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How to Set Up a New Business in South Dakota

Starting a Business in South Dakota

So have you been wondering: how do I start a business in South Dakota? And more importantly, can I do so no matter what the economic conditions are? Can I start a new business in South Dakota during a recession?

New Business in South Dakota: Pros and Cons

Business Insider puts South Dakota in its middle ten states when it comes to starting a new business, according to a 2016 article. And this is for the whole country.

South Dakota has a decent rate of new business owners. South Dakota also has the second best business tax climate. But the pool of potential workers to hire is small in the state. South Dakota has the lowest percentage of available employees at 0.52%.

Still, Max Filings names South Dakota #2 for states with the business best tax climate to form an LLC or a corporation. Nearby Wyoming was #1.

Recent Upsurge

In 2018, Fit Small Business ranked South Dakota as number five for starting a new business. But keep in mind, the methodologies used by Fit Small Business, Business Insider, and Max Filings all differ.

Why the dramatic upswing? Even Fit Small Business saw a change (South Dakota was number twenty on their list in 2017), and some was due to the good tax climate and high marks for the cost of starting a business. Business survivability is also very good.

New Business in South Dakota: Top Industries

Per the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development, the biggest industries in South Dakota are value-added agriculture, financial services, and also bioscience. As in many states, the health care and social assistance sectors are also large employers.

Smart business owners can take find new opportunities with bigger industries in the state. They can offer goods or services. These can include developing safety equipment, and also trucking for any industry. Other ideas are ground transportation, and computer support such as in data and programming.

Here is how to start business in South Dakota.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – South Dakota New Business Secretary of State Requirements

Register a Business Name

DBAs (also known as fictitious business names) must be registered, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website.

Corporations

A business owner must choose a unique name for their corporation. Do an extensive search of online records and other archives and catalogs to make sure the name is not in use. There is a database of South Dakota corporations that anyone can search online at the South Dakota Secretary of State website.

Corporate Name Reservations

Name reservations are not required in South Dakota. However, if a business owner wants to reserve a corporate name, they can submit a name reservation application to the office of the South Dakota Secretary of State.

Download the name reservation application form at Reserve a South Dakota Corporation Name on the South Dakota Secretary of State website. The corporate name will then be reserved for a period of 120 days. They will need to pay a filing fee of $25.00.

When choosing a corporate name, it must include the word “corporation,” “incorporated,” “limited,” “company”. Or it can be an abbreviation of one of these words.

Registered Agents

A corporation will need a registered agent. They will act as an agent for service of process and also receive all legal and tax documents for it.  An adult resident of South Dakota or a corporation can act as a registered agent.

There are companies that provide registered agent services. You can find a directory of some of these companies online at Register a South Dakota Corporation on the South Dakota Secretary of State website.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Business Permits and Licenses

The Department of Labor and Regulation keeps a list of occupational and professional licensing boards. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development also has a PDF with pertinent data.

Local Permits and Licenses

A rather useful interactive map can make finding South Dakota County websites easy.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Business Registration

Go to the “Start a New Business” page via South Dakota Secretary of State business services. Business forms are also there.

Tax Registration

You can apply at the South Dakota Department of Revenue.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Virtual Offices

Alliance offers South Dakota virtual business office space in Sioux Falls only. For Rapid City, try Regus for South Dakota virtual office space or to connect with local business owners. Also try computer user groups to see if they can help.  Other options may be to look for virtual business office space in nearby states. They are Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and also Wyoming.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Establish Business Credit

Business credit is credit in a company’s name. It doesn’t link to a business owner’s personal credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the business.

Therefore, an entrepreneur’s business and individual credit scores can be very different.

The Benefits

Considering that business credit is independent from individual, it helps to protect a business owner’s personal assets, in the event of court action or business bankruptcy.

Also, with two separate credit scores, a small business owner can get two separate cards from the same vendor. This effectively doubles buying power.

Another benefit is that even startup ventures can do this. Visiting a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for frustration. But building small business credit, when done the right way, is a plan for success.

Individual credit scores depend upon payments but also additional elements like credit use percentages.

But for company credit, the scores actually merely hinge on if a company pays its bills promptly.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

The Process

Establishing company credit is a process, and it does not happen without effort. A small business will need to actively work to establish company credit.

That being said, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much quicker than building individual credit scores.

Vendors are a big aspect of this process.

Doing the steps out of order will lead to repetitive denials. No one can start at the top with business credit. For example, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Business Fundability

A small business has to be fundable to lenders and vendors.

Due to this fact, a business will need a professional-looking web site and email address. And it needs to have site hosting from a company such as GoDaddy.

And, company telephone and fax numbers should have a listing on 411.com.

Likewise, the business telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the like).

A company will also need a bank account devoted solely to it, and it needs to have all of the licenses necessary for operation.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Working with the Internal Revenue Service

Visit the IRS website and get an EIN for the company. They’re free of charge. Select a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A company can start off as a sole proprietor. But they will probably wish to switch to a form of corporation or an LLC.

This is in order to decrease risk. And it will maximize tax benefits.

A business entity will matter when it involves tax obligations and liability in case of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. No one else is responsible.

Sole Proprietors Take Note

If you run a business as a sole proprietor, then at least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.

If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the small business name. As a result, you can find yourself being personally responsible for all small business debts.

Additionally, according to the IRS, using this arrangement there is a 1 in 7 probability of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 possibility for corporations! Avoid confusion and significantly decrease the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit at the same time.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Instigating the Business Credit Reporting Process

Begin at the D&B web site and obtain a totally free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a business into their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s websites for the company. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

This way, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.

Vendor Credit Tier

First you need to build trade lines that report. This is also known as the vendor credit tier. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

Start a New Business in South Dakota Credit Suite

And with an established business credit profile and score you can start to obtain credit in the retail and cash credit tiers.

These sorts of accounts tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you initial credit when you have none now. Terms are typically Net 30, instead of revolving.

Hence, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you must pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts have to be paid fully within 60 days. In comparison with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To launch your business credit profile the right way, you ought to get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting bureaus. As soon as that’s done, you can then make use of the credit.

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit Tier – It Helps

Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with very little effort. You also need them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

You want 5 to 8 of these to move onto the next step, which is the retail credit tier. But you may need to apply more than one time to these vendors. So, this is to demonstrate you are responsible and will pay timely.

Retail Credit Tier

Once there are 5 to 8 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then progress to the retail credit tier. These are businesses like Office Depot and Staples.

Just use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the small business’s EIN on these credit applications.

One example is Lowe’s. They report to D&B, Equifax and Business Experian. They want to see a D-U-N-S and a PAYDEX score of 78 or more.

Fleet Credit Tier

Are there 8 to 10 accounts reporting? Then move to the fleet credit tier. These are service providers like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to fix, and take care of vehicles. Just use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make sure to apply using the company’s EIN.

One such example is Shell. They report to D&B and Business Experian. They want to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or more and a 411 business telephone listing.

Shell might say they want a certain amount of time in business or profits. But if you already have sufficient vendor accounts, that won’t be necessary. And you can still get an approval.

Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Cash Credit Tier

Have you been responsibly handling the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move to the cash credit tier. These are service providers such as Visa and MasterCard. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

One such example is the Fuelman MasterCard. They report to D&B and Equifax Business. They want to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or more. And they also want you to have 10 trade lines reporting on your D&B report.

Plus, they want to see a $10,000 high credit limit reporting on your D&B report (other account reporting).

Plus, they want you to have an established company.

These are companies such as Walmart and Dell, and also Home Depot, BP, and Racetrac. These are usually MasterCard credit cards. If you have 14 trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is being reported and take care of any inaccuracies ASAP. Get in the practice of taking a look at credit reports and digging into the specifics, and not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for only $24/month. See: www.creditsuite.com/monitoring.

Update Your Record

Update the details if there are inaccuracies or the information is incomplete.

Start a New Business in South Dakota – Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any inaccuracies in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs normally want you to dispute in a particular way.

Disputes

Disputing credit report mistakes normally means you send a paper letter with copies of any proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the original copies. Always send copies and keep the original copies.

Fixing credit report errors also means you specifically itemize any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as crystal clear as possible. Be specific about the issues with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.

A Word about Business Credit Building

Always use credit smartly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay off. Keep an eye on balances and deadlines for payments. Paying off on time and in full will do more to increase business credit scores than virtually anything else.

Building small business credit pays off. Great business credit scores help a small business get loans. Your credit issuer knows the company can pay its debts. They know the company is bona fide.

The business’s EIN connects to high scores and credit issuers won’t feel the need to require a personal guarantee.

Business credit is an asset which can help your business for years to come.

Learn more here and get started toward opening a new business in South Dakota.

Want to start a new business someplace else in America? Then check out our handy guide to starting a business in any state in the country. 

The post How to Set Up a New Business in South Dakota appeared first on Credit Suite.

New comment by asood123 in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2019)"

Segovia | New York, NY | Full-time, Onsite | https://www.thesegovia.com/ Segovia is payment gateway infrastructure primarily used to move money to Africa. Customers include charities that want to transfer cash directly to people in Africa as well as small businesses that maintain workforces across developed and developing world. Open Roles: – Software Engineer: https://thesegovia.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk0hqg5/ – …

Why you need GOOD front-end Pizza

Guest author, David Perrera, is MFA Director of Sales.

For the majority of my life I have called the state of New Jersey my home. New Jersey is known for its mobsters, high taxes, and really really good pizza. It’s also home to the greatest football team ever created, the New York Giants. OK maybe I’m embellishing there a bit… or maybe not; you can decide.

About 4 years ago, before I understood the first thing about Direct Response marketing, I recall getting an offer for Monday $8 Pizza from a local Italian restaurant that I had never been to.

Now, if you know anything about New Jersey pizza, $8 pizza is like a fabled unicorn that lives inside your washing machine. It just isn’t there.

So, excited and concerned, I take my coupon to the restaurant the following Monday for my $8 box of takeout pizza.

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Knowing what I do now about marketing — front-end vs. back-end, ROI, ACV, etc. — this seems like a perfectly acceptable play, IF and only if, the intention is to gain a new customer.

In other words, if the restaurant knows that the average lifetime value of a customer is $500 for example, would it make sense to pay $4 for advertising, and $4 to have me walk through the door, if the future value of my patronage would be $500? Of course it would…. If I come back.

Very often marketers get the sense they just need to get a cheap lead magnet out to a prospect in order to gain their information and put them on their list, or better yet – some cheap “tripwire” product (cheap as in value, not cost). That’s exactly what happens when I go to pick up my pizza.

There are about a dozen pre-made boxes of pizza sitting under a heat lamp when I arrive. You can tell they obviously skimped on the cheese and sauce as if to say “hey it’s only $8, what more do you want?”

The pizza is lukewarm and not very good at all.

This is their one opportunity to wow me… their one chance to potentially gain me as a repeat customer and make back their investment.

And I never go back.

At the time I was truly baffled as to why this shop would go through the trouble of placing an ad, driving traffic to their door, and then letting me leave, utterly dissatisfied. The lady at the counter wasn’t even really happy about giving me the $8 pizza (although that attitude is typical of us Jersey Italians so maybe I was reading too much into it).

But the point is valid. Are you offering a flimsy, dissatisfying, front-end offer just to get someone on your list and become a customer? If so, why? Why wouldn’t you go the distance (one of our core values) and give the prospect an over-the-top offer that makes them want to keep coming back for more?

If you OVER deliver on value, your customers will notice, and you might have a customer for life…

If you UNDER deliver, you might lose the opportunity to earn their business… forever.

The post Why you need GOOD front-end Pizza appeared first on Marketing Funnel Automation.

Bruce Lee Can Help You Transform Your Traffic Strategy

Guest author, Shawn Twing, is responsible for Marketing Funnel Automation’s traffic generation strategy and is a member of the MTAM faculty.

Martial artist, actor, teacher, and philosopher Bruce Lee died seventeen years before the debut of the world wide web, yet he may have given the best advice – ever – for creating and executing an effective traffic generation strategy.

While Lee was best known for his movie roles, his accomplishments in the martial arts are also legendary. From his background in Wing Chun Kung Fu, he developed an entirely new interpretation of Kung Fu that he named Jeet Kune Do that emphasized efficiency, directness, and simplicity. Lee’s relentless focus on “hacking away at the unessential” gives us a powerful foundational principle we can use immediately.

Before I dive into that principle and how you can use it, let me give you a little background so you can understand my perspective. I’ve owned a website development and Internet marketing agency for seventeen years, completed more than 350 projects for clients large and small, and managed tens of millions of dollars of advertising spend through Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many other platforms. I’ve seen every crazy scheme you can imagine come and go, and watched traffic opportunities, strategies, and tactics evolve (and often implode) for nearly two decades.

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One more thing that’s crucial to understand is that I am, first and foremost, a student of my craft, always looking for the underlying principles that matter, the tried and true methods that really work, and, to borrow Bruce Lee’s phrase, always “hacking away at the unessential.” Once meaningful metrics/goals have been identified – for example, target cost-per-lead (CPL) or funnel-specific-ROI – I focus relentlessly (and people who work with me would tell you, stubbornly) on the most efficient, direct, and simplest method(s) to achieve those metrics/goals.

How do I do that, and more importantly, how can you do the same thing? The answer can be found in a quote from Bruce Lee which I believe provides the secret to creating a sustainable, predictable, and scalable traffic engine for your business. Lee said:

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

To understand why this is so powerful, let’s compare and contrast a typical traffic generation scenario with a strategy informed by Bruce Lee’s single-minded focus.

Strategy #1 – Variety is the Spice of Life

This strategy is all about action spread across different opportunities. Create an Adwords account, set up retargeting, create a few search campaigns, try some banner ads on the Google Display Network, add some video advertising through YouTube, set up a Facebook advertising account, then LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, maybe add some third-party services like Sitescout, Adroll, and Perfect Audience…and on and on it goes. There’s always something new and exciting to try, new opportunities and approaches, and certainly new products to learn the newest “secret”.

The fundamental problem with this approach is that effort is spread too thin. By necessity, we become “dabblers” to borrow a phrase from Mastery, by George Leonard. We never have the joy – or the business impact – of truly mastering our craft. The often-used metaphor is light. When diffused (think light bulb) it will illuminate a room, when magnified (think laser) it will burn through steel.

Strategy #2 – The Bruce Lee Method

Instead of looking for opportunities, the Bruce Lee method focuses relentlessly on results. To use this method, we need to ask a better question. Instead of “what could we do?”, we ask “what should we do?” The difference cannot be overstated.

“What could we do” assumes that time, energy, and dollars are infinite and no prioritization is required. If that’s the case, we could do anything and it wouldn’t matter. We have all the time in the world and money is no object.

However, for everyone I know, time, energy, and dollars are finite which means we need to establish priorities.

For example, if the priority is to generate 150 leads per day for a marketing funnel at a cost of $12 or less per lead, the next question we have to ask is “what is the simplest, most direct, and most efficient way to achieve that goal?” In my experience, that’ll quickly and dramatically limit the options available.

Once those options have been identified, then it’s a matter of practicing the one kick 10,000 times.

If YouTube pre-roll videos appear to be the best vehicle for reaching your goal, don’t dabble with them – become a master. Learn everything you can about them, know your audience inside and out, investigate the tools and resources available (and experiment with them) look at your metrics daily (hourly!), study your results, form and test hypotheses until you know that source of traffic and its impact on your business like the back of your hand.

Then – and only then – move on to the next source of traffic and repeat the process.

One amazing benefit of this approach is that each new method becomes easier to understand and integrate. (If there’s any “secret” to my success in traffic generation it’s that I have internalized the fundamental principles of my field and that allows me to understand new developments faster and at a deeper level than most people. It’s not magic; it’s experience.)

How to spread out your actions

But wait – what about the dangers of putting all of our eggs in one basket?

Todd covered this problem very well in a previous post and he’s absolutely right that it’s a very serious issue. Anyone who has spent a lot of time and money generating traffic has had an important source of traffic disappear overnight. Facebook’s often inexplicable (and irrevocable) account shutdowns are the most recent and dramatic form of this, and it happens elsewhere as well.

I believe part of the solution is focusing our attention vertically into methods first, and horizontally across platforms second. For example, if paid search marketing is your starting point, get something working well on Google and then replicate that (and make the necessary tweaks) on Bing.

If you’re reaching a professional audience on Facebook, reach the same audience next on LinkedIn.

If a content strategy is working for you on Facebook, move on to services like OutBrain. Banner advertising on the Google Display Network? Sitescout next. Keep adding layers thematically and continually move along the road to mastery.

Another part of the solution is going out of your way to understand the policies and preferences of the advertising platforms you’re using.

Google, in particular, is very transparent in its expectations, which are focused overwhelmingly on user experience. Google also has a support center with very knowledgeable staff who can answer questions, address concerns, etc. Work with Google and they will work with you.

Facebook does publish its policies and preferences, and live chat is available for feedback. In my experience, however, Facebook also has extensive unwritten rules and that can be problematic. It’s one thing to knowingly break a rule and suffer the consequences, and another to suffer consequences without breaking any transparent rules.

One final recommendation is this – put as much time, energy, and attention into your traffic strategy as you do in developing your marketing funnel. Figure out what works uniquely well for your business and then step onto the path of mastering whatever that is. Build on it over time, adding stability to your business along the way and eventually you’ll look back and wonder how you make so much progress so fast.

The post Bruce Lee Can Help You Transform Your Traffic Strategy appeared first on Marketing Funnel Automation.

New Study: What 100 Social Media Followers Are Really Worth

The social web is huge. From Facebook to Pinterest, they all command billions of eyeballs per year.

Which, of course, makes these channels too big to ignore. In other words, you have no choice but to participate in them or else you’ll miss out on traffic and revenue.

But, how much time and money should you devote to each social network?

Which ones produce the best ROI?

How much are 100 social media followers really worth?

To answer these questions and more, I polled 483 companies who are all leveraging Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Each company has been participating in all these social networks for at least 3 years and they have at least 100 social media followers on each platform.

Of the 483 companies, 159 of them were in the B2B space and 324 were B2C companies. And their revenues varied from $10,000 a year to $250,000,000.

Now before we dive into the data, keep in mind all of the stats are broken down based on 100 social followers.

For example, if we looked at traffic, we looked at how many visitors they generate per 100 followers.

And for the purpose of this blog post, we will focus only on organic social media traffic.

So, let’s dive into what we learned:

Social media traffic over time

Compared to when each social network originally came out, it’s become much harder to generate organic traffic from each of them.

You can still generate organic visits, but of course, reach has died down. But how much has it died down?

social over time

As you can see, it has drastically decreased.

In 2015, you could generate a bit more than 3 visitors a month from the social web for every 100 followers you had, and now it’s dropped down to roughly 2 visitors per month.

I know that data isn’t shocking, but think of it this way, that’s a 38.6% drop in organic social media traffic. And based on the chart, there are no signs of recovery.

But what about traffic by social network?

Sure, organic social media traffic might be dying as each network wants you to advertise, but which networks drive the most traffic per 100 followers?

If you had to take a guess, which one do you think it would be?

traffic social media

It’s definitely not a social network owned by Facebook. Both Facebook and Instagram drive the least amount of visitors per 100 followers.

Instagram isn’t much of a shocker, though, as you can only drive traffic through bio links and asking people to swipe up in stories.

But what was surprising is the amount of traffic Pinterest drives. Pinterest was the best performer, followed by LinkedIn and then YouTube.

Here’s the thing to note about YouTube… although it drives a decent amount of visitors per 100 subscribers, most people using YouTube don’t experience much (if any) traffic because they don’t link out to their site within their videos.

You can use YouTube annotations to do this.

Does posting more often mean more social traffic?

The first chart shows that organic social traffic is slowly dying down, but how about if you increase your posting frequency?

That should increase your organic social media traffic, right?

frequency social media

In general, posting more often does lead to more traffic. But after 8 monthly posts on each social network, the data shows you’ll see diminishing returns.

Why you may ask?

The way most social media algorithms work is that the more people engage with your content, the more of them will see your content as you post it.

So, your goal should be to only post content people love and want to engage with. The moment you start posting mediocre content, it hurts your overall traffic numbers because that means fewer people in the future will see your new content no matter how amazing it is.

Speaking of engagement, which social networks tend to have the most engaged users?

Engagement by social network

I was shocked by the engagement stats because I assumed that Pinterest would have won in this battle as they are driving the most traffic per 100 followers to websites.

But I was wrong.

engagement

Pinterest did perform really well, but LinkedIn won.

Instagram also did extremely well, which I wasn’t shocked by as most of the people I know who use it do so as a “personal” social network instead of leveraging it for work.

That’s why the engagement is so high on Instagram.

One thing to note is that posts not containing a link, such as images or videos, tend to get the most engagement.

This is also because social sites tend to promote content that keeps people on their social sites as opposed to driving their visitors off to your site.

Which social networks prefer videos?

If you aren’t producing videos, you should definitely consider starting. Even though videos don’t rank well on Google, they are the future.

It’s why I create more video content each week than text-based content.

With video, there are 2 main types of videos… one that you just upload and ones that are live.

Let’s see how the different video types stack up against each other.

videos

When you look at the chart above, it’s easy to say that Instagram produces the best results for videos. Then come LinkedIn and YouTube.

But there is something that you have to keep in mind… Instagram auto-plays videos while YouTube is much pickier about what they count as a “video view.”

None-the-less, if you’re going to create video content, you should post it on all of the social networks out there, but I would first focus the majority of your efforts on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

YouTube won’t provide amazing numbers in the first 24 hours of uploading a video, but through YouTube SEO, you can continually get views while you won’t see that happen on any of the other social networks.

For live videos, the results are similar in which Instagram and YouTube lead the pack.

live videos

But what is interesting is that live videos don’t generate as many viewers as just posting and scheduling them.

When we dug into why the main reason wasn’t that social sites don’t want live content, it’s that with non-live videos, businesses spend more time leveraging keyword research and optimizing their videos for the maximum amount of views.

While on the flip side it is a bit harder to do that with live videos.

If you want to get the most views from your videos, use tools like Ubersuggest to see what keywords are popular.

Putting keywords in your title and descriptions isn’t enough, though. Social media sites are able to decipher the sound to see what your video is really about.

Now let’s get into the best part… conversions and sales.

The money is in the list

Have you heard the saying, the money is in the list?

If you aren’t collecting emails, you should start right away. Because once you have an email list, you can always market to people on your list and convince them to buy your products or services.

emails

LinkedIn has the best conversion rates from a visitor to an email subscriber. Pinterest and YouTube also perform really well.

You may think that most of the people on LinkedIn only care about B2B but that is wrong. Remember everyone on LinkedIn is also a consumer. They buy everyday products just like you and me.

What was interesting with the email collection numbers is that the majority of your social media followers won’t ever convert into email subscribers. But as you share and post content on the social web, the followers of your followers may also see your content, which then increases the likelihood of getting more traffic and email subscribers.

What about revenue?

Whether you love or hate social sites, they do drive revenue. And no you don’t have to spend money on ads to generate revenue.

Ads do help, of course, but here is the percentage of revenue that each business generated from organic social media traffic.

revenue

It’s been declining over the years, but the numbers are starting to flatten out.

The decline isn’t just related to social media algorithms becoming tougher, though. It’s that businesses are also diversifying their marketing approach. They are taking an omnichannel approach which means they leverage more channels. Because of that, each one also makes up a smaller portion of their revenue.

Conclusion

Social media is still strong and kicking. You may only be able to generate 2 visitors a month for every 100 followers you have, but that scales as you grow your social following on every network.

Plus, the brand effect you can get by doing things like uploading videos will also help significantly.

Now before we wrap things up, I thought it would be interesting to see what percentage of social media traffic is generated from organic efforts versus paid:

paid versus organic

There is a huge trend of companies spending more and more money on social media, which aligns with the stock price and financials of companies like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

None-the-less, don’t be discouraged by your social media traffic dwindling down.

If you get a bit creative and follow this, you can spike your numbers.

So, what are your social followers worth to you?

The post New Study: What 100 Social Media Followers Are Really Worth appeared first on Neil Patel.

Property Owner Insurance Price Quote

Resident Insurance Price Quote

It is hard to obtain a property owner insurance coverage estimate for a straight resident insurance coverage due to the fact that there is practically no “straight” resident insurance coverage. The homeowner insurance plan you buy is mosting likely to be customized to fit your demands; consequently, your residence as well as its components, in addition to your way of life, your pet dogs, as well as your prized possessions have to be taken into consideration prior to you can obtain an exact property owner insurance coverage estimate. This is a good idea, as you desire a resident insurance coverage tailored just for you and also not a homeowner insurance coverage created for common objectives.

You might have prized possessions that are not covered under regular property owner insurance plan, or prized possessions that are covered under typical homeowner insurance coverage however not to the degree you would certainly such as for them to be covered. You might possess several pricey items of precious jewelry, an antique collection of flatware gave with your family members, an unusual weapon collection, or perhaps a number of hairs you have actually accumulated throughout the years. These sort of costly, occasionally irreplaceable things would certainly call for a recommendation to your homeowner insurance plan, as well as would certainly change your property owner insurance policy estimate.

Investing in recommendations for your resident insurance coverage does not simply safeguard them from being swiped; it additionally secures them from damages. You might acquire a recommendation that would certainly fix a preferred set of jewelry if one of the rocks drops out.

If you have priceless things such as these, you ought to take into consideration buying residence proprietor insurance coverage plan recommendations. While residence proprietor insurance policy recommendations will certainly most likely rise your house proprietor insurance policy rate quote, you will certainly be able to relax guaranteed that you as well as your important things are secured.

It is hard to obtain a residence proprietor insurance policy rate quote for a straight house proprietor insurance coverage plan since there is practically no “straight” house proprietor insurance coverage plan. The residence proprietor insurance coverage plan you buy is going to be customized to fit your demands; as a result, your residence and also its components, as well as your way of life, your family pets, as well as your belongings have to be thought about prior to you can obtain a precise house proprietor insurance policy cost quote. You might have belongings that are not covered under regular house proprietor insurance policy plans, or belongings that are covered under typical house proprietor insurance coverage plans however not to the degree you would certainly such as for them to be covered.

The post Property Owner Insurance Price Quote appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.