Author Archives: ernie

Organically Identify Long Tail Keywords

High quality content interesting to the reader is the holy grail of SEO and content marketing. For many years keywords have been used to help websites get indexed by search engines. They help them get listed high enough to matter in the search results. Long-tail keywords are becoming more popular. They often deliver better results for the website owner, the marketing campaign, and of course the reader or customer. Content specialists can organically identify long-tail keywords or use various tools to help them identify long-tail keywords to improve search engine visibility and results for the customer. We will discuss several ways to accomplish this in the following notes.

Organically identify long-tail keywords – Methods

Assuming that you have some sort of tracking mechanism on your website, you can use the stats from this tracking tool to help you. What pages or posts are the most popular. What search terms did visitors use to find your site? There is a wealth of information on your sites tracking information that can help you address areas of content for your customers and help you rank better with the search engines.

Use Google search to confirm search results for your keywords. If the results of a search deliver millions of results, you probably should refine your keywords. If they produce results in the low hundreds of thousands, your getting better. High-quality content written around long-tail keywords that readers are searching for will bring your site better results.

Check for bounce rates. If a visitor comes to your site and immediately moves on it tells you that your content did not address his or her needs. What were they searching for? Did your content address this need?  By updating your content or adding new content focused on this long-tail search string used by the customer, you might just improve the bounce rate and retain the customer on your site to achieve whatever objective you have.

It takes time to get it right, however, this should be a daily job for your SEO and Content specialists.

Best Way to Avoid Boredom in Retirement

Many people find they do not have enough hours in the day during retirement. At the same time, others are looking for help. They want to find the best way to avoid boredom in retirement. With so many people retiring these days, many are struggling, especially after the first year. They spend the first year traveling, completing projects around the house, and visiting friends they have not seen for several years. They did not have time when they were working. Suddenly they have all of this free time, and they make the most of it. But what happens after the first year when all projects are completed? The budget has been maxed out, and your friends are also traveling. Now what do you do?

Best Way to Avoid Boredom in Retirement

There are three essential elements that consumers need to consider to avoid boredom in retirement. They are:

  • Sufficient budget
  • Good health
  • A purpose to your life

Having only one or two of these is not sufficient. Having a purpose in life is probably the most important of them all. If you do not have a reason for getting up in the morning, it does not matter how healthy you are or how much money you have. You can survive on less money and varying degrees of health. Having a purpose in life keeps you going, challenges you, and makes life interesting.

Everyone is different. Your purpose in life will be different from everyone you know. Whether it is a second career, pursuing hobbies, looking after the grandkids, or volunteering, it is something that you look forward to each day. Find what works for you. Try different things until you have that interest in life that makes you get up in the morning looking forward to the day.

 

Big problem for new retirees

problem for new retireesInitially, you’re really busy catching up on all of the things you have been ignoring or delaying until your retirement. You knew that there would be time for these things once you finished work, so you put them off. Many retirees find themselves very busy during the first few months or even the first year, but something happens. It is a typical big problem for new retirees. Initially, they enjoy sleeping in, they get to travel on their schedule, and there is much less stress. This newfound freedom is pretty nice. But they run out of things to do around the house over time. Travel budgets get depleted, and while it is nice to sleep in, you have the rest of the day to fill!

Many people suddenly find themselves missing out on social interaction with people at work. They miss the fulfillment, achievement, and recognition they get from doing their jobs. They try to keep busy, but keeping busy is just not fulfilling anymore. Now, what do they do for the rest of their retirement years?

Big problem for new retirees – Boredom

The B word comes into their vocabulary. They are bored and do not know what to do with their time. There are three things you need to enjoy retirement. You need your health, you need a good financial plan that matches your lifestyle plans, and you need the most important thing: a purpose in life.

For some consumers, finding a purpose in life means looking after the grandkids. For others, it means returning to the workforce in a new career. Many start hobbies that turn into jobs. The most important element that these people must have is that they look forward to getting up in the morning and pursuing their purpose.

Everyone has something different. Each person needs to find out what works for them. Their purpose could change over time as well. They might start out with a hobby, which leads to other things they find more interesting. Whatever it is, try many alternatives until you find the one that works for your situation at your time of life.

For more senior lifestyle ideas and topics, click here.

WordPress speed – Improve server response time

Improve server response timeOne of the most frustrating experiences is waiting for a web page to load. Everyone expects instantaneous results. No one wants to wait for any kind of lineup these days. If your website does not load a page quickly onto the user’s device, they may give up and move on. In addition, the search engines will rank your site even lower due to poor response time. If this happens, you have gone from bad to worse. No one is going to find your web page. Fortunately, there are solutions to Improve server response time and help your server deliver, such as content caching and other ideas. We have included a few in the following narrative that may help your site perform better.

Improve server response time.

Host – Shared hosting may be less expensive compared to dedicated hosting. However, you are impacted by the traffic on that host, whether yours or someone else’s. In addition, ensure that the host runs the latest software and has the latest server available.

Processes – too many processes running simultaneously can also slow your site’s response time. Processes can be plugins driving backup routines, scans, etc. Space them out over time so that they all do not run simultaneously.

Plugins – are excellent and provide the functionality needed for your website. All are not created equal. Run a performance analysis on your site to confirm that no plugin is slowing load time.

Image Size – smaller images load much faster than large images. it is just that simple.

Improve server response time – Much More – you can do many other things to improve page load times. For example, many sites are attacked by bots attempting to learn your password. Employ a throttling plugin and one that blocks IP addresses that are trying to guess your password.  You will greatly improve page load times if your server is not dealing with denial of service attacks and password attacks.

Financial Independence in Retirement 

Financial Independence in Retirement Much was made of the slogan freedom 55. At the time, it signified that a person could retire at 55, living the quality of life they wanted on the savings they had accumulated. Unfortunately, many people lost a lot of money during the recessions in 2000 and 2008/09. Freedom 55 has been set aside for the time being. We all want to have financial independence in retirement. More importantly, we want to be financially independent at a certain point in our lives so that we can make our own decisions about work vs retirement.

In fact, wouldn’t it be nice at age 45 to have sufficient income to allow you to make a decision about continuing to work, changing jobs, or traveling for a while without worrying about money? There is a way to do this, and it is just simple mathematics.

Financial Independence in Retirement

All consumers need to do is invest 10% of their incomes in a diversified group of stocks, regardless of how much they make. They need to be blue-chip stocks, and they need to pay dividends. They should have an excellent record of paying dividends and increasing their dividends. While it is slow and tedious, it is like the race of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise won because he kept going and finished the race, while the hare fooled around and did not focus on the race.

As your income increases, so should your savings commitment. As your savings grow, there will come a time when the dividend income is larger than the money you add to the account every year from your salary.

If you begin later in life, you must save more to achieve the same result. You might have to work longer as well. But this approach will ensure you are financially independent at some future point.

Remember, save 10%, don’t touch it, invest in blue chips only, diversify, reinvest the dividends, and watch your savings grow!

How to Feel Richer in Retirement

Feel Richer in RetirementMany couples have no idea if they will have enough money when they retire. They worry and want to feel richer in retirement but do not know what to do. They have not taken the time to assess their situation regarding income, expenses, and savings to know if they will be comfortable or not. This is the only way to know if you have saved sufficiently and will have enough pension income. They can stop worrying once they set up a budget and assess their financial situation. But there are always ways to feel richer in retirement regardless of income. Here are a few steps to take.

How to Feel Richer in Retirement

Always ask for discounts – there is nothing wrong with asking for discounts. Many places offer 10% off for seniors or even as much as half-price. That’s a pretty good deal when two people can eat for the price of one.

Stay healthy – avoid expensive medication, trips to the doctor, and worse. Exercise, eat well, and not only will you feel better, there will be more money in your pocket.

Look for supplemental income – if you are short of money, get a part-time job. Many seniors work a couple of days a week. They like the extra income and the social aspect of being around people.

Work longer – once you have completed your assessment, you may need to work longer. That’s ok for many people. Again, they enjoy the social aspect and can build their savings even further.

Save early – start as soon as you get your first job. Set aside 10%, invest it well, and forget about it. Amazingly you will have sufficient savings and income by the time you are 50 to retire or do something different than your current career. It will be your choice.

Invest well – forget the quick rich schemes. Most people lose money. Focus on blue chip stocks that not only pay dividends but increase them regularly as well. You will be amazed at how fast your savings will grow.

Key Attributes of Web Design

web designEarning from AdSense should not be too difficult, but it may be better to make sure you follow some obvious points for web design. Every website should have a purpose and an objective. For example, if it is your company’s site, it should focus on your customers. Possibly also on your investors. Your customers look for products, services, and information about your company. Give them the information they are looking for. However, other elements apply which can help your online presence be successful. We will cover some of the more essential elements as follows.

Key Attributes of Web Design

If you fail on any of these, your customers may never see your content and never visit your site again. Your content must be able to answer their questions, but if they cannot even see it, you will not be successful. This leads to the first key attribute.

Site speed – whether it is loading on a desktop or a mobile, it must load fast. Consumers are unwilling to wait for more than a couple of seconds. Your site must load within that time frame.

Page scrolling – large pages with lots of content must support scrolling on desktops and mobile devices. They need to quickly get to the location and information they are looking for.

Site style – the style should be pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate, and intuitive to easily support the customers’ need to find information and answer their questions.

Keep it simple – no one wants complexity any longer. Consumers will quickly move to another site if they cannot easily figure out how to navigate or find the info they are looking for. Keep it simple in everything you provide to the consumer.

How Couples Sabotage their Retirement Plans

How Couples Sabotage their Retirement PlansThere are lots of ways that couples sabotage their retirement plans. When they do they have to resort to solutions that are brought out in the picture. Some have to down size, some have to move in with their kids. Many have to cut back on their lifestyle drastically. They even need to keep working well past their retirement years just to maintain the standard of living they like to have. There are lots of reasons why this sort of thing occurs, however we are going to focus on how couples sabotage their retirement plans in this post.

How Couples Sabotage their Retirement Plans

There are lots or reasons, however most can be narrowed down into three main categories. The first one being one of the most important.

Lack of Communication – do both partners have the same objectives about retirement? Travel, annual vacation, spending time with the grand kids? What do you want to do in retirement and does your spouse agree? These are just a few of the items that many couples just do not talk about these things and receive a surprise. Set some joint goals now and begin to make plans on how you will achieve them.

Savings in the Wrong Account – Are you placing your savings in the right account? do you obtain the appropriate tax advantages which help save even more funds? A regular savings account is to easy to access, generates too little income and is taxable. Consider a retirement account that protects your gains and income from the tax man.

Not Matching Savings with Dreams – Planning for a new car, saving for travel, matching your retirement income with your retirement plans? These are just a few of the ideas that need to be considered. Develop a plan around when you want to retire. How much money you will need saved and when you will achieve this goal.

A financial advisor can help you with all of these questions. You may need to spend a few sessions with them as you develop your plan. Make adjustments based on the reality of your situation.

Retirement or Independence

Retirement or IndependenceGone are the days when consumers expected to retire at age 65! Many are working far past this age to make ends meet. Many are forced to retire due to health issues or layoffs at work. They are all struggling to live and have enough money even to put food on the table. If you are 55 to 70 and reading this post, it is probably too late to benefit from the concepts expressed further in this post. You will need to keep working and learn to live on what you can earn and what you have managed to save. Younger consumers still have time to reach financial Retirement or Independence and decide when or if they retire.

Retirement or Independence

Fundamentally, consumers should aim for financial independence by the age 45 or 50. This means they have sufficient funds to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. It does not mean they need to retire or will retire.

They might be pleased doing the jobs they are doing. They may decide to pursue their dreams, whatever that might be. The point is that they can make these decisions and not worry about saving enough money when they stop working. How do they do that?

Start saving and investing as soon as you begin working. Invest at least 10% of your income, manage it, and reinvest the dividend and interest income. Let it grow, and if you do an excellent job at saving and managing, you will reach financial independence by the time you are 45 or 50.

By all means, keep working if that is what you need to do. The important thing is you can decide on your next career or lifestyle without worrying about earning money.

How do I know if I have enough Money to Retire

how do i know if i have enough money to retireHow do I know if I have enough money to retire? This is the big question that many people ask themselves as they near retirement. Should I work for a few more years? Or can I retire now? What quality of life will I have in retirement with the money I have? There are so many questions that we all have and it all comes down to money for many people. But there is much more to it than just money. Sure you need to have sufficient savings to allow you to live comfortably. You also need to have friends, family, and things to do. Your activities will need to be interesting, perhaps challenging, and give you something to look forward to every day. But let’s get back to the main question, how do I know if I have enough money to retire?

How do I know if I have enough Money to Retire

Start with developing a budget. You will need to know how much savings you will have when you retire and how much income it will generate from interest, dividends, and mutual fund payments. Next, you need to calculate your income from private company pensions and government pensions. When will you receive these pensions?

Your expenses are next. Add up all of your regular monthly and annual expenses for everything that you have. Utilities, food, rent, taxes, clothing entertainment, etc. Compare your annual income with your annual expenses to get the first indication of whether you will have enough in retirement.

You may need to make some adjustments. This could include working longer to save more money. It could also include reducing your expenses. Perhaps you will need to eat out less. Maybe reduce your utilities or downsize to a smaller less expensive home. You also may need to make adjustments to accommodate the objectives you have with regard to travel, etc.

Work with an expert to gain help with this process to answer the question and plan your future retirement.