statement, a company that wishes to go public must first obtain an audit of the Company's financial statements for the past two fiscal years. For most companies, the financial audit can be completed in about a month and costs typically range between $5,000 and $25,000, depending on the complexity of the company financials.

A public company will also need shareholders. To that end, if additional shareholders are needed, the company going public will need to complete a self-underwritten Regulation D, Rule 506 offering in which the company sells shares of its stock to investors for real consideration. This is not a difficult task, so long as you have a properly prepared private placement memorandum (PPM) and you follow the relatively simple rules of Rule 506. The price per share and number of shares offered can be determined by the Company, but most registered broker-dealers that will eventually submit a Form 211 for an OTC Bulletin Board quotation prefer to have a minimum of 400,000 shares distributed among the investors.

In addition to the minimum number of shareholders requirement, a company must have free-trading shares, called the 'float', in order to go public. Upon completion of the private offering and the financial audit for the prior two fiscal years, an S-1 Registration Statement must be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to register the shares sold in the private placement, thus creating the free trading shares. The completion of the S-1 process with the SEC will make the Company a 1934 Exchange Act reporting company, which is required in order to obtain a quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board. The SEC will review the S-1 and provide comments within 30 days from the filing date. Comments from the SEC typically relate to the terms of the offering, the Company's business and its financial statements. It usually takes between 2 to 3 months for the SEC to approve a registration statement on Form S-1 and for the S-1 to become effective. However, the actual amount of time will depend on the level of review and number of comments given by the SEC and the corresponding response time by the Company in filing its amendments.

Shortly after filing the S-1 registration statement with the SEC, a market maker must be 'engaged' to file a Form 211 application with FINRA for the purposes of obtaining a quotation of its common shares on the OTC Bulletin Board. It is important to note that market makers cannot receive compensation for making a market in a stock, thus typically you must have connections to accomplish this. The timetable for approval of the Form 211 process is approximately 3 weeks to 5 weeks. However, the Form 211 will not be approved until the S-1 is approved by the SEC since the approval of the S-1 provides the "free trading" shares necessary to obtain the OTC Bulletin Board quotation.

The completion of the entire process to become a public company typically takes approximately 3 to 4 months from completion of the private offering and financial audit, however, the actual time could vary based on the factors discussed herein. If done right, with planning, hard work, the proper foresight, and a good firm guiding you through the process, going public is a truly exciting and rewarding experience. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/raise-capital-extremely-fast-and-very-easy-guaranteed-to-work-every-time.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/raise-capital-extremely-fast-and-very-easy-guaranteed-to-work-every-time.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:08:40 +0000
Next you want to make sure that your entity is prepared to receive debt and/or equity capital. You'll need a solid business plan, don't write it yourself, you'll only hinder your ability to raise capital. Call a professional to write your strategic business plan. Next you'll need a way to distribute equity or debt shares, a Private Placement Memorandum is the most common mechanism for helping companies raise capital quickly and easily while staying within the regulation guidelines of the SEC. Your PPM must be written by a professional to deliver the ultimate protection for your company while simultaneously spelling out the technical intricacies of your business to the investor.

Now that your company is structured properly, you have a business plan and a PPM, you are ready to start raising capital. Your first call should be to a corporate turnaround consultant with an arsenal of global funding contacts composed of all the necessary contacts such as: venture capital firms, private equity firms, angel investors, private investors, accredited investors, structured finance firms and so on. This turnaround consultant, if they are part of an established firm (always use a small boutique firm if you can find one, they are much more affective and one on one than the larger firms and tend to get the job done quicker without the headaches) they will have a service call and 'Investor Finder' service. They will reach into their gargantuan bag of contacts and give you so many funding options your head will spin, thus, making your fund raising efforts fast and painless.

Now that you achieved your first round of fund raising it's time to get serious. Yes! It's time to take your company public. Stay away from Pink Sheets and Reverse Mergers, you'll only regret it. If you are a smaller business or a startup, your best bet is the OTCBB. Go back to your turnaround consultant and have them start putting you through the sec audit, sec registration, FINRA registration and Market Maker joint venture and S1 filing. They should be able to handle the entire 'going public' process for you and in 4 to 7 months, you're public and trading.

Be sure to take advantage of the multitude of strategies to capitalize off of your securities. Remember there are many ways to capitalize off of your shares, selling shares through your market maker, continuously engaging in heavy PR to stabilize and enhance your stock price and another way that many entrepreneurs don't consider as an option when raising capital, the almighty hedge lender will can lend your company money against your collateralized securities. Yes! Use your stock as security for financing. After you pay off the loan, line of credit or lease you get those shares back (be sure that your lawyer audits your contract with the lender to keep away from any convertible stock clauses). So now you are raising capital by selling stock as well as the 'on demand' loan or loc concept of security backed lending.

Congratulations! You've just completed 'Real' corporate finance 101! Now get out there, put your company together and start raising the capital you need. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/how-to-take-a-chinese-or-indian-corporation-public-in-america.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/how-to-take-a-chinese-or-indian-corporation-public-in-america.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:47:49 +0000
The US and Chinese markets are intertwined in many ways and now a new trend in finance is making the relationship even closer. It's a fact that Chinese corporations are still trying to figure out how to make their domestic stock market profitable and stable. Many of these companies have global ambitions with unique technology solutions business products and strategies but because of the week Chinese economy (compared to the power of other currencies) they have no choice but to head to the Frankfurt Exchange or the OTCBB market here in the United States.

As a corporate consultant that facilitates the process of going public for both domestic and global entities I have received maybe 5 to 10 calls per year from Chinese companies wanting to set up American corporate subsidiaries to absorb their foreign corporations and trade on the Bulletin Boards but all that has changed. I now receive 5 to 10 calls from Chinese and Indian companies per week to take advantage of the global market place that centers around America's gravitational pull.

Here is how you can take your foreign entity public: set up a domestic corporation (I usually have corporations set up in Delaware because its fast, easy and the states statutes go back to the original 13 colonies so there is sufficient case law and precedence to protect a public entity affectively). Next you will need a professionally written business plan in English. Translated business plans don't work as Western investors look for different details in transactions than their Asian counterparts. Write a new business plan based off of this new corporate entity.

After this you will use the Regulation D Rule 504 exemption to offer discounted stock to a core group of investors via DPO (direct public offering) we have spent 11 years putting our core group of investors together that can finance around 80% of the public process so it becomes extremely reasonably priced for foreign companies. Then the S1 is put together while simultaneously their SEC audit begins which is simple and fast because the company in the US is a startup. We go through and get the SEC approval, then FINRA and then the market maker that we have attached to the deal goes to work.

Now here is the kicker. If you have any experience with taking companies public you'll see one common thread throughout all the companies that you work with and that is the fact that the company executives who started this company and are more than likely the majority share holders, want to retain as much equity as possible so this is simple. When the company is publicly trading, limit the issuance of stock specifically to your original core group and let the stock price stabilize then you simply take some of the company owned shares and use them as collateral for equity loans and lines of credit.

Once you're public the last thing you want to do is liquidate shares to raise capital quickly. Instead, use your shares as collateralized bartering chips and you'll never have a problem with cash flow or fund raising or the threat of losing control of your company. Foreign companies that want to go public in the United States are often intimidated by the strenuous process and the concern of 'who to trust'. Find a consulting firm with experience in turnkey 'go public' facilitation and you'll be fine. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/you-need-an-otcbb-or-reverse-merger-consultant.-beware-of-the-hard-sell-by-management-firms.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/you-need-an-otcbb-or-reverse-merger-consultant.-beware-of-the-hard-sell-by-management-firms.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:36:13 +0000
Many times, when I'm hired to structure a company before funding, they will be under the impression that my evaluation is a mere formality and they are ready to go. Often I'm the bearer of bad news when I have to break it to the client that their company has more holes than Swiss cheese and 30 to 60 days away from starting the fund raising process.

They will often get a second and then third opinion and usually run into the same thing before they eventually find their way back to our firm. As they call around to consulting firms they perpetually experience the 'hard sell' by firms who 'need' the business because they lack the rewards and referrals that come with cultivating each client relationship because they take on and spit out deals so fast they hardly remember their client's name during the transaction.

This mentality dominates the larger firms because of their gargantuan overhead while the boutique firms can take a more personal approach because they have a steady flow of business and referrals because they are not stressed about bringing in the next big deal so they can meet payroll and keep their lights on. The smaller companies that focus on turnaround consulting, private placement memorandum authoring, top tier business plan writing and taking companies public usually take a one on one approach to the consulting process and will rarely pressure clients to sign on because their phone is ringing off the hook with previous clients who want to hire them for the next stage in the evolution of their company's growth.

This business is all about relationships. Ditch the consultant that applies the high pressure sales tactics and seek out the smaller, more personalized groups that don't 'need' your business but will cultivate and value it. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/private-placement-memorandum-how-to-get-the-investors-you-want-easily.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/private-placement-memorandum-how-to-get-the-investors-you-want-easily.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:12:26 +0000
You need to gain the confidence and capital of accredited investors without soliciting as dictated in Regulation D Rule 502c. Now you have a worthless document that you can't solicit investment capital for (which your guru consultant never told you but took your cash anyway) so how are you suppose to raise funds for your company? First, you'll find that you'll eventually need to make your way to an actual PPM author, not a broker so that you can get a PPM that protects you from lawsuits and gives the investor a real breakdown of the upside and downside of your business.

Next you'll need to find a "Investor Finder", yes this is an actual term for an individual or corporate entity that is completely submerged in the accredited investor realm and is able to match your opportunity with friends that he/she has in their database of real, accredited investors. This is the second half of the PPM equation.

Don't kid yourself and don't allow yourself to be lied to; you're going to need a seasoned professional to help introduce you to investors that have the capital to help you get to where you need to be. Friends, family and employees will commit to investing in your company until your PPM is completed and it's time to make good on their commitment; all of a sudden little Johnny needs braces and Sally is in the hospital with pneumonia, this happens all the time. Now what? With a real Private Placement Memorandum and a solid Investor Finder you're problems are basically over. Investigate where the author and I.F. stand in the Internet public domain and after you find a company that meets your needs, get moving and start raising capital.

The internet tells all when it comes to reputations, you'll be able to tell the difference between a seasoned veteran and a startup consultant after on Google Search and a phone call. A PPM can make raising capital quick and easy if you have the right firm in your corner. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/are-you-ready-to-raise-capital-for-your-company-most-likely-.-.-.-you-re-not.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/are-you-ready-to-raise-capital-for-your-company-most-likely-.-.-.-you-re-not.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:09:27 +0000
The issue is this, it's not necessarily the consultant, though these fly-by-nights shoulder a large portion of the blame, but the client usually doesn't even have the proper structure in place to attract a funding source even if they had the most incredible PPM and business ever to hit the venture capital marketplace. Here is a simple (very basic) way to evaluate your company to find out if you are properly structured to attract capital. Have a corporate meeting and ask yourselves the following questions: What type of corporate structure do you have and why did you choose that particular structure? Break down your executive infrastructure, where do your individual executives stand in your industry, do the unthinkable, Google everyone's names; are the people running your company real industry players? Are all the basic positions accounted for (president, CFO, controller etc)? Next, look at your advisory board and board of directors. If by some miraculous act of God you actually have these two groups represented in your company, how did you qualify them? Sorry but if you have an attorney on your board because he's, um...well, an attorney, that's not good enough.

You need an industry specific legal guru who not only spells out the intricacies of your business genre's regulation but they must also be actively qualifying potential strategic partnerships as alliances for your company. He should be reaching into his client base and actively picking companies that could enhance your company in distribution or in any other way that will have a profitable outcome for all involved. Each of the members must be serving a similar purpose.

Next, on what criteria are you basing your share price or loan amount? If you don't have a clear cut 'use of proceeds' model, you need one. This and many, many other questions need to be asked before you are actually ready to raise capital and in all reality, until your corporate structure is in place you shouldn't even attempt to write a business plan or a private placement memorandum. If you are serious about setting up your company to attract investors you need a turnaround consultant, you can't do this on your own. There is an entire industry that centers around structuring companies for their first and ongoing capital raise.

Before you blackball your company by prematurely attempting to raise capital, the critical concepts you need to keep in mind are (precisely in this order): corporate structure, infrastructure, advisory board, board of directors, use of proceeds, business plan, private placement memorandum, investor finder, funding. Look at each aspect listed here as its own item, break it down and analyze every minute aspect of each element and look at everything objectively and eventually your company will evolve into a structure that is fundable and stabilized for years to come. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/how-to-raise-money-for-your-business.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/how-to-raise-money-for-your-business.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:05:19 +0000
There is an easier way. Most broker dealers and market makers have an emergency number in their rolodex that reads "Investor Finder", these specialist consultants are brought in when there is nowhere else to turn for cash. A true Investor Finder has 1,000's of investor contacts that they can call on to get funding for their clients and are constantly using online viral strategies to attract more investors to their database.

An investor finder usually is not a licensed securities broker/agent or attorney; instead they are traditionally consultants that are active in the investment banking facilitation aspect of the industry. Being that they are not licensed they do not accept equity payments or percentages; instead they work on a flat fee basis.

A good consultant in this genre can bring in 30 to 70 real investors per day and it's up to the client to sell the opportunity from there. A typical lead from an investor finder will be an investor or investment firm that is responding to the consultant's opportunity introduction email or snail mail mailing, they have read about the opportunity and they respond one of two ways, either they are calling into a phone room to be screened and qualified or they are contacting the client directly.

Many times the investor doesn't know that they are part of the "finder's" database but do recall signing up to receive investment opportunity updates, so either way the investor is solid and active. If you are trying to raise capital and need real results quickly and can't afford to waste time begging for cash, you need to seek out a qualified Investor Finder consultant and make your fundraising efforts fast and easy. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/need-capital-for-your-company-use-a-private-placement-memorandum.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/need-capital-for-your-company-use-a-private-placement-memorandum.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:45:42 +0000
When your consultant or attorney is asking you for details on everything from business location to management, from dividends to risk details, you need to make sure that this information is complete and accurate. You'll need to audit the documents after they are completed. A solid Offering Circular has kept countless companies from being sued by investors that didn't get the investment return they were anticipating.

While the business plan is meant to grab the initial attention of the investor or funding source, the Offering Memorandum is meant to spell out the down and dirty details of the venture so that you are protected from lawsuits down the road, while simultaneously exposing the various ins and outs of your venture to give a 'reality check' to the investor before they hand over the cash.

The offering circular needs to be powerful yet very compact without the redundancies of using space to say the same things over and over again to pull the investors attention from the negative to the potential profit margins or management's impressive pedigree. With all this said, yes it's true the offering circular is one of the parts of a PPM spells out the technical aspects of the enterprise with a focus on inherent risk of investing but this can be done in a balanced way to also demonstrate the positive aspects of your venture by giving solid descriptions of your management team and, in place, distribution centers and contracts in place ready for capitalization.

When authoring the offering circular demonstrate the risks with a well balanced demonstration of the system in place to overcome these risks and dominate your market niche. ]]> http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/investor-mind-control-is-it-for-real.html http://www.theinfofile.com/internet/rss/investor-mind-control-is-it-for-real.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:37:23 +0000
When talking to an investor for the first time, it's more important to listen than to speak. It's more important to ask questions than answer them. It's more important to discover their needs and wants than to exclaim your own. Your first conversation with an investor should be all about piercing the armor and finding the trigger points that prompt a reaction that gets to the center of their 'childlike' state.

What I mean by this is, investors, just like anyone else, has insecurities that are rooted in their childhood and what they are outwardly today, is typically a polar opposite of what they are on the inside. For example, an arrogant, chest beater seems proud and obnoxious on the outside but the reality is that they are over compensating for an insecurity that is rooted in an individual or collection of childhood incidents.

Maybe they were made fun of as a child, maybe they're father was verbally abusive, maybe their teachers would single them out in class opening them up to playground mockery. When talking to these individuals it's important to listen to their voice and intonation when the conversation topic changes. Take notes on their psychological adjustments to the conversation. After you feel you have discovered the triggers that induce the 'pleasurable' responses, end the call, and set your second phone appointment with them.

On that second call, you want to have your conversation ready to go using the triggers you found in the first conversation. Play off of those insecurities that you found, become their best friend without being chummy but it is your mission on this call to be the "guy that understand me" to the investor. You want the overall tone of this conversation to have the response from your target along the theme of, "wow, this guy gets me" , "I can see investing in this company".

By using this method and not coming across as 'fake', you have become an investment opportunity and a shrink all rolled into one. You want to be the one person that this investor can lower his guard to because everything he says, you seem to be the one person who understands him at his deepest level. You seem to naturally be tuned into his insecurities, emotions, needs and wants. Sound strange? Try this out on the next investor you talk to, I guaranty you will be shocked with the results. ]]>