Author: Leo Pinero

Make the Benefits of Working From Home Outweigh the Disadvantages

There are some obvious benefits of working from home.  There are also some not so obvious disadvantages.  The key is make the most of the benefits of working from home and figure out how to work around the disadvantages. 

How to Ensure the Benefits of Working from Home Outweigh the Disadvantages

Many do not realize there are ways to fund your work at home business without using your personal credit.  In fact, many would consider difficulty finding funding a formidable disadvantage of working from home running a business.

The truth is, you most definitely can enjoy the benefits of working from home and not have to fund the whole endeavor using your personal credit. You can build business credit even while running a home-based business.

Credit Line Hybrid Financing: Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.

Advantages of Working from Home

What are the advantages of running your business out of your home? It’s a hard question to answer.  The problem is, what is a benefit to some is a disadvantage for others.  Some love the isolation, others miss working with people.  Production increases for some people for various reasons. Others struggle to stay focused when working from home. 

The close proximity of food is fabulous for some. You can save money and time by simply eating what is in your fridge. Others find it hard to stop eating when working from home. This makes it hard to maintain a healthy weight. Along the same lines, some find it easier to exercise working from home, while others need the commute to or from the office to encourage them to stop by the gym.

That said, one clear advantage of running your business from your house is that you save money.  Overhead costs are much lower. You save on building costs. Time and money spent commuting is almost nonexistent. Clothing costs are significantly less as well. Even so, business funding is always a necessity.

Disadvantages of Working from Home

Aside from those already mentioned above that are actually an advantage for some, there are some other clear disadvantages of working from home. First and foremost, it can be difficult to get home based business loans, or even home based business grants.  That doesn’t mean funding a home-based business is impossible. You just have to know what to do to make even a home based business  more fundable. 

How to Increase the Fundability of a Home-Based Business

The number one best way to increase the fundability of your home-based business is to talk to a business credit expert. A consultation like this can be priceless. It’s true, you can take the work from home tips about funding that we are about to offer and execute many of them yourself. However, it will take you twice as long.  Furthermore, you may very well miss something.

A business credit expert can help you assess the current fundability of your business. Then, they can walk you through the steps to help you fill in any fundability gaps. Finally, they have relationships with lenders to help ensure you get the best funding possible for your business now.

Credit Line Hybrid Financing: Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.

They not only help you start the processes necessary to ensure you are eligible for funding in the future, but also help you find the best funding for your home based business right now. 

Is Your Home Based Business Set Up to Be Fundable? 

This is likely the number one issue with the fundability of a business run out of your home.  Most home business owners set their business up as a sole proprietorship. They use their personal contact information. Typically they do not incorporate, and some do not even open a business bank account. 

This seems like the easiest, fastest way to do things.  It’s no wonder it is the standard. Still, it is probably the number one reason for the work at home disadvantage of having trouble getting funding.  Setting up as a sole proprietor can be detrimental to fundability.  For a lender to see your business as a separate, fundability entity apart from you as the owner, you need to do things differently. 

  • Separate contact information, including a business phone number and a business address that are different from your personal phone number and address.  

  • An EIN, to use in place of  your SSN on business documents and funding applications. You can get one for free from the IRS.

  • Incorporate and an LLC, S-corp, or C-corporation.  It is necessary to fundability.  Also, it lends credence to your business as one that is legitimate. Not to mention it offers some protection from liability. 
  • Open a separate business bank account. Among other things, it will help you keep track of business finances.  It will also help you keep them separate from personal finances for tax purposes. 

Best Home Based Business Loans 

Fundability, in the simplest terms, is the ability of your business to get funding.  If your business is not seen as fundable, then lenders will not help you fund it. Home based business loans will be out of the question. 

Not all loans are created equal when it comes to getting money for your home based business however.  Some work better than others. Here are some of our top picks for work from home business loans. 

Credit Line Hybrid

With the Credit Line Hybrid, you can usually get a loan of 5x the amount of your highest revolving credit limit account, up to $150,000. Honestly, this is more than what you could get on your own when applying for credit cards. Furthermore, you can get cash out on this program.

Also, there is no impact on your personal credit with this type of financing. You need a 680+ credit score, but if you don’t meet that you can take on a credit partner who does. A lot of business owners use the good credit of friends or family to help them get the funding they need. 

The best part is, not only does this not affect your personal credit score, it can help build your business credit score if your business is set up properly as mentioned above.

Credit Line Hybrid Financing: Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.

401K Financing

Your existing 401(k) or IRA can help fund your business as well. The funds work as collateral for business financing. As a result, your personal credit score isn’t really an issue. This program uses IRS proven strategies. You will pay no tax penalties, and you still earn interest on your 401(k).  Even better, rates are low, and this option usually has a quick closing and funding process.  

SBA 7 (a) Loan

This is the SBA’s most popular program. The SBA offers federally funded term loans up to $5 million. The funds can be used for expansion, purchasing equipment, working capital and more. Banks, credit unions, and other specialized institutions in partnership with the SBA process these loans and disburse the funds.

Credit Suite business credit experts can help you with these types of funding and more! 

Funding Doesn’t Have to Be a Disadvantage of Working from Home

Arguably, business funding is one of the greatest work from home challenges.  It can be such a challenge in fact, that it can seem to overshadow many, if not all, of the work from home benefits.  With the right expert to walk you through the process, you can be sure that at least this one challenge can be overcome, and the benefits of working from home can tip the scale.  You’ll have to keep yourself out of the refrigerator though.

The post Make the Benefits of Working From Home Outweigh the Disadvantages appeared first on Credit Suite.

How to Choose The Right PPC Agency

In 2017, PPC advertisers invested over $10 billion dollars. 

If you stacked that many $100 dollar bills on top of each other, you’d have a nearly seven-mile tall tower of money. So, that’s a TON of money. 

But year after year, global ad spend across every major PPC channel is growing even higher. 

Source: Statistica

And this explosive growth isn’t happening for no reason. 

It’s happening because PPC works. It’s the classic “spend money to make money” model. From social media to paid search, PPC is a smart way to see quick results. 

But that’s only true if you know what you’re doing. 

Which… is where an experienced PPC agency comes in. They spend countless hours experimenting and learning everything there is to know so you don’t have to. 

So if you’re looking to hire an agency to create and manage your PPC campaigns but aren’t sure where to start, you’re in the right place. In this article, I cover:

  • What to look for in a PPC agency
  • How to work with them for maximum results
  • Steps to finding the right agency
  • My top five recommendations

Let’s dive in!

Know your goals and desired outcomes

PPC campaigns exist for a wide variety of reasons. And it’s crucial to have a clear picture of what you hope to achieve before you go through the process of finding the right PPC agency. 

Without this essential set of information, you’ll have a hard time making an educated decision. 

So before you get started, sit down with your team and set clear goals and expectations. There aren’t any right or wrong answers, but it’s good to understand this from the get-go. 

Your goals may include:

Right now, you need to set an overall goal for your next campaign. Understanding your expectations makes it easier to communicate what you’re after and ensures everyone’s on the same page. 

The idea is to reach a high-level agreement on why you want to hire a PPC agency. 

You should also consider the level of participation you want to have throughout the process. Do you want to be super hands-on, or are you hoping for someone to completely take over? 

Lastly, don’t worry about the finer details just yet. You can work through the specific metrics and KPIs you want to measure later when you actually sit down with your new PPC partner. 

7 characteristics that make a great PPC agency

Now you have a crystal clear picture of your goals, expectations, and level of participation. So it’s time to start talking about what characteristics to look for. 

Not all PPC agencies are equal. Some excel at specific advertising types, while others specialize in creating excellent customer experiences across every platform. 

One isn’t necessarily better than the other, but it ultimately depends on what you’re looking for. 

So use these characteristics as a baseline for creating a list of viable options. They’ll help you narrow your choices down to those PPC agencies that are worth every penny. 

From there, you can sit down with them before making a final decision. 

Let’s get started!

1. They value data, analytics, and results

PPC is an exciting form of digital marketing because you can directly tie revenue generated to ad spend. So data and analytics are crucial to the success of future campaigns. 

The best PPC agencies understand how to use numbers to strategize new ideas that improve your overall ROI. They use what they already know and what they learn about your target market to develop high-yield campaigns. 

Furthermore, they also understand the importance of collecting as much information as possible as well as sharing that data with you. 

If it’s not clear on their website, be sure to ask questions to help you gauge this before working together. You can ask things like:

  • What tools do you use to measure essential PPC metrics?
  • Will you actively share data and results with us?
  • Do I have independent access to analytics and reporting?
  • Is a full analytics report included with your offer? 
  • If so, what do you include in those reports?

2. Strategic partnerships and first-party data sources

The longer you’re in business, and the more campaigns you run, the more first-party data you gather about your specific audience and how they behave. 

But the best PPC agencies have an extensive database of their own first-party data as well. 

Furthermore, they know how to use it to predict your audience’s buying behavior based on similar industries and past clients. And they may also connect with first-party data sources to tap into their pool of information as well. 

Aside from data, smart agencies partner with leading search and social media platforms. Partners are the first to know about new changes and updates.

This means they’re ahead of the game when things change. 

Which… seems to happen by the second. So, these strategic partnerships give PPC agencies in-depth insight non-partners don’t have. 

Look for indications of this on their website or ask about it if you’re unsure. 

3. Knowledge of local search

82% of smartphone users turn to search engines to find businesses close to them. They use phrases like “near me” to decide where to eat lunch, go shopping, and find entertainment, among other things as well. 

Furthermore, 76% of those searches lead to an in-store visit on the same day. 

Source: Think With Google

So, local search isn’t something your business can afford to ignore if you want to drive foot traffic to a physical location. 

Whether you use your business to sell products or meet with clients, it’s crucial to show up in search results at the right time. 

Make sure to choose an agency with a strong knowledge of local search (both paid and organic). You may not be able to find this information on their website, so be sure to ask questions. 

During your first call, it may help to ask things like:

  • How do you approach local paid search objectives? 
  • Can you share any local PPC results you’ve produced for similar businesses? 
  • We want to reach our local community. Can you tell me a bit about how that works? 
  • How do you measure the success of location-based keywords?
  • Do you use bid modifiers for location-specific queries?

4. Strong mobile optimization capabilities

Mobile devices account for over half (53%) of clicks on search ads. The era of designing creatives and writing copy for desktop first… is over.

It’s more important than ever before for PPC ads to be easily accessible on devices of all sizes. 

And the world of mobile optimization is tricky, especially when combined with ever-changing search and social algorithms. So it’s crucial to hire a PPC agency that knows how to tackle this transition to on-the-go browsing. 

Some agencies may highlight this as a feature on their website, while others may not. So be sure to ask questions during your initial phone calls to ensure they know their stuff. 

To gauge this, you can ask things like:

  • Can you share any mobile-specific results for previous campaigns? 
  • What’re your thoughts on designing PPC ads for mobile rather than desktop?
  • Do you provide mobile-optimized copy and display ads, or suggestions to improve them?
  • Do you leverage bid modifiers for mobile devices?

5. They focus on the right PPC channels

Whether you’re interested in search, social, programmatic, shopping, or multi-channel PPC campaigns, it’s essential to find a PPC agency specializing in the platforms you want to use. 

There’s no right or wrong marketing channel. But it does depend on your end goal. 

Some agencies may only manage search campaigns while others may consult, design, and manage paid social media campaigns. No two campaigns are alike, nor are two PPC agencies. 

So first, you have to understand what you’re looking for. 

What channels are you considering? Do you need help with design or ad copy as well? Maybe you want a collaborative project, or perhaps you prefer entirely hands-off.

Decide what you need and expect from a PPC agency and use that to guide your decision. 

Be sure to sare your expectations and goals during your first meeting to ensure they’re a good fit. 

6. Impeccable keyword research

The quickest way to see a return on your investment is by targeting commercial-intent (transactional) keywords. People searching for things like “Buy iPhone X” or “best web hosting services” are ready to buy. 

But making more money isn’t the only goal behind PPC advertising. Maybe you want to grow your email list to add more leads into your sales funnel. Or raise brand awareness. Or drive traffic to help increase ad revenue. 

Regardless of the end goal, your PPC agency must understand your campaign’s purpose and help you choose appropriate keywords to target. 

This isn’t something you can usually find on their website. So you’ll have to do some digging. 

Here are some great questions to ask during your first call:

  • How do you decide what keywords to focus on?
  • What keyword research tools do you use?
  • Can you tell us about your keyword strategy for a similar business? 
  • What metrics do you use to decide if a keyword is performing well?

7. Well-versed in all things digital marketing

PPC advertising doesn’t exist in a vacuum. 

It’s usually a small piece of a broader digital marketing strategy. 

And the best PPC agencies know this and work to create effective campaigns and PPC strategies to support your high-level business goals. 

Sure, PPC requires strong keywords that target the right audiences. But it goes much further than that as well. 

Great agencies understand the big picture and oftentimes can help improve other pieces of your digital marketing system because they’re great marketers themselves. 

How to work with a PPC agency

Now you know what to look for in a PPC agency. 

But if you’ve never worked with one before, you may feel unsure of what to expect going into your new partnership. And there are several things you can do as a client to enhance the overall experience. 

Doing these things helps put both your business and your agency in a strong position for success. 

Set clear goals and communicate your expectations

We talked about this briefly at the beginning of this article, but I want to come back to it again because it’s so important. 

Your goals and expectations set the stage for the rest of your partnership. 

It’s critical to understand your goals and communicate them with your PPC agency. The best agencies use your goals and expectations to develop a strategic plan that works well for both of you. 

So if you’re hesitant or unsure of what you’re after, sit down with your team and revisit this. And make sure you know how to communicate what you want. 

Gather and share data from past campaigns

Any first-party data you have can significantly impact the outcome of future campaigns. 

Think back to previous partnerships or campaigns you’ve run and gather that information into a clean and easy-to-understand report. 

Then, share it with your agency. 

Hard data is the best way for them to learn more about your audience’s attributes and behaviors as well as what worked, what didn’t, and why. 

This way, they don’t have to reinvent the wheel or start their research from scratch. 

Choose one point of contact

To avoid confusion, choose one central point of contact for communications from your agency. This ensures there are no miscommunications or wasted time from several people managing that relationship. 

You can certainly have a team working on the project but limit communications to one person. 

It also helps simplify things for your agency as well. They always know who to talk to, and they don’t have to worry about waiting too long for your response. 

Be prepared for advice and suggestions

PPC agencies are excellent at what they do, so it’s essential to listen to their advice and suggestions. This could be advice on improving your home page for conversions or redesigning landing pages to increase sales. 

Perhaps it’s a suggestion to improve your ad copy or headline. 

Always remember they’re the experts, and you hired them for a reason — they know their stuff. So take the time to listen and keep an open mind throughout the process. 

Ask all the questions you need to ask

There’s no such thing as a stupid question. And there’s no such thing as too many questions, either. If you’re unsure or confused about anything, the best thing to do is ask. 

There’s nothing wrong with not knowing, but there is something wrong with not asking about it. 

This helps you learn, and it also helps clear up any confusion about the project. You can rest easy every day, understanding the hows and whys of your campaign. 

How to find the right PPC agency for you

There are hundreds (if not more) of PPC agencies to choose from. And choosing the right one is often the hardest part of getting started. 

But the best PPC agencies for you specialize in the types of campaigns you’re interested in. They should also have in-depth knowledge of your specific industry. These characteristics combined help pave the way for the best results. 

It may also help to make a list of your expectations and requirements before starting your search. 

From there, list the companies you’re considering. Be sure to include:

  • Their specialty areas
  • What makes them stand out to you
  • Why they seem like a good fit
  • Pricing if it’s available online
  • Any negatives about their business

Then you can use your requirements and expectations to cross off agencies that don’t match what you need. Lastly, schedule a call with the remaining agencies on your list. 

This is your chance to interview them just as much as it’s their chance to interview you. 

So ask all your questions and take notes throughout the meeting so you can come back to them when making a final decision. 

The 5 top PPC agencies

Now you know what to look for, what to expect, and how to decide. 

Here are my top PPC agency recommendations for different business types and sizes to kick off your search. 

1. Neil Patel Digital — Best multi-channel PPC company

At NPDigital, we leverage our first-party data and search partners to create multi-channel campaigns designed to meet potential customers wherever they hang out online. 

Furthermore, we focus on using data to design an excellent customer experience regardless of how and where they interact with your brand. 

And now more than ever, consumers are researching before they buy. 

We care about giving shoppers the content and information they need to make informed decisions, all while helping you conquer your PPC goals. 

From paid search and social media to Amazon and shopping ads, your PPC campaigns are in good hands. 

2. Loud Mouth Media — Best small agency in the UK

Hiring a partner close to your time zone can have a massive impact on the type of communication you have as well as how long it takes to get a response. 

If you’re in Europe or the UK, Loud Mouth Media is an excellent small PPC agency serving big clients like Volvo and BBC, as well as small businesses around the world. 

And there’s a reason Loud Mouth Media’s won the “Best Small PPC Agency” in the UK two years in a row — they’re phenomenal at what they do. 

With the data and results to back it up. 

Plus, they’re Google, Bing, and Facebook partners, so Loud Mouth Media is an excellent choice if you’re interested in those channels. 

3. Stryde — Best for eCommerce and B2C businesses

If you’re a B2C business or running an eCommerce store, Stryde is a superb choice because they specialize in eCommerce digital marketing for businesses of all sizes.

Furthermore, the B2B and B2C industries couldn’t’ be more different when it comes to PPC. 

And there’s no one better to strategize and manage your product-focused campaigns than an agency that solely works with eCommerce and B2C businesses. 

Plus, they have an extensive portfolio of case studies that prove they’re great at what they do. 

4. KlientBoost — Best for landing page design + management services

PPC ads drive traffic, and landing pages (typically) convert that traffic into revenue or leads.

So it’s no surprise that landing page design and optimization are crucial to successful PPC campaigns regardless of your industry and business type. 

If you don’t have an in-house designer or struggle with creating conversion-focused landing pages, KlientBoost is an excellent PPC partner for your business. 

Aside from PPC and social media management, they also specialize in designing new landing pages and optimizing existing ones to help you reach and exceed your PPC goals. 

Their in-house team of designers and developers is ready to help you craft excellent customer experiences from their first click to their last. 

5. Directive Consulting — Best for SaaS and B2B businesses

B2B businesses and SaaS tools face their own set of unique challenges when it comes to PPC campaigns. After all, you’re targeting other businesses… not individuals. 

So you need a PPC strategist and partner that understands how to overcome those challenges. 

Directive Consulting specializes in helping software companies conquer every marketing channel from paid search and shopping ads to SEO and CRO. 

Whether you’re looking solely for PPC or interested in an entire digital marketing plan from one of the top agencies around, Directive is a fantastic choice. Plus, they offer digital marketing education, and they have a pool of first-party SaaS data you can tap into. 

You + the right agency = reliable results

Choosing the best PPC agency for your business is just as important as crafting the perfect copy, designing eye-catching creatives, and publishing conversion-focused landing pages. 

There’s no doubt you have a powerful message and life-changing products for the right audience. Plus, you owe it to them to put it in front of them when they need it. 

The right PPC agency helps you do just that while helping you generate more leads, make more money, and get more eyes on your brand. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. 

The good news is that you now know what to look for throughout the process. So next time you’re looking for your dream PPC agency, use the tips, tricks, and characteristics we talked about. 

And remember: an excellent PPC partner and reliable results can make a world of difference for your business. You deserve it and your customers do too. 

What do you look for when hiring a PPC agency?

The post How to Choose The Right PPC Agency appeared first on Neil Patel.

Here’s What You Should Do When Your Search Rankings Drop

If you’ve ever done SEO, you know how good it feels to see your rankings go up.

You put a ton of hard work into moving up in the SERPs and it finally pays off.

But then the unexpected happens. Your rankings drop.

Few things in SEO are more discouraging than a fall in the rankings. It makes you feel like everything you did was useless.

You wonder what went wrong or if you made a mistake. You beat yourself up for not doing it right.

You’re back to square one again, and you have to start all over.

Or do you?

In my experience, that’s not always the case.

My rankings have dropped more times than I can count. At first, I panicked.

As I learned more, I found out that it’s not the end of the world if you go down a position or two. It’s obviously not ideal, but there’s a lot you can do to fix it.

That’s what I’m going to show you today. Even if your rankings are where you want them to be, you need to be aware of how to bring them back up when they drop (because they will).

Analyze the drop

Before you take action to raise your rankings, you need to track your rankings, ideally on a daily basis so you can see if they are increasing or decreasing.

The reason you want to track your rankings on a daily basis is that Google makes 3200 algorithm changes per year, which is a bit more than 8 algorithm changes per day.

Hence you don’t really have a choice but to track your rankings daily.

So how do you do that?

First, you’ll want to head to the Ubersuggest dashboard and click on “Add Your First Project”.

It’s as simple as adding in your URL.

Then select the locations you do business in and want traffic from.

Then add in the keywords you currently rank for or want to go after.

And of course, set up your traffic preferences. Make sure you select “daily” rank tracking and you turn on mobile rank tracking.

And then you’ll be good to go.

Then you will be notified via email when your rankings go down (or up) as there is no way you are going to have the time to manually check every day.

Or when you log into your Ubersuggest dashboard you’ll see an updated view of your site:

And then when you drill down into your rankings you’ll see a report of what is increasing or decreasing.

Now when looking at your rankings it is normal for them to fluctuate a few spots here or there… but if you see all of your rankings all of a sudden drop, then you know you need to do something.

Did you get penalized?

In most cases, your site has not been penalized and you don’t need to worry about this.

If you didn’t do anything fishy like “buying links” you don’t really need to worry about a penalty.

If you are unsure, read through this list and ask yourself if your site is guilty of any of these SEO sins. If so, identify the problems and take steps to fix them.

Even if you haven’t done anything on that list, you could still have gotten a penalty. Google’s algorithms are updated frequently, and they’re incredibly complex.

They take hundreds of factors into account when considering ranking. One day, your site might not deserve a penalty, and the next, it might.

It’s important to understand the types of penalties: manual and algorithmic.

Source: Slideshare.net

Manual penalties are given out by Google’s webspam team when they get alerted of suspicious activity.

This could be the result of having unnatural links, or someone could have filed a spam report against you.

If you’ve received a manual penalty, you should have gotten a notification in Google Webmaster Tools. Here’s an example of a message about unnatural links:

The other type of penalty is an algorithmic penalty.

These penalties are harder to track because there’s no definitive way of knowing you received one.

To determine if you’ve gotten an algorithmic penalty, you have to understand how Google’s algorithms work.

If you find that you’re doing something an algorithm doesn’t like, there’s a good chance you’ve gotten a penalty. But you also have to think about new penalties.

If your rankings dropped randomly, check Moz’s handy directory of Google’s algorithm updates to see if there’s a new one at work.

A new algorithm could be the reason why you’re seeing lower rankings. If that happens, research the algorithm and find out what it’s penalizing.

One cool way to keep track of new penalties (and a bunch of other Google-related stuff) is to follow Gary Illyes, John Mueller, and Google Webmasters on Twitter.

Gary and John, in particular, give out a ton of awesome advice, and you can often find them talking with other Twitter users.

You can even ask them a question directly and get it answered… you may not get a response, but it is worth a shot.

Do you have link problems?

This is a big one.

Think of links as the currency of SEO. It’s essentially how you “gain” authority.

So it’s no surprise that a strong link profile is correlated with high rankings.

The flipside is that a weak link profile is correlated with low rankings.

I spend lots of time working with clients on SEO, and I’ve seen lots of sites that have numerous link problems.

Usually, the business isn’t aware.

That’s because weak links are the silent killer of SEO. That’s why you need to make sure your link profile is robust.

First, conduct a link audit of your site. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do that.

For the short version, use a backlink analysis tool like SEMrush Backlink Checker to see where your bad links are.

When you find bad links, contact those sites and nicely ask them to remove the link. If that doesn’t work, use Google’s Disavow tool as a last resort.

However, I’ve found that about 90% of the time, conducting a backlink audit will help you find bad links.

But there’s a problem here. Often, the reasons behind link problems aren’t so obvious.

If your link profile looks okay after an audit, there could still be problems. Here are a few of the issues your link profile could be facing.

Losing links

Did you know you can lose links? Both internal and external links?

It could be the cause of your ranking drop as well.

Yep, you can lose internal links even if it’s to content you already own.

Let’s talk about those first.

If you often relaunch, rebrand, or redesign your site, you may lose some links along the way.

Why does this happen?

It has to do with redirects and transitioning your site over smoothly.

Let’s talk about site transitions first. If you deleted an old blog post, then links to that post aren’t going to work. In turn, this will weaken the internal linking structure of your site and compromise your SEO.

You’ll have one less link, which is removing a part of your internal linking network.

This isn’t optimal because it means two things:

  1. You’ll have to fix the link
  2. You’ll have less content on your site to link to. That’s why I recommend not deleting content unless you absolutely have to. You can always update it.

That’s just one example of a lost link.

Another reason you could lose an internal link is a faulty redirect.

This often happens with 301 redirects. I’ve talked about 301s before, but there’s a unique issue you need to be aware of.

Because a 301 is called a permanent redirect, lots of people assume that the redirect will always work.

But it doesn’t.

Here’s precisely how a 301 redirect works:

If you just set up a new site, you can 301 from the old domain to the new one without a hitch. The issue is when you revamp your site more than once.

That’s because redirects from older versions of a site are rarely passed on to newer ones.

On top of that, if you get a new domain and an older domain expires, it could cause a significant loss in traffic because the 301s will no longer work.

It’s messy.

If you discover a bad 301 giving you problems, you need to fix that.

First, you need to find the target links your 301s are trying to go to.

If those links are dead, you’ll most likely need to remove the link.

You could also put the old content back up or create new content to keep the link on your page. This is a good idea if the page in question gets a lot of traffic.

You need to do what’s best for your visitors. If they’ll miss out on great, comprehensive content, you should make sure that content is still on your site.

You should also check for broken links. You can use a tool like deadlinkchecker.com to do this:

Ideally, you want to see no errors:

But if you do see errors, you’ll be able to see the URLs that aren’t behaving correctly:

But what about outbound links? If you find an outbound link that no longer works, just remove it and replace it by linking to another authority site.

Finally, let’s talk about backlinks you’ve gotten from other sites.

Go here and type in your URL.

link growth

If you see your link chart going up and to the right, you are fine. If it is going down, then we have to fix it. For example, using Ubersuggest you can see which sites don’t link to your anymore.

And for those sites, you can use a template like this one to get those links back:

Hi [Name of site owner],

I hope you’re doing well!

You linked to my site a while back, and I want to thank you for that. However, it looks like the link is actually gone.

The link appeared in your [piece of content/page here], but it seems that it’s not there anymore.

Here’s the page on my site you linked to: [Link URL here]

If you could put the link back up, I’d really appreciate it. I’m a big fan of your site, and it’d be my pleasure to return the favor if I can.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Most people will ignore you, but a percentage of the people you email will link back.

Polish up your site

If all else fails, you might need to spend some time improving your site.

I’m talking about design, user experience, and speed. Each of these is integral to a site that performs and ranks well.

I’ll go over each category briefly:

Design

Having a mobile-friendly design is important as there are more searches on mobile devices using Google than there are for desktop.

If you’re not considering mobile users first, you need to start doing that.

Having a mobile-optimized site isn’t as simple as making sure your site is responsive. That’s definitely important, and you should do that, but it’s not enough by itself.

Think about making all of your content mobile-friendly.

There’s one big reason you should focus on this. Google has a mobile-first index. That alone should be more than enough to persuade you to focus on mobile-first design.

You might want to read my article on mobile usability for more information on this.

User experience (UX)

This is another reason why a responsive design is so important.

Your mobile users should have a great experience that’s designed for mobile devices. Similarly, your desktop users should have a great experience that’s designed for desktops.

If your UX is bad either way, you will lose visitors.

If you take a look at the most popular sites in your niche, you’ll notice that 9 times out of 10, they’ll have great UX.

Say you’re in SaaS. Without a doubt, Salesforce is one of the biggest SaaS players in the niche.

And sure enough, their desktop and mobile UX is fantastic.

Desktop:

Mobile:

This is what you should strive for when polishing your own site.

Speed

Search engines (and people) love fast-loading pages. In fact, 47% of customers expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less.

So if your site speed is longer than 2 seconds, you could lose traffic.

Yikes.

Making your site faster is a long-term strategy. You have to monitor your site and make sure nothing’s dragging it down.

Start by adding compression.

Next, make sure your server has adequate speed. It should be no longer than 200 milliseconds.

You can test your site speed by using Ubersuggest’s “Site Audit” feature. Type in your URL and click “Search.”

From there, click “Site Audit” in the left sidebar and scroll down to “Site Speed.” Here’s what you’ll see:

There are tons of factors that can cause slow site speed, so the best way to prevent slowness is to keep your site as lightweight as possible. And Ubersuggest will break down how to do that and what to fix.

As a rule of thumb, if you have anything unnecessary on your site, remove it so your speed is the best it can be.

Don’t forget about content

Through Ubersuggest we track millions of popular sites around the world to get better data insights on algorithm changes.

We know for certain that 641 sites we track are updating old content on a daily basis.

Can you guess how many of them saw a search traffic dip of 10% or more from the last algorithm update?

Only 38! That’s 5.92%, which is extremely low.

What’s crazy, though, is that 187 sites saw an increase in their search traffic of 10% or more.

So make sure you are keeping your old content up to date. Because why would Google want to rank old, stale content, when they can rank something fresh and useful for people?

Another strategy I love to deploy is to expand my content that is already ranking well.

For example, lets say you rank for the term “digital marketing”.

You’ll want to head to Ubersuggest and type in the phrase “digital marketing”. You’ll see a report that looks like this:

From there in the left navigation bar, click on “keyword ideas”.

You should now see a report that looks like:

This will give you a list of keywords that are similar, longer tail terms that also are searched frequently.

If you rank for the main term, it is easy to also rank for the longer tail terms. So make sure you add the relevant ones to your content.

It may seem tedious, but go through 100s if not 1000s of keywords in the keyword ideas report as it will allow you to get quick traffic gains.

When adding in the new keywords into your content, don’t just stuff them in there. It has to flow naturally and make sense for your website visitor.

And if you can’t make it make sense for a particular keyword, don’t do it… put the user first. Remember you are writing for humans, not Google.

Now the strategy I broke down here may seem simple and silly, but it’s one of the big reasons on why I am getting roughly 9 million visitors a month.

Conclusion

Going down a position or two in the rankings happens to the best of us.

It’s even happened to me.

If this happens, don’t panic.

Almost every client I’ve had who’s experienced a loss of rankings got really scared when it happened.

You probably felt this way too. But you don’t need to worry.

You can easily bounce back from a ranking drop.

Don’t believe me? Give these strategies a try. These aren’t just little tips. They’re tried-and-true methods that will help you reclaim your spot on Google.

No one deserves to lose ranking when they have an amazing site that users love. What’s more, it’s easy to fix.

Don’t let the initial shock stop you from getting your ranking back.

So, when was the last time your rankings dropped?

The post Here’s What You Should Do When Your Search Rankings Drop appeared first on Neil Patel.

Starting Online

I understand this basic representation composed on a dining establishment paper napkin does not look like a lot. Not as well lengthy back, Anik established documents with an $11.4 million-dollar launch in simply 10 days. DON’T MISS THIS! I understand this easy representation composed on a dining establishment paper napkin does not look like a …

Hi, I’m Neil Patel, Co-founder of NPDigital. Ask Me Anything!

Today, I thought I would do something a bit different, as 66.9% of my website traffic is brand new.

For those of you who don’t know, my name is Neil Patel and I’m
the co-founder of a digital marketing agency called, NPDigital, where we help companies of all
sizes get more traffic and sales.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for roughly 18 years now and most
of the companies I co-founded have been in the software arena, specifically the
web analytics sector.

And now, I’m back at it with Ubersuggest, my latest software
company.

In addition to that, I’ve angel invested in dozens of companies. Some have done well, and others haven’t.

Overall, I’ve been blessed with a few successes that have
made up for my failures plus more.

So today is your day to ask me any questions you have, and I will do my best to answer it. You can ask me about entrepreneurship, marketing, or anything else. I’ve dealt with class-action lawsuits, an FTC investigation (which I passed), and I’ve lost out on acquisitions from Fortune 1000 companies because of stupidity on my part.

All I ask of you is. Please keep your question as short as possible. One to two sentences max as I will get hundreds of comments (potentially even 1,000 or more).

So, what can I answer for you?

*** You may have to scroll a bit down to see the comment section***

The post Hi, I’m Neil Patel, Co-founder of NPDigital. Ask Me Anything! appeared first on Neil Patel.

Financial institution Lending Has Been Faced With a New Wave of Competition

Financial institution Lending Has Been Faced With a New Wave of Competition

Financial institution loaning has actually been encountered with a brand-new wave of competitors in the last years as a rise of on the internet loaning business as well as their brand-new advantages have actually caught the focus of lots of potential monetary customers. Financial institutions, on the various other hand, have a tendency to be the most official and also commonly additionally the most strict as much as financial institution financing treatments go.

Financial institutions are additionally the most typical kind of borrowing. The moms and dads of today’s generation commonly did not have lots of options various other than a financial institution. Financial institutions usually supply some of the cheapest passion prices readily available.

There are several disadvantages to financial institution borrowing likewise, specifically for the modern-day customer. Where time is one of the most beneficial assets for today’s service or person, financial institutions have the lengthiest financing treatments. In addition, due to the quantity of financial institution borrowing finance demands they get contrasted to reasonably couple of affiliates, long waiting times are experienced by possible clients.

Big companies and also the federal government itself is dependent on different business financing and also financial investment programs. On an individual basis, the ordinary American can appreciate his or her high criterion of living since of such borrowing chances as home mortgages, automobile funding, as well as pupil finances.

Virtually every brand-new organisation obtain some kind of business loaning or financing program to begin up their brand-new vision. As well as also day to day objectives today depend on loaning prolonged by credit history card firms.

With such a high need for different financing items, it is no surprise that the borrowing market as a service itself has actually expanded my bounds and also jumps. It has actually been compelled to adjust to the substantial range of demands required by its customers. With its clients varying from industrial titans to those with terrific credit scores to those with insolvencies as well as various other credit rating issues, everybody presents a real requirement for different financing items.

The financing sector is no much longer constrained to simply financial institutions as well as credit report unions. The web has actually included a substantial base of monetary firms that provide versatile as well as brand-new loaning items to its target market.

Today, internet lending institutions use a brand-new home window of chance for tiny organisations as well as people that require a rapid beginning up financing authorization procedure. Such lending institutions supply the straightest line to unprotected service lending financing, at fantastic prices.

Financial institution loaning has actually been encountered with a brand-new wave of competitors in the last years as a rise of on the internet borrowing business and also their brand-new advantages have actually caught the focus of several possible monetary customers. Financial institutions, on the various other hand, have a tendency to be the most official as well as commonly likewise the most rigorous as much as financial institution loaning treatments go.

Where time is one of the most useful products for today’s organisation or person, financial institutions have the lengthiest loaning treatments. In addition, due to the quantity of financial institution financing car loan demands they get contrasted to reasonably couple of partners, long waiting times are experienced by prospective clients. With such a high need for different financing items, it is no marvel that the financing market as a company itself has actually expanded my bounds as well as jumps.

The post Financial institution Lending Has Been Faced With a New Wave of Competition appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.