The SEO Pro - Sean Carlos and Antezeta

SEO and Web Analytics for professional website management

For those of you who do not know what SEO stands for, it’s Search Engine Optimisation. What this means is that through the use of various techniques which are backed up by healthy doses of technology, people using the internet via search engines (Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN etc) will find your website more easily. If you run a business, this means that leads, and thus sales, will increase.

In order to achieve the increase in internet search generated leads and sales, an SEO expert, such as Milan based Sean Carlos, Antezeta’s president, can help you.

Sean, who has worked in various big name organisations, including Pirelli and Hewlett Packard, knows plenty about SEO. This is something to which I can attest seeing as, as one expat to another, he has been helping me out with the SEO aspects of this blog. Sean is also up to date with the latest technology and, through his knowledge of Italian, German and English, can help sites raise their profiles in a variety of European markets.

In addition to its SEO related work, Antezeta can help unravel the complexities of Web Analytics. For the uninitiated, Web Analytics is the interpretation of the heaps of data that the average website collects on site usage – pages, visitors and the like. Through the analysis of such data, an SEO expert, such as Sean, can understand what works and what does not with regard to a website. Indeed, Sean has worked with the Web Analytics Association and the University of British Columbia to produce what is probably the first known Web Analytics course. This indicates that Antezeta really can help you to interpret and benefit from all those statistics your site creates.

Personality, or your website’s theme

However, SEO is not as simple as just sorting out the statistics, oh no. Many sites have a particular personality, and attract visitors with particular characteristics, and Sean can help webmasters understand how to keep a site’s character closely matched to its visitors, both existing and future. Antezeta also offers site usability advice to help you keep those visitors once they’ve reached you.

As Sean well knows, SEO can be an ongoing process, and results often do not happen over night, unless paid advertising like Google’s AdWords is employed to draw visitors into a site. Sean does advocate a merit-based SEO traffic model for the best medium to long-term results. Perhaps a better term may be ‘authority related traffic‘, for the secret to this technique revolves around a combination of good content and efficient SEO optimisation. The relationship between these two elements raises a site’s authority in the ‘eyes’ of many search engines, with the net result being increased well targeted traffic. Read higher sales, ad income, etcetera.

SEO in Italy vs. the UK

Now, although many in the UK have yet to cotton on to the benefits of good SEO, Italy is even further behind. According to Sean, in Italy’s case, this is partially down to the reduced level of internet usage here, and partially due to a basic lack of understanding of just how essential search engines are to the performance of a website or web based business. In Sean’s estimation it’s going to be around five to ten years before Italy catches up with the rest of the world in terms of internet usage. However, I beg to differ. Why? Because things like Wi-Fi, WiMAX and better more portable internet surfing devices will mean that more Italians get on-line. And once mobile phones provide good fast internet access at a low cost, I believe that Italians will be all over the world wide web.

Ready to profit from Milan’s 2015 World Expo?

Even if you agree with Sean, or tend towards my view, adopting an SEO strategy now is going to give your on-line businesses a head start over slow off the mark rivals. And, for Italian webmasters who wish to attract visitors from outside of Italy, SEO will, literally, pay dividends. It may also be worth remembering that in 2015, the World Expo is coming to Milan, and this event will raise the profile of the city both in real terms and virtually. Thus, a site that has worked at SEO will be in a much stronger position with regard to attracting business generated on the back of the Expo event. The same obviously goes for non-Italian web based businesses who wish to create Expo generated leads.

Next steps for SEO success

If you would like to face the future confidently, and you run a business with a sizeable web presence, then contacting Sean would be a very wise thing to do. For the moment, Antezeta is concentrating on the more far sighted medium to big business market, but that is not to say that Sean’s company will never be offering its services to smaller companies.

As a matter of interest, Sean has already carried out a brief SEO audit of Blog from Italy, and, I’m pleased to report that my mainly inadvertent SEO tactics just about passed his initial examination. He also kindly told me what I need to improve to achieve the results I’d like to see. Thanks Sean!

For more information about Antezeta SEO services and Sean, visit the Antezeta site, with free SEO resources, also in Italian and German. And don’t forget to check out Sean’s SEO related blog. This article first appeared on Blog from Italy.

IT Security - Italian SME’s Behind Europe

In a recent article from the online edition of Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian financial and Business, it was noted that while Italian small business is generally in line with other parts of Europe in terms of IT security, in some areas of technological security Italy falls behind other European countries.

For example, whereas internet filter usage is higher in Italy than in Europe in general, Italian companies are behind in terms of systems designed to block the use of P2P networks from within the workplace. But this is not all. Read more

Those In the Know

Finding finance in Italy can be notoriously difficult, unless you happen to have rich relatives. The banks here are cautious to say the least, and rather reluctant to invest in anything too new. A recent article in the Financial Times referred to Italy’s banking system as being ‘relatively unsophisticated’, and this comment says it all.

However, despite the reluctance of Italian banks to support new Italian business ventures, Italian entrepreneurs who know English well enough, and are able to produce a convincing business plan, can look elsewhere. London for example. Businessisin is aware of one at least one major Italian start-up, and now, successful on-line business that sought and obtained finance from far-sighted investors in the United Kingdom. The company concerned was MutuiOnline, and from small beginnings, the site has grown to become one of Italy’s foremost on-line residential mortgage services.

Despite being affected by worldwide caution stemming from the American sub-prime crisis, MutuiOnline is a shining example of what Italian entrepreneurs can achieve.

If you are an Italian businessman with a concrete idea, which is backed up by a comprehensive business plan, and you can understand this article, then you stand a fighting chance of getting your idea off the ground.

Even if you are not Italian, but would like to set up a business venture, or wish to expand into Italy, then bypass Italian banks and head straight for the real movers and shakers. London would be a good place to start, even if sub-prime induced worries may mean that investors may be reluctant to invest in all but the most innovative and potentially lucrative business ideas.

For those who find that their idea does not catch the eye of venture capitalists or angel investors based in London, there is always New York.

Danea Easyfatt 2006

Those who are registered for IVA - VAT in the UK, have to prepare VAT invoices and it is useful to have some way of monitoring cash flow.

It is possible to rely on Word and Excel or a small investment in some ‘tax-deductible’ software to may be in order. Last year I bought a program called Business Monitor (Buffetti chain of stores) to keep things under control. Alas, the program did not live up to expectations. It was not at all intuitive to use, read difficult to use, and, to be honest, was probably aimed at larger. However, even simple things, like setting up a customised invoice and finding information, were not straightforward to say the least.

Enter Danea EasyFatt 2006, a Windows accounts and invoice management application, which I acquired at the start of 2006. How I wish I had invested in this application before. It is easy to use, intuitive, flexible and regularly updated - for free, unlike Business Monitor which required an additional payment to obtain a year’s worth of updates.

In addition to being updated at no cost, EasyFatt allows you to make amendments easily (correct mistakes) and to keep your invoice numbering sequential. This is something that Business Monitor could do, but only with some serious messing around. Danea also exports invoices to .pdf format, so you cannot easily make other errors. You can even set up different invoice styles for different organisations if you want.

Everything is clearly at hand and the initial summary screen with its task list and list of outstanding payments is very useful too. Creating new invoices is greatly simplified by the fact that you can use an existing one as a basis, so you don’t have to go typing everything in all over again. Business Monitor could not do this, despite giving the impression that it was more ‘professional’. Not that EastFatt’s functionality is limited. Not at all. It has plenty of functionality and is easy to move from one computer to another should the need arise. You can export data to Excel and OpenOffice Calc for further analysis.

OK, the program is all in Italian, but if you are working in Italy in the Italian system this is to be expected. The only way you could get an English version would be to have someone build you the software, which would be expensive, not to mention difficult because you would need to instruct a translator and errors could creep in. But why bother? Small companies will have Italian employees, and they will find this system quite easy to manage. Additionaly, at least you can be pretty sure that Italian software is going to be well geared towards the Italian system.

Businessisin would recommend this software to small organisations working in the Italian market who wishe to keep everything in one simple to get at place and at 79 Euros + IVA (VAT) it is very good value for money.

There is also a more sophisticated version of Easyfatt 2006, Easyfatt 2006 Professional at €139.00+IVA (VAT), and this extended version adds stock management and can also be integrated with e-commerce solutions, amongst other useful features. For the more demanding user there is Easyfatt 2006 Network, which is the same as the Professional version, but can be built in to a Windows based office network. This version currently costs 388 Euros plus IVA at 20%.

by Alex Roe (from a similar article which first appeared on Blog from Italy).

Contact information for Danea Soft Snc:

Danea Soft Snc
Via Diaz, 162
35010 Vigonza (PD)

Partita Iva e Cod. Fisc. 03365450281

Tel. 049.893.6588 - Fax 049.893.6596

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Monster.it Adds New European Jobs Section

It is now possible to for Monster users to search for suitable positions not only in Italy, but in a variety of countries throughout Europe.  However, the ‘Europe’ referred to by Monster.it is not only the European Community, but the entire geographical area, including the Russian Federation, amongst other countries.

You can see the complete list here.

For young objective-oriented Italians looking to extend their horizons, this initiative by Monster could prove very interesting.  And, those who are applying for jobs away from their homeland should remember that overseas work is often better paid than similar positions in Italy.  Further, this often means that such people can command higher salaries when, and if, they decide to re-enter the Italian job market.

Hop over to Monster, and see if can find the job you are looking for.  Oh, and knowledge of another language, such as English, will help you a great deal.

Palmer Studio legale are hiring!

Palmer Studio legale are hiring at the moment:

The following positions are presently available in our Milan and Bologna offices:

• 1 fully licensed lawyer with a minimum of 5 years experience in the fields of contract drafting and M&A.

• 1 fully licensed lawyer with a minimum of 5 years experience in litigation and arbitration.

• 2 trainee lawyers with a minimum Italian university degree mark of 100 or equivalent.

Priority will be given to applicants who have studied or worked abroad.

If you are able to work both in Italian and in English and you wish to develop or hone your professional skills in an international environment that is both challenging and motivating, then please send your CV to the following e-mail address:

opportunities@palmer-legal.com

Job Seekers and Job Hunters

Italian job seekers and employers are becoming more and more net savvy. And the big recruitment sites have not let this fact escape their attention. Monster.com, operating in Italy as Monster.it geared up for the surge in hi-tech job seekers sometime ago, and now, it is strange to find someone who is actively seeking work who does not have his or her CV/resume posted on Monster.it. However, it is not solely the likes of Monster who have turned to the potential of the Internet to help match job seekers with their ideal jobs.

Indeed, the site Infojobs.it has a greater share of the Italian market than Monster does, and this must mean that it is true to say that the European flavoured Infojobs service, founded by Spanish entrepreneur Antonio González-Barros, has a greater appeal to both Italian job hunters and employers.

Italian companies are working ever more closely with on and off line recruitment services nowadays, and the detailed profiles that are held by these services mean that finding the right person for the right position is becoming easier. It would also appear that those who are selected are satisfying their employers more readily than back in the old days of the rather random post and advert in a newspaper and wait approach which dominated the job market before mass adoption of the Internet.

It is now possible for recruiters to keep tabs on high potential youngsters, as updated CVs on the recruiters websites can give a good idea where someone is going, and whether they are moving forward, or back peddling. The process must be relatively straightforward. Tag those individuals with good degrees, or notable achievements and track their movements from one top company to another. Then, once these ‘rising stars’ have obtained enough concrete experience, the head hunters can pounce.

Another direction which those looking for potentially valid employees can take is that of LinkedIn, the business networking system. On LinkedIn someone, armed with enough patience or a methodical search strategy, can find individuals who could turn out to be effective employees, and companies are tuning to this system to find the right team. Business is in knows of at least one company in the Venice region of Italy that successfully identified and recruited personnel via LinkedIn. Lateral thinking, it seems, can often pay off.

In fact, the pay off for many employers who exploit the likes of Infojobs.it, Monster.it and Linked-In is that they end up with high quality, and proven, employees. From the candidates point of view, especially those who are high-fliers, can satisfy their urges to reach the top of the pyramid as quickly as possible.

Doing business in Italy

At the time of writing, Italy is not enjoying a great reputation, and much foreign media has been at pains to both highlight the countries problems. Yes, there are problems here, but then there were problems in the United Kingdom in the 1970’s and 80’s, but the UK recovered. Italy too, will recover.

However, despite Italy’s present situation, and despite Italy’s, well deserved, reputation for red tape, Italy is a country with a large number of thriving entrepreneurs.

You may be asking why this is the case . The answer is simple: Local knowledge. Italians know their onions, as the old saying goes, and this means that they are highly adept at working within the constraints of their complex systems, or they will be able to find a work-round, in true Italian fashion.

Foreign businesses looking to expand into Italy, or who wish to market Italian products in their own markets really could benefit from developing a relationship with innovative Italian entrepreneurs. Such Italians could even help with penetration into other bureaucracy ridden countries by employing the techniques and creative reasoning processes that had contributed to their success in their home market. This is something that potential overseas business partners would do well not to overlook.

Another aspect, or rather area of Italy that is often overlooked, is the much maligned south of the country. Effectively this often controversial area begins somewhere above Naples and ends at the southern most tip of Sicily. This area of Italy holds vast potential, and is not as impoverished as some would have you believe. And this is an area of Italy in which local knowledge is really worth its weight in gold. There is no shortage of entrepreneurs in this area either, and such people are often as keen as any other Italian business to move into new markets, both inside and outside Italy.

One of the aims of this site is to track down and identify forward thinking southern Italian businesses and to write about them here. Some contacts of Businessisin have already mentioned the names of certain businesses from the south that are looking to expand. Businessisin sincerely hopes that over time word will spread, which will lead to southern Italian businesses making contact.

However, Businessisin is not solely interested in businesses looking to develop relationships with firms both within and out of Italy. This site also wants to know about enterprises offering services that will be useful to any foreign company wishing to set up operations in Italy. To this end, Businessisin also wants to find out about Italian law firms, IT companies, and consultancies.

The aim is to create an extensive network of contacts and relationships which can be used to smooth the process of working from Italy. If such a network can be developed, then finding assistance and resources will become much easier and may make the opening a factory or office in Italy more feasible that it was in the past.

One should not forget that the ‘Made in Italy’ brand carries a lot of weight the world over, and associating foreign brands with those in Italy will help develop overall brand awareness and lead to increased sales. Businessisin will work towards this goal too, and attempt to provide the contacts and resources needed to maximise exploitation of the ‘Made in Italy’ brand on an international scale.

Palmer Studio legale

Formed in 1991, Palmer Studio Legale, has always been a forward thinking law firm. Indeed, its inception centred around the need to provide legal advice and support to clients working within the European common market.

Today, Palmer, which now has offices in Milan, Bologna, Venice and Geneva, offers advice, consultancy, and assistance to both domestic and foreign clients. Read more

Reddy’s Group

Reddy’s Group is a Milan based Italian real estate consultancy that specializes in valuations, due diligence, property management, development advice and appraisal. The company’s main clients are banks, property developers, and investment funds.

However Reddy’s Group will provide advice to any company or individual interested in property development or acquisition in Italy. Read more