Don’t forget to check out part one (keyword selection) and part two (keyword traffic estimation). 

Now that you’ve selected targeted keywords for your AdWords campaign, it’s time to start creating your ads. Google has a specific set of character limits that you must follow in each of your ads –

Title (Blue underlined text): 25 characters

Ad Text: 70 characters

Display URL (Green text): 35 characters

There are also a set of parameters around your ad content including:

• User experience
• Accuracy
• Legal...

This month's issue of Valuation & Litigation Advisory Insights includes the following articles:

• Intangible Assets – If I cannot See Them, What Are They?
• What is the value of intellectual property
• The perfect exit strategy: Don’t leave it to chance

Intangible Assets – If I Cannot See Them, What Are They?

“All arguments concerning existence are founded on the relation of cause and effect.” - David Hume

In the quote above, David Hume, a famous philosopher, says that the basis of existence is founded in...

Tax qualified retirement plans are required to hold employer and employee contributions in an irrevocable trust, which is separate from the employer’s funds.  ERISA, which governs these programs, creates various types of legal liability for a plan’s fiduciaries.   Department of Labor penalties and litigation from plan participants can arise, and can be brought against an individual fiduciary.  The issue of who is or is not a fiduciary is not determined solely by a person’s title.  

ERISA’s...

This spring, companies who sponsor 401(k) plans can expect their inbox to be full of new information.  The Department of Labor’s plan fee disclosure rules are set to take effect April 1, 2012.  Service providers of 401(k) plans will then be required to provide employers with figures for the direct and indirect compensation they receive to service plans.  They will now need to disclose recordkeeping fees separately from all other fee disclosures. They also must detail indirect compensation, such...

“All arguments concerning existence are founded on the relation of cause and effect.” - David Hume

In the quote above, David Hume, a famous philosopher, says that the basis of existence is founded in cause and effect.  Cause and effect is simple to picture for tangible objects – if I cause my finger to type a letter on the keyboard, that letter shows up on my computer screen.  It becomes a little more difficult to picture cause and effect with intangible things – if I greet a stranger on the...

Being a firm in the Midwest, we commonly value heavy manufacturing and industrial-based companies.  While we service a wide array of industries in the valuation space, we have noted a growing trend in the region for start-up information technology companies.  Therefore, we are often charged with the task of determining values for these fast-paced companies.

We recently completed the valuation of one such high-growth IT company.  We were engaged to determine the value of equity of the subject...

When your identity has been stolen, you will need to contact your credit card companies, your banks, the three major credit bureaus, and local, state, or federal law enforcement authorities. Click here to read part one of this article which looks at the involvement of your credit card companies and banks.

The three major credit bureaus

If your credit cards have been lost or stolen, call the fraud number of any one of the three national credit reporting agencies:

1. Equifax (888) 766-0008
2. Experian...

You've read about it, and you thought it would never happen to you. But suddenly your bank account is empty, your credit card bills are through the roof, and you're getting late notices for accounts you don't own. Your identity has been stolen. What now?

Time is money

To minimize your losses, act fast. Contact, in this order:

• Your credit card companies
• Your bank
• The three major credit bureaus
• Local, state, or federal law enforcement authorities

Your credit card companies

Credit card companies are...

Whether they're snatching your purse, diving into your dumpster, stealing your mail, or hacking into your computer, they're out to get you. Who are they? Identity thieves.

Identity thieves can empty your bank account, max out your credit cards, open new accounts in your name, and purchase furniture, cars, and even homes on the basis of your credit history. If they give your personal information to the police during an arrest and then don't show up for a court date, you may be...

New Tax Credit

Are you ready to take advantage of the new InvestOhio tax credit?  The registration period is now open and registration must be completed before you can apply for the credit. The application date is expected to be the first full week in December and now is the time to ensure that you are ready to apply.
 
What is InvestOhio?

InvestOhio is a tool for helping Ohio small businesses gain the capital they need to succeed and create jobs.  Through the program, individuals who invest up to...

This month's Special Delivery e-newsletter includes the following articles:

• Year-End Tax Planning
• InvestOhio Tax Credit REgistration Now Open: Quick Action Required
• Make 2012 a "Record Year" for Taxes
• Happy Trails: Getting Ready for Retirement
• How to Put Time on Your Side
• Group Workers' Compensation Programs
• Skoda Minotti Professional Receives Certified Exit Planning Advisor Credential

Year-End Tax Planning

Once again we find ourselves with the Holidays upon us and we wish you and your family all...

This month's issue of Valuation & Litigation Advisory Insights includes the following articles:

• Growth rate becomes critical to lost profits calculation
• In the battle of experts, one weapon simply isn't enouth
• Tax Court to valuators: Explain yourself!

Growth rate becomes critical to lost profits calculation

In commercial cases involving lost profits, selecting an appropriate growth rate is a critical step in calculating damages. It’s also one of the most challenging. Depending on the amount at stake...

November 28, 2011 – CLEVELAND – Skoda Minotti, a CPA, business and financial advisory firm, is proud to announce that Michael Trabert, CPA, CVA, CMAP, CEPA recently earned the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation, after completing the Institute’s intensive CEPA program. With this designation, Trabert joins an exclusive group of business advisors worldwide who have received this credential.

Leading Skoda Minotti’s Exit Planning Services Group, Trabert helps clients by creating...

Tax planning for the year ending 2011 and beyond will again prove challenging due to uncertainties over whether Congress will enact sweeping tax reform.  And even if there’s no major tax legislation, Congress will have to deal with the “patch” to the alternative minimum tax, and decide what to do about the expiring of the Bush-era income tax cuts.

Regardless of what Congress does late this year or early the next, there are solid tax savings to be realized by taking advantage of tax breaks that...

• IRS Changes Postion on Who Must Approve Governance Policies
• IRS Releases New Form 8940, Request for Miscellaneous Determinations
• AICP Comments on Revised For 99-0
• Navigating Through the Acounting for Joint Activities
• Executive Compensation: Is it reasonable?
• Updates From the IRS
• Private Foundation Foreign Giving

Year-end tax planning is especially challenging this year because of uncertainty over whether Congress will enact sweeping tax reform that could have a major impact in 2012 and beyond.  Regardless of what Congress does late this year or early the next, there are solid tax savings to be realized by taking advantage of four tax breaks that are on the books for 2011 but may be gone next year unless they are extended by Congress: 

• Option to deduct state and local sales and use taxes instead of state...

There’s one word that can be used to describe the stock market as well as estate and gift tax laws over the past few years and that is “volatile”  Unfortunately, volatility often scares clients into taking the “wait and see” approach but in reality, there’s no time like the present to do some estate planning and make lifetime gifts.

What are the current laws:

• Beginning January 1, 2011, the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions were all set at $5 million with a top...

In the wake of MF Global Holdings LTD’s bankruptcy, clients, regulators, and creditors are all attempting to untangle the defunct investment company’s financial accounts to determine what remains to be distributed to MF Global’s stakeholders.  The billions of dollars lost by MF Global on its investments in European sovereign debt left its clients scrambling to salvage any part of MF Global’s assets to recoup their diminished account balances.  But what about the other secured and...

Click here if you missed part one of “Developing a Marketing Budget for 2012.”

How much should I budget for marketing?

This is the big question and one we get a lot. Typically marketing budgets are measured as a percentage of sales. The percentage will vary by industry. Both the Counselors to America's Small Business (SCORE) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) define the variable for a proper marketing budget to be between 2% and 10% of sales, noting that for B2C, retail and...

If this has ever happened to you then you know first hand how traumatic the loss can be.  The loss of cash. No credit cards. I can’t make debit card purchases.  Not my driver’s license!  Oh no, and the social security card??  Not my child’s baby pictures??? My paycheck? And the list goes on and on.   Think for a minute what you think is in your wallet.  Here one minute, gone the next.

I know first hand as I’ve been carjacked and lost my wallet and recently a family member had her wallet fall into...