How To Do Quality Competitor Analysis for SEO

It is a fact that SEO is one of the pillars of success for your business. A crucial step for starting to develop an SEO strategy is competitor analysis. 

Competitor analysis provides you with the data that you need in order to know what industry trends are currently booming and how you can improve your keyword rankings. 

What you learn from it can help you realize the tasks that you need to focus on, and is the main factor for the development of your campaigns. 

You will get to learn your competitor’s weaknesses and strengths and be able to find a way to outperform them.

Who are your competitors?

For starters, you are going to have to find out who are the top four competitors that you are going to use for your analysis. 

It might be a good idea to use a mix of direct business and online search competitors. The reason for this is that you’ve got competition that is local, as well as the one that is investing in online search ads. 

So, while you may be worrying about a business nearby, your actual competition may be in another town or state.

A good tool for searching competitors is SEMrush. Input your own domain name, go to “organic competitors” and look at the full report. 

Then focus on metrics such as common keywords and total traffic in order to determine who your biggest competitors are.

How technically optimized are they?

When it comes to technical optimization, you will be checking for a number of things. For example, you will check whether their title tags are technically optimized (one title tag per page, correct placement within head tags, few to no extraneous tags in the title). 

You will also check whether their internal linking allows indexation of content, and if there is an error-free schema markup present. The quality of the schema is also important (whether there is customized markup such as BlogPosting, for example). 

You should also check whether there is a “home” for new content (is there a content hub, and is it easily noticeable). 

While you can’t run a complete technical audit for your every competitor, you need to keep in mind your own website’s technical SEO performance and the issues that you need to focus on.

How good is their content?

When it comes to content, you will be checking title tags again, but from an editorial point of view. 

Check whether they accurately represent the content on the page, if there are any duplicates, and are the titles shorter than 80 characters. There also has to be a unique H1 for every page, and represent its content. 

Next thing that you should check out is whether internal linking supports organic content. This is based on the quality of the links. 

Basically, it means that they should lead to informative pages, such as tutorials or research, be a natural continuation of the user’s journey through the website, and vary the resources that they link to.

The quality of content, while subjective, is important for comparing brands. You need to check in how many words are informative pages dealing with complex topics. 

You should also evaluate whether you really want to read the content, does it look well-written, and whether it contains valuable information. Originality is also important, so, from the experience of a web design agency, competitor analysis is the best way to find the best trends to follow. 

The quality of images and video is also important. They have to be unique, be in proper resolution, and not be repeated on multiple pages.

In summation

By analyzing these factors, you will be able to locate opportunities where you can excel with your own website. Through competitor analysis, you will be able to find the trends that exist among the competition. This way you will be able to make the best out of them in order to stand out amongst the competition.

Cut Work Time in Half: Get These Tools for WordPress!

If you have a WordPress website, then you are well aware that it's constantly evolving and improving to accommodate for its users' needs and preferences. Started in 2003 as a simple improvement for everyday writing, now it's the biggest blogging open source tool used by millions. 

WordPress has over 47,000 plugins, and this number grows by the day. One function or feature has multiple plugins, and you have to choose the one that suits you best. Here are some that may be helpful to your everyday needs.

Broken Link Checker

One of the most annoying things for visitors is loading a broken page. You can lose customers and audience, as well as a good reputation that you obtained so far.

Broken Link Checker is a perfect plugin for you to monitor all the bad links, and the best news is that it will do it automatically. Another great feature is that it will stop search engines from displaying broken link pages in the listings.

WP-Optimise

To avoid unnecessary data and clean up the mess created while website maintenance, WP-Optimise is your tool. It will help you automatically remove all the piled up data and optimise your database. 

This will eliminate manual queries, as well as unwanted comments and posts. Using WP-Optimise will give you a fast, clean and well -optimised website.

SearchWP

If you want to help your visitors find everything they need and help them out do it in a more advanced ways than with Word Press built-in tool, use the SearchWP plugin. Its advanced search options even allow you to search for documents like Office and PDF. 

Another good feature is that you can create multiple search engines, and you can give them an option to search via keyword stems and not exact term matches.

BackUpWordPress

When it comes to websites, they also need protection from intruders and breaches, even if you run a low profile one. These events can be detrimental to your data so using a backup plugin may be the best option. 

BackUpWordPress allows you to save a copy of your whole website with database and files. Every backup can be sent to one or more accounts you have, such as DropBox, Google Drive, Microsoft Azure, etc.

Yoast SEO

Search engines are the internet users’ best friends, which makes SEO company a go-to source to get the best optimisation there is. Yoast SEO is a right plugin for WordPress if you want to try and do it by yourself. 

It will help you with the content and improve your ranking as well as help you sustain them and be helpful to users.

WP Rocket

When it comes to websites, users often get annoyed with how slow they can get and lose interest in continuing. WP Rocket will help you take care of that by speeding up your site. Although this is a paid plugin, it’s on this list because there isn’t any better among the free ones and what it sells it delivers. 

It won’t even take you long to set it up and configure it. Caching starts immediately after activation which means the website will be speeded up instantly.

Gravity Forms

More than a million websites use Gravity Forms plugin for building contact forms easily and without any technical knowledge. This user-friendly plugin will help you create the form with offering you which fields to include and to configure the options. 


It also has a progress bar that will let know the users how far they have until they complete the form. You can use this plugin even if you need a pricing form on your website.

Wordfence Security

Hacking has become a real hazard of the 21st century, and even if you don’t think you’ll be an attractive target, the best course of action is to protect your website and your business. 

There are always malicious bots looking to destroy someone’s hard work and dedication. As we all know, it can also cause considerable financial damage. Wordfence Security will be a reliable protection for your website and guard against the spam. 

It includes malware scan, live monitoring of your traffic, firewall and other useful features which will keep your WordPress site secure.

Redirection

Ask any user to tell you what are the most annoying things about websites, and one of them will surely be getting not available pages. Redirection plugin will help you take care of redirecting the permalinks. 

This helpful plugin will automatically add 301 redirections and keep the record of 404 errors. You can manually add 302 or 307, and the full log will be available for review for all URL redirections.

WooCommerce

If you run an e-commerce site, WooCommerce is the right plugin for you. Currently the most popular among the tools of its type, WooCommerce was launched in 2011, and the free version can cover the necessary things like calculations of shipping costs, taxes, offer you major credit card and Pay Pal payments, bank transfers and cash on delivery. 

Paid, premium version gives you more advanced tools, and there are WooCommerce add-ons and themes which will help you to use it to the maximum of its ability and help you with managing customers and goods properly.

Social Icons

Social media has the constantly increasing number of users by the day. The studies show that people mostly information themselves through the social media than by watching TV or reading the newspaper. 



So, you have to work on your social media marketing if you want to have access to more people, that is for them to find you and your products. Social Icons is the plugin doing just what the name says – gives you a solution to display visual shortcuts to your social media accounts. 

The plugin is free and supports over 100 platforms, not to mention it’s straightforward to use.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to try new features of WordPress and improve what your offer to your visitors. When you’re creating your website there are too many variables to take into consideration, and that’s why thousands of plugins are created – to help you manage all in time and to satisfaction of both your business and your visitors.

Monetary Relief: How to Manage and Mitigate Mounting Debt

If you have debt mounting up, it’s important to get it under control as soon as possible. Waiting around will only make the situation worse, costing you money from the interest you’re paying and potentially bringing down your credit score. Here are steps you can take to manage and pay off your debt.

Start with Your Budget

Debt is typically caused by overspending, which means your first move should be making a budget with your monthly income and expenses. This can help you pinpoint where your money has been going and understand what you need to change.

Cut All Your Unnecessary Expenses

When you have a large amount of debt, you should keep your spending to a minimum until you’ve paid it off or at least until you’ve eliminated high-interest debt, such as your credit card balances. 



Go through your budget and get rid of anything that’s not essential to your everyday life, including eating out, new clothes, and your monthly cable bill.

Talk to a Bankruptcy Lawyer

If your debt is too much to handle on your own, you’ll need to consult with a bankruptcy lawyer. Professionals, like Law Office of Barbara B. Braziel, know that you should keep in mind that there are two types of bankruptcy available. 

Chapter 7 involves liquidating your assets, whereas Chapter 13 involves setting up a payment plan and allows you to keep your assets.

Consider Debt Consolidation

An alternative to bankruptcy is debt consolidation, where you get a loan to pay off all your debts, and then make payments on that loan. 

This works best if you can get a loan that has a lower interest rate than your debt, as you’ll save money in the long run. Another benefit is that you’ll only have one debt payment to make every month, instead of payments to every creditor that you owe.

Choose a Payment Strategy

When you’ve minimized your expenses, you can put all your extra money towards your debt every month. If you don’t consolidate your debt or file for bankruptcy, there are two popular strategies to paying off debt. 

One is paying off the debt with the highest interest first to pay the least amount of interest. The other is paying off the smallest debt first to reduce your number of debts as quickly as possible.

The key to getting out of debt is building the right financial habits and staying disciplined about them. If you can avoid any unnecessary spending, you’ll cut down your debt much more quickly.

7 Reasons Your Business Needs Business Insurance

If you have your own business, you have to deal with the inherent risks as well such as – a natural disaster, an employee getting injured on the job, or one of your clients filing a suit, alleging a contractual breach. 

Owing to this, it is important you should protect your assets, both personal and business. One of the best ways to do this is to have apt protection for your business, therefore you should opt for business insurance.

If you are wondering why you need business insurance, then the following reasons will surely answer all your queries.

Risk Of Being Sued

We all are a part of a litigious society. In case of any lawsuit or liability claim, if your business doesn’t have business insurance, then you will have to shut down your business. 

One accident. Once broken contract. One disappointed employee, and you will lose your business. Even if you somehow win the suit, you can easily go out of business due to the cost of legal defence. 

Instead of taking burden of what could happen, go for liability insurance. This will help you to concentrate on the important things i.e. running a successful business.

Keeps Your Business Running

What happens when your business is struck by a natural disaster such as flood or earthquake? Policy and Claims insurance will come into the picture and cover the loss of property, but what about the loss you have to face during the time your business is closed?

This is where Business Owners Insurance, also known as BOP, can help you out. As per this insurance, the insurer will pay you the amount your company would have made while it was out of business. 

In addition, BOP will also compensate for the routine operation expenses that you would have incurred during that duration. Some companies not only insure lost income but they also include protection to pay the employees for up to 1 year.

Offer Protection To Your Employees

When we talk about business, your most valuable assets are not the services or the products that you manufacture, the costly equipment you have purchased or the brand you struggled for years to build. 

Instead, you should value your employees and offer them your full support when they are in dire straits, such as an accident. If you are protecting your employees’ interests, you are also protecting yours against any lawsuit or liability claims.

Provide Critical Coverage

In a situation where the business operation is very much dependent on one important employee pretty much like the owner (you), then having a special insurance coverage really comes handy. 

This helps in giving cover to your business in case the important employee gets injured, disabled, or dies. The important person insurance will assist the business to continue its operation until that person recovers completely or in case of death, until a successor is found.

For Securing A Business Plan

Having your business covered by insurance really comes handy in a situation where you have plans to expand your business and you want to apply for a loan. Lenders, generally, seek a proper business insurance policy in order to approve any type of business loans. 

Some lenders may not ask you for the insurance policy but they may charge you higher interest rates. Having a proper insurance policy is the best way through which you can manage your financial risks and it really helps in suggesting the lenders that your property is protected. Hence, you will not face any problem having a loan.

Because You Cannot Predict The Future

Being a business owner, you don’t possess any supernatural powers to predict the future. It would be great if injuries on the job, lawsuits, or natural disasters never occurred, but you can’t guarantee such things. 

Having a insurance will let you enjoy peace of mind and most importantly focus your attention towards operating a rewarding business. 

Your Business Insurance Lapsed

You let your insurance lapse because you gave importance to other priorities. If you have gaps in coverage, it is as bad as no coverage at all. Insurance works best when you don’t have any gaps in the coverage. 

While both your efforts and expertise does play a pivotal role in your success, but at the same time there are various variables you don’t and can’t control.

Author Bio

Sophia Jones tries to live her life like the sun – setting her sights high and vowing to always rise up again. Always game for an adventure, Sophia loves widening readers and her own expectations of our vast, beautiful world. As a journalist, Sophia writes to inform. As a creative writer, Sophia strives to inspire. Overall, she hopes to captivate. She currently writes for site like Fixithere etc.

How to Use an HECM Line of Credit as an Emergency Fund

Many seniors turn to a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), or reverse mortgage, only when their nest egg is depleted and they are struggling to cover their living expenses. Instead, it may be in your best interest to establish a HECM line of credit as soon as you are eligible so it is available when — and only when — an emergency expense arises.

The best strategy for using an HECM line of credit is not as a last resort, but rather as a well-planned, tax-free emergency fund of sorts. Setting a plan in motion now to handle unexpected financial needs in your future may help you avoid a crisis down the road. 

In other words, you need to planning for how to access the equity you have in your home before you truly need it.

Read on to learn more about HECM lines of credit, how you can use them, and how they could help you cope with any surprises during your retirement years.

What Is the HECM Program?

The HECM program was established as part of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987, and is federally regulated and insured by FHA. It allows homeowners to convert a large portion of the value of their homes into cash that is typically tax-free, while retaining ownership of their home. 

The homeowner does not incur a new mortgage payment; their only obligation is to live in the house and pay for its property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. Of course, it is worth consulting a certified public accountant to review the details of your specific situation.

The term "reverse mortgage" is often applied to an HECM because it works in the reverse way of a traditional mortgage. Instead of the homeowner making a monthly mortgage payment, the bank gives money to the homeowner. 

This money can be delivered as a line of credit to be used as needed, a lump sum, equal monthly payments, or a combination of these options. We’re going to focus largely on the line of credit option, because it is the option best-suited for use as an emergency-fund-in-waiting.

Unlike a loan or other traditional lines of credit, the money that is used from the HECM line of credit does not have to be paid back as long as the homeowner lives in the house. Instead, the amount used is covered by the eventual sale of the property when the homeowner moves into a new home or passes away. 

The home is the only asset involved and it is a non-recourse loan secured by the FHA, no debt related to the HECM is taken on by the homeowner’s spouse or heirs.

When Can You Get an HECM?

Making the most of an HECM is all about timing. All too often, seniors on a fixed income find themselves unable to keep up with their expenses when they face unexpected financial demands. 

If you wait until this kind of situation arises to take out an HECM line of credit, the amount of money available right away may be limited, and the initial fees associated with setting up the line of credit would further deplete the funds. But you can make the HECM work for you by setting it up well before a financial emergency takes place. 

Under the terms of a HECM line of credit, the available balance will gradually increase over time as interest compounds, which means it is in your best future interest to let the line of credit sit untouched for as long as it is unneeded.

Read More: Reverse Mortgage Guide

You become eligible to take out an HECM as soon as you turn 62 years old. Should you choose line of credit option, this is usually the ideal time to do so, because you are either still working or have only recently retired, so you may not yet have felt the strain of a fixed income. 

Since you may not need to use any of your available line of credit at this time, you have the option to leave it alone and let the available balance increase. Ultimately, more money in the account means more growth as time passes, due to the compounding interest on a HECM line of credit.

For this strategy to work, it is very important that you have the discipline not to draw from the money for small or unnecessary expenses. 

If you are planning to preserve your HECM line of credit as an emergency option, we trust that you are more financially responsible than most. Use the money only when you absolutely need to cover an essential expense and cannot do so any other way. You should consider it an emergency fund.

How Does Your HECM Change Over Time?

Viewing your HECM line of credit as an emergency fund means you do not plan to rely on it as a primary source of income when you retire. It is separate from your retirement savings and investments. If you start it at age 62, it will accrue value over the years until you need to draw from it.

The program is designed so that the principal amount grows over time, and the growth rate is accelerated if interest rates and inflation rise. If you use it wisely, your HECM line of credit could surpass the value of your home with enough time.

It’s important to remember that this is only the case as long as you are living in the house on which you took out the reverse mortgage. 

When Do You Use Your HECM Line of Credit?

Eventually, you will likely have a pressing need to take advantage of your reverse mortgage. You may need to make sudden household repairs, which can get expensive very quickly. 

You will likely find that your medical expenses grow over time, and medications, surgeries, ongoing treatments, or home health equipment are not always covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Other financial emergencies could arise from a change in income, or the death of your spouse or another beloved family member.

On the happier side, you may want to have a source of extra funds for special occasions. Perhaps you want to take a vacation or attend a loved one’s destination wedding. 

You deserve to relax during your retirement without worrying about depriving yourself just to cover basic living expenses. Your years as a responsible homeowner should work in your favor at this time.

Is an emergency fund already part of your financial management plans? Look into your options today to avoid any costly scares in the future. Consulting a certified reverse mortgage professional may help you determine what will work best for your individual situation so you can enjoy your retirement to the fullest.


Contributed by: Mehran Aram, a graduate from the University of San Diego School of Business in 1984, founded Aramco Mortgage in 1998 after spending almost five years in the industry. Today, Mehran Aram is President and CEO of The Aramco Group, and has recently been honored with the distinction of CRMP(Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional) a certification held by less than 50 brokers nationwide. Mr. Aram currently heralds the title of “Mortgage Analyst” on San Diego radio stations: AM 600 KOGO, AM 760 KFMB, AM 1170 KCBQ, AM 1210 KPRZ, FM 98.1, and Fox News Monterey’s AM 1460. Garnering endorsements across the state of California, including from radio personalities, Roger Hedgecock, George Chamberlin, Mark Larson, and Ladona Harvey, Mehran Aram along with his nearly 20 years of industry experience has effectively become California’s Mortgage Expert in reverse mortgages, refinances and purchase loans, among many other loan products.

Simple, Budget-Friendly Ways to Make Your Dumb House Smart

Smart home technology was once a sci-fi concept, then a novelty and now a must-have for today's homeowners. According to reporting from CNBC, 2017 is poised to be the year of the smart home. 

Consumers are expected to race to figure out how to update their homes with everything from climate control Nest thermostats to smart appliances that tell you when you're out of milk and eggs. 

But with options including Samsung's Family Hub refrigerator retailing at $5,999, homeowners can feel squeezed out of the smart home market.

Although you can purchase top-of-the-line smart home appliances and fully outfitted homes, you can also pick up gadgets for less than $100 that add convenience and smart connectivity to your home. 

Here are five simple, budget-friendly ways to make your dumb house smart.

Install a smart security system

An ABC news affiliate sent letters to 86 inmates serving time for burglary to find out what could keep homes safe. Most of the intruders said they would immediately leave if an alarm system went off, and that cameras were a big deterrent.

Fortunately, it's not difficult to do some smart updates to your home security, including installing home security cameras. Lorex cameras, for instance, help monitor your home whether you’re at home or work. 

They're also an ideal choice if you have high ceilings or tucked-away spots where you want to install your cameras at a greater height or distance from your digital video recorder without unsightly or expensive cabling.

Get smart lighting

Smart lightbulbs have hit the mainstream and are an inexpensive way to dive into the connected marketplace. A Philips Hue starter kit wirelessly connects to the Hue Bridge for remote-controlled lighting that can set the ambiance and color palette of your home. 

You can even create an inspired landscape from a photo of your favorite vacation. For homeowners with big connectivity plans, the LIFX Wi-Fi smart LED light bulb adds color while integrating with the Nest, SmartThings products and Alexa voice control.

Use a smart switch

Add some convenience and efficiency to your home at the same time with the Belkin WeMo Insight Switch. According to the Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab, roughly 50 devices and appliances in an American household are always on and draining power. 

Belkin removes the sense of urgency of worrying whether or not you turned off the lights. Users can manage their power consumption and turn appliances off and on remotely and slash their electric bill.

Find a smart assistant

Now you can finally afford that personal assistant you've always wanted. But instead of hiring a human, you can just use Amazon's Echo Dot and stick to a smart budget. Like its big sister the Echo, Alexa can answer your questions ranging from the weather to the best place to grab dinner tonight. 

You can also ask your Dot to play music and keep track of what's going on with your Fitbit or arrange for an Uber. It keeps your hands free while you run your household and focus on more important things.

Stay safe with a smart smoke detector

Everyone wants their smoke detector to be as smart and alert as possible to avoid a catastrophe. But instead of investing in expensive devices, you can pick-up Roost, a Wi-Fi-enabled 9V battery, and use its app to turn your old smoke detector into something smarter. 

You get notifications to your smartphone if the alarm is triggered while you're away, and let you know when your battery is almost out.

Adding some smart updates to your home can keep you connected, increase the safety to your home and add convenience to your life. And it can all be done without a $5,999 refrigerator to keep your leftovers fresh for tomorrow.