Tips for Dominating SEO in 2015

If you are looking to improve your website’s SEO, there are a few things that you need to consider. Today’s market is filled with competition, and more competition means it is getting harder to remain on top when it comes to your search engine rankings. That is why it’s important to stay current in knowing the ever-changing SEO rules that dictate how your site performs online. As information grows on the worldwide web and commerce expands, you need to remain on the cutting edge of SEO tactics and techniques, such as the ones shared below.

Tweak Your Keyword Knowledge

Keywords are an integral part of SEO, but if you are not seeing the same results from prior years, you need to change your strategy. To improve your website’s SEO, you will need to think outside the box. Expand your SEO vocabulary by seeking alternative terms that people use to find the same content. Use mid-tier and long-tail keywords to maintain your presence on the web. Don’t just recycle the same old stuff you know – be creative.

Update Your Content

Never ignore your website’s content. The old saying is true when it comes to marketing your business: content is king. The higher in quality your content, the better your ranking will be in the search engine. You need to have content that is relevant, fresh, and original. Use evergreen content as part of this strategy, or regularly update your site with news and information about your business. Improve your website’s appearance and ease of use in its navigation features. Create a mobile website platform for your business. Utilizing these strategies keeps users engaged, and more activity to your site means a higher search engine ranking.

Use Links Wisely

Backlinks are critical when you want to improve your website’s SEO. However, do so carefully.

One form of backlinking you can use to increase your search engine visibility is to add internal links to your content. This helps increase the time users spend on your website, which in turn improves your website’s bounce rate. Bounce rate is important because it dictates whether your website has any value in the search rankings. The longer users stay on a webpage, the better your bounce rate, and the more likely you will rank higher. However, if users are leaving frequently with little time spent on the site, search engines are going to notice.

Furthermore, it is important to note that external links also provide you with an opportunity to improve your website’s SEO. However, be careful when doing so. You do not want to use links that are irrelevant to your business, and you most certainly do not want you use links that contain spam. Go for high-quality links, and never overdo it by littering your page with link after link. Doing so will not only turn off customers but will also negatively affect your standing with Google.

Go Local with Google

Register with Google My Business. With more and more people using mobile devices to help them find what they need online, marketers are taking notice. Studies are showing that an overwhelming number of users are using their mobile devices to search for local businesses in order to fulfill their customer needs. By using Google My Business, your website is optimized for local traffic by putting your business information on Google Search, Maps and Google+ – making it easier for customers to find you.

SEO Success is Not Overnight Success

Dominating SEO in your market is not something that can provide immediate gratification. The search engines take time to account for your changes and results depend on your diligence and your patience. To improve your website’s SEO, keep track of the changes you make so that you can decide whether you need to modify your strategy. Website SEO is a long-term effort in marketing your business. The changes you make now will have a lasting impact on the future.

Top 10 Greatest Entrepreneurs in the US (2014)

Whenever we think of great entrepreneurs, we think of the likes of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and Steve Jobs. Rather than going through the same old people you’ve read about in every other article on the subject, we’re going to focus on the here and now. This is 2014 and we’re seeing a fresh crop of entrepreneurs crawling out of the mist. Read on to find the top 10 greatest entrepreneurs of 2014!

1.       Madison Robinson

 

What makes Madison so special is she’s only 15. She invented Fish Flops, which is a type of light-up flip flop. According to her, she first had the idea when she was eight. Seven years on and she’s sold over 60,000 pairs, which equals about $1.2 million in sales.

2.       Lucas Duplan

 

Lucas Duplan is the founder and CEO of Clinkle. After dropping out of Stanford, he invented Clinkle as a way of replacing your wallet with a phone. It’s already raised $25 million in seed funding since 2013, including from figures like Richard Branson and Peter Thiel. It’s designed to offer better phone-to-phone transactions through the medium of high-frequency sound.

3.       Khoa Phan

 

Khoa Phan is a freelance Vine editor who started a Vine account a day after Twitter bought the platform. He’s launched a series of seven-second videos and it’s quickly become one of the most popular channels on the platform. It’s meant the likes of Mashable have named him with as one of the top channels to follow due to his infectious personality and marketable name.

4.       Stacey Ferreira

 

As the co-founder of MySocialCloud, Stacey Ferreira makes it easy to store all your usernames and passwords in one place. They have raised over $1 million in venture capital simply by providing a secure location for people to store usernames and passwords that they commonly have trouble remembering.

5.       Eden Full

 

SunSaluter is a type of solar panel that rotates according to the movement of the sun. She invented this solar panel when she was first in high school. By using a special tracking mechanism to monitor thermal expansion, she has made a solar panel that’s relatively low maintenance and can be installed at an extremely low cost. So far, she has installed her solar panels as far afield as Kenya.

6.       Nick D’aloisio

 

Nick D’aloisio invented Summly. Summly is a type of text analyser for the iOS. It summarises large reams of text to make long pages pieces of writing easier to take in. It was so successful that Yahoo bought the rights from him for $30 million.

7.       Caroline Walerud

 

Caroline Walerud is the co-founder of Volumental. This is an innovation that claims to be the world’s first cloud-based 3D scanner. Users only need a depth camera and a browser to start creating models of practically anything in the world.

8.       Brian Wong

 

Kiip was invented by Brian Wong as a way for companies to link their real-life promotional efforts with virtual achievements. For example, if you completed a game on a company’s website, they could issue you with a coupon in real life. It’s already reached 70 million users through 1,500 different mediums, according to statistics from Forbes.

9.       Evan Spiegel

 

Evan Spiegel is the founder and CEO of Snapchat. It was such a successful networking app that Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook offered Spiegel $1 billion for it, and he even had the guts to turn it down. It has caused Facebook’s daily usage amongst teens to drop by 16%.

10.   Palmer Luckey

 

Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR at the age of 21. The company has a type of virtual reality headset in production, designed to revolutionise the world of gaming. It’s currently raised $91 million to push this venture forward.

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How to Write a Resume for an Advertising Job

Your resume is your first impression to a company. In the advertising field, you should understand how important marketing is. Some advertising professionals do not know how to market themselves properly to advertising firms to get the job of their dreams. Learning how to present yourself in the right way is vital.

Use Industry Specific Buzz Words

The advertising industry has specific keywords that are generalized for the entire industry. It is beneficial to your chances of being hired by a top firm to include these keywords in your cover letter and resume. The keywords will stand out and shows the potential employer that you take pride in the work you do and understand how to incorporate keywords to make marketing content stand out.

Highlight Accomplishments

The resume should absolutely highlight your career achievements. This means that you should include promotions, sales achievements and successful marketing campaigns you were in charge of. The information in this section of the resume indicates that you have a following and a proven track record.

This is important because advertising agencies need professionals that can produce numbers, increase revenues and add to the brand’s success. In order for an advertising company or advertising professional to control a niche, they have to be great at what they do.

Highlight Specific Sectors

Some companies use recruiters to find employees. Recruiters look for sector specific experience when looking for the right advertising professional for the firm. In the skills section of the resume, include the specific sectors of the advertising industry that you have worked in. This can be a bullet list with a few words after each entry or a paragraph.

Keep the information concise as the wording you use will entice the recruiter or company to contact you for more information.

Research the Company Applying to

Targeting the resume for a specific company is a good idea. For this reason you should complete research on the company and the hiring professional. Look to see what they want in an employee and just how successful their business is.

What you can do from here is adjust your general resume to be more specific. This means that you would include specific entries that are directed toward the company in an obvious manner without being absolutely direct.

Use the Right Format

Formatting is important. Of course you want to be thorough but you also have to be concise Resumes should not be more than a page and a half. The potential employer will enquire with you directly for elaboration on your work experience and success.

Use an online advertising resume template if necessary. This ensures that the right information is in the right place and that you are maintaining a concise and cohesive tone.

Always Proofread

Do not just write a resume and send it off to a potential employer. Always take the time to carefully proofread your entries out loud. Also use a free grammar and spelling checker to make sure your sentence structures and language are correct. Use an authoritative tone and do your best to refrain from passive statements. The idea of a resume is to make an impact right out of the gate.

These pieces of advice are helpful when writing an advertising resume. This is your opportunity to show off and gloat a little, but in a professional manner. This is your advertisement, your chance to leave a footprint in the mind of the hiring authority. Be careful with what information you include and who you use as a reference. You only want to use references that are going to back-up your success and make you shine.

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How NOT to Negotiate Your Salary

Maintaining a steady income is important and so is advancing your career making leaps forward rather than backward. Most companies have set salaries for each position. Keep in mind that not all of these salaries are in line with industry salary medians. It is important that you do some research and prevent yourself from being short-changed. Of course, if you have been unemployed for a period of time, needing income as soon as possible also plays a factor, but make sure you are making the right decision first.

Know your Worth

Every industry has a value and you have a value within it. You have to know what you are worth as a professional in a specific niche. Experience and records of success make you a little more valuable that someone who is just starting out.

When you possess unique qualities and have proven methods of success, shoot for the stars. Most professionals include a salary requirement letter with a cover letter and resume. Include your desired salary and highlight the main reasons that you deserve that amount.

Complete an Industry Salary Comparison

In order to see what you should expect as a salary, complete a salary comparison. Include experience, top companies and the salaries of entry level and superior positions. This will give you a good idea of what to expect.

With that being said, if you have unique skills or are highly in-demand in a specific industry, you should expect a top range salary.

Don’t Settle

If you should end up in a salary negotiation situation, don’t settle just to get the job. This is where knowing your worth comes into play. Some companies pay lower salaries in order to keep more revenue for themselves. While this is a smart business move on their part, it also means that they are not likely to have the top professionals on their staff due to the offered salaries. Unless you have absolutely no other option, don’t settle.

Know when and when not to Negotiate Salaries

There are situations where negotiating salaries is not a good idea. Some companies do not budge period. In some cases, even attempting salary negotiations can cost you the opportunity completely. This is why researching the company and industry median salaries are important. If you can see that a company is paying below industry standards, negotiations shouldn’t even be attempted.

Gauge the ability to stand your ground and accept the salary offered or shoot for a little more during the interview process.

Understanding When to Discuss Salaries

Many professionals have it backwards when it comes to discussing salaries. This should be done at the time of the interview, not days later. Days later, the company is already set to bring you in and has you in the system under a specific salary. Most don’t want to go in and change this or don’t want to pay more than already offered.

It tells an employer that you are unsure about working with them if you go back days later. Perhaps you’ve received another offer and want to see if this company can match it because their structure, atmosphere and track records are better. See what the cards hold and give it a try, it never hurts to try.

There are right and wrong ways to go about negotiating salaries. A potential employer can tell if you feel uneasy with the discussion, so have confidence and understand how much you really are worth and what you deserve to be paid. As mentioned above, some companies just do not negotiate salaries, what they offer is it. Weigh your options before giving up on one company, it may be the only opportunity you have for a while.

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Mistakes to Avoid When Creating your Resume

Creating a resume seems simple, but it is far more complicated and specific that may job seekers understand. Your resume is the first impression that a company has of you. It has to be spectacular, brief and to the point. This is where you list your relevant work history and skills along with accomplishments and career goals.

Spelling and Grammar Errors        

The number one thing that can ruin your chances of getting hired is typos and grammar errors. Always proofread the resume out loud and through a spelling and grammar checker. This ensures that you are not missing anything. Employers need people that are competent in these areas.

Being Too Vague

When describing your skills and tasks performed at previous jobs, don’t be vague. This tells the employer nothing about your training or experience. Use concise specifics without being too short. If your previous positions required several tasks, highlight the most important and list the additional tasks as skills in the work related skills section.

Choosing the Wrong References

Employers do perform reference checks so it is important to only include those that are going to be positive about their experience with you. If you ended a job on a bad note with a previous employer, it is best to leave them off as a point of contact. Use personal references that are professionals themselves as they will know how to handle the call the right way.

Use professional references that you had a good working relationship with and always ask if you can list them. Those that are willing to speak on your behalf without hesitation are not going to damage your chances of being hired.

Not Targeting the Resume for the Job Desired

Many resume writers make the big mistake of listing all of the jobs they’ve had in their lives. This is not always the best thing to do. Appearing versatile is one thing, but an off-the-wall job listing confuses a potential employer. Always use the most relevant work related entries possible. This is called target resume adaptation. You are targeting your resume to a specific company for a specific position.

To be successful with target resume adaptation properly, do a little research on the company. Highlight your capabilities with what the job would require, meaning, only list what you can actually do successfully in regards to that company’s specific needs.

Poor Objective

Your objective must be strong and you must have a clear idea of where you want your career to advance with. Describe the ideal company you wish to work for but use industry specific keywords that will direct the voice of the resume to that company and no other. Rather than statements such as “I would like to” or “I hope to” use “I see myself progressing” or “I plan to advance in the company”. These statements show the company that you have self-conviction or believe in your capabilities and can prove your skills.

Length Issues

Resume length is always an issue. The ideal resume length is no more than two pages plus a salary requirement page and a cover letter. Some resumes have been 10 pages long and no potential employer is going to sit through reading all of that. Keep it short, but not too short. Some employers request a summarized one-page resume, so always double check the requirements before completing yours.

Use these resume writing tips to help you be as specific and to the point a possible. Highlight the important areas of your career and display yourself as desirable, irreplaceable and needed by that company by including a couple of things y

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