Category: Insights

Insights

What are the benefits of having spy gadgets?

on March 27, 2019

When we talk about spy gadgets, the very first concept that comes to our mind is about spying on the spouses. But it is not necessary to be so! There is something more than straying spouses. A hidden microphone, camera or alarms for home can help you to complain against someone who is involved in the act of infidelity. The compact spy gadgets are now used for numerous purposes. Below, you can get to read many ways that you can use your spy gadgets for your benefit:

Spy devices can help you to keep an eye on the caregivers

If you want to know whether the nanny is doing her work or want to find out how much time she spends with your kids and parents, fitting a spy camera is the best option. You can understand how much time she spends in surfing her Facebook. It’s quite possible that you become so surprised that you have to put up an advertisement for a new nanny. So, isn’t it better to know how she is working?

Save your home from intruders.

If you are someone who has to spend a lot of time outside, then you are a very good target for the next burglary in your locality. Usually, a robbery plan is chalked out before the final action; the goons spend a lot of time noticing the movements of the target. They spend time in casing properties to note down the exact time when the home remains empty. With a spy gadget, you can keep a continuous watch when you are not around. With the help of the video surveillance service, you can immediately call the police if you happen to come across any suspicious activities going on in your house behind you. Moreover, you will also have the video for evidence.

Keep an eye on your parents.

A spy camera can become an invaluable asset if you have elderly parents at home. Due to several reasons, it is often not possible to stay along with your parents under the same roof. But you can keep your aging parents safe even when you are not living together by fitting a spy camera with their permission. In case, if anything goes wrong, you can immediately call the police for help before it gets too late.

Keep a watch on the unfaithful employees in the organization.

It is quite difficult to keep a watch on the employees when you are not around in the organization. Rather than relying on someone to give you proper information about what is going on in the office behind you, it’s always better to be self-sufficient. You can just fit the spy audio cameras at the hidden places in the office, and it will record every activity going on behind your back. So, isn’t it a better idea? This can also help you to understand which employees are not faithful and need immediate firing. Having a spy camera means using your third eye to know everything going on behind you.

Midnight watches

Certainly, you cannot stay awake for the whole night to keep a watch on your beautiful garden. And, hiring someone for this can be too expensive. So, it’s better if you manage to fit a spy camera in the garden today. It will help you to record the critters visiting you it garden every day for wreaking havoc. Gardeners and farmers sometimes have to face problems from intruders. To stop this for once and all, you can order a spy cam today.

Planning to but a spy gadget?

If you are planning to purchase a spy device, it is suggested that you first conduct thorough research work. There are different products available in the market, and each of them claims to provide outstanding services. Today, these gadgets have become more affordable than it was ever before, making them virtual management tools.

The compact audio and video devices are just the best options. Order spy camera as well as other spy gadgets online. Multiple websites are offering this kind of gadgets, but make sure that you select a reliable platform for shopping.

Why should you get spy devices online?

Although spy gadgets are available offline, still it is always a better idea to buy it online. It ensures secrecy. Certainly, you cannot let everyone know about fitting a spy camera. Else, it will make the intruders and criminal minds aware. So, you can order secretly and get it installed yourself using the detailed manual. If not possible, you can even hire an electrician from the online apps to complete the task. This can keep the entire scenario secret.

Now, getting high discounts is also another benefit that you cannot miss to afford. Offline stores usually do not offer such discounts on MRP. Bulk orders can entitle you to get extra discounts and offers. The convenience of getting at your doorstep is something worth to shop online, especially if you are a working person with a hectic schedule.

The options do not get limited when shopping from the virtual stores. The security surveillance equipment and spy gadgets are now available in multiple ranges. You can get the one you need without any hassle. Plenty of online stores are available, which provides you with freedom of choice. Return option available, which means you can immediately return the products if they are not suitable or meet your purposes.

Points to consider when purchasing a security device?

  • Make sure that you choose a branded product
  • Check out the warranty period
  • Please order only if the salsa providing return option
  • Compare the prices before ordering
  • Find out the reliability of the site you are planning to shop from

If you are interested to know more about spy gadgets, you can stay in touch with us. We can provide you with the details of the best spy devices launching every other day in the market. For more information and latest notifications, you can subscribe to our channel now! SpyCentre can provide you with the best spy devices at affordable prices.

InsightsMartech

Why Influencer Marketing Is an Important Factor in Marketing

on March 26, 2019

Influencer marketing is a vital part of any good brand’s strategy. It is a type of marketing which majorly focuses on using the key leaders of the market to drive the message of a brand and to cater to a larger proportion of the demand. It goes hand-in-hand with two other influential forces of marketing – social media marketing and content marketing.

No matter what type of business you own logo design or digital marketing or a fashion clothing line, if people don’t know it, it doesn’t exist. That’s where influencer marketing helps you out.

Unlike traditional advertising, influencer marketing requires less investment and yields more return. Several organizations create campaigns explicitly catering to the influencer community that can help spread the word out. One thing to keep in mind is that social media and content marketing often fit influencer campaigns, but are not synonymous with influencer marketing.

So who is an influencer?

We have been talking about influencer but who exactly is an influencer? Unlike the common industry notion, an influencer isn’t just someone with a high number of followers, but someone with the power to influence his/her audience enough to make someone perform an activity like purchasing a product, using a service or registering for an event.

Top three factors to consider while identifying influencers for your brand are – Influencers:

  • Reach
  • Credibility, and
  • Salesmanship

Reach is an influencer’s capability to provide or deliver a particular message to a large audience base. However, reach should not be the only considering factor. This is because of his/her credibility and salesmanship to that large reach will only be able to offer you the required ROI (return on investment). What is the point of investing in a person with more than 20,000 followers if they cannot generate any engagement or conversion, isn’t it?

How does Influencer marketing work?

The influencer gets sponsored or paid by the brand to post various types of content on their social media forum. Paid sponsorship works to its own advantages and guidelines. More substantial influencers and companies work exclusively.

Understanding what is fit for the brand

Before concluding and changing your marketing strategy, it is beneficial to understand if the influencer marketing scheme is even suitable for the brand. It is essential to know if the influencer is going to help in serving and helping you reach the product to larger masses? Does your product or brand has or requires a social media presence? If yes, what kind of presence and under what category? Does the chosen influencer fit your product and your target market? Take a decision based on the answers to these questions. Go ahead with influencer market if and only if you have some feasible solutions.

Why is Influencer marketing important after all?

There are many reasons why one should get influencers on-board. To make your campaign’s functioning smoother, allocate a specific budget for it in your marketing strategy.

Given below are certain pointers as to why one needs to hire influencers, from an influencer’s point of view:

  • Consumers trust influencers: Social media activities are all around us, and hence the brand, if not marketed well online, will lose its value and charm eventually. Your brand is all about what its consumers think of it, and that’s what an influencer will do for you. They will use their audience’s trust in them for your brand.
  • The shift from celebrities to people with opinions: Obviously, celebrities are much loved and play a pivotal role as always, but this era is more about people who have an opinion, and are leaders and influencers. The consumers look up to these influencers for honest opinion and feedback.
  • The sudden and rapid growth of social media: social media is something everybody knows about and is on. It is not age bound either. Every age group is on social media, and it is the easiest way to reach out to the mass. The influencers write a blog or make a post on their Instagram and the number of people on Instagram today; it is relatively easy to market via social media platforms. for example, you own a logo design company and want to spread the word about it.

You will reach influencers and ask them to spread the word that would encourage clients to create a logo or use a tool to design a logo.

The bottom line

To sum up the entire scenario, Influencer marketing is one of the most essential and pivotal steps in making and sustaining a brand in today’s time. It is not for every brand though. Influencer marketing can be done only on a particular kind of products, and there have to be influencers who target the market with the product you wish to cater. If one does not evolve with the evolving world, then the brand will lose its power and charm. The consumers today trust all the recommendations from influencers.

They are the people who are selling the products today. It is no longer about what the biggest celebrity has to say about the product; it is about people like you and me, what do we think about the product which matters to the audience. So don’t ignore influencer marketing when you sit down to build your brand’s strategy.

About the author

Alice Jackson is a Blogger, Digital Marketing Consultant and a brain behind AI-powered logo maker tool at a  crowdsourcing company, Designhill. She is a social media enthusiast, online market analyst, amateur designer, and an avid author. She has written on several topics including social media marketing, content marketing, personal logo design trends, startup strategies, and e-commerce. When not writing, she loves spending her time reading romantic novels.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

SEO: How Reputation Has Become an Important Ranking Factor

on March 26, 2019

The guidelines of Google Quality Rating seem to be increasingly relevant after the latest updates and if you want to be top in search engines you can no longer ignore the reputation acquired and that you will succeed in acquiring online.

Chris Smith, president of Argent Media, had predicted everything you will read in this article back in 2007 when he said that Google could use the quality scoring for organic rankings, proposing a whole series of changes to be made to the websites, mainly focused on quality factor.

According to Google, over the years Google would have applied a Quality Score, identifying factors such as a page “about us” that is precise and detailed, a contact page that introduces trust, good usability and user experience, clear use of copyright and a good spelling and grammar, just some of the fundamental factors that we then saw to have been the path taken by Google for the evolution of the algorithm.

The most recent edition of Google’s “Quality Evaluators Guideline”, also called “Quality Rating Guideline” (“QRG”) is almost a script of its previous recommendations regarding quality factors.

Google’s “Quality Rating Guidelines” are increasingly relevant after the latest updates

Discordant voices also from official Google sources seem to bounce on the importance or not of the reputation, going from the same  Danny Sullivan  who confirmed that the evaluations of the  human evaluators are not used in the automatic learning of the algorithms, while  Marie Haynes explained how it considers that the elements mentioned in the guidelines for quality assessment may be factors that influence the ranking, such as a company’s BBB ranking and the reputation of the authors.

At the same time, Googlers have increasingly advised webmasters to “focus only on quality”, and even recommend webmasters to read QRGs to offer the best possible content, just as Sullivan himself did when he officially commented on the updates of the basic algorithm of last October.

But then how does Google determine the quality in an algorithmic way starting from the concepts of competence, authority, reliability, and reputation that seem very subjective?

The Google algorithms have to translate these concepts into measurable criteria that can be measured and compared between sites/pages competing.

Chris Smith believes that some of Google’s previous algorithmic developments probably point towards this process, interpreting a certain degree of disconnection between what people asked and how the various Googlers responded and how people themselves interpreted these answers.

If Google instructs its human raters to evaluate the EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trust) of a site but does not incorporate the resulting evaluations, what is the algorithm that uses the algorithm?

Simply stating that the algorithm uses a collection of things like a BBB assessment, user reviews or link trust analysis, even if that answer seems too limited. Also, to say that Google provides a quality assessment based solely on link trust analysis and query analysis seems too limited.

That’s why by deduction we could say that Google is obviously taking into account some factors that go beyond a more advanced analysis of links/queries, even if this still remains a fundamental part of the mix.

The website quality patent from Google

One of the many Google patents we talked about months ago is based on machine learning. Noted by Bill Slawski it is the ” Website Quality Signal Generation “. In synopsis, it said how human beings could be used to assess the quality of websites, and therefore the analysis algorithm could associate those evaluations with website signals, probably automatically identifying the relationships between quantified signals and values of human evaluation, generating models with characteristic signals. These signal patterns could then be used to compare signals with other websites not evaluated to apply quality scores to them.

The wording is rather fascinating: “Raters connect to the Internet websites and rate of quality of the websites. The raters can submit quality ratings to server analysis through the rating input device. The quality analysis server receives website quality ratings the website quality ratings are associated with a uniform resource locator and other website signals corresponding to the rated website. The quality analysis server identifies relationships between website quality ratings and website signals and creates a model representing relationships, as described below.

As you will have noticed some of the same things mentioned above are mentioned in the QRG. But this is not the reason why the patent is so convincing, but because it provides a very logical framework in which to develop methods to evaluate the quality of websites and web pages, and to generate a Quality Score that can be used in the determinations of ranking. The methods in question indicate that relatively small sets of test pages could be used to create models that could work well on all other similar or similar pages.

Imagine that you have identified a type of page for which you want to create a quality score, such as an informative article on a health topic. Google could take the signals we mentioned earlier including the amount of content, page layout, number of ads and ad placement on the page, site reviews, reviews and links to content created on other sites, the links off the page (perhaps indicating the identity of the content creator and / or citing reference information sources), site and page links (PageRank), clickthrough rates the page from its first keyword searches, the correspondence of the title visible at the top of the page with the content of the page and the title of the research fragment and the meta description as well as the factors that indicate that the site is up-and-up.

By testing numbers of similar page types, Google may have developed a model of combining quality signals and developed a score value associated with it.

In essence, when a page of an article on a health topic has a certain range of criteria such as PageRank, plus a certain layout of the content, plus a certain PageRank, plus CTR, more user reviews, plus lots of other factors then Google could apply the calculated Quality Score on the page without any human being reviewing it manually.

Interpreting the diagram published above with a broader interpretation, we could hypothesize that thanks to automatic learning the system could identify more complex relationships (like assigning a certain quality score if the PageRank is N to NN, CTR is X to XX, coupled with a specific type of page layout) and not, for example, saying that an article on a health topic evaluated with a certain level of quality assessment should have a minimum PageRank of X, a minimum number of links, etc. .

In fact, it is the same patent that describes this possibility, right when he says that “in some implementations, the model can be derived from the web site signals and from the web site quality assessment using a submachine learning that implements a support vector regression “.

In essence, this produces an automatic learning classifier. The model can, therefore, be used to identify all the pages of a common class, calculate a quality score and then apply the same or similar evaluation to other pages of the same class and/or category.

Many other SEO analysts have long been saying that Google is incorporating machine learning into content rankings (see Eric Enge and Mark Traphagan), and not just in interpreting the queries that Google has publicly revealed.

This really explains some of the inconsistencies we have seen in Google’s search results for months. The neural networks seem to produce very holistic scores, so aim for any signal or even a handful of signals that most influence the outcome in a given case would probably not really possible.

The various possible signals that probably incorporate the Quality Score also have a certain complexity

  • PageRank – and/or some evolved signal that can also involve the quality/trust of links;
  • User Reviews Sentiment – Google’s QRG suggests that there would be a certain threshold of reviews, so if a business/website had relatively few total reviews, they could most likely be rated as unrepresentative. So, if Google is incorporating reputation, how else could they adjust the ranking if they don’t do some kind of sentiment analysis? Of all the rather nebulous quality assessments, the feeling is relatively simple to analyze and use.
  • Mention Sentiment – Do people mention a product in social media and e-mail? The “buzz” of social media is a measure of popularity and even feeling can be a measure of quality.
  • Click-Through-Rate (CTR) – (and relative bounce rate) there was a lot of debate about this potential factor over time, but like the Quality Score itself, if used by the Quality Score of the ads, why not also for organic rankings?
  • On the other hand, if it is only a part of a website’s Quality Score, then CTR is not a direct ranking factor and this could explain the discrepancies in the search results.
  • Percentage of Ad Placements – How much of the total space on the page consists of ads? Google may have calculated a minimum / maximum threshold. Also, how many ads are on a page and how much do they split the main content of the page? Are there gaps or overlaps that cannot be closed? Do the ads follow while scrolling the page?
  • Missing sites Identification information- Sites should ideally have “About” and “Contact Us” pages. About the sections, they should explain who the company is and, even better, list the most important staff members along with the photos. The “contacts” page should ideally have as much contact information as possible, including addresses, phone numbers, and contact submission forms. It probably helps if the staff pages are linked to employee social media and LinkedIn profiles and vice versa. There is nothing worse than visiting a site and not being able to see who’s behind it!
  • Critical E-Commerce and Financial Site Factor- The HTTPS protocol is a fact – but it is also true that Google goes beyond the simple checking-off if you have HTTPS but since not all configurations and encryption are the same as E-Commerce and financial information sites must also have clear Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy and customer service contact information. In addition, they must include the Help sections and the Goods Return Policies. Even if Google does not use the trust badge as a quality factor, it is still important to have it to reassure consumers online and can increase sales by increasing trust.
  • Site speed – this is almost taken for granted, but it has always been a factor in the PPC Quality Score, and it is still a type of quality measurement in organic research.

How the PageRank Score calculation method could be used

Another interesting aspect of how the Quality Score could work is that the Quality Score of a page could also incorporate the Quality Score of the other pages that link to it or to its domain.

The Quality Score could partly be calculated by iterating over the entire graph of the link a number of times in the calculation of the scores, using a method similar to the original algorithm of PageRank. This would produce a more weighted scale of the Quality Score values, helping to ensure that the highest quality content is truly at the top, completely burying the lowest quality content to the point where research is virtually never encountered in typical interactions of research.

Comments on some sites affected by Medic Update

Barry Schwartz published a handful of sites affected by the Medic Update, and observing them it was noted that most of the above criteria were missing as the potential quality factors and that the QRG specifically mentions:

  • com – He had no page. Infinite scroll. The “Contact Us” page was on a different domain. A reputation of article writers not necessarily experts in medical subjects. Very large ads and lateral grotesque and distracting badges.
  • org – Redirect, cartoon images on the staff page, no text, no phone/address. The contact form appears only after a human click of validation.
  • com – Customer service contact telephone number that is difficult to locate and that can be connected to a subdomain.
  • com – Information on the page redirects to the homepage! No phone/address /personal address. There was also a strange graphics code of the logo.

Mixed messages with respect to ranking signals

Some of the potential signals we have mentioned have been quite controversial but they could rightly explain why there is a major divergence on what some SEO professionals believe are classification factors and what the Googlers argue.

Chris Smith also believes that the Googlers sometimes played a semantic game. The presence of one or more controversial factors (CTR, sentiment analysis, etc.) is not direct ranking factors because these factors may or may not turn into a complex assessment that results in a Quality Score. And he continues his thoughts by saying that, for example, “if my conjectures on the Quality Score are close to how it works, then two different pages on the same topic could be very similar and both have a high CTR, but the Quality Score of one or two could be significantly higher due to a combination of other factors. In other cases, still, a higher CTR could move a page upwards to be classified at a higher quality level “.

A model of a good quality page sounds like a ” search recipe “, as Danny Sullivan himself defined it. There are therefore different combinations and weightings of the factors used to determine the quality scores of the different types of pages.

And that’s why, taking up the holistic concept mentioned in the article, Chris Smith defines Quality Score as a gesture. This is why Googlers have recommended unclear changes for sites affected by the latest updates, such as “working to improve overall quality” and “focusing on making the best possible content”. Apart from technical SEO problems, it is rarely possible to change one or two things throughout the site to improve low-quality scores. As Glenn Gabe observed on the sites affected by these changes, “site owners should not look for a single smoking gun, as there is almost never one.”

How to improve the quality score of your site

How can knowing that Quality Score is a complex Gestalt can help improve the ranking?

The good news is that most of the SEO guidelines are still very current. A good SEO approach must always reside in the technical SEO construction, keeping error pages and pages without content to a minimum. Eliminate pages of thin and superfluous content. Avoid prohibited link building practices.

SEO itself is a holistic practice, and as such it constantly needs to be done all the things that are appropriate and reasonably feasible to optimize any website. That’s why it’s important to use great online SEO tools for your website optimization.

Certainly, all the elements that reassure consumers are of vital importance: information on the pages, on the contact pages, on the pages of the Privacy Policy and on the Terms and Conditions, contact options of the customer service, as well as, if necessary, updating the contents.

Nothing should be left to chance, displaying the site as if you were a user, trying to completely satisfy the needs of real users, responding to negative reviews and trying to get online reviews from satisfied users/customers.

Finally, it is necessary to practice proactive reputation management working to positively involve the community, both online and offline, in a coherent way over time. Engage with social media and develop your presence through these channels. Provide free good advice as online experts to build your reputation. Become a member of professional groups in your sector and community groups. Respond in a professional way and don’t fall into online provocations.

So here we are at the end, remembering that all these practices will generate the signals for a good quality score over time and the benefits will soon arrive.

Author Bio

Wanda Mooree run’s professional SEO authority services firm in Texas. Also spends a lot of his free time educating the minds of thousands of young Texas SEO and top agencies. She is a featured author at various authoritative blogs in the health and fitness industry and currently associated as a blogger with Justseotech.com

Insights

Who Are the Micro-Influencers and Why They Could Be Useful for Your Business?

on March 26, 2019

The micro-influencer has contacts that could make a difference in your business web marketing. The reason for this statement is simple and is linked to the importance of the niche when you begin to think about inbound marketing. You need to be found by the right people, by those who need you.

This must take place at a certain time, without interruption. This balance is based on the ability to create interesting content for a group of people and to distribute it in the best possible way. Sometimes these dynamics develop through the company blog, but this is not always the solution.

Inbound marketing exploits a broad vision that leverages different tools. One of these is the influencer marketing that exploits the reputation of a character to highlight a brand or an offer.

Or even a certain content. In reality, it is not really so, it is not only worked on the notoriety of the character but on its credibility in a circle of an individual that recognize that name as reliable. And micro-influencers make the most of it. How? Let’s find out in the next paragraphs.

Who are the micro-influencers: definition?

The term micro-influencer means any person, like you and me, who have an important following in specific niches. These are not contacting with exorbitant numbers, there are not enough followers to make their eyes widen. Here we work on a different plan that combines engagement and trust.

The micro-influencer is a character that uses social channels, such as YouTube or Instagram, to communicate their passions. Sometimes his actions are unclear and he doesn’t even know he is a noteworthy character for a marketing strategy. But his very impartiality and lack of ulterior motives lead him to be well seen by his circle. So, it can be used as a tool to reach certain audiences. Does this always apply? Not really, let’s explore the topic.

How to recognize a micro-influencer?

It is difficult to give clear and valid references for each sector, but there are recognizable features. First of all, there is great attention to the community, to the interaction with the public. There are those who ask questions, those who leave opinions and those who perhaps make criticisms. The micro-influencer, as far as possible, always responds. And it feeds an audience that becomes loyal, maybe not very varied but constant. It is the totem of a tribe that will not betray.

Absolute numbers are not high, sometimes you risk losing sight of these names because you don’t immediately recognize them. But there is great attention to the verticalization of the audience and this makes the world of micro-influencers very interesting. Especially if you are thinking about a weighted strategy, based on concrete objectives, and not drunk by the sirens of high-flying numbers. Do you think it’s enough to choose the profiles with the highest numbers to organize a homogeneous influencer marketing campaign? You’re wrong, it doesn’t work that way.

Why choose micro-influencers?

What are the characteristics of these contacts? I have already anticipated them in part, but it is right to give specific references to describe the micro-influencer. So, what is it? In the first place, it is a person who communicates his passion, and he does it with competence and taste. Contacts follow the micro-influencer for his field skills, demonstrated and described through blogs and social media. This is not a reputation descended from above (such as happens with the TV star who lands on social media) but earned day after day.

But why choose micro-influencers for their online business? The answer is found in this graphic which summarizes in three points the real advantages of a strategy based on this solution. Here they are collected in three essential points for your work based on the choice between micro and macro-influencers:

  • Upper engagement.
  • Affordability
  • More conversations

The involvement rates of these campaigns are 60% higher than the norm, 6.7 times more efficient and convenient than the influencers who have wider audiences. Without forgetting that micro-influencers bring more conversations (in weekly terms) than the average user. And here is the scenario that you should choose this reality instead of another. Keep reading.

Micro-influencer marketing strategies

When should you focus on micro-influencers in your marketing strategy? There are no fixed rules, you cannot talk about this topic a priori: you have to decide on the field, data in hand and without delay.

The advantages of micro-influencers according to The Start-up

But there are steps that can be listed and that, in principle, give an idea of how you should articulate your business. Then, the strategic advantages of micro-influencers are different, already defined and linked to clear dynamics. All this can be observed in this list that takes its cue from the image:

  • Trust: people trust more than ordinary people, less than the big overpaid and distant influencers.
  • Relevance: you can find contacts well aligned to your niche, vertical on a topic dear to you.
  • Loyalty: a micro-influencer embraces the cause you propose, binds to the brand and values it.
  • Recommend: work in person to recommend a good or service beyond the agreements made.
  • Influence: the most important aspect, these people manage to influence who you want to reach.
  • Large volumes: in relation, the micro has better results than the macro and mega-influencers.

So, it seems right to reflect on these points. It is not enough to choose the most followed character and hope that someone bites you. it can happen but it is a strategy to follow in certain cases. If you want to work on a specific good or service, and you want to create a stable bond with the base, the path of micro-influencers can be the right one. Besides being a less demanding condition from an economic point of view.

Have you already worked in this direction?

In this article, I want to identify the essential points that give me the opportunity to answer the basic questions: who are (or what they are) the micro-influencers and what relationship they have with a broader digital marketing strategy. But do they agree? It depends on what you have to do: to shoot in the pile it may be enough to have the support of an influencer with a wide and varied audience, but if you want to work continuously on a trusting relationship the micro reality is ideal.

Because the advantages are clear: for the same investment you can reach the right people with a useful message and with the possibility of building a virtuous relationship over time. After all, isn’t this the goal of inbound marketing? I await your opinion in the comments: we reason together about the possibility of applying a micro-influencer activity in your daily strategy.

Author Bio

Wanda Mooree run’s professional SEO authority services firm in Texas. Also spends a lot of his free time educating the minds of thousands of young Texas SEO and top agencies. She is a featured author at various authoritative blogs in the health and fitness industry and currently associated as a blogger with Justseotech.com

Insights

Handling Distractions Effectively at Workplace

on March 26, 2019

Keeping up a good performance at work is a constant struggle. You might give in your best, but there will always be other external reasons challenging you at your workplace.

According to Hubspot’s Ebook, How to Manage Workplace Distractions, “Workplace interruptions cost U.S. businesses an average of $650 billion dollars a year.”

This seems to be unbelievable. Like how can an innocent water cooler conversation possibly mean the loss for the business? That’s preposterous!

Well, we thought so too. Until we decided to get to the bottom of this and find how what exactly was happening here. Get ready for having your myths busted and your ignorance lifted.

Discussed below are three sources of distractions that have been identified by Hubspot to be eating up a good chunk of time of the employees at the workplace.

Email and Instant Message Alerts – Smartphones

Yes, Technology has made our lives easier. It has brought us virtually closer to each other, and it made communications – long distance, international, or even with people sitting right in front of us – extremely quick. So much so that what often happens is that we tend to make our virtual messages a priority over our real-time commitments.

Let’s look at some statistics for this. Again, going by the Hubspot numbers 71% of people are known to answer an IM notification within 2 seconds of receiving it. And as Emails are concerned, be prepared to be shocked, more than 41% of people agree that they have a habit to respond to emails that are just 15 seconds old.

Well, we will leave you to be the judge of how many of these emails or instant messages that employees are responding to with such enthusiasm at their workplace are actually work-related and how many of them aren’t.

Replying promptly, which though is responsible behavior as ethics dictate, it is also the road that leads to the Forgetville. Point being that once you respond to an email, assuming that the person on the receiving end is also an employee in his/her workplace like yourself, a constant to and fro of messages, will initiate conversations that actually don’t end until either one of you is busted by a colleague or worse, the manager.

While not all of you might be into chatting away the working hours, responding to personal texts during working hours is a sure distraction that you need to fight to maintain a high level of productivity.

Now that we know what the problem is, let’s talk about what can be done about it. Listed below are some pointers that we have put together to help you fight the temptation to reply promptly to messages that are clearly not urgent.

Limit the number of devices or applications that you are receiving messages on.

If you are receiving a text message on your phone, and then you are receiving a notification on your laptop regarding the message you have received on your phone, well you know what to do with it. Most applications allow you to select how you would like to receive your notifications. Manage those settings in a way that during your working hours you are not shown irrelevant messages.

If it doesn’t pop up on your screen, it cannot tempt you to respond.

Yes, we know what you are thinking. But what if it doesn’t show me a mail or a text that is urgent or requires my attention right not and I miss out on it? Well, the system is smart. It can, for instance, sort and prioritize standard email deliveries.

Or if you are not comfortable with blocking out notifications for long stretches of time, what you can do is, fix a time, like you will check and respond to your emails every hour. But not in between. This will reduce the time you spend clearing out your unread messages and will make you more productive at work.

Loud Colleagues

We understand how difficult it is to keep working your entire shift without talking in between. It might be you asking a colleague for some advice regarding a report you are making or two colleagues in the cube discussing how they are going to present theirs. Or it might be a friendly colleague stopping by to ask how your weekend was, or other colleagues discussing the news or the last night’s sports match or the weather. Whatever it is, it is viable. All of us need these little idle chit chats to blow off some steam and get back to work doubly energized.

But the problem with such idle chit chat is that it might not be well timed. Imagine you have been struggling with your presentation for an hour. And just when you have a breakthrough, there comes a colleague wanting to talk about how they couldn’t catch last night’s Game of Thrones episode and how they are afraid of getting spoilers from one place or the other. And by the time they have finished talking about how Jamie’s character has really come around, you no longer remember the ecstatic idea you had regarding your presentation.

Fun fact – 63% of employees feel that noisy colleagues are the biggest distraction at the workplace.

So, what do you do now?

While you might want to share with your colleague what you really think about this conversation that you are having, we strongly suggest you don’t. Honesty might not be the best policy in this case.

Try politely giving them hints that they are overstaying their welcome. Let them know that you have work that needs to be done immediately. Most importantly, be polite. Working is an exhausting task for most of us, and some casual conversation really makes it easier. Don’t take it away from them. Try telling them that you will find them later as soon as you finish the task at hand. If you have a cabin, try keeping your door shut when you are power working. But don’t make it look like your colleagues can’t approach you if they have a question regarding work.

Extreme Multitasking

We cannot emphasize enough the fact that not only will Multitasking not have the effect you want it to have on your to-do lists, but it is also actually going to take more time, not finish enough tasks on time as well as exhaust you. Even though the prospect of working on multiple projects simultaneously might sound appealing to you, it is not worth it if it means compromising the quality of the tasks you perform or taking a toll on your mental or physical health.

According to research by a team of Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, there is only 10 percent of the population that can be classified as ‘decent multitaskers’. So, until you are sure you are one of the chosen ones, we would recommend you to take on one task at a time and move on to the next one, only after completing the first task.

Now let’s move on to the part where we talk about how to deal with the distraction of multitasking.

The one thing that you need to do right away is – Create a better routine. There are a number of online and offline tools available that can help you keep a track of all the tasks that need to be done, as well as how you can manage them efficiently, so that you can accomplish all those tasks on time, without fail and of course without compromising on the quality of your work.

When you are working on the routine, make sure you create it in a way that allows you to put in all your efforts into one task at a time. This will not just help you improve your concentration power, but will also mean that you can finish this one task quickly and then move on to the next. Instead of being stuck in a web of entangled threads, you can actually take up one thread at a time and follow it to its source before starting on with the next. In short, be organized and focused.

How can Management handle Workplace distractions?

In the report, Managing Distracted Employees, Marty Martin suggests two ways in which the Management can ensure that the team is being productive without being carried away by the tide of distractions that a workplace tempts with.

  • Redesign the workplace from the distractibility point of view.

It might so happen that the best of employees find it hard to focus on their work and it is not even their fault. The chairs might be too squeaky, the lights too harsh or the fan too loud. Make sure that your workplace is free from any visual or auditory distractions. To do this, you will need to design the workplace and the job in a way that is conducive to work. A work environment that hinders performance is of no use to anybody.

  • Create a distraction elimination plan.

This is pretty much like when in school your teacher used to give you a time out and tell you to go sit in the corner and think about what you have done. Well, a manager’s distraction elimination plan should be quite similar to that. For instance, they could move the desks of hard-working employees away from those who are distracted easily. To give an example, if you make an employee who is too easily distracted sit and work somewhere close to you, they might be less distracted. Micromanagement can be the answer to some problems here, but make sure that the employees do not feel like they are being given detention or something. Sit with them, and discuss your concerns with them before deciding on a Distraction Elimination plan for them.

DevelopmentInsightsStartups

Have an Idea? Things You Can Do to Start an Online Business

on March 26, 2019

Going global has taken a whole new meaning in the commercial world. It is no more a question of physical presence. All that matters is how active your business is in the digital world.

Online businesses do not have to face traditional hurdles. There are no expensive overheads, and you can protect yourself from slow scalability rates. This is why the virtual market continues to grow. An eMarketer forecast predicts that retail e-commerce sales will reach up to $4.058 trillion in 2020.

Source

Despite the increasing numbers, it is a fact that not every online business will morph into a huge success with instant exponential growth. According to many sources, over 90% of all Internet business startups fail in the first 120 days.

The question is, how does the rest 10% survive through this period? What leads them to success?

Every individual or a group entering into the realms of digital world proceed with an idea. It is the realization of an opportunity, exploration of resources and the marketing strategies that allow them to grow.

Amidst the dense crowd of digital entities, ending up as a failure is always an option. However, you can enhance the possibilities of success if you know how to commence and upgrade your venture.

Here are some things you can do to start an online business

Find the customer needs

It is possible that the product you want to launch already exists in the market. You do not have a chance to establish your name unless you offer a unique incentive to the public. The trick is to find the loopholes in existing products and then fulfill the customer needs accordingly.

You can visit online forums and analyze the problems that people face with current products of similar nature. Or, you can conduct keyword research to find the words that most people are searching for but do not get sufficient results. Next, you can visit the websites of potential customers. There you can take notes of what they are doing to fulfill the market needs and how you can do better than them.

Multiple marketing approaches

You must sort out your web assets with sophistication. Everything ranging from your website to your social media profiles and hosting accounts must be in order.

Remember, the key is to stand out among hundreds of other businesses. And for that, you do not have to publicize using all media channels. Use only those that hold the potential to maximize the benefits. For instance, you can link Facebook posts with the site blog where you educate, inform, and entertain people.

All relevant web assets should optimize the brand. The content shared on each forum must have relevant keywords. They should fall into an integrated market plan. Along with this, each media avenue should have updated and latest information about your company.

Keep customer records safe

Every business has a legal obligation to protect customer information. However, at times the owners fail to keep their customer records safe. This results in security breaches and data theft that brings bad reputation.

There are different data software and applications that you can use to keep the information safe. You should also store information on other devices and create secure backups. When you are working as an online entity, it is inevitable that customers will enter their details in your database. This asks for top-grade security.

You should update your system regularly and implement certain controls.  The access to all such info should be restricted to specific employees.

Establish a positive reputation

Running an online business is all about reputation. One mistake can tarnish your brand image causing an overall decline. The key is to monitor online reviews. You can launch a Google Alerts notification for your brand name. This will allow you to inspect every mention of your company on online portals.

You must design a set of social media guidelines. Every person who talks about your brand online should follow them. Also, start to give away free expert content. This can contain videos or articles that people will find useful. You can include a sharing option below the content so that the audience can help others with this valuable information.

Stay online 24/7

Without a stable internet connection, you can lose out the orders and miss customer queries. When the visitors face silence for a long duration, they eventually turn to other companies of similar nature.

Source

The auto industry is a great example of increasing global competition. There are portals like we buy cars that are operative day and night. They provide services like free car valuation to the visitors of every region. This helps to enhance the confidence levels of the customers.

Another element of staying online means that you should try to be active in relevant industry forums. Be present on the social networking websites where your target market usually discusses their queries and reviews.

Be persistent

The chance of any business to become successful overnight is very low. There will be moments when you lack motivation. And constant failure might kill your passion.

Even though it is not easy but if you change your game, you can get hold of a fair market share. So stay persistent and focus on your goals. Modifying strategies is a part of the game, and you should be ready to do that when circumstances ask for them.

Running an online business comes with its attached risks. It is not easy to establish your name in the market and secure a reputation. Growth in this realm asks for struggle, sacrifice, and constant upgrading. Basics like marketing, customer relations, and unique propositions are the tools that serve the purpose.

Play the right cards in each area and watch your business grow leaps and bounds!

InsightsProducts

A/B Testing: Why Is it Not Working for You?

on March 24, 2019

Most companies nowadays rely on A/B testing in order to achieve growth. But what is A/B testing, really?

According to Wikipedia, “A/B testing is a way to compare two versions of a single variable, typically by testing a subject’s response to variant A against variant B, and determining which of the two variants is more effective”.

So, when it comes to growth, A/B testing is the most reliable way to determine exactly what will work for a business, using correct data.

Of course, A/B testing-much like any validation tool-needs to be used correctly, otherwise it won’t really work. So, if you’ve tried using it and you’ve reached an impasse, then perhaps you did something wrong.

You tried to test too many items in one go

Let’s assume that you wanted to optimize a landing page. You went ahead and changed your copy, your CTAs, the pictures on the page, all that just to save some precious time. Well, that was not a very good move.

Seeing as the objective of A/B testing is to make decisions based on data in order to achieve growth, you have set yourself up, as you cannot determine which change is responsible for the results you got.

That’s why more and more SaaS tools like Elementor’s WordPress theme builder, Unbounce Landing Page Builder, as well as email marketing software platforms like Moosend and Mailchimp integrate A/B testing within their products.

Your sample was too small

It doesn’t take an expert to understand that, while 95% is a strong percentage, the bigger the sample, the more valid the results.

There is a huge difference between 90% of ten people and 90% of 1000 people, even if we’re still talking about a percentage of 90%.

If your website doesn’t gather the desired traffic or doesn’t score enough sales, chances are that A/B testing won’t work for you yet, seeing as the best option may seem to be the best, but your data won’t exactly be valid.

You didn’t get to know your target-audience first

Too many businesses rush to get into the A/B testing game and forget one key aspect: research on their target audience.

What is their behavior? What do they like? What makes them tick?

Make sure that you are specific when it comes to your prospects.

For example, not all travelers have the same traveling style.

Two mothers will, in theory, search for the same travel hacks, but what happens when one is the mother of a toddler and the other one is the mother of a moody sixteen-year-old?

Since the decisions need to be data-driven, the first thing to do is to get the right data, then design tests and extract the correct data from those tests.

So, next time consider running a survey first and an A/B test later. You’ll get far more accurate data that way.

You run the test for all the wrong reasons

This may sound crazy, but it really is not.

There is a high chance that you just didn’t have the correct hypothesis-or maybe that you didn’t have a hypothesis at all.

Let’s take the traveling example a bit further and assume that your A/B testing had to do with a promotional email on some holiday offers.  

Make sure that you asked yourself the following questions and monitor the following KPIs:

  • How many people actually opened your email?
  • How many people made use of your website?
  • What would you change, based on your analytics’ data?

Your hypothesis-and, of course, the A/B testing of said hypothesis-will give you insight on what to change.

Maybe you needed better content, maybe you packed your email with CTAs, maybe your cold email was a bit too cold or maybe your subject line didn’t work as well as you would’ve wanted.

You were impatient

How long did you test your hypothesis for? As we’ve already mentioned, your results are only as good as your data.

If you run your tests for only a week, then you are not really done testing. Percentages differ not just day-to-day, they can change any minute.

Therefore, you’ll need more than a couple of Monday-to-Friday percentages to ensure the validity of your data.

But we’re not done here. Did you take into account the time period you tested for?

Let’s use the holiday offer email again. This email will reach an all-time high during pre-high seasons like April or November when everyone is trying to book their summer or Christmas holidays respectively.

What do you think would happen if you decided to run tests during the first week of October?

Wouldn’t the test results be a lot more accurate if you decided to take your time and test your hypothesis during the last couple of weeks of October and the first couple of weeks of November?

Conclusion

Of course, these are not the only factors that may make your A/B testing fail.

Maybe your timing was not exactly the best or maybe you ran one too many tests, maybe your growth marketing strategy was a wee bit off in general.

But this is nothing to worry about.

What mistakes did you make when you first started?

What insight did your A/B testing data give you?

Let us know in the comments!

InsightsProducts

An Extensive Guide to Personal Loans and Money Lending options for Entrepreneurs

on March 22, 2019

Being an entrepreneur is a risky task, and you need some courage to stand out for your talents. There might be many things that can de-motivate you and either it is your friends, relatives, parents and even your society that doesn’t respect your talent and make you feel low. You don’t need to stop and if you are wondering about how your expertise can stand out and how you can plan a successful start-up plan then here is everything that you need to know about financing your startup.

There are many ways in which you can do that, and if you go out in the market, then you will get to know about a lot of schemes that let people start up a business with their idea. Many things do matter when it comes to choosing up a personal loan and even the debts that you will get into with it. You need to plan up each and everything before you apply for some money lending procedures. Anyways, in this guide, you will get to know about everything related to money lending. So, let us get started –

Lenders to Choose to Finance Your Business

There are many of them out in the market and as an entrepreneur; you need to choose up the most convenient and the most reliable that work just perfect for your work. There are many things that you need to know and being a business owner, and you need to be smart enough to know almost all about the market and the money lenders. Here are some of the most convenient ways to get the much-needed money for your business. So, let us get to it –

1. Traditional Lenders

These are the banks and all other professional and more time taking lenders. Well, you can get money on the low cost of interest, and there are so many other things that are related to the traditional lenders. You can get the loan quickly, but still, there is a lot of struggle that you need to go through. This is all that you need to know, and these traditional lenders can help you if you apply with a little more approachable. You need some time to get the money, and this is one of the popular ways to get easy money on easy installments.

2. Government Lenders

The Govt lenders are just like the traditional one but they are a little more understandable, and it is only for the entrepreneurs that are out there looking for a new business. These lenders contain the Small Business Administration (SBA). This type includes fewer risks, and it is a more convenient way for an entrepreneur to get the much-needed money for the startup.

You need to keep up with your research and all other things that are related to the new programs giving out loans and easy money for required startups. You need to come up with a strong business idea, and you will see no one that will stop you getting the loan, and there will always be easy money in the market for you with a firm plan.

3. Loans

This is one of the best investments that are worth applying for as you will get 85% of the repayment guarantee. This is the best loan for entrepreneurs as there is no problem with the collateral. You are not forced to give real collateral, and all you need to come up with is the idea for the startup. It is all that you need to have, and this is hard to get the loan, so you have to lower your expectations for the loan. Get a loan today at zero interest from https://www.libertylending.com/

4. Venture Capitalist

Just like any other agency and the innovators in the business world, the venture capitalist is one of the most famous innovators that are out there helping so many entrepreneurs to stand their start up quickly. They are looking for some entrepreneurs for funding them, and this is so far the best thing that you can get as an entrepreneur.

There are so many companies that are collaborating with venture capitalist and giving out scholarships for entrepreneurs. Not only the money, but they will also give you proper knowledge of the market, and this thing will surely help you out in the best way possible for your business.

What are the risks associated with small businesses?

Risks are everywhere, and the life of entrepreneurs is full of dangers. You need to get over these risks and this doesn’t mean you can stop the risks but this will make you prepared to cope up with the risk, and that thing can help you to get over the risk or if you are lucky enough then you will get over the risk easily. Here are some of the risks that are associated with small business ideas of entrepreneurs.

1. Financial Risk

The financial risk is one of the biggest fears of an entrepreneur mainly. You need to have a backup plan for that, and if you are already on loan, then you need to get a continent way which can help you in the bad times.

2. Legal Risks

These are the most unnecessary risks that can be involved with your business. There are many things that people can do to your startup idea, and for that, you need to get business insurance. It is better to stay away from the business risks and getting insurance is the best thing for you.

3. Staffing Risks

Well, it can be risky for you when you start acting bossy all the time. As an entrepreneur, you need to understand the way you should handle your team, or you will end up losing your staff. This means no work in your company and your startup can get to an end if you continue doing such things. Never infringed your employee’s rights or you can get into a state of high risks.

Bonus tip:

Check this guide if you want a better understanding of small business loans.
DevelopmentInsightsMartech

How Can Small Businesses Improve Their Financial Performance

on March 22, 2019

Nowadays, one of the biggest issues small businesses oftentimes struggle with is finances. Ensuring financial health for your small business while trying to compete on an overcrowded market may seem next to impossible.

Aside from that, financial pitfalls are quite common in the business world and numerous small business owners oftentimes make a financial mistake even though they were trying to avoid them, in the first place. However, ensuring good financial performance for your small business doesn’t have to be that much difficult.

If you’re well organized and if you monitor your finances regularly, you can eventually identify the mistakes you’re making and fix your financial problems. Even if you do, in fact, make a mistake, you can mitigate and minimize the damage with the right approach in place. With that in mind, here are a few ways small businesses can improve their financial performance.

Reduce operational costs

Operational costs are the most important business expenses that eventually yield a return on investment (ROI). In other words, operational costs are investment expenses required for your business to become profitable.

Reducing these costs, without sacrificing product or service quality, can be quite challenging. However, if you manage to do so, you will vastly improve your company’s business performance. Operational costs include manufacturing, labor, marketing, and other similar expenses. That being said, here are a few ways you can reduce operational costs for your business.

  • Outsource business operations.
  • Hire freelancers or part-time workers whenever you can.
  • Negotiate better deals with suppliers.
  • Opt for efficient technology.
  • Get rid of inefficient systems.

The more operational costs you manage to reduce the better your financial performance will be. Just don’t overdo it to the point where your products and services start to lack their original quality. The main reason is that your customers will undoubtedly notice and you’ll face a consumer outrage.

Keep your cash flow positive

Positive cash flow is one of the most important factors in your company’s financial performance. The main reason is that cash is your most liquid and thus your most important business asset. Without cash, your company can easily go bankrupt even though your company is generating profits and good revenue. Here’s an example.

Imagine you get paid via invoices and your invoices are due in 120 days. That means your company has generated both revenue and profits but you won’t have the cash for the next 120 days. During that time period, you still have expenses to cover, such as bills, utility taxes, employee salaries and so on. If you don’t have the cash to cover those expenses, you’ll have to look for external funding.

For instance, affordable payday loans could cover employee salaries and a bank loan could cover the rest. On the other hand, if you don’t secure external funds, the only thing left to do is declare bankruptcy. That’s why it’s very important to always have a positive cash flow, otherwise, your financial performance may not be so good.

Cut down your overhead spending

Overhead costs are similar to operational costs. They are also important for your small business operations yet they don’t yield any ROI. In other words, they are a necessary money drain that can be reduced in order to improve your company’s financial performance.

Overhead costs include bills, legal fees, taxes, utilities, maintenance, rent, travel expenses and so on. They are the expenses that are more or less necessary for smooth operation of your small business but that doesn’t mean you have to overspend on these costs. Fortunately, cutting down overhead expenses is much easier than reducing operational costs.

For instance, get rid of a land line if you’re not using it regularly. Also, you can move to a smaller office with cheaper rent or get rid of an office altogether if your employees can work from home. Another thing you should consider is going paperless. In a digital world, spending money on paper documents and paper waste is simply a waste of resources.

Improve your accounting

Most financial mistakes originate from the willingness of small business owners to manage their company’s accounting themselves, without having the proper knowledge or skills to do so.

Yes, you may save a few bucks by avoiding hiring or outsourcing an accountant or a bookkeeper, but the financial mistakes you might make in the process can cost you a lot more than what you would have spent on accounting services. There are firms with proper payment solutions for accountants that you can opt for, and that provide convenience to both parties.

Having an accountant to manage your finances is crucial for your company’s financial performance, so don’t think that by avoiding paying one’s services you’ll be able to save money in the long run. Furthermore, an accountant doesn’t just manage your books or your taxes. As a matter of fact, an accountant is also a financial advisor who can give you valuable advice on how to improve the financial performance of your company.

Managing the financial performance of a small business can be quite challenging. Your company’s profitability pretty much determines its overall success. With that in mind, having the right strategy in place and planning ahead can greatly help you out, not just managing your business finances, but also improving the financial performance of your company.

DevelopmentInsightsProducts

Focus on Credit Score Improvement for Better Finance and Debt Management

on March 19, 2019

When you want to manage your debts well in order to keep your finance on the right track, you will not only need to take out the right type of debt but also make sure that you take it out at the lowest interest rate. This is especially required when you want to take on a debt consolidation loan which ideally is the best way to get rid of your multiple debts, especially credit card debts.

Typically, a debt consolidation loan simplifies your monthly billpaying but it has to be done correctly. You will have to consider several factors such as:

  • The debts you want to consolidate
  • The rates each debt carries
  • Your financial condition so that you do not default down the line and most importantly
  • Your credit score as that will determine the loan amount as well as the rate of interest it will come with.

In general, the problem is in the interest rates on debt consolidation loans because it may vary wildly. Depending on the type of loan you wish to take out this rate of interest can be anything from a low 5% to an incredibly high 36%. On average it is found that consumers using a debt consolidation loan to pay off their multiple credit card debts typically pay about 20% in interest on those specific cards.

Therefore, the bottom line is that no matter whichever method you choose to consolidate your debts you will need to find a loan with an interest rate that will eventually be half or less than the combined rate of interest of all your existing debts. A rate of interest in single digit will help you to pay off your debt faster.

So how do you get that? Simple, improve your credit score! This will give you a lot of confidence when you visit a bank or https://www.nationaldebtreliefprograms.com/ or its likes for that matter.

Need to improve your credit score

Before you move on to the ‘steps to improve your credit score’ you must first know what the need to improve your credit score is.

  • There are lots of benefits of improving your credit score but the most significant of all benefits is that it will make you eligible for any type of loans.
  • You will get easy approval and instant ones at it if you apply for a loan even online.
  • Whether it is a zero-percent interest balance transfer credit card or home equity, you will be better off in getting such a loan.
  • A good credit score will also enable you to get a loan at a much lower interest rate and more favorable terms.

Generally, you will need to maintain a credit score well and above 700 to qualify for a loan. Therefore, make sure that you keep a check on your credit score by taking out a copy of it from time to time from one of the three major credit reporting bureaus namely Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Steps to improve credit score

There are a few specific steps to follow to improve your credit score and make sure that it is 740 or higher and nothing below 660.

The first thing to know is that you will need to maintain a highly disciplined and strategic way to keep your credit score high and manageable. For that, you will need to make sure that you:

  • Pay all your monthly bills on time
  • Pay off the balance every month when possible and if not at least make the minimum payment
  • Set up automatic alerts and payments to know when your payments are due and you do not miss out on one
  • While using your credit card, make sure that the balances on the credit cards are less than 30% of the credit limit of each
  • Do not sign up for any new credit cards when you are in excessive debt and
  • Look out for mistakes you made in your spending and make rectifications as soon as possible

Also, make sure that you get the free copy of your credit report as that will help you to know whether or not there are any disputes in it and make formal complaints about it to the relevant authority for immediate rectification.

However, these things are easier said than done but if you can do it effectively and diligently, it will surely raise your credit score which in turn will lower the interest rate you have to pay on a consolidation loan you wish to take out.

Get more options

When you have a healthy credit score you will get more options to choose from to conquer your debts as well as manage your household finance in a better and more productive way. There are ideally four major methods to consolidate debt and each one has pros and cons associated with it. Therefore, examine each of them closely to know about it as well as the penalties or fees for things such as late payments, early payoffs, and balance transfers.

  • Bank Loan – This is comparatively the simplest way to consolidate your debts. The bank will lend you enough money at a lower interest rate to pay off all your debts. You will now have to deal with only one creditor, the bank.
  • 0% Interest Credit Card Balance Transfer – This is the best way to pay off credit card debts only. However, you will have to pay off the balance with the introductory period or face incredibly high interest henceforth.
  • Debt Management Program – This is a service provided by a nonprofit credit counseling agency working with your creditors to reduce the interest rate and the monthly payments. You pay the agency once in a month for 3 to 5 years and they distribute it among all your creditors. However, consistency is the key here.
  • Personal Loan– You can even borrow money from your friends and family with or without interest but make sure that you do not take advantage of the situation but treat it like a business transaction.

However, in all these cases your credit score and your spending habits will play an important role.

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