Ryan Hunter-Reay and Conor Daly will be competing in this year’s Indianapolis 500 for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing. The post Hunter-Reay, Daly find rides for Indianapolis 500 appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
Tag: Find
Rhode Island man charged after feds find 26 pounds of cocaine in kayak near Canadian border
A Rhode Island man could face up to 40 years in prison after federal agents found him with 26 pounds of cocaine in a kayak on Lake Champlain in Vermont, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Freddy Rodriguez, 38, of West Warwick, was encountered by federal agents behind a rented camp in Highgate, Vermont, near the Canadian border, on the night of Sept. 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Rodriguez was spotted walking to the shores of Lake Champlain with a bag, the agents said in court documents.
Agents say that after they got word that a vessel had entered the United States on the lake and was traveling south near the camp, they saw Rodriguez load objects from a bag into a kayak and start to drag the boat into the water, the documents state.
NYC DAY CARE FACILITY OWNER’S HUSBAND ARRESTED IN MEXICO IN CONNECTION TO DRUG OPERATION
Rodriguez tried to flee when agents confronted him, but he was apprehended.
Agents described objects found in the kayak as brick-like packages that contained a white powder. The powder tested presumptively positive for the presence of cocaine, according to federal prosecutors.
The brick-like packages weighed approximately 26.4 pounds.
If convicted, Rodriguez could spend between five and 40 years in prison. He was released on conditions of pre-trial supervision after a detention hearing Monday.
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Halloween candy brain teaser: Can you find the hidden spider and candy corn?
A graphic artist is testing people’s attention to detail with a Halloween-themed seek-and-find brain teaser that features a hidden spider and one kernel of candy corn.
Gergely Dudás of Budapest, Hungary, shared the festive and colorful visual puzzle with Fox News Digital, which depicts a large candy pile, which takes on a unique shape and shows different wrappers.
The animated Halloween scene also shows a smiling jack-o-lantern in the top left corner.
BRAIN TEASER: CAN YOU FIND 4 APPLES HIDDEN IN THE FALL LEAVES?
A single spider and a single candy corn kernel are interspersed in the Halloween candy pile.
Dudás originally posted his spider-and-candy puzzle on his website, thedudolf.blogspot.co, on Oct. 28, 2021, and many social media users have claimed they’ve found the brain teaser challenging.
“My spidey-sense is pretty darn strong — I found it in mere seconds,” one Facebook user wrote.
“It took me a few seconds longer to find the candy corn.”
BRAIN TEASER: CAN YOU FIND THE 3 GHOSTS HIDDEN AMONG THE PANDAS?
“This was a tough puzzle,” another Facebook user admitted. “I had to use the solution to find both of them.”
“Everything started looking like a spider once I started looking for one,” another user wrote.
The Halloween brain teaser, shared two times in October 2021, has generated over 1,560 reactions, 540 shares and 140 comments on Facebook. It has also been shared on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.
BRAIN TEASER: CAN YOU FIND THE SEWING NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK?
Can’t find the hidden spider and candy corn?
See the answer on Dudás’ website: dudolfsolutions.blogspot.com/2021/10/spider-solution.html.
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Dudás is a comic author and artist who has published a number of illustration books, including “Bear’s Springtime Book of Hidden Things” and “Bear’s Merry Book of Hidden Things: Christmas Seek-and-Find: A Christmas Holiday Book for Kids.”
His seek-and-find artwork has also been featured on miniature prints, coffee mugs and various other pieces of merchandise.
Dudás has a dedicated social media following with hundreds of thousands of people following his “Dudolf” accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
His followers engage with the web comics, seek-and-find pictures and math puzzles he regularly shares.
Ribbon (YC S17) is hiring values-driven Engineers to help patients find care
Article URL: https://www.keyvalues.com/ribbon-health
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34327856
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
What Is Find Places Through Reviews?
If you’re a local business that wants nearby customers to find you, then you know local SEO and Google Business Profile is where it’s at. Combined with tools like featured snippets, these are essential to getting your content in front of local customers.
As a small business owner, you also understand that good reviews are imperative to winning new customers.
Now, it looks like Google is planning a new SERP feature to get your products/services in front of keen customers called find places through reviews.
According to SEO consultant Brodie Clark on Twitter, the carousels are getting tested in various regions, and on mobile, too.
How would it work, and what does it mean for your business? Well, all that remains unclear for the moment. However, I can share what we know and explain why reviews are vital to your business.
Let’s get started.
What Do We Know About Find Places Through Reviews So Far?
Speculation about find places through reviews began when local SEO specialists Andy Simpson and Celeste Gonzalez spotted the feature and posted the images on Twitter.
Gonzalez stated that the image appeared when she was looking for a local vet. As you can see, find places through reviews does pretty much what it says on the label.
You’d enter the search term, and relevant reviews from local companies appear.
The tweets soon got picked up by Seoroundtable.com.
There is speculation that it would be similar to search Google for nearby places, which now appears to be going under the new name of find places through photos.
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
I can certainly see the advantages of putting a search term in Google, getting instant reviews, and then clicking through to my preferred business/service, can’t you?
Now, assuming the find places through reviews become a firm feature, what does this mean for your business, and what can you do to prepare for it?
Well, it would put the focus on online reviews, and by that, I mean positive reviews.
How Could This Change Impact Your Google Business Profile Reviews?
First, let’s look at what Google has to say about customer reviews:
‘When you reply to reviews, it shows that you value your customers and their feedback. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers can improve your business visibility and increase the likelihood that a shopper will visit your location.’
I’ll look more at the importance of answering reviews later, but let’s just park that there for now.
Second, let me share a stat with you.
98 percent of people occasionally read reviews online. That’s an astonishing stat, right? Well, here’s another one: 77 percent of consumers always or regularly read reviews.
If you’ve ever wondered whether reviews matter to your business, Brightlocal’s research should leave you in no doubt, especially considering the role Google plays.
Here are some more stats to get your head around.
Analysis from Review Trackers estimates that 75 percent of new business is influenced by a handful of business review sites, and you don’t get any prizes for guessing which one dominates.
Yes, it’s Google with 73 percent, leaving others like Yelp! And Tripadvisor trailing far behind.
Now all of that tells me your Google business profile reviews will become even more important than they already are.
With a feature flagging what others are saying about you online when people look for a local business, positive feedback is imperative.
You’ll also want to dedicate more time to managing your profile, and combine this with resources like my guide to managing the SERPs to fully master how your business appears in Google.
Best Practices For Managing Google Business Profile Reviews
In the above section, I stressed how important Google reviews are to your business. Here, I focus on some best practices you can apply.
Respond To Your Reviews
This is review management 101.
I get it. Sometimes you don’t have the time or the energy. Other times, a buyer may have had a bad experience and left a negative review. However, whatever might be going on, you must take time to respond to reviews.
According to research from Uberall, larger global businesses respond to just nine percent of reviews.
However, this research shows that 86 percent of customers surveyed are more likely to buy from brands that do answer.
Want another reason to answer reviews? OK then. How does an increase in conversion rates grab you? Uberall also found that conversion rates (clicks on phone numbers, driving directions, and websites) increased measurably when companies answered.
When responding to reviews, always:
- Thank your customer for their feedback, even if it’s negative.
- Don’t use generic responses. Personalize your feedback to the reviewer’s specific points.
- Reply quickly (more about that later)
Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews
Sometimes customers just need a nudge in the right direction. Make leaving reviews easy with follow-up emails and a link. Just go to your Google Business Profile, choose ‘customers’, then ‘reviews’, then ‘get more reviews’ to get your link. However, don’t be too pushy in getting customer feedback; they won’t appreciate it. Perhaps send an email or message out with orders inviting customers to leave feedback if they’re happy with their experience. Also, add a note encouraging buyers to contact you if they’re unhappy in any way.
Verify Your Business Profile
Without verification, your business won’t appear in online maps, and you can’t answer reviews. If you haven’t done so already, here are some directions to claim your business profile.
Use Google’s Tools
You don’t have to launch your review campaign from scratch. Google’s Business Profile Marketing Kit, gives you free stickers, posters, and social media posts for sharing customer reviews.
Report Fraudulent Reviews
If you suspect fraudulent reviews, report them to Google. You can do this by going to your business profile, clicking on reviews, and selecting the one you want to report. Then, select the ‘more’ option and choose ‘report review.’ Finally, choose the violation you’re reporting.
Signs that a review could be fake/fraudulent include:
- Limited information or inconsistent statements
- Generic names, no names, and no images
- Repetitive statements or generic comments
- A user leaving numerous reviews
You can also check your database to see if the reviewer is a customer of yours.
Respond To Reviews Quickly
The quicker you respond to reviews, the better. Customers almost always appreciate a speedy response, especially if it’s to their negative feedback.
According to Review Tracker’s research, 53 percent of customers expect a response to negative reviews within a week, while 1 in 3 expects a response within three days or less.
Check your Google My Business account regularly to see what people write, then answer and thank them.
If the review isn’t so positive, don’t worry, there’s plenty you can do.
What To Do About Bad Reviews On Google
Dealing with negative reviews is something every business owner has to face at some point. However, as Google states, responding helps with trust-building, and there’s a simple reason why: it shows there’s a person behind the brand that cares what people think, and it humanizes your business.
Responding politely to negative feedback and offering possible solutions to solve the problem also demonstrates professionalism and that you’re keen to put things right.
Additionally, if you feel the review is unfair, replying gives you the chance to give your side of the story, and if the feedback is justified, responding positively and taking it onboard shows your business is willing to learn and improve.
Google has this advice for replying to negative reviews:
- Don’t take reviews personally. I know it’s hard, especially when you’ve put your heart and soul into your business. However, remember that most reviews aren’t personal attacks: it’s just business.
- Ensure you understand the customer’s experience before you answer. If a customer had a problem with your service or product, they’re entitled to share that experience online. Use negative feedback as an opportunity to investigate what happened, own the mistakes you’ve made (if any) and detail the actions you’ve put in place to stop similar problems from happening again.
- Apologize if appropriate. A simple, genuine ‘sorry’ can go a long way to winning a customer over. However, don’t apologize for things you can’t control.
- Talk it out. Sometimes people are just venting. We all get angry and frustrated, and sometimes we overreact. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, understand that they might not be angry at you, just the situation, and offer to talk with them via email, phone, or even face-to-face.
- These days, shopping is often an impersonal experience. Use your name in emails and phone calls, so your reviewer knows they’re speaking to a real person that cares about putting things right.
Finally, whatever customers say about you, here are some templates to help craft answers.
FAQs
What is Find Places Through Reviews?
It’s a new feature that Google is testing to enable searchers to find a local business through online reviews.
How Can I Optimize My Reviews?
To get the most from your reviews, encourage customers to leave them, send them a link to make it easier, include relevant keywords in responses, and add the reviews to your website.
Can I Remove Bad Reviews to Show up in Find Places Through Reviews?
If a review is fraudulent, Google has a removal request option where you can report a potential violation.
Conclusion
It seems Google is testing a ‘find places through reviews’ feature. A few SEOs have shared Tweets about it, and the feature appears to be a great addition to local search.
There’s limited information, so it’s hard to tell what this addition would mean for businesses and the impact it would have on them.
However, it’s clear it would put even greater importance on achieving positive reviews, and there’s plenty you can do to prepare.
Ensuring you answer reviews, responding proactively to negative feedback, and using Google’s tool to encourage customers to leave a review are just some of the things you can do.
What would find places through reviews mean for your business?
Ribbon Health (YC S17) is hiring engineers to help patients find care
Article URL: https://www.ribbonhealth.com/blog/how-ribbons-value-driven-tech-philosophy-helps-patients-find-care/
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32689563
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
How to Find Popular New Keywords Before Your Competition
SEO is tough!
It can take months if not years to see decent results… especially if your website is new.
Why? Because everyone is going after all the major keywords that you can think of.
Just look at the term “auto insurance” in the United States.
There are 1.1 billion results… but only 165,000 searches.
Do you think we really need another web page on auto insurance? Not really. :/
So how can you do well with SEO if you have a new or even a low authority website, but you don’t have months or even years to wait?
You go after up-and-coming keywords.
SEO gold
There’s gold to be had, each day.
Think of it this way, there are always new topics or phrases people search for based on what’s happening in different industries or even in the world.
From war to diseases, to new companies, to new industries to even new trends… it all creates the demand for new keywords that are popular but very few websites are even targeting these keywords.
Here’s how you find these new popular keywords before anyone else.
Google Suggest hack
Have you noticed in Google whenever you perform a search, Google automatically recommends other keywords?
Just look at this… when I type in “digital marketing” it recommends other keywords based on what people are interested in…
Keywords from Google Suggest constantly change based on trends and how people’s searches change over time.
But what you see from Google Suggest isn’t all of the trending and popular keywords. It only shows you a fraction of what people are interested in.
Here’s how you can easily get the full list.
Ubersuggest
Go to Ubersuggest and type in any keyword that you may be interested in or is related to your industry.
For this example, I typed in “digital marketing”.
Then in the sidebar, I want you to click on “Labs” and then “Keyword Visualization”.
You may have to type in your keyword again…
And then you will have to have a visualization with all the up-and-coming keywords related to the one you just typed in.
What’s cool is you can even click on a keyword and get more data such as cost per click data if you want to run paid ads, how competitive a keyword is from an SEO perspective, or even the search volume.
Not all keywords will have that data as some are up and coming and new.
What’s also cool about this report is you can filter results by questions, prepositions, comparisons, related keywords, or just suggestions (from Google Suggest).
As you can see here there are over 441 suggestions from Google Suggest but when I typed in the keyword “digital marketing” into Google it showed me less than 20 suggestions.
In other words, you’ll get a more detailed list from Ubersuggest as it will pull all the different variations from Google Suggest.
And if you rather see all the keywords in a table view, you can click on the data tab to get a report like this.
Note that both the visualizations and the data tables will change based on the tabs you selected (questions, prepositions, comparisons, related keywords, or just suggestions).
Conclusion
Just because SEO takes a while to see results for most people, it doesn’t mean you can’t see results faster.
You just need to think outside the box.
One way to do this is to use the Keyword Visualization report within Ubersuggest.
Head to Ubersuggest and try it out. It’s a great way to find up-and-coming keywords that your competition isn’t targeting.
How You Can Use Ubersuggest to Find Out What Your Competitors Are Doing and Beat Them
Did you know that 90 percent of Fortune 500 Companies use competitive intelligence to gain an advantage over their competition?
Competitive intelligence is the ethical collection and analysis of your competitors’ information, best practices, and overall organization.
The phrase “spying” tends to have a negative association but it’s really one of the best ways to figure out what the sites ranking above you are doing that’s working.
When you’re working on competitive intelligence, it’s important to collect as much information about them as possible.
But how do you do it?
Ubersuggest is a research tool that not only helps you with SEO, but helps you find out what your competitors are doing and how to beat them.
How to Spy on Your Competition Using Ubersuggest
Spying is a great and perfectly moral way to see what the competition is doing to get ahead of you in the SERPs. It’s important to understand that the first five organic results amount to 67.6 percent of all clicks. If you’re not in the top five, you can’t expect a lot of traffic.
You’ll want to start by making a list of competitors to model after. Keep in mind they don’t always have to be in your niche but you want to find sites that are ranking higher than you for the keywords you want.
To find your competition, do a manual search or use a tool like Ubersuggest to search for your target, highest-value keywords, and see who is ranking at the top of the SERPs.
Once you’ve got your list, you’re ready to start sleuthing.
1. Search From Ubersuggest Home Page
One of the easiest ways to get started spying on your competitors using Ubersuggest is through the homepage. First, simply enter your competitor’s main domain URL in Ubersuggest.
When you’ve done that, you’ll want to look for the following metrics and take note of them:
Organic keywords – This is the number of keywords that a domain ranks for. It’s important because if they’re outranking you, they’re likely ranking for more keywords than you.
You can use this data to find keyword gaps and see what keywords your competition ranks for that you don’t. Perhaps they found a really low competition keyword that you’re not going after.
You could then create a piece of content around that keyword and rank relatively easily.
Organic monthly traffic – Take notice of how much traffic your competition gets and compare it to your site.
You can use view your competitors’ traffic as a way of seeing where and when things fluctuate. Google updates its algorithm frequently, which contributes to constant traffic fluctuations. USe your competitor’s traffic trends as a benchmark for your own KPIs.
Domain score – The overall domain score from 0-100 is critically important to the success of a website. Sites with a higher domain score don’t necessarily need to work as hard at producing quality content because Google tends to favor whatever it is they put together since the site is already trusted.
Backlinks – Backlinks are another highly important piece of the SEO puzzle. A backlink occurs when someone links to your site from their page. The more backlinks you have to a piece of content, the more Google looks at it with favor.
Use Ubersuggest’s backlink checker to dig into the backlinks your competition is getting, and go after the same or similar links as part of your backlink strategy.
2. Track Competitors From Within Your Own Project
Once you’ve created a project in Ubersuggest for your website, you’ll want to go to your dashboard.
On the very bottom of the dashboard there is a bar labeled, “my competitors.” Here you can find opportunities to track what your competitors are doing and figure out information about their keywords, keyword gap, traffic, and backlinks.
The most useful feature I find with this is the comparison of common keywords to keyword gaps.
Common keywords are keywords that both you and your competitor rank for. You can use this to figure out which keywords they’re outranking on, so you can start looking at their content to see what updates you can make to yours.
As for keyword gaps, you can use this to figure out what new pieces of content you should create around low-hanging fruit keywords that they’re already ranking for.
3. Create a Competitor Project
One great feature of Ubersuggest is that it doesn’t limit what websites you can add as a project, this makes it easy to spy on your competition. Here’s how you’ll do it:
1. Head back to the dashboard and create a new project for each individual competitor website.
2. Add all the keywords that suggest you track (these are keywords your competitor is already ranking for… can it get much easier than that?) and feel free to add any others that you might be interested in or curious about.
3. Add other competitors to the project to see how they’re measuring up against each other.
4. Go through the list of “Top SEO Opportunities” on the competitor project dashboard to learn from what they’re doing wrong and find opportunities where you can improve your site in places where they’re underperforming.
5. Scroll down the dashboard to get a view of how they’re performing with backlinks. You can even click through on the link in the dashboard to get details on who’s linking back to them to find websites to target with backlink requests.
Even putting in a small percentage of this effort can make a huge difference on your overall SEO.
4. Track Their Keywords
You can also create a keyword list to start tracking the top keywords your competitors are fighting for. This is one of my favorite strategies.
Save keywords into lists using Ubersuggest so you can come back to them later.
- Organize keywords into meaningful lists
- See aggregate data for each list
- Save your keyword research
- Easily continue from where you left off
When choosing keywords to track, here are some tips:
- Track keywords that you’re not tracking but your competitors are
- Use the Keyword Idea Report for inspiration
- Track keywords that include their name or location
- Track keywords that include specialty services/products that you don’t offer
- Example: If you’re a coffee shop and your competitor offers a specialty latte and it has search volume, track it as a keyword.
The big question is, why? Why track all this information and will it really make a difference?
Let’s face it, there are over 200 ranking factors that Google uses to determine who ranks where. There’s no way we can get everything right.
Keyword research is one of the things we can control–and we can do it well with the proper procedures and steps.
You could also spend days, weeks, and months researching keywords on your own trying to figure out what you want to rank for. The result could be, nothing.
Instead, see what people are already ranking for. Piggyback on what others are doing right.
This is the fast track.
Of course, don’t expect to hit a home run every time, that won’t happen. You’ll win some and lose some, but you’ll be able to do it much faster by tracking competitor keywords instead of coming up with everything on your own.
5. Research Their Backlinks
Ubersuggest has a Backlinks Opportunity report as well. This tool allows you to enter your own website and multiple competitor websites to see where they’re getting their backlinks from.
This can help you in the following ways:
1. Get insights into what content is popular for your competitors that you may be able to write about from a different perspective (or you may already have content written about).
2. Quickly create a targeted list of websites to go after to share your own valuable content with (if they liked your competitor’s content, there’s a good chance they’ll also like yours).
3. Prioritize who you want to reach out to based on the referring domain’s Domain Authority and relevance to your business.
Let’s break down each of these points to help understand why they’re important.
Figuring out what pieces of competitor content is popular can help you create something shareable, something that people want to link to.
The reality is, you can reach out to anyone you want but if the content you’re sharing with them isn’t amazing, they’re not going to want to link to it.
From there you can create a targeted list of websites to go after with outreach. This is especially true if you’re researching competitors in the same niche.
With the number one result in Google averaging about 3.8 times more backlinks than the rest of the positions on page one, it’s safe to say that backlinks are still one of the most important ranking factors.
6. Download the Chrome Extension
Being able to have information at your fingertips is important and with the Ubersuggest Chrome Extension, you can. By downloading the extension, you can see keyword insights directly in the Google search results, YouTube, and Amazon.
Downloading it is simple and you’ll receive all the data right on the Google search results page. Information like domain authority, keywords, and monthly traffic will all display right underneath the title tag of the website.
You’ll also get traffic volume data and keyword difficulty information about the keyword you searched and related keywords.
BONUS TIP: Find Your Competitor’s Mistakes and Avoid or Leverage Them to Your Advantage
One great way to get ahead of the competition is to figure out what they’re doing wrong and how you can capitalize on it. Take a look at the competitor’s Site Audit Report and check the health of their website.
You can look through various SEO issues to see what’s going on with their site and how you can capitalize on their shortcomings.
Maybe their site is a bit slow? You could ensure that your site runs fast so that it can’t be used against you.
Maybe they’re lacking proper meta descriptions and title tags on some of their content? You can create a competing piece of content and ensure it gets proper metadata.
Tips:
1. Find the websites that are giving your competitors backlinks and reach out to those sites with your own valuable content for them to link to.
2. Find the pages that have the most traffic on your competitor’s website to see if you have a similar webpage that competes. If you don’t create one! If you do, optimize it more with targeted keywords.
3. Are you fighting for the same keywords? Try and differentiate yourself by finding the missed opportunities. Look for long-tail keywords or keywords with lower search volume and lower search difficulty ratings.
Conclusion
Competitive intelligence helps you figure out what your competition is doing right and what you’re doing wrong, it’s really as simple as that.
If you can find out what they’re doing and how they’re succeeding, you can use that as a springboard for your success. To do so, you need a great competitive research tool.
Using Ubersuggest for keyword research provides versatility and simplicity to the SEO process. You need a tool that helps you do a lot of things without complicating it.
Click here to sign up for Ubersuggest for FREE today! If you want help with your keyword, SEO, or marketing strategy, you can also reach out to our agency for help.
Speed Your Way to Success: How to Find Business Credit for Your Gig Economy Job
Get Business Credit for the Gig Economy
The gig economy is a booming market. With more and more people working as independent contractors, entrepreneurs, or freelancers, many are looking for ways to streamline the process of securing business credit. In this blog post we’ll discuss how you can use business credit cards to speed up your way to success in the gig economy.
The Gig Economy and Business Credit
Business credit is good for any type of business. You don’t have to be a large company. And even gig economy workers can start businesses.
What is the Gig Economy?
The gig economy means jobs for a short-term engagement, for a specified time, say, 6 weeks.
Temping is nothing new, but now it’s on steroids. In a gig economy, temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace. Companies tend to hire independent contractors and freelancers, versus full-time employees. At times, this can be difficult for workers due to less employment stability. Working conditions aren’t always the best.
Gig Workers Going in a Different Direction
Workers for places like GrubHub, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Relay, GoPuff, and Instacart might not want or be able to unionize or wait for legislation or otherwise try to change their working conditions. What’s the solution? Become your own business!
How Do You Become Your Own Business When You’re Just One Gig Worker?
If a car sharing service doesn’t say you’re an employee, then you can set yourself up as a corporation on an LLC. Yes, even a single person can do either. By delivering as a corporation and not an individual, you can build business credit.
Building Business Credit
Incorporating is the only way to go (chances are, you will want to start an S corporation and not a C corporation). It creates a separate business entity which can help give you a degree of tax and liability protection. But at the very least, it’s highly likely that your insurance company will still ding your personal auto insurance, if you get into an accident while driving.
Why Create an S Corporation?
It will carry lower risks. But owners must report business profits on their personal tax returns. However, you can save on Social Security and Medicare taxes. An S Corporation owner has protection from personal liability for the corporation’s business decisions or actions. Corporate decisions can include whether to take a certain delivery job at all.
You pay taxes only on the money you earn from the business, recorded as personal income. The business itself is not taxed. Since you’re both an owner and an employee, you pay taxes based only on your compensation. Hence you don’t pay Social Security or Medicare twice, like owners of unincorporated businesses must.
Why Create an LLC?
A limited liability corporation carries lower risks. But business profits go on your personal tax returns, which can result in you paying high taxes. You also pay an employment tax on the net income of the business.
An LLC isn’t a separate structure (per the IRS). Yet as an LLC member you have protection from personal liability for the company’s business decisions or actions. If the LLC goes into debt or is sued, your personal assets are usually exempt. LLCs tend to be for groups of professionals, like doctors’ practices and law firms.
Why Not Both?
You can create an LLC and have it become the sole shareholder of an S corporation. Get the benefits of an LLC’s informality, and the tax benefits of an S corporation. It is best practices to talk to a professional before making either move. For business credit building, becoming an S corporation is the way to go. The only question is whether its sole shareholder is you or an LLC.
Fundability for the Gig Worker
Fundability is the ability of your business to get funding. You’ll need (among other things):
- An EIN from the IRS
- A D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet
- An NAICS code (485310—Taxi Service or 485320—Limousine Service will work)
- A separate business bank account
Most of the credit providers we’re listing today will require all of these.
Gig Economy Business Credit
A driver’s expenses include:
- Fuel and maintenance
- Possibly buying a vehicle (if yours breaks down or you want a separate one just for your gigs)
- Registration fees and taxes
- Phone (hardware, purchased apps if necessary, data plan)
- Computer (to best manage all expense figures, etc.)
Did you know you can buy ALL these things with business credit?
Building Gig Worker Business Credit
Your driving business doesn’t start off with good business credit already built. Orderly, speedy building business credit means getting vendor accounts. Starting with vendor credit accounts is a proven way to start building business credit.
Building Business Credit: The Process
Use your business credit and pay on time, just like you should with personal credit. These vendors we’ll show you will report to the business credit reporting agencies. And you’ll build a good business credit score. These trade lines are creditors who will give you starter vendor credit when you have none now. And, they’ll report positive payment experiences to the business CRAs. So use the credit, pay back what you used, and the account goes on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.
Once reported, then you have trade lines, an established credit profile, and an established credit score.
You MUST have 3 or more vendor accounts reporting to move onto more credit with higher limits and better terms, more reporting accounts are even better. It will take 30—90 days for those accounts to report, 60 days on average. Do NOT apply for tier 2 credit without having 3 or more accounts first.
Using Business Credit Vendors
Check out three of our favorite starter vendors to help your driving business:
- 76
- Wex Fleet
- Marathon
All three come from Wex.
76
Phillips 66 Company owns 76. This card reports to: D&B and Experian. Before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, make sure to leave enough time in between applying so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.
To qualify, you need the following:
- Business must be in good standing with the applicable Secretary of State
- EIN
- Company address matching everywhere
- D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet
- Your business license (if applicable)
- A business bank account
- Business phone number with a listing on 411
Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can give a $500 deposit instead of a personal guarantee if you’ve been in business under a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15. Use at any P66, 76, or Conoco fueling location.
Wex Fleet
Wex reports to Experian and D&B. They offer universal fleet cards and universally accepted business fleet cards with a rewards program. Before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, leave enough time in between applying, so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.
Wex Fleet Card
If you’re not approved based on business credit history, or been in business for at least a year, then you must give a $500 deposit or a PG. Apply online or over the phone. Terms: Net 15 (Wex Fleet Card), Net 22, or revolving (Wex FlexCard).
To qualify, you need:
- Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
- EIN
- Business address (matching everywhere)
- D-U-N-S number
- Business license (if applicable)
- A business bank account
- Business phone number with a listing on 411
Marathon
Marathon Petroleum Company provides transportation fuels and specialty products supporting commercial, industrial, and retail operations. This card reports to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. Remember: before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, leave enough time in between applying so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.
To qualify, you need:
- Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
- EIN
- Business address (matching everywhere)
- D-U-N-S
- Business license (if applicable)
- A business bank account
- Business phone number with a listing on 411
Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can provide a $500 deposit instead of using a PG if you’ve been in business less than a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15. Let’s move onto what’s called fleet credit.
Fleet Credit
Fleet credit comes with and after starter vendors. Use it to:
- Buy fuel
- Maintain vehicles of all sorts
- Repair vehicles
Even if you just have one vehicle, you can still benefit. Fleet credit works for everything from luxury cars to minivans. These are often gas credit cards.
There may be a minimal time in business requirement. If your business can’t meet this requirement, you may be able to, instead:
- Offer a personal guarantee or
- Give a deposit to secure the credit
Now that you’ve got cards to support a vehicle, and your business credit is looking good, it’s time to look at vehicle financing to buy a vehicle!
Vehicle Financing
Vehicles financing is a great way to get a vehicle ASAP. With a fleet car, choices are usually buying or leasing. Providers include banks like Bank of America or the financing arm of a manufacturer, like Chrysler Capital.
Using Business Credit for Vehicle Financing
You can even finance a vehicle purchase or lease through our Business Credit Builder. These offers are in Tier 4. So they have certain requirements that business credit beginners just won’t be able to meet. Lenders want to see that you have the income to support the purchase. Consider Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing.
Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing Via Credit Suite
Ford offers several commercial vehicle financing options. These include loans, lines, and leases to actual business entities. This is not for sole proprietorships. Get a loan or a lease.
Ford may ask for a PG if you do not get approval on the merit of your application. Apply at the dealership. Ford reports to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.
To qualify, you need:
- Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
- EIN
- Business address- matching everywhere
- D-U-N-S
- Business license (if applicable)
- A business bank account
- Strong business credit history
You must have a good Experian business credit score.
Ally Car Financing Via Credit Suite
Ally provides personal financing. But they will also report to business credit bureaus. If your business qualifies for financing without the owner’s guarantee, you can get financing in the business name only. Ally will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.
Ally Car Financing: Ally Commercial Line of Credit
To qualify, you need:
- Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
- EIN
- Business address- matching everywhere
- D-U-N-S
- Business license (if applicable)
- A business bank account
- Bank reference
- Fleet financing references
If you use a personal guarantee, they will not report to the personal credit bureaus unless the account defaults.
Ally Car Financing: Ally Commercial Vehicle Financing
Get a lease or a loan. To qualify, you need most of the same things as you need for an Ally Commercial Line of Credit, except for
- A bank reference
- Fleet financing references
There is no minimum time in business requirement. Apply in person only, dealer will advise if approved or PG is necessary.
One More Thing About Vehicle Financing
With commercial vehicle financing, business owners may have to personally guarantee vehicle loans. If you are a co-borrower, the loan will tend to report to your personal credit report. Starting off by giving a personal guarantee means you can get money and get your vehicle now instead of later.
When you provide a personal guarantee, you are adding your Social Security number to the application. So expect a hard inquiry. You’re also adding the details of your personal income to the application.
No PG (Personal Guarantee) Financing
With no PG financing, you can get higher limits and better terms. Continue to build exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time. In general, the following will eliminate the need to provide a personal guarantee for this type of financing:
- good business credit
- a decent amount of time in business or
- good personal credit
Much like with any other kind of business borrowing, the more assurances you can give the lender, the better. And with well-built business credit, you’ve got a hugely positive assurance to provide.
Takeaways
Gig economy workers can build business credit to stabilize their employment situation and plan for the future. Use business credit to finance your delivery job in the gig economy and make it easier and more affordable to work as a flexible gig worker.
The post Speed Your Way to Success: How to Find Business Credit for Your Gig Economy Job appeared first on Credit Suite.
How to Use Google Scholar to Find Content Ideas and Research
Looking for a new way to research or find content ideas for your marketing content? You may have heard of Google Scholar but aren’t sure if it’s the right tool for what you need.
Google Scholar is a search engine for scholarly literature at major academic publishers and university presses that lets you find articles or citations on the topic of your choice.
Google Scholar is a great resource for finding articles on topics related to your niche and adding them to Google Scholar’s library.
Anyone can use this tool, such as marketers, academics, or anyone who wants to do research. All you need is an idea of what you’re looking for and a Google account.
Well-researched content helps build audience trust and positions you as a leader in your industry.
Creating content can be one of the most effective ways to promote your business. Not to mention, it costs 62 percent less than traditional marketing and can triple the number of leads you bring in.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss strategies for using Google Scholar to find marketing content ideas and research, plus tips to be successful.
Let’s get started!
How Does Google Scholar Work?
Google Scholar ranks documents based on the number of times an article has been viewed, printed, or downloaded within a set period of time (usually around one year).
Similar to Google search results, the most popular or most used topics are shown first in Google Scholar results.
Google Scholar’s aim is to rank documents the way researchers would: based on relevance and popularity.
This ranking system also means searchers can find relevant content more quickly.
Documents are added to Google Scholar’s library when publishers submit them to the Google Scholar Metadata Program. From there, documents are indexed, ranked, and made available to searchers in search results.
There is no limit on the number of documents that can be added to Google Scholar’s library—it all depends on how many publishers are participating.
This makes it easy for marketers and researchers alike to find a wide range of relevant content ideas or research topics.
8 Strategies for Using Google Scholar for Content Ideas
Google Scholar is beneficial to searchers because it allows marketers and researchers easy access to scholarly literature like academic journal papers. You can find content ideas on Google Scholar by searching for keywords related to your industry, brand, or topic.
No matter if you’re looking for news articles on digital marketing trends in healthcare, Google Scholar can help you get high-quality search results.
If you want to learn how to use Google Scholar successfully for your marketing research, follow the steps below.
1. Search by Year to Find Trending Topics
Google Scholar’s advanced search option can help you find the most relevant research papers by year.
You can also use this feature if you’re looking for more recent content on a topic and want to avoid older articles that don’t reflect current trends in your industry.
For example, let’s say your company is interested in social media marketing best practices, but you want to keep your results modern. Google Scholar can help you narrow down research topics to a specific date range.
To narrow your search down by date, you use the “Since Year” option to show only recently published papers, sorted by relevance.
You can also use the “Sort By Date” option to show just the new additions, sorted by their publish date.
Using these features can help you find the most up-to-date resources on your topic or find out what competitors are talking about right now.
2. Explore Related Articles to a Certain Topic
Google Scholar’s Related Articles option allows you to explore articles similar to ones you’ve already read, which can help you generate more content ideas.
To use this feature, simply click the Related Articles link at the bottom of an article on your results page.
For example, if you search “content management system” and find a great resource about WordPress, you can follow it up with related articles for WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
This can also be helpful if you find an article about your main keyword but want to know more about what other related keywords are being searched for most often.
For example, if you search for “content management system” in Google Scholar right now (because Google Scholar searches popularly-used terms), you get the following results:
These related articles give you a great starting point to continue your research and create stronger content topics.
3. Explore the Most Popular Articles and Publications
Google Scholar lets you browse the top 100 publications in multiple languages, ordered by five-year h-index and h-median metrics.
This feature allows you to see which articles in a publication were cited most often and by who.
You can also click the h-index number to see the article and citation metrics. The h-index is a number that represents the highest number of papers in the publication that have been cited at least that many times.
The h-median metric is the median of the citation counts in its h-core. Articles in the top 50 percent of citations count towards this metric.
By exploring popular publications to see what topics they cover and what authors are most cited, you can find content ideas for your own blog topics.
4. Follow the Citations for Additional Ideas
Using the Cited By option on Google Scholar leads you to other relevant search results within the Scholar database.
Cited By shows you how many times the result has been cited by other journals.
By following these citations, you can learn more about your topic and improve the quality of your research or topics.
For example, if you want to write about the latest trends in SEO, it would be helpful to know what the most reputable sources on this topic are. If you find an article that’s been cited 500 times, you’ll know you’re reading something with merit.
Finding articles by the number of citations they have received is a great way to find high-quality content ideas.
Just be careful not to limit yourself too much, or you might miss out on some important information!
5. Narrow Your Results by Field
Google Scholar’s Advanced Search option lets you limit results to specific fields of study.
Fields are controlled by the Advanced Scholar Search function, which lets users input keywords, phrases, and places where they occur. You can also segment your results by authors, publishers, and dates.
This feature is great for marketers who want to focus on certain areas of their industry.
For example, someone who wants to write about the food and beverage industry would enter “food and beverage” in the keyword search box. They would also input “food industry” in the phrase search box.
This keeps their results limited to articles about food and beverage within the food industry, instead of all scholarly articles found by Google Scholar’s search engine.
6. Use Keyword Research to Inform Your Search
Many Google Scholar articles have their keywords listed at the beginning of the result.
You can use these keywords as inspiration for content ideas. Or, if you already have a keyword in mind, you can get ideas for others from the results given. This is a great way to find related concepts to improve the quality of your article.
Not sure how to find relevant keywords for your article? Use Ubersuggest to inform your search!
The more relevant satellite keywords you add, the more likely is it that Google Scholar will return good results for your topic.
You can also use this method when writing blog posts or articles so you can quickly look up keywords and see related concepts at a glance.
Doing this research in advance allows you to produce higher-quality content with well-researched sources and information.
7. Find Industry and Competitor Topics
One strategy for using Google Scholar to find content ideas is to look at what your competitors and other industry leaders are doing.
For example, if you’re in the business of selling hats, and another company just published an article ranking high on Google Scholar about hat trends this year, that might be a good incentive to write something similar yourself.
Alternatively, you could use Google Scholar results to write about topics that are relevant to your industry.
For example, if an author or influencer in the online marketing space has recently published a book on email marketing strategy, that would be a good inspiration for potential blog post content ideas since it’s topical and directly related to your audience.
Lastly, you can use Google Scholar to find ideas for your product or service. If you’re a company that sells software, why not google scholar “software marketing tips” and see what comes up? You may find new ideas that haven’t crossed your desk before.
8. Use Google Scholar to Expand Your Customer Base
The last Google Scholar strategy to consider is using it to find potential customers.
If you are a company that specializes in the B2B space, you can try searching for topics relevant to your industry and see who’s writing about them. This can open your eyes to new people in the industry you might want to do business with.
You may also find relevant searches that focus on market research or lead generation strategies for companies within your niche. These could turn into potential prospects or partnerships in the future.
Even if you don’t get any new leads, you’ll still be able to gather in-depth knowledge about how other players in your industry are creating and interacting with content.
This can give you new ideas for content topics of your own.
Frequently Asked Questions About Google Scholar
How Do You Search on Google Scholar?
To search on Google Scholar, simply enter your keywords in the search bar and click the magnifying glass icon.
How Do I Search Google Scholar for Journals?
Google Scholar makes journal articles easier to find and access than ever before. To search Google Scholar for journals, enter your keywords in the search bar followed by “journal” or “JSTOR.” For example, if I wanted to look at marketing books, I would enter: marketing + JSTOR.
Is Google Scholar Good for Research?
Google Scholar is a great tool for research because it allows you to segment searches by time, publication, or author.
Is Google Scholar Free?
Yes, all of the information on Google Scholar is completely open access for anyone to see.
How Do I Activate Google Scholar?
To activate Google Scholar, you need a Google account. Sign up for a Google account here.
What Is the Best Way to Use Google Scholar?
You can use Google Scholar for marketing research, content topic creation, scholarly research, and more.
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Google Scholar Guide Conclusion
One of the main reasons Google Scholar is so popular among marketers and researchers is because it’s easy to use. All you need is an idea, and Google Scholar will do the rest for you.
When using Google Scholar search, be sure to enter all of your known keywords, not just one or two words. For example, if you are searching “marketing articles,” Google Scholar would return everything related to marketing, including articles on marketing psychology, which may be less useful to you than the articles about online marketing content strategy.
Once you have the results you’re looking for, keep refining your search and exploring other citations or results.
Google Scholar is a great way for marketers to inform their content ideas and create innovative articles that people enjoy reading.
How have you used Google Scholar in your content marketing strategy?