Episode #388 (Originally aired 05/13/16)

Episode #388 (Originally aired 05/13/16) – Bill’s guests are Michael Moore, Jeremy Scahill, Bob Graham, Jack Hunter and Katty Kay.

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The post Episode #388 (Originally aired 05/13/16) appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

The post Episode #388 (Originally aired 05/13/16) appeared first on BUSINESS DEMO WEBSITES.

The post Episode #388 (Originally aired 05/13/16) appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Imbue (Formerly Generally Intelligent) (YC S17) Is Hiring Research Scientists

Imbue (F.K.A. Generally Intelligent) is an AI research company working directly on building human-level general machine intelligence that can learn naturally in the way humans do. Our mission is to understand the fundamentals of learning and build safe, humane machine intelligence. Here are our open roles:

Machine Learning Engineer (SF or Remote, Contract or Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/9411e2ec-502a-403… Combinator

Research Scientist (SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/6c25a25c-35ec-4d7… Combinator

Machine Learning Research Engineer (SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/c2f4a435-1eef-489… Combinator

Systems Engineer (Remote or SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/7afede07-8f22-4c4… Combinator

Technical Lead Manager (SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/75fac008-22e5-49a… Combinator

Infrastructure Engineer (Remote or SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/e66a55a3-a117-406… Combinator

Senior Software Engineer (Remote or SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/38a93a78-fb8d-461… Combinator

Technical Interviewer (Remote or SF, Full-time/Contract):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/8443234d-a8c7-439… Combinator

Technical Recruiter/Talent Coach (SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/c4c09fff-ec4a-496…

Theory Engineer (Remote):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/63499488-91b1-415… Combinator

Chief of Staff (SF, Full-time):
https://jobs.lever.co/generallyintelligent/f5d04435-cfb5-4e3…


Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37798143

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by freezedance in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2022)"

Toko | Founding Product Engineer | Brooklyn, NY | ONSITE / HYBRID | https://tokotutor.com/en

Toko (YC W22) is on a mission to help the world’s 1.5B English learners become fluent. With our app, learners talk with an AI like it’s a real person, and get feedback on their grammar/pronunciation.

We have > 1k paying subscribers in Taiwan & Hong Kong – many have reported landing new jobs and confidently moving overseas since using Toko.

Founders have 10+ years of ed-tech experience at MIT, Quizlet, Codecademy (+ Google, Palantir experience).

As Founding Product Engineer, you’ll have an outsized equity stake and impact on the product, team culture & future of language learning.

JD: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/toko/jobs/hXNmmpi-foun…

Get in touch: jen@tokotutor.com

New comment by nemanja_codes in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (December 2022)"

  Location: Serbia
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: React, Next.js, JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js, TailwindCSS, Jest, Cypress, Prisma, PostrgreSQL, MongoDB, Docker, C#/.NET
  Resume/CV: Available on request
  GitHub: https://github.com/nemanjam 
  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nemanja-mitic
  Email: nemanja.mitic.elfak [at] hotmail.com

I am a full stack developer with a Master’s degree in Computer Science and almost 4 years of professional experience with JavaScript and C#/.NET. In the last few years my main focus has been the React/Next.js ecosystem, followed by Node.js. I am a JavaScript professional and a Python beginner interested to get more exposure to it. I have also worked with ASP.NET in the past which is not my primary focus at the moment. I have a basic understanding of DevOps tools.

A quick and easy way to estimate my current skill level, the quality of my code, and my preferred tech stack (Next.js, TypeScript, React Query, Prisma, Postgres, TailwindCSS, Docker, Github Actions) is to check out my latest project: https://github.com/nemanjam/nextjs-prisma-boilerplate .

I am looking for a full-time remote position. We can discuss relocation after some time spent in the company. You can check out my other projects at https://github.com/nemanjam . I have detailed resume available, you can tell me about your company and project by email: nemanja.mitic.elfak [at] hotmail.com

5 Ways to Use Google Trends for SEO Research

As marketers, our job is to capitalize on what’s popular in the “here and now.”

When big news hits, how does the data get interpreted? One great way to figure out what is popular is with Google Trends.

This tool identifies current and existing trends in search marketing. You can then take what you’ve learned and apply it to any (and all) of your marketing strategies.

This article will help you understand how to use Google Trends and the specific steps you can take to maximize your efforts.

What is Google Trends?

Google Trends is an incredible tool that helps marketers identify trending topics across varying industries. While initially created for journalists, the world of journalism and marketing have a lot in common.

Both the journalist and the marketer are vying for attention. Whatever it is they’re trying to do, they want to get the attention of as many people as possible using information that is relevant and interesting to the audience.

In comes Google Trends. This resource will show you what topics are currently trending and how to use Google Trends to draw the attention of your chosen audience.

A Google Trends result.

For example, in October 2021, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the number one trending search on Google. This could be due to a recent football game during the busy football season.

Google tells us this is a popular topic, so it might be a good idea to create some content around that topic. Of course, there are a million other factors that go into deciding what content to create, but Google Trends at least tells us what is popular.

The Google Trends search bar.

If you have a specific topic that you want to cover but aren’t sure if it’s trending, you can search for it in the search bar at the top.

For example, I decided to search “cryptocurrency” to see what Google had to say.

A google trends chart showing the popularity of cryptocurrency over time.

As you can see, you get a chart ranging from 0 to 100, with 100 being incredibly high interest and 0 being nearly no interest.

A few times across the last two years, cryptocurrency has spiked as a highly searched keyword on Google. This could be due to the release of new and popular coins or a lot more people getting established in crypto and keeping track of trends.

Why Should You Use Google Trends for Marketing?

Even if you aren’t involved in content creation, you should know how to use Google Trends. Marketers who use this tool do so because they understand the importance of capitalizing on trends.

We’re often very focused on producing the most evergreen content possible, but we should also work to maximize our efforts by finding the right time and place to put out a certain piece of content. Here’s how to use Google Trends:

Find Interesting Topics

Whether you’re a blogger, content marketer, or SEO professional, you need to find interesting topics people want to read about. In the SEO world, we’re so focused on our keywords and technical SEO that we sometimes forget that people actually want to read about topics that interest them.

A great way to find what interests people the most is Google Trends. The tool will tell you how much interest surrounds a specific search phrase so you can determine whether or not it’s worth creating content about it.

Keep in mind that not all popular trends are a good choice. To work, look for popular trends that are also related to your industry.

Inspire Creativity

Google Trends is not only useful for written content, but visual content as well. If you’re trying to figure out what to do with your social media or how to improve a featured image on your blog post, Google Trends can help you figure out what your audience wants to see.

By creating a relevant and interesting image, you’re not only generating attention for your content, but showing your target audience you understand them and know exactly what they want. This has many SEO-related benefits, too.

Identify (and Leverage) Seasonal Trends

If you’re in the travel, e-commerce, or tourism industries, your business might be seasonal. Identifying when to stock up on certain items can be difficult.

For example, let’s say you sell a piece of bass fishing equipment in your e-commerce store. You could use Google Trends to see when in the year bass fishing trends the most. Let’s take a look for ourselves.

A google trends chart.

As you can see from the image, the interest in bass fishing gradually increases through the late winter and into spring. It peaks in early summer and then drops back down as you move into fall and winter again—at least in the Northern hemisphere.

This would tell an e-commerce store owner that it’s time to really start pushing your marketing campaigns in the late winter, because this is when interest is trending. You may also want to increase your inventory to prevent backorders.

5 Ways to Use Google Trends for Marketing

Now that you understand some of the motivation behind how to use Google Trends for SEO, let’s look at the actionable steps you can take to make a difference in your various marketing campaigns.

1. Get Ideas for Blog Posts

Google Trends is a great way to find new and exciting topics to write about. If you’re a writer, you know how challenging it can be to produce content your readers will love and will rank well on Google. Google Trends is a sure-fire method to find good topics because they tell you exactly what is trending.

Best of all, they provide you with specific topics and queries around trending search phrases. Let’s stick with the bass fishing example and scroll down a little bit. One is related topics, and the other is related queries. Here’s what it looks like:

Generate blog post ideas using google trends.

Now you can expand on the theme and write about related topics. Major League Fishing and Bass Anglers Sportsman Society were some top related topics. Based on that, perhaps they were trending since Major League Fishing launched in 2022. On top of that, it was Bass Pro’s 50th anniversary, making a big year in fishing overall.

It’s important to choose blog post topics based on trends if you’re writing something that is time-sensitive. If it’s not evergreen content, it needs to be completely relevant to your audience at the time you publish it.

2. Get Ideas for Social Media Campaigns

Google Trends searches aren’t only for organic search marketing; you can use them for social media as well. Building a large social following and constantly coming up with interesting content to promote is a tall task. Google Trends can help.

We can use the related queries section to identify trending topics and build creatives and copy around that. For example, we see a few searches relating to a bass pro fishing tournament. If we run a fishing e-commerce store, perhaps we want to create a social media campaign on that topic. We could use the tournament to draw attention to our brand and maybe mention professional fishers using gear or lures we offer.

Another interesting query is “winter bass fishing lures.” That is one of those seasonal examples I was talking about. Now might be a good time to create a social media campaign around our best fishing lures for the winter season. People are preparing to fish when it’s cold and we can use that to our advantage.

3. Use It to Improve SEO

One obvious area to use Google Trends for SEO is in organic search. It can also help with keyword research. Not everyone is using Google Trends, so you can use it to identify relevant keywords and then use free SEO tools like Ubersuggest to decide if it’s a valuable keyword or not.

Best of all, you can look at years’ worth of data so you can plan for the future by knowing whether or not a topic is evergreen enough to put in the time and effort.

Google trends chart for the term bass fishing.

If we take the same bass fishing keyword and spread it out across five years, it becomes more apparent that the trend will continue for years.

Each year the volume rises and falls during the same months. This can fuel your marketing strategy and help you prepare for the months ahead.

4. Find Long-tail Keywords for Paid Campaigns

Finding the right keywords for your paid campaigns is crucial to your success. It’s also important from a financial standpoint, because the sooner you find the right keywords, the sooner you can start capitalizing on paid ads.

If we narrow our bass fishing search down to 90 days, it tells us more about what is trending right now.

long tail keyword research in google trends.

There are three long-tail keywords, with one of them being “bass pro fishing bibs”. A bib is what fishers wear to cover their clothes when they get into the water. They also wear them when it’s getting cold as opposed to waders. This tells us fishers are looking for gear to help them keep warm as the temperatures start to drop.

If we’re not currently selling fishing bibs on our e-commerce store, this would also tell us that now is the time to do so. We may create a paid campaign around that type of product with an image of someone using a bib in a fall-like setting.

This would appeal to our target audience, and we know the term is trending, so there should be plenty of paid search volume.

5. Find Trending Topic Ideas for Webinars

When you’re creating a webinar, you want to reach the right people (those interested in what you have to offer) at the right time. Google Trends can help you do just that.

Sticking with the fishing theme, perhaps you’re selling a course on bass fishing and you’re using a free webinar to draw people in and get them to buy the course. You’ll want to use currently trending topics in social media and PPC advertising to get these people’s attention. You also need to know what anglers are actively searching for on the internet.

In comes Google Trends. The tool lays it all on the line for you to start speaking their language. There should be no need to guess or take chances between proper keyword research and Google Trends.

FAQs

Is Google Trends free to use?

Yes, it is a free tool from Google. Google Trends takes a quick look at what’s trending in the news, what people are currently searching for, and how things change over time. These searches can be based on season or geographic location.  

Can Google Trends be used for SEO?

Google Trends is an excellent tool that can support SEO through niche content planning. Put in the keyword you’re curious about following and gain valuable insights into how many people are talking about that topic and other closely related topics. This allows you to curate a highly personalized SEO strategy. 

Conclusion

Being able to identify trends is important for all marketers. No matter what industry you’re in, your target audience is actively searching for things on Google, and you need to figure out what those things are.

Google Trends is a great way to get started. Need more help? Reach out to our digital marketing team.

Do you think Google Trends is a powerful marketing tool? Why or why not?

New comment by ejs_stile in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2022)"

Stile Education / Full Stack / Melbourne, Australia / Full-Time

Stile helps teachers bring their science classes to life with beautiful lessons based on real-world science and global issues. We’re looking for a talented full-stack engineer to work with us. We work in cross-functional sprint teams, and encourage upskilling in breadth as well as depth. The team will build new features that help teachers teach, handle challenging infrastructure scaling issues as we expand in the US, and above all help each other succeed and learn.

https://stileeducation.com/who-we-are/apply/?job=9C64F77B5C

Why do Lenders Prefer Using a Personal Credit Score to Approve a Business Loan?

Your Personal Credit Score Can Make a Difference When You Apply for a Business Loan

If you’re a small business owner, don’t assume your business credit is separate from your personal. If you apply for a loan, lenders will consider it on your personal credit, not your business credit. Your business credit score is considered on its own only if your company generates millions in annual income. Otherwise, assume that your personal credit score will matter.

Solid personal credit is a necessity.  The need to build and maintain it never goes away for most small company owners.

Some lenders (like banks) place more importance on personal scores. This is for checking business loan applications.

To establish your business’ creditworthiness, most lenders first analyze your personal credit score. This happens with organizations in operation for only a few years. It also happens with businesses seeking their first business loan.

So, small business owners must focus on creating a solid business credit profile. This is along with building a good personal credit score.

What is the Difference Between Business Credit Score and Personal Credit Score?

Here are the main variations between company personal credit scores:

  •       Business credit reports use Employer Identification Numbers (EINs). Personal credit reports use Social Security numbers (SSNs).
  •       The ranges of personal and business credit scores are very different. Business scores tend to vary from 0 to 100. The range of personal credit scores is 300 to 850.
  •     Experian manages both business and personal credit. They use separate databases and departments if you have both kinds of credit.
  •       You can freeze or lock personal credit reports. But business credit reports cannot be locked or go under security freeze.
  •       Different rules apply to data used in business and personal credit reports.
  •       Anyone can examine your business scores (they must buy the report and scores). But only you and others who have your authorization can access your personal scores.

When do Lenders Consider a Personal Credit Score for Approving Business Loans?

When reviewing creditworthiness for a business loan, most lenders  check personal credit history.

But some lenders will give your personal credit score less weight than others. Lenders may pay less attention to a poor personal credit score if you already have a track record of solid business credit.

Your personal credit will matter more for a business loan when any (or all) of the following are true:

a. If You’re Seeking a Loan from a Bank or Other Conventional Lender

You should assume banks have strict lending rules and often aren’t too flexible. But private lenders offer financial help. It’s in the form of business loans with low credit requirements. They provide funds considering a business owners’ personal score. This is even if the business score is low. Here, conventional lenders may check personal credit scores to offer you a business loan with flexible terms.

b. If Your Business is a Startup or Small in Nature

If your business score does not have enough info for lenders to check credibility, they will place a higher value on personal scores.

This can be the case with sole proprietorships or small businesses with few employees. Here, it may be hard for a conventional lender to distinguish between your business credit report and personal credit reports.

c. Your Personal Credit Score is Relatively Low

Even if you have a few old negative entries on your personal credit report, getting a business loan shouldn’t be tough. If your business’s credit history is excellent, then it shouldn’t be a problem.

But too many negative items on your personal credit history may damage your score. A low personal credit score is something a lender will notice and consider as a risk.

Your personal credit score reflects how you manage your personal credit liabilities. But some may argue that your personal credit score has nothing to do with how your business operates its business credit liabilities.

As a business owner, understand how your credit score is calculated, and how it’s used when you apply for a credit. And understand what you should do to improve it.

How is a Personal Credit Score Calculated?

The Federal Government improved credit reporting quality with the Fair Credit Reporting Act in 1970.

The consumer credit bureaus collect information from a consumer’s credit profiles to create FICO scores. Experian, Transunion, and Equifax are the three largest credit bureaus. These three major credit bureaus maintain the same basic formula to rate your credit. A personal credit score ranges from 300 to 850 and is rarely identical.

They calculate your FICO score using this basic, widely used formula:

Payment History (35%)

Late payments, judgments, and bankruptcies are problematic. So are debt settlements, repossessions, charge-offs, and liens in your credit report. They will lower your personal credit score.

Debt Owed (30%)

Your personal credit score also depends on your debt-to-credit limit ratio. And it depends on the number of credit accounts, the total amount of credit balances, and the amount paid off on installment loans.

Credit History (15%)

Your credit history plays an integral part in building your credit score. The average age of the accounts and the length of your oldest credit account are the two most important criteria. The longer (or older) the file is, the better. This is because the score tries to forecast future creditworthiness based on past credit history.

Credit Types (10%)

Having different types of credit shows your ability to handle many credit accounts. These types include revolving, installment, and mortgage credit. It will definitely have a positive impact on your credit score.

New Credit Accounts (10%)

Each new “hard” inquiry on your credit report may have an adverse effect and may lower your score by 10%. Per Experian, these inquiries may stay on your report for a few years. But they  will have no impact on your credit score after the initial year.

How Does This Information Build Your Credit Score?

Credit bureaus collect personal information like your name, date of birth, location, occupation, and more. They’ll also prepare a list of information that the creditors provide. Other information, like judgments or bankruptcy, will appear on your credit reports. It becomes part of your personal credit score. When you apply for new credit, your creditor will see all that info in your credit report and check your score.

If you find any inaccurate data reported, the credit bureaus have procedures in place to correct verifiable mistakes. Amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act in 1996 allow you to put a 100-word statement on any report that includes an item you dispute.

A range of factors can drive a bad credit score, including a divorce, severe illness, or loss of employment. This allows you to ensure that potential creditors are aware of the information.

Here’s what a potential creditor sees when they look at your score:

800-850 (Exceptional)

You should expect lenders to treat you like a king! With a credit score above 800, you can choose the best credit alternatives for your needs, and the best interest rates, from any lender you choose..

740-799 (Very Good)

If you have a credit score inside this range, lenders will treat you as a low-risk borrower. You can get a loan from almost any big lender with affordable rates. With this credit score, you can choose the best business loan that fits your business needs.

670-739 (Good)

This is a good score, and many people in the United States fall into this category. With this score, a borrower can hope to have more choices and approvals from various lenders.

580-669 (Fair)

This is a score that indicates a significant level of risk. A small business loan is feasible, but the interest rates will often be higher. If your score is in this range, you will have fewer possibilities than those with a higher level.

Most conventional lenders will not consider borrowers in this group for a small business loan. A personal credit score of 660 is the lowest that the SBA will typically consider.

300-579 (Very Poor)

Borrowers with this credit score can access some credit. But it’s considered a high-risk credit score. So there will likely be fewer possibilities and higher interest rates. If your score falls in this range and you want to get a business loan, consider offering some collateral.

How To Improve Your Personal Credit Score?

There is no simple solution to fix your personal credit score issues. But that doesn’t imply you can’t increase your score with time and effort. Here are six strategies to improve your personal credit score:

Analyze Your Score

You are entitled to get a free credit report once a year from annualcreditreport.com. You can get your credit report as many times as you want from all three major credit reporting agencies. These bureaus provide credit monitoring services for an affordable fee. Get your report from them and analyze it properly.

Make Good Use of Credit

This may sound oversimplified, but it’s critical. Resist the urge to use all your credit limits all the time. This is so even if you pay off the total outstanding debt balance every month through credit card debt consolidation. Using all the available credit further can damage your credit score.

Keep credit usage to roughly 15% of your available credit limit to increase your credit score.

Make Your Payments On Time

This is most likely the best and most successful strategy to improve your score. How fast you make payments and satisfy your liabilities makes up 35% of your score. A single late payment can significantly reduce your credit score.

Do Not Apply for Excess Credit

Applying for unnecessary credit reduces your credit score. So if you’re attempting to raise your score, it’s not a good idea.

Don’t Transfer Balances Too Often

Transferring balances from one credit card to another does not affect your credit score. But, it’s generally known as a wrong financial move that could harm your personal credit. Frequently transferring balances can put a bad impression on your future creditors.

Have Patience and Keep Trying

Improving your credit score requires strong determination and hard work. Your constant effort over six months or even a year can make a significant difference. But missing a payment or two will almost certainly lower your credit score fast.

About the Author: 

Lyle Solomon has considerable litigation experience. He has substantial hands-on knowledge and expertise in legal analysis and writing. Since 2003, he has been a member of the State Bar of California. In 1998, he graduated from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. He now serves as a principal attorney for the Oak View Law Group in California.

The post Why do Lenders Prefer Using a Personal Credit Score to Approve a Business Loan? appeared first on Credit Suite.

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