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If you are planning to finish a basement you will most likely need to install furring strips to the concrete walls so that the walls can be sheetrocked.

Attaching furring strips to concrete walls can be easily done using 2″x2″s or 2″x3″ kiln dried wood studs, liquid nail glue, and some fluted concrete nails.

Due to moisture in the basement, I prefer to use a 2″x4″ pressure treated stud laid flat along the bottom of the wall. Lay the stud on its flat side up against the wall. The furring strips will sit on top of the pressure treated stud, such that there is effectively a moisture barrier between the basement floor and the kiln dried studs.

The kiln dried studs should be placed on 16 inch centers along the wall, again resting on the pressure treated 2″x4″. The kiln dried studs should run the entire height of the concrete wall.

To secure the bottom plate and studs to the wall, I first run a bead of Liquid Nails (designed to adhere to concrete and wood), along the entire length of the bottom plate/stud. If you are using 2″x3″s for the furring strips, the glue should be applied to the wider side, such that when the stud is installed, you effectively have the flat side of the stud attached to the wall.

Start with the application of glue on the pressure treated bottom plate.

Next, using a drill and a masonry bit, drill pilot holes into the bottom plate. The holes should be placed every 16 inches along the length of the plate and should penetrate the concrete walls approximately 1.5″. Then using 3″ fluted nails and a 3-5 lb sledge hammer, pound the nails into the holes. Note: I prefer to drill and pound a nail, one hole at a time to eliminate alignment problems.

Once the bottom plate has been installed, repeat the process on the vertical kiln dried studs. Install one stud at a time, again on 16 inch centers. Make sure they stand straight and level.

To help hold the vertical stud in place while you are drilling holes and pounding in concrete nails, I like to toe nail the bottom of the stud into the bottom pressure treated plate first.

Once the glue has set up, the furring strips will be strongly fastened to the wall and ready for drywall.

Note, however, you may want to apply pink board insulation in between the studs to provide some level of insulation between the concrete walls and the finished sheetrocked wall. Simply cut the insulation to the proper width, apply some Liquid Nails to the back side of the insulation board, and then press the insulation in-between the studs.

Over the past 20+ years Mark Donovan has been involved with building homes and additions to homes. His projects have included: building a vacation home, building additions and garages on to existing homes, and finishing unfinished homes. For more home improvement information visit http://www.homeadditionplus.com and http://www.homeaddition.blogspot.com

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Although the topic of keyword strategy and selection may appear to have been beaten to death already, it remains critical to the success of your website. Choosing the best keywords is only “Phase One” of the process. You must also make the most of the keywords you have.

Traffic to my log furniture site has doubled and nearly tripled in the past month and a half. Much of the credit for that success lies directly with better keyword selection and management. When I realized there was a problem with my keywords, I read every article I could find on the topic and made a number of changes to my website. And voila! Increased traffic (and sales) are the proof of the pudding for me.

Following is an overview of keyword-related steps that can send traffic to your site spiraling steadily upward:

1. Set Your Sights on Attainable Keywords

If my log furniture site was competing for the word “furniture”, I would be competing with the “big boys”. While I hope to compete with major furniture sites someday, there is plenty of payoff to be found in niche marketing.

Overture includes a keyword suggestion tool that gives a good indication of just how competitive a keyword is. Using this tool and a general rule-of-thumb, you can target keywords that are attainable.

The number “5000″ next to a keyword in Overture’s search term suggestion tool means that 5000 visitors on Overture powered searches look for that term each month. Because the most popular terms are more difficult to achieve top ranking for, my website is targeting keywords in the 1000-10,000 range at the moment.

For example, the term “log bed” is searched for 4673 times per month on Overture-powered sites, while the term “log furniture” is searched for 16,909 times. My site has been hovering between the #1 and #7 spots on Google for “log bed” for the past month, but “log furniture” has been a harder nut to crack. As of this writing I am number #18 for “log furniture”, which is not where we want to be but a whole lot better than where we used to be.

2. Choose the Best Keywords for Targeted Traffic

As I mentioned in an earlier article, my site was originally (and accidentally) optimized so that more people searching for “log cabin” were finding the site than those who were looking for “log furniture” or “log beds”. We re-optimized the site in December for log beds, log furniture and Amish log furniture. After an initial drop in traffic, we have double or triple the visitors we had beforenot to mention a much better conversion rate.

What search terms are the most likely buyers of your product using to scour the web? This is the million dollar question. A tool included in the live help service known as Liveperson has been helpful to us in figuring this out, as it allows us to see what search terms people are using to find us.

You may be surprised at the terms people are using to find your site. Information is power. If you find an invaluable search term that your site should be optimized for, or one that is most likely to produce a buyer, the fees you pay for a visitor tracking service such as the one included in Liveperson will be well worth the money.

3. Optimize Keywords Within Your Website

Once you have evaluated the best keywords for your website, your site must be optimized for those terms. We tried for a 5% keyword density on our website, bold-faced some of the keywords, and set them as links whenever we could.

You’ll also need to revisit your title, meta and alt tags to make sure they highlight your keywords. Many SEO experts believe that the first few sentences of the text on a page should include your top keywords. These might seem like very simple steps to take, but the payoff can make the difference between being on the first pageor secondfor your desired terms.

4. Reap Good Results with Resource Boxes

This fourth step is about links as much as keywords. Our log furniture site would not be receiving the traffic it is without a link trading and article submission campaign. We give our link partners the top terms that we want to achieve ranking for. As a result, links pointing back to our site have our top terms either right by or in the links. Take it from the voice of experiencethis matters. You’ll also want your top terms in the resource boxes for any articles you post on the Internet.

5. Rotate Your Keywords When You Reach the Top

When you reach top status for a given keyword, go after another by changing the link or article resource text for your new set of coveted terms. That’s what we plan to do for Log Cabin Rustics. Once we solidify our standing for “log beds” and get to the top for “log furniture” on Google, we plan to focus on “rustic furniture”a term with 17760 Overture-powered searches per month.

Only Part of the Story

We do not mean to imply that keyword selection and management is the only thing you should do to promote your site. A solid link strategy, article publicity campaign, and overall site optimization are also important factors in any successful SEO strategy.

But the importance of choosing the right terms and optimizing for them should not be underestimated. You might also want to check out Marketleap’s free keyword verification tool, which reports where your website is placing on the different search engines for your keywords of choice.

Copyright 2005 Log Cabin Rustics

Cari Haus has been successfully selling rustic log furniture and beds on the Internet since the late 1990’s. Copyright 2005 by Cari Haus, website http://www.logcabinrustics.com/

Permission is granted to reprint this article, either online or in written publications, as long as the copyright information, this paragraph, and a link address or a link to the Log Cabin Rustics website is attached at the end of the article.

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I’m an internet marketer just like you are, so I know how crazy things can get. Trying trying trying for better page rank, all the time. Emails flying in from everywhere and you just can’t keep up. Juicy network posts distracting you again. Server trouble, client rush jobs… and uhh… what was it that you had planned to do today? Following are Five Critical Steps You Can Take Right Now to get on the path to better productivity, laser-focused marketing and more PROFIT.

1. Train Your Brain to Think Mostly Marketing Thoughts.

I get so upset when I see my friends digressing again and again on their blogs and in their emails. That’s because I know that with every non-selling focused piece of content they produce, they just wasted at LEAST an hour writing pointless copy, and then probably two more hours responding to the onslaught of reactions they got. You MUST focus your mind if you want to get ahead in this industry. When I meet marketers who are able to stay 90% on track with room for a wee bit of fun, I smile to myself because it’s my goal to be just like them, always. It should be yours as well!

2. Look for the Golden Opportunity No Matter How Crappy Things Seem.

Another thing that can majorly throw you off course: disappointment. What happened today that got you down, and what did you do? Instead of dwelling on the negative and complaining to people, train yourself to take immediate corrective action. Didn’t land that job contract? Pick up where you left off in your article marketing campaign. Server keeps crashing? Log off, step back and devote 20 minutes of your attention to the email marketing campaign you said you were going to write. When you feel scattered, it’s because you are scattered. Take some time to regroup and then streamline your effort toward getting six new tasks that you WILL accomplish today.

3. Be Slick About Where You Put Your Existing Content.

Let’s suppose you have a plan to release 20 new articles, send an e-book of brand new content to your subscribers twice this month, and post in your blog at least twice a week. In what order will you set out to accomplish these tasks for the least amount of work for you? Do this: write ten fresh articles, pack them up in an e-book BEFORE you distribute them to the article websites, and send to your subscribers with an alert about “never before released info!” Once the excitement dies down, use the same ten articles to post on the web everywhere you can. Choose a few from the pile and post to your blog. Repeat the procedure for the next ten. You just saved yourself a bundle of time.

Are YOU Content With Your Content? Get Top Secret Marketing Tips from the Web’s Biggest Gurus and Expert Authors on The First Annual Web Content Awareness Day on FEBRUARY 9, 2006.

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Liked this article? Have more of the same emailed to your inbox each month. Sign up for the Copywriting and Marketing Ezine from Dina at Wordfeeder.com and learn to write search engine friendly web copy and market your web based business for free.

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