The Only Search Engine That Matters For SEO

It’s no secret that an online presence is essential to growing a business. Regardless of what category your company falls into, an easy-to-use, interesting, and attractive website helps people find out what they need to know about your products or services. If they can find your site, that is. Chances are that you have heard about Search Engine Optimization and how important it is to have your business’ name listed relatively high in search results. But despite what you might read elsewhere, it’s not important to optimize your site for all search engines. In fact, there is only one that you need to focus on. And I’ll give you one guess which one it is.

 

Google is king. If you use Bing or Yahoo you are definitely part of the minority. Google’s brand is ubiquitous. They’ve become a verb synonymous with their service. Everyone has used Google. They are the search engine of choice for 67% of online searches. Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL combined add up to less than half of that.

(Image by University of Alabama at Birmingham)

 

Why Google?

 

People trust their results, and for good reason. Google has a complicated algorithm that rewards sites with better content, more incoming links, location relative to the searcher, and mobile compatibility. Sites rank lower if they contain spam, pornography, or use shady SEO tactics known as black hat SEO tactics. These include all the annoying hidden links, stuffed keywords, and sneaky redirects you remember from the internet of the early 2000’s. And Google frequently updates its algorithm to provide ever-better and relevant results for users. This is why Google grows it’s average number of daily searches by at least 500 million each year.

(Image by University of Southern California)

Why It Matters

 

Ranking on the first page for a Google search result means more than just an enormous boost in traffic to your site, but a higher conversion rate too. This means more people who click on your site will follow through and become a customer or client. Google achieves this by having the most relevant search results, so more people who click through to your site are looking for your products or service specifically.

 

Doing well on Google will also help elsewhere. Since Google has the most strict set of ranking guidelines, there is a very good chance that if you rank high, you will also rank fairly well on other search engines. It’s a win-win.

 

This, of course, can be a challenge. It’s important to stay informed on Google’s algorithm updates. As SEO-experts MOZ point out, “Each year, Google changes its search algorithm around 500–600 times.” These updates are typically pretty inconsequential, but more significant changes have the potential to bring your ranking up or down in a major way. The best way to prepare for these updates is to ensure that your site has an abundance of great content, quality backlinks from respected sites, fair and realistic descriptions of what your company is, accessibility from all platforms, and an absence of black hat SEO tricks.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/dylanellison/the-only-search-engine-that-matters-for-seo/

Why Students Choose to Go College Before a Beauty School

A lot of students who have a passion towards cosmetology think it would be wise to complete their college first. There are a lot of factors involved in the process that ultimately leads to this decision. However, there are also a few things most of them ignore.

Your passion matters

Firstly, if you have a passion towards something, the chances seem really very slim of you being able to settle in any other industry. It seems that doing something against your passion may not help you go far, especially given that the fact that you may lack the required motivation to succeed in other fields.

However, we hardly see many take such advices seriously, as they seek more security than what the field of cosmetology seems to be offering them. A lot of times, their decision may also be influenced by their friends and family, who would usually advice them to go to college first and then consider an option such as cosmetology, simply because they think that it may not turn out to be a very promising career option.

Coming to the facts, however, they hardly know much about cosmetology, let alone the opportunities offered by the industry. So we will also take a look below at the various opportunities it offers, and why can you afford to avoid college and enroll directly in a beauty school instead.

Many opportunities to look forward to

Well, if you got what it takes to be a stylist, chances are that you will have a lot more opportunities to look forward to than you could imagine. After all, not many out there have the ability to make one look great simply by making a few changes in their appearance. Due to this, people are willing to spend big bucks, especially when they need to prepare themselves for special occasions.

A stylist also always has the option of starting their own salon. They may require some experience initially. However, after they gain the required experience and find people to look after the other aspects of their business, they can simply focus on making people look great, ensuring great growth opportunities for the business.

Furthermore, one has quite a few other career options as well. The growth the industry is witnessing now allows them to become a trainer at one of the reputed saloon chains and training new stylists. Then there’s also the fact that states that there the employment opportunities for cosmetologists, hair stylists, and hairdressers are expected to grow at a whopping 12 percent each year at least till 2022.

This means that there are also a lot of job opportunities out there. Hence, you simply don’t need to believe that being a stylist can be a tough career option without doing much research.

A final word

Wasting a lot of money, time, and more importantly, your talent, seems to be a really terrible thing to go about building your career. There are many people who even decide to go into another industry after completing college, only to end up regretting and hating their job. Some of them also come back to doing what they love to do, and enroll in a beauty school. However, the wrong decision they make initially damages their growth potential considerably.

Hence, if you are about to make a choice between college and a beauty school, you might as well want to invest some more time into researching your options and making sure that you go with the right one for you.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/brandonleibowitz/why-students-choose-to-go-college-before-a-beauty-school/

4 Hard Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting A Startup

Nine out of ten startups will fail.

 

Most of us are pretty familiar with this statistic. The truth is, while many people know someone who has attempted a startup – few people know someone who has been successful with one.

Surprisingly, the reasons why most startups fail can be bucketed into a relatively small number of categories.

Therefore, if you’re willing to ask the tough questions upfront and be objective about them, it will make a huge difference in the outcome of your startup.

 

Can you be in the top 10%?

 

I think you can, but first, you have to go through this checklist.  

 

Does Anyone Need My Product?

In a recent episode on Shark Tank, a father pitched the Sharks what he believed would revolutionize the world of potty training.

Here’s the full episode. Go to minute 16 to see the entire pitch.

Spoiler – it’s a toddler toilet seat, which is built into the adult toilet seat.

Mind you, the alternative to this is usually a separately bought child seat that the adult can wash and reuse as needed.

Honestly, at first it seemed relatively ingenious. Afterall, all you have to do is flip the lid and you’re ready to go.

However none of the Sharks invested – why?

As parents themselves, they felt that this was not solving a real problem.

 

Sure, it’s a solution, but a solution to what?

 

If you’re not solving a problem, then no one will pay you for your product.  

So how do you know if you’re solving a problem before you actually solve it? Mostly, you have to ask people, which the lean startup model calls customer development.

Spend time with your target market. Identify that they have a problem and that your proposed solution is something they would pay for.

Do your best to invest as minimally as possible to get the answer that you need, so you can save yourself resources for later down the line.

 

Is My Business Model Viable?

Alright, so you’re solving a problem, but are you solving it in a way that will make money for you, your partners, and to have enough leftover to grow the business?

In many cases, startups aren’t.

 

• They aren’t charging enough to turn a profit, or worse, they aren’t charging at all.
• They aren’t sure how they’re going to monetize what they have.
• Their addressable market is not large enough to build a sustainable business out of, even if they could monetize it.

 

All of these reasons speak to why solving a problem is simply not enough.

In fact, the first question you should ask yourself after you determine that you are solving a problem, is why has no one else solved it?

Often, it comes down to the fact that it isn’t economically viable to do so.

 

So how do you know if it’s economically viable?

 

The simplest view is the one proposed by David from ForEntrepreneurs, which is that the cost of acquisition must be less than the lifetime value of the customer.

 

Basically, are your customers worth more than it costs to acquire them?

If they aren’t, it should seem pretty clear why this will never work.

You can try testing for this on a small scale through some different marketing channels, such as paid advertising.

 

Do I Have The Right Team?

Once the first two questions are out of the way, it pretty much boils down to execution.

Having the right team to grow a startup is about having the requisite skills, dedication, and frankly, the ability to put your egos aside and act in the interest of the business.

Very few people can do this, and more often than not team conflict ensues.

Ideally, you can find partners from previous ventures, although that presents a bit of a chicken and egg problem.

Alternatively, friends and family can work, but you should always be cautious about mixing your business life and your personal life.

Inevitably, you should focus on finding partners that complement your weaknesses. This is why it’s so common for marketing and tech people to join up and go 50/50.

 

Do You Have Enough Funding?

Growing a business takes money, and it has to come from somewhere.

Often, you hear the term “runway” mentioned, which is effectively how long the business has before it runs out of money.

Now money can come from a lot of different places. You can self fund it, you can ask family and friends, you can crowdfund it, or you can get venture capital – to name a few.

It’s not so much about where it comes from, but about how much there is and how much you’ll need.

Consider that even a relatively “simple” startup can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

In fact nothing amazes me more than watching Shark Tank and seeing regular people invest six figures into a business. The thing is, after you’ve invested so much, what’s another few thousand?

That sort of logic can rack up a huge bill.

Typically, some of the major costs of a startup are:

 

• Prototyping
• Intellectual Property
• Legal Fees
• Technology Development
• Employees
• Rent
• Tools, Hosting, etc

 

To name just a few.

Don’t be caught off guard – think critically about how much money you will need to get the business to the point of being break even.

 

How To Apply This To Your Startup

If you’re just starting a startup, it’s simple – ask yourself these questions, now!

If you’re in the middle of a startup, it’s not too late to ask these question now.

If you find weaknesses in your business model, product, or capital – you can correct it. Many of the above is fixable, to some degree.

On the contrary, if you’re sailing on a sinking ship – wouldn’t you want to know while you’re closer to shore?

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/davidschneider/4-hard-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-starting-a-startup/

How to Find a Good Criminal Defense Lawyer in Victorville

If you have been wrongly charged with a crime, you may want to hire a criminal defense lawyer immediately. After all, such crime charges can get you in some serious trouble if not taken care of in time.

However, finding a good criminal defense lawyer in Victorville isn’t an easy job, given that you need to look for quite a few things in order to ensure that the one you are looking to hire is capable enough of getting you out of trouble.

With that said, we are listing some highly useful info about how to go about choosing an experienced criminal defense lawyer in Victorville.

Asking your contacts                                         

It’s always a great idea to start searching for a criminal defense lawyer in your locality by asking your friends and family. There’s a good chance that someone you know have used one in the past, and it would be worth it to know about their experience. This is due to the fact that regardless of whether you would want to use the same lawyer or not, you still get to know a few important things to keep in mind while searching for one.

Also, if you find anyone you know who has used a criminal defense lawyer in the past, you may want to get all the information about them. This even includes the type of case they were dealing with, as it would help you find out whether it’s related to yours.

Taking a look at the list of lawyers in your locality

There seem to be quite a few well known criminal defense lawyers in Victorville that you can consider going with. There are a few sources that provide you with a detailed list of such lawyers, and other details such as their office address, contact numbers, and so on. Some may even go on to list their areas of expertise, and reviews of their past customers, which would definitely turn out to be quite useful.

Checking their websites

After going through such a list and finding someone you think would be able to handle your case well, or finding someone through your contacts, you may want to visit their website first. Most of the reputed and experienced criminal defense lawyers in Victorville have a website that provides a lot of useful information about how they operate. It may help you considerably in finding out whether they will be the right candidate for you.

In fact, you might as well choose three to four of them, and proceed to the next step.

Visiting them in person

You would obviously need to take an appointment and visit them in person in order to decide whether you would like one of them to handle your case. As far as the fee is concerned, they would usually charge an hourly fee, or a flat one-time one.

However, you shouldn’t let the fee be a major factor, unless you can’t really afford to pay more. Experienced and successful criminal defense lawyers usually charge more than most of their other less experienced counterparts.

Also, when you are visiting them, you might want to observe some things such as the quality of their staff, their behavior, and so on. A good lawyer would always hire people who are capable of being professional with their clients.

A final word

Though this is some general info, it should still help you find some of the better criminal defense lawyers in Victorville for you. Finally, we would also like to let you know that it isn’t a good idea to avoid a lawyer simply because they didn’t manage to meet you on a very short notice. Good lawyers tend to be busy.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/brandonleibowitz/how-to-find-a-good-criminal-defense-lawyer-in-victorville/

Advantages of Buying Gold Bars and Silver Coins Online

We know that most of us are still used to buying precious metals like gold and silver through jewelry stores, usually the ones based in our area. However, as the technological age really seems to be have set in, it has brought about some significant changes in almost every industry, the precious metals one being no different.

Nowadays, one has the option to buy gold bars and silver coins online from the comfort of their home. Against the popular belief, it’s also quite safe and secure, especially if you know the right place to head over to for shopping for such items.

With that said, let us take a look at some of the major advantages of buying gold bars and silver coins online.

Convenience

Convenience is a really significant advantage of shopping online for almost all types of products. However, little you know that shopping online for such precious metals too can be an extremely convenient option.

Besides not having to visit your local jewelry store, you are also free to shop anytime you want. There is obviously not going to be any location barrier as well, as you can shop from anywhere and still get a timely delivery of the items that you order.

Allows taking a more informed decision

It’s a rather common experience to get under some sort of pressure while shopping at your local jewelry stores. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, the sales staff may get annoyed if you show a desire to know too much or see many items than their customers usually do. This can be especially worrisome for those new customers, who are buying gold bars or silver coins for the first time.

Such customers may want to know a lot of things as it would be their first purchase. However, as the sales staff would hardly have a reason to bother about it, they may want you to take a quick decision. This can obviously result in you ending up taking a wrong decision as well.

Secondly, these sales associates also seem to be getting a commission for the sales they make. Seemingly, it depends on the type of items they sell or their prices. In other words, the more profitable or expensive the items they sell, the higher the commission they might be offered. Hence, their top priority may be to sell you such items, regardless of what your needs exactly are.

These seem to be some common problems associated with shopping offline for such precious items, especially if you aren’t an experienced customer or don’t know the owner of the store personally.

Ensures a high level of privacy

Purchasing gold bars and silver coins online ensures that only you know about the quantity you are buying and storing in your home. On the other hand, while buying from a local dealer, this can be something to be worried about, especially if you buy such items too frequently.

After all, while going with the latter, many people may come to know about your buying activities, raising concerns about your safety. Similarly, the information you share with online companies tends to be extremely safe and secure, while it may get compromised in some way if you are buying from a local dealer.

Pricing

Unlike the local jewelry stores, online dealers don’t have many overhead costs, allowing them to offer a considerably cheaper rate. Furthermore, as they may even be generating a large amount of business on a regular basis, they would have the economies of scale benefit on their side. They would usually pass on a considerable part of this benefit to their customers, ensuring even lower rates.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/brandonleibowitz/advantages-of-buying-gold-bars-and-silver-coins-online/

Killer Basketball Crossovers from a Young Arkansas Sophomore – Kamren Roelke

To round out some of the categories on Feedster, I wanted to talk some about sports. While this is not directly related to business it is a topic of great interest. There are a ton of ways that basketball relates to life and growth as you are challenged to improve, play better with others, and yet we all enjoy watching others do it better than ourselves.

To bring that part of life into full view I made a post that is video based to showcase a player that I coach. He is pretty special and hopefully we will watch him one day in the NBA.

Kamren Roelke – Top Point Guard | Class of 2018 | Arkansas Sophomore

You may know Kamren from writing on Feedster – Feedster Profile of Kamren Roelke

You may also know him from working on Dominant Link SEO – Kamren Dominant Link SEO Post

Kamren Roelke is actually a top recruited basketball point guard in Arkansas.

https://future150.com/hs/basketball-profiles/kamren-roelke-pg-hot-springs-ar-2018

.@RcsSports Official Players Invite List for 3/15 our SW Region tryout in HOUSTON for #SuperSophCamp 2015 here –> https://t.co/g3rstS9oQO

— Super Soph Camp (@SuperSophCamp) March 2, 2015

Here is that invite: Invite to Super Soph Camp

Top Point Guard Class of 2018 Videos

So what I have started doing is just grabbing clips of his games and posting them on my YouTube. Obviously, this is in an effort to gain attention for him on the recruiting front. It is tough to become noticed when you play in a Christian School League so we are putting together a plan to find more and more outlets for him to gain exposure.

Kamren Roelke – The Person

I really enjoy coaching this young man as he leads his team and learns more and more about life through the game of basketball. The camps, coaches, and players all enjoy him and anyone that watches or plays with him realize he is a special athlete. He is my sons best friend and spends a ton of time at my house as well as working for me. I have really gotten to know him as a person and can’t wait to mature him into a business owner if his basketball career takes a side note.

Video Clips

Here are some of the videos I have posted so far:

Here is another clip from Kamren’s ninth Grade Season, This one actually went a bit Viral on Instagram as the young man guarding him was injured on the play:

Then you like to see growth in a player. Here he was as a younger seventh grader:

Basketball Recruiting is a Tough Business

While Kamren is maturing and growing as you can tell from the videos, we are really finding out how much work it is to video each game and get good footage and then editing that footage into usable bites to send to recruiters. This process is really something that would be great for someone to make an application out of.

This lies the second problem. There are so many people that offer “recruiting” services for money that you don’t know who to trust. I still feel strongly that gaining mass media exposure would be great for his “brand” and image on the recruiting trail but we struggle knowing who to trust to make sure this happens.

If you have pointers on some things you have done, we would love to here from you.

 

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/admin/killer-basketball-crossovers-from-a-young-arkansas-sophomore-kamren-roelke/

RETAIL SOLUTIONS ADVISORS: FACTORS AFFECTING COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE IN LAKELAND, FLORIDA

Commercial Real Estate refers to the property which is used only for business purposes. It is thus pretty clear that this particular type of property is not developed for residential purposes and the location has to be where there is ample scope for business or any other commercial activity. Offices, parks, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants etc. are various types of commercial properties and it is the quality and quantity of commercial properties that make a city truly developed.

Florida is the south-western state of the USA and being a peninsula, it is a wonderful tourist spot as well as business ground. Having Atlantic Ocean in the east and great connection with inland waterways, this place is ideal for the development of business and thus, the importance of Commercial Real Estate is supreme. Having the longest coastline among all the other states of United States of America, Florida possesses the best ports of the country and is favoured by most of the business organizations which are engaged in import and export sectors to have their offices here. But not all places in Florida are blessed with the coastline and Lakeland is one among such landlocked places of the state. Nearness to the capital is also another factor that enhances the Commercial Real Estate market of the place.

While talking about the factors which affect the real estate market and most specifically the Commercial Estate market, it must be considered that they are not much different from other parts of the world. But, Florida has its own specialities for having the geographical specification (i.e. being a peninsula) and nearness to the national as well as business capital of the country. There are several factors which affect the present as well as future market value of commercial properties. With the dynamic changes happening in the business sector these days, the future of commercial real estate market has turned out to be one of the most vulnerable fields.

Let us take a quick look at the basic factors which affect the Commercial Real Estate market in Florida:

1. Supply: This is perhaps the very first thing to consider in all business and real estate market is no exception. Florida is one of the oldest settlements in United States of America and thus availability of unused land is pretty less. With the growth of business, the demand for commercial properties displayed a steady growth but the supply was not as required. People having residential properties right at the heart of the major cities were reluctant to give up their hold on the land but gave up to the demand when high prices were offered. The basic feature thus became high priced commercial properties and that has been the general trend all over the state.
2. State rules: United States of America is characterized with different sets of laws for different states and Florida is no exception to this feature as well. The zoning and developmental rules which are to be followed in this state is pretty different from other states and thus the commercial properties have to abide by the specific laws. Business houses belonging to other parts of the country which are willing to have their office or business houses in Florida may find it difficult to adjust with the regulations prevailing here and thus their demand for commercial properties are affected.
3. Taxation: Tax is compulsory for all types of properties and it is a known fact that commercial properties are heavily taxed as compared to residential ones. Various counties in Florida have their own taxation models and property owners sell or rent the commercial properties according to those rules. The popular and commercially populated places are obviously highly taxed in comparison to the less important business locations. With the development of communication system, it is now seen that several business organizations are choosing less important spots just to get some cost benefits.
4. Location: Location of the commercial property has always been the most determining factor in this field and is the only factor that is considered in most of the cases. When a company is looking for space to start its new office, they will obviously look for the best location for the comfort of their clients and the property owners on the other hand will look forward to get higher prices for their properties.
5. Future market: There is no single business which can leave behind the factor of future prospects. With the growth of virtual market and office facilities (i.e. through internet) it is evident that the demand for big shops or offices will be facing a decline in future. But Florida being blessed with the longest coastline in the country will always have great demand for commercial properties as virtual business can never decrease the demand of transportation of freight. Thus, spaces will always be in demand for shipping and storage houses.

Having discussed the five major factors which affect the commercial real estate market in Florida, we can now conclude that people who are having commercial properties in Florida should not lose hope for enhancement of the market in near or even far future.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/shokhi_agarwal/retail-solutions-advisors-factors-affecting-commercial-real-estate-in-lakeland-florida/