Author Archives: ernie

SEO Ranking Factors in the Future

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SEO Ranking Factors in the FutureThe best experts in the business every year try to identify the most important SEO Ranking Factors in the Future for webmasters, content writers, and advertising managers.  If you get it right, your site will be indexed on the 1st page of the search engine results. If you get it wrong, then you could be buried low on the SERP/s and never seen by your customers. There are however basic requirements that seem to stand the test of time and the ongoing changes that Google and other Search engines regularly make.

This is a very competitive industry on many different levels. We are all fighting to get on that first page of search results and then get picked by the reader. We are going to identify a few of the basics in this post that will withstand the test of time. As well as ongoing updates by the search engines.

SEO Ranking Factors in the Future

Relevant Content – find out what your customers are looking for and then make sure that the content is there to answer their questions.

Answer the Customers Questions – Show the customer where he or she can get the answer if you cannot answer it on your page. Give them alternatives and most of all do not point them to links pages that are unrelated.

Provide Value to the customer – value to the customer really depends on what they are looking for. Can they find the product they are looking for and can they order it seamlessly? Does the content answer a question? Does your website bring value to the customer’s life?

Mobile Adapted – The majority of searches are now being conducted using mobile devices. Your website must be readable. It must have all of the functionality your customer needs on a mobile device or tablet.

Website Response – slow website response time will cause your customers to move on to another page or SERP result.

Titles that Attract Readers

Even if you are on the first page there are still at least 20 other titles and paid advertisers for the customer to click on. Make your title compelling. Provide a snippet of what the customer is looking for to attract them so they click on the SERPs for your website.

While there are many more ranking factors that can determine a post’s eventual page rank, if you do not get the above right, then you may as well not bother. Focus on quality content that addresses the customer’s needs, do it quickly, and do it on a mobile device. If you can do these parts, then you have a running start of having an excellent website that attracts customers and sells the product.

Things to do Before You Retire

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Things to do Before You RetireWe have divided our list of things to do before you retire into two categories. First, there are the usual financial priorities that we will list in a moment. These are the ones that most people focus on. There are other areas that are nonfinancial that are also important. If you are going to truly enjoy your retirement, regardless of when you retire, pay attention to these areas as well.

Financial Things to do Before You Retire

The first section is all about creating the right conditions to provide as much flexibility as you can financially. You want to enable you to do the things you want to do in retirement, whatever they are. Basically it maximizes income and minimizes expenses. Arrange a budget that helps you avoid more debt.

Pay off the Mortgage – no mortgage payment frees up all kinds of cash flow that can be used for all kinds of things. Without this burden, you have much more freedom to live in the manner you wish.

Reduce debt i.e pay off cars and loans – the same applies to loans and other debt that you may have. Pay it off, go to one car, focus on reducing your debt payments to zero. You want the flexibility of cash flow to deal with whatever comes at you later in life.

Ensure you have sufficient pension income and savings income – review your income and where it will come from. If you feel you do not have enough, added savings may be in order. Reduced expenses or even downsizing might be needed.

Minimize your expenses – we tend to be a bit frivolous with money especially the small change. Before we know it the money is gone. Watch the big and especially the small expense areas. Reduce or eliminate where possible to build cash flow. Build savings and have more free cash to do some of the really important things you always wanted to do.

Lifestyle Things to do Before You Retire

You may have all of the money that you need to live a comfortable lifestyle, however, if you are bored, not challenged or miss the social side of work there is a good chance of really not enjoying your retirement years. Focus on the following areas can sometimes help with these issues.

Create goals – for yourself, review them regularly, adjust them as needed and most important build a plan to actually make them happen, just like you might at work. This will give you purpose and something to look forward to.

Getting adjusted to Retirement – does take time and it is different for each person. Some have so many hobbies and things to do that they wonder why they ever worked while others watch the grass grow and are bored. Review all of the items in this post and figure out what is right for you and what would make it interesting for you during your retirement.

Exercise and eat in a healthy manner – to stay healthy. If you do not have your health you are not going to enjoy retirement. Your health is a precious commodity that you can lose at any time.

Travel – may not be for everyone, but if you want to travel do not put it off. There will come a time when you are unable to travel and you will wonder why you did not do it.

Live on a reduced budget – lets you sleep at night, especially when you know you have enough income and savings to live comfortably. Establish a realistic budget, track your expenses and adjust as needed.

Keep in touch with friends – having a social life is incredibly important. Never lose sight of your friends, help them when needed, and enjoy them for as long as you can.

Marketing Guide to Choosing a WordPress Theme

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Marketing Guide to Choosing a WordPress ThemeThe company’s website should be designed and approved by the marketing team or manager since it is this site that is the outward-facing image for your company for the online community.  Customize A Marketing Guide to Choosing a WordPress Theme. Your customers will form an impression of your company based on the look of the website. Also the operation of the site and also the content of the site.

If it does not look great, they may not stay. If it does not have the information they are looking for, they may move onto another site. You want them to stay on your site, browse your products and services. Hopefully, select a product or service or at least contact you for more information. We cover a few of the issues that marketing managers and webmasters need to consider. Choosing a WordPress theme is one important area.

Marketing Guide to Choosing a WordPress Theme

Before you even look at themes, determining your website goals, your current and future needs are at the top of the list. WordPress is a powerful content management system with thousands of themes and just as many plugins that provide a great deal of functionality.  Once you have defined your goals etc, assess themes in terms of whether they will help you meet these goals, current needs, and whether they can support your planned future needs as well.

Does it keep pace with current digital trends? Innovations? and marketing trends? Can you have someone on your team update the theme to match these needs? Do you have access to developers with these skills? Or are you at the mercy of someone who updates them from time to time? Is each update a surprise?

Important Attributes

SEO, customization, and website speed are extremely important attributes that need to be constantly managed. SEO will help you get indexed by the search engines, customization will keep your website fresh for your customers, and response time will keep them on your site, reducing the bounce rate.

Everyone is using mobile devices, smartphones, tablets, etc. Adapt your site to mobile-friendly browsing. If not you are probably going to lose a great deal of traffic. Can your theme be integrated with other software? Do you need this functionality? Lastly, will you have the support in place to perform updates, add functionality, and respond to customer issues?

We have covered many issues and items to think about in this post. Give all of these issues a lot of thought. Introduce a website with the best theme you can find. Marketing Guide to Choosing a WordPress Theme can also be updated as needed as well. Fortunately, WordPress allows an easy transition to different themes for testing purposes. Pick the right theme to maximize your chances of success with your website.

 

Avoid SEO Copywriting Errors

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Avoid SEO Copywriting ErrorsWriters work hard to avoid SEO copywriting errors on posts and pages on their websites. But what are the common mistakes that many writers make and what are search engines looking for as well? Ultimately a writer wants his or her page to be indexed and presented to readers on search results. The worst thing that can happen is that the SEO grading is so low that the page ends up at the bottom of a long list of search results. We will examine a few of these issues and most readers will realize that these items are just common sense, but many people still make them.

Avoid SEO Copywriting Errors – Common Errors

The most common and most important is poor content. If it is not original and well written then both the reader and the search engines are going to pass on it giving a high bounce rate and low index rating. This can be the kiss of death for many pages and posts online.

A major contributor to bad content is when writers cram SEO keywords into the text. This process makes awkward sentences and difficult to read text. Sentences may end up being too long and some may not even make sense. Use keywords where and when they make sense and can be comfortably included in the sentence structure.

Long paragraphs, endless sentences, poor grammar, and poor spelling are all contributors to SEO issues. There is nothing more difficult to read than a sentence that is full of spelling mistakes. Focus on getting these items right in your post. Use apps or widgets to help you with both grammar and spelling.

Spell checkers are not infallible. Read each sentence to make sure that the right interpretation of a word is being used or corrected by the spell checker.

Saving for Retirement

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Saving for RetirementHow much should you have saved for retirement? In your 20s, in your 30s, or your 40s, etc? Knowing how much to save and getting there are two very different things. We suggest that you work with an expert adviser. He will start with your age and current income level to calculate how much you need to save. He will use a combination of employer contributions, savings, interest income on your savings, and pensions that you may or may not be eligible for. While this can be very complex, it can also be simplified as well by making a list of the income you will have at 65, then deciding how much, in addition, you will need to live in the manner you feel is comfortable for you and your family.

Saving for Retirement

Assume you are making $40k a year and are in your 20s. Experts feel that you should have at least $4k saved. By the time you are in your 30s, the amount should have increased to $82k, assuming a combination of interest income and contributions. In your 40s, you should have at least $240k; in your 50s, you should have over $500k saved. By the time you retire at 65, a consumer should have saved at least $900k in funds to generate the cash flow they will need. If you have a pension income, then these numbers become extra dollars to help you enjoy your life during retirement.

The above calculations are merely a guideline or a place to start. If you make substantially more income, you probably want to save more money than was mentioned to maintain your comfortable lifestyle. Pensions are extra, and we urge consumers to obtain expert advice regarding savings levels and retirement income.

Empower yourself by starting to save for retirement at a younger age. The earlier you start, the more control you have over meeting your retirement objectives. It’s a proactive step towards securing your financial future.

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Overlooking Important SEO Factors

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Overlooking Important SEO FactorsMost business owners do not even know what SEO is or why they should pay for this service. Search engine optimization is something that should automatically be built into every page and post of a website and yet there are many web developers that focus on the glitz and grammar instead of making sure that you have rich content, original content, and content without spelling and grammatical mistakes. There are multiple levels of SEO factors to consider. If you are a business owner, you may be on a limited budget and wondering just how to go about determining if a developer is providing a well-designed site that is SEO’d. Avoid Overlooking Important SEO Factors.

Overlooking Important SEO Factors

In addition to well-written content, here are a few factors to consider when designing and building a web site, whether it is done in-house or whether you subcontract the site to an outside firm:

  • Excellent well-written content should be at the top of the list
  • Use keywords that are important in your industry
  • Original content, never copy others content
  • Your pages should look great on desktops as well as mobile devices
  • Test your website by searching for common keywords to determine the ranking
  • Keep your web site current with up to date information
  • Ask the questions – is this what your customers are looking for

Overlooking Important SEO Factors

While the above is certainly not an exhaustive list, they are some of the more important factors. In fact, most SEO experts will agree that there are over 200 potential factors. They can make a difference in terms of how search engines view your website. Also, the subsequent ranking that they give it. While you may not want to pay for an exhaustive list of tweaks to get it just right, you can focus on the important issues and still get decent results.

Blowing Your Inheritance

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Blowing Your InheritanceWho would have thought that blowing your inheritance would be a significant issue for baby boomers, millennials, and any other group that stands to inherit a large sum of money from their parents and family? This is a significant problem for over 33% or one in three consumers across the continent. They receive money from an inheritance and then spend it in various ways, and sometimes have little to show for it other than a good time or a few extra things such as cars and toys. With many consumers not saving sufficiently for retirement, we wonder why more do not invest these funds and at least live off the income.

Blowing Your Inheritance

Trillions of dollars will change hands as baby boomers exit the world. They will transfer their wealth to their families over the next 20 years. We happen to believe that a significant amount of this money should be placed in investments. It will help fund retirements in the future. Most advisers suggest that even one million in savings is insufficient to ensure a comfortable retirement. When you can save your money for retirement, why not take it? This is not winning the lottery.

The experts agree that one of the best ways to deal with an inheritance is to place it in a secure savings account, perhaps a GIC. Let it sit there until you have emotionally dealt with the emotions surrounding the inheritance. It would help if you had time to get over the death of your family member. It would help if you had time to get over the idea of having all this money. Time is required to formulate a plan regarding what you will do with the money.

Spend some of it to pay off the debt that you may have and buy yourself a small reward of some kind. But invest most of the funds into an investment that will make your retirement more secure. It would be a real shame to squander the money and then live in less-than-ideal conditions during your retirement years!

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Promoting Blog Posts

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Promoting Blog PostsAs the picture to the left indicates, content is king, but even if you have really fantastic content, you still need to consider promoting blog posts to increase traffic and sell whatever products you have available on your website. For this post, we will assume that you have done all of the good things regarding creating your post in terms of well-written content. Also, original content and you solve a reader’s problem or answer his or her question. You have also addressed all of the SEO requirements to ensure that the search engines will index your blog post well. But there is more to ensure that you maximize your traffic – promoting blog posts!

Promoting Blog Posts – How Do I do That

The best way to promote your blog posts really depends on the type of website that you have. Also the products you are selling. There are lots of traditional methods of promotion as well as online approaches to help to promote blog posts.

Traditional Ways of Promoting Blog Posts

These include placing your web sites URL on your business cards, all of your stationery, including invoices, advertising in traditional print, TV, and radio venues. There are lots to choose from and they cost money so you will need to manage your budget well.

Online Methods

Posting to Twitter, Facebook and other online social media areas that are related to your business interests is a good start. Submitting your URL to Reddit, Stumbleupon, and other online news venues are also needed. Most are free, but some you will need to pay for as well. Google Adwords for example is one way of taking advantage of online advertising, although you must pay for each click. The more opportunities you have for your readers to become aware of your website and your blog posts, the better the chance of them actually reading your posts!

Retirement Numbers to Watch

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Retirement Numbers to WatchWhen you are approaching retirement there are lots of things to think about, but there are a few retirement numbers to watch and pay attention to. You want your money to last and you want your retirement to be pleasant and comfortable throughout your retirement life. If you are going to achieve these objectives, consumers need to pay attention to the withdrawal rate from your savings, the level of pensions that you will receive and the amount and timing of the government pensions that you will receive. Pay attention to these numbers, make the right decisions and re-evaluate as you get closer to retirement to make sure you working with the most up to date information.

Retirement Numbers to Watch

Withdrawal Rate – this is the rate that you withdraw from your savings. The amount you need vs. take will depend on a number of factors. First you need to decide just how long you need your savings to last, what the income level is from your savings and of course how long you will live. Many advisers suggest 4% as a reasonable withdrawal rate. We happen to think that the rate you use should depend on the income level from your investments and the health of your investments. Some years when investments are not doing well you may want to take less, while in good years you can afford to take more out.

Reliance Rate – percentage funded by pensions from employer and government. How much will your income amount to in retirement compared to what you were making prior to retirement. The difference is how much you will need to make up from savings, perhaps working longer and expense reduction.

When to Claim Government Pensions

Claim early and you will suffer a penalty i.e. a reduction in the amount paid out, claim later and the pension amount goes up, but you have to do without that income until you claim it. Can you afford it? Will your cash flow allow you to delay your claims?

Add up all of your income from all sources in retirement, compare to your current income level and develop a plan to source the difference in income.

Promote Your Blog Posts

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Promote Your Blog PostsBlog posts need to have great content that answers readers’ questions. They must be unique from other content that can be found on similar websites. They must also be SEO compliant to ensure that the search engines rank them well. Finally, you need to have a great catchphrase.  Even though you are on the first page of the search results, the reader may select some other post. They may go to another title because it has a great-sounding title that is closer to what the reader is looking for. If you have done all of these things you may feel that you’re ready to move on to other activities. However, there is another major step that many bloggers forget and that is promoting your blog posts.

Promote Your Blog Posts – How

There are many ways to promote your blog posts. However not all will apply to your blog, so choose them with the audience in mind that you are after and also your budget. Some are free while others will cost something and you may not have all that much money to spend until your blog really gets going.

For example, Google offers their Adwords product which costs something every time a reader clicks on one of their ads. The amount depends on the competition and how much you have budgeted for each click. Others are free and you merely have to submit the URL of your blog post to the site in order to be listed and ranked. Sites such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc can be used as part of the social media experience. These are methods of getting your post out to the people who follow you on social media.

Advertising on your business card, your invoicing, and any other correspondence that you may routinely circulate are also good ways of getting your blog noticed. LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Scoop.it, Yahoo answers, etc should also be included. There are other ways to get your blog noticed and more people coming to your site. Make sure you have buttons to easily allow them to share your site and posts to their social media contacts. Twitter, Facebook, etc. all have buttons that can easily be added.