Baby formula crackdown hits shelves

AUSTRALIAN super­markets are cracking down on shoppers sending baby formula overseas, enforcing strict limits on the number of cans that can be bought.

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Investment fund reduces stake in Wynn Resorts

Investment firm T. Rowe Price Group, once the largest single shareholder in Wynn Resorts Ltd., has reduced its stake to 4.6 percent after the firm’s second massive sell-off since April.

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Report: Quarterly Southern Nevada indicators trail averages

The easy gains are behind Las Vegas.

Source Business http://ift.tt/1IWMeWz

30 essential money habits

Your financial health, just like your physical health, is built on dozens of small, daily decisions that eventually form habits. And while eating better and exercising more are well-known habits that will get you fit, sometimes the money habits that lead to financial health are much less obvious — though both topics can inspire plenty of debate.

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Marketing Day: Top 10 Ads On YouTube, Programmatic Advertising Tips & More

Here's our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Lowest Rates For The Largest Search Marketing Event Expire Next Week! Register For SMX East & Save $300

The countdown has begun! Super early bird rates expire next week for SMX East, the world’s premier search marketing conference. Register for 3 days of cutting edge tactics presented by search marketing masterminds that will leave your competition in the dust. Here’s what you should expect September...

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Top 10 YouTube Ads In June: Arnold Schwarzenegger Prank Wins The No. 1 Spot

Posing as the Terminator, Schwarzenegger helps After School All Stars raise funds for after school programs.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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How to Get Free Yogurt, Laundry Detergent, & Shampoo This Week

Hey Penny Hoarders!

We’ve found several great freebies to share with you this week. Two of these can be picked up the next time you’re at the grocery store, and the other three can be ordered online.

Enjoy the freebies!

1. Free Yogurt 

This week Wal-mart has Yoplait Yogurt (6 oz) on sale for $0.50 each. However, you can also submit this for a $0.20 Ibotta rebate and a $0.25 MobiSave rebate, bringing down the cost to only $.05.

Additionally, if you buy 5 of them, you can print and use this $0.50 coupon, meaning one of them will be free and the others will be pretty cheap.

2. Free Diapers, Laundry Detergent, & Baby Shampoo (Ends 5/31)

Have you heard of EverydayHappy? They’re a new, premium brand of baby products.

They’ve developed 5 eco-friendly, toxin-free products including baby-safe laundry detergent & bath wash. And they have a line of eco-friendly diapers.

Fill out their form here and they’ll send you a free box of products (diapers or detergent, face lotion, hand soap, shampoo, and diaper rash cream).

This is a trial offer, so you’ll need to decide within 7 days whether you want to cancel or not. But, no matter what you do, you get to keep the free box of products.

3. Free Whipped Cream

This week Wal-mart has TruWhip natural whipped cream (10 oz) on sale for $1.98. Print and use this $2.00/1 coupon to get if for free!

 

4. Free Baby Sling –

Seven Slings wants to give you a promo code for a free baby carrier (a $48 value).

The promo code is “ENBABY”.

Go to the promo site here, click on ‘Shop Now”, select any baby carrier you would like. Be sure to go to the sizing page so that you can get the right size carrier for you. Once you have selected your size, you will automatically be directed to the “shopping bag” where you can enter the promo code “ENBABY “ .

This promo code will take 100% off of the baby carrier purchase and all you are required to pay are the shipping fees.

5. Free Carseat Canopy

This one is another free promo code. This time for a carseat canopy worth $49.94.

Visit their site here.

Click on “Shop Now”, select any canopy you would like (be sure to go to their sizing page so you can get the right size carrier for you). Once you have selected your size, you will automatically be directed to the “shopping bag” where you can enter the promo code “ENBABY”.

This promo code will take off 100% of the canopy purchase and all you are required to pay are the shipping fees.

We hope you enjoy these freebies! I’ll keep my eye out for new ones and we’ll update this page as necessary.

Good luck Penny Hoarders!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We would have shared them with you anyway, but when a company offers a “penny hoarder” extra cash, we don’t hesitate.

The post How to Get Free Yogurt, Laundry Detergent, & Shampoo This Week appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Here’s How Fashion Bloggers Make Money on Instagram

We’ve looked at how to make money on Instagram before, but focusing on a specific niche can help you make even more. One particularly lucrative option is fashion, where designers and brands spend over $1 billion a year sponsoring Instagram posts, according to Harper’s Bazaar.

Fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein has more than one million followers on Instagram. The 22-year-old uses her popular blog, We Wore What, to woo sponsors, who pay up to $15,000 for a single Instagram post.

Yes, you read that correctly. $15,000 for one post.

Ready to build your own fashionable Instagram empire? Here’s a look at Bernstein’s business, and how you could follow her lead to earn a piece of that $1 billion.

Earning Six Figures for Instagram Posts

Though Bernstein declined to tell Harper’s her exact income, she did say that last year she earned in the “mid-six figures” from her Instagram posts. She told the magazine, “Let’s just say it’s more than I could have ever imagined as a 22-year-old.”

And that payday doesn’t even include the perks that come along with the fashion blogging lifestyle. In addition to the sponsorship fees, well-known fashion bloggers with lots of followers often receive tons of free clothing and accessories from brands that hope to be featured on their social media feeds.

How Bernstein Makes Money

Bernstein’s 700-odd Instagram posts include everything from her at a baseball game clad in jeans, a T-shirt and a backwards ball cap to a bearded man in an unbuttoned shirt sitting on a couch with a pillow casually resting on his chest. She posts regularly, and the fashions and styles she showcases get a lot of attention. What are the secrets to her success?

She Has One Million Followers

The biggest factor in your Instagram success is the number of followers you have, since brands pay for views and the number of eyes that will see your posts.

An Instagrammer with a few hundred or thousand followers can charge $500 to $5,000 per post, according to Harper’s, but when you get to the six-million-follower range, you can earn between $20,000 and $100,000 for a single post.

She Negotiates Exclusives

“Everything’s negotiable,” Bernstein told Harper’s. She has no problem negotiating exclusives with certain brands.

Sometimes they will request that no competitors be featured within the same shot; for example, you couldn’t wear a Nike tank top with a pair of lululemon shorts. Other times, brands may ask that a certain competitor or two not appear on her Instagram feed in a designated time frame, such as a week after their post.

These exclusive deals help advertisers get the word out about their apparel and accessories, but they also help Bernstein cash in. If they want her to exclude their competition from her site for any period of time, they’ll have to pay a premium.

She Works With Agents

When you’re negotiating complex terms with many different clients, it’s always helpful to have a professional in the mix. That’s why Bernstein goes through Next Talent, a modeling agency, to help her with her business. The agency helps her find clients, lay out her prices and negotiate a variety of deals, such as long-term arrangements and sets of posts.

When you have a team behind you, it’s easier to focus on the part of the business that you excel at: modeling the duds and capturing them on camera.

How to Make Money on Instagram

So you have your Instagram feed up and running, you’re the style maven of your neighborhood and you can’t wait to get some free samples and have the cash start rolling in. If you’re a fashionista looking to cash in on your Instagram feed, what’s the best way to get started?

Fill a Niche

Fashion Instagrammers are hot right now, and brands are willing to shell out for placement on top feeds. To stand out among the crowd, find a broadly appealing niche and fill it.

Be sure to do your research. If you’re hoping to make a huge dent in a market that’s already highly saturated, it may be your best bet to reconsider or instead focus on a sub-niche. For example, Instagram is packed with beauty bloggers, but you might want to consider specializing in a sub-niche such as nail art. This can be tricky because you want a niche appealing enough to attract a devoted audience, but not so broad that you disappear among the crowd. See what’s already out there before committing to anything.

Get Followers

The first step to Instagram success is to get followers — a lot of them. Every follower you gain is more money in your pocket.

How do you find followers? By treating your Instagram as the business it is. Create a post schedule and stick to it. Make sure you post regularly and make sure your posts are things people want to look at.

Taking a great photo is key, especially if you want to bring sponsors into the mix. If you take stellar shots and share them with the world, a brand is a lot more likely to want to recruit you to help them promote their brand than if you snap a dull and blurry image. Create visually appealing and interesting images, and be sure to interact with your audience.

Get an Agent

When you’re in the upper echelon of Instagram-land, sometimes you need someone who can advocate for you, bring you clients and help you negotiate the legalese that comes along with the business. Especially in the world of fashion, having someone on your side can be crucial. Consider working with an agency that will represent your needs and help your business grow.

Get Media Attention

The more attention you have, the more followers you can gain and the more appealing you are to potential sponsors. If you can think of a way to get some positive press (say, sponsoring a charity event), go for it! If a journalist contacts you for an interview, be available.

Or, better yet, reach out to journalists and tell your story. Help a Reporter Out is a great resource to help you connect with journalists in need of sources.

Your Turn: Have you built an income stream from your Instagram account? We’d love to hear your tips!
Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The post Here’s How Fashion Bloggers Make Money on Instagram appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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10 Retirement Spots to Avoid

Watch out for these signs that a retirement spot won’t be a good fit.

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USDA Loans: Not Just for Farmers

You don’t need to live miles from your nearest neighbor to qualify for a USDA home loan. Most of the country is eligible, including small Northeastern college towns like New Paltz, N.Y. (pictured). Photo: Doug Kerr

If your income level, credit score, or down payment (or all of the above) are a bit too low for you to qualify for a conventional mortgage, and you don’t insist on living in a major metropolitan area, you might want to look into USDA loans and their eligibility requirements. USDA home loans, which were initially created to advance home ownership in rural areas, offer competitive rates, some key benefits, and simple rules for eligibility – even for low-income families with only fair credit and little to no down payment.

Unlike conventional mortgages, you don’t have to have great credit or a long credit history to qualify. In most cases, you can even get a USDA home loan with a small down payment – or no down payment at all — as long as you don’t have considerable assets to your name. And unlike most low- or no-down-payment mortgage programs, you don’t need to be a first-time home buyer to take advantage of USDA loans.

What’s more, you don’t have to move to a farm or the edge of civilization to qualify for a USDA loan. Much of the country is eligible territory, including some bustling villages and college towns in the dense Northeast.

Before we dig into all of the details, let’s start by exploring USDA loans and the factors that set them apart from conventional home loans.

USDA Home Loans: An Overview

First of all, most USDA loans aren’t offered by a traditional bank, but by the United States Department of Agriculture instead. Since the birth of the USDA home loan program in 1991, it has served as the government’s flagship program in the effort to boost rural home ownership.

Although USDA home loans are geared toward low- and middle-income households, a broader range of requirements can still help you qualify. That’s because there are actually two different kinds of USDA home loans, one of which has stricter requirements than the other:

• Direct loans: Direct USDA home loans come directly from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Direct loans are intended for low-income consumers whose household income is equal to or less than 80% of the local median income.
• Guaranteed loans: Guaranteed loans offered through the USDA are granted by a third-party institution such as a bank. These loans are open to families with a broader income range, up to 115% of the local median income.

Direct Loans: How They Work

Direct loans from the USDA have more requirements in terms of their usage. For example, to qualify for a direct USDA home loan, the property you intend to buy must be “modest in size for the area” and not have “market value in excess of the applicable area loan limit.” Further, qualified homes can’t have in-ground swimming pools or be designed for income-producing activities.

Because these loans are geared toward families and individuals with a financial need, the rules for USDA direct loans are slightly more strict. Loan amounts are limited by an individual’s personal income and ability to repay, plus the area’s “loan limits,” which are determined by the USDA based on local factors.

Although borrowing requirements are strict, direct loans do offer some flexibility in how the funds are used. Not only can you use USDA rural development loans to purchase a rural property, but you can also use the funds to build, repair, renovate, or relocate a home. Meanwhile, certain upgrades such as site preparation and water and sewage line installation may also be eligible.

Guaranteed Loans: How They Work

Guaranteed loans from the USDA work similarly to direct loans, but with a few exceptions. For starters, they have a much broader range of eligible uses, from refinancing to home upgrades. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, funds accessed through USDA guaranteed loans can be used for:

• New or existing residential property to be used as a permanent residence, including reasonable and customary closing costs
• A site with a new or existing dwelling
• Repairs and rehabilitation associated with an existing property
• Refinancing of eligible loans
• Design features or upgrades aimed at making a home accessible to a handicapped household member
• Connection fees for utility installation and hook-up
• Reasonable and customary real estate taxes
• Installation of upgrades or appliances such as wall-to-wall carpeting, ovens, ranges, refrigerators, washers, dryers, heating and cooling equipment as long as the equipment is conveyed with the dwelling
• Upgrades that improve energy efficiency (e.g. insulation, double-paned glass and solar panels)
• Installing fixed broadband service to the household as long as the equipment is conveyed with the dwelling
• Site preparation costs, including grading, foundation plantings, seeding or sod installation, trees, walks, fences and driveways

Unlike direct loans, which are issued directly by the USDA, individuals interested in a guaranteed loan start the process by reaching out to an approved third-party lender. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture notes, however, this program “provides a 90% loan note guarantee to approved lenders in order to reduce the risk of extending 100% loans to eligible rural home buyers.”

In other words, the USDA backs up each of these loans in case of default. With these assurances, third-party lenders are able to impose fewer requirements and income standards on borrowers – a step that helps this program accomplish its goal of making small-town homeownership more attainable.

Do I Qualify for a USDA Home Loan?

All those details and requirements might make USDA loans sound complex, but qualifying for this program may not be as difficult as you think. Most of the time, your eligibility for a USDA loan will depend heavily on the median income in your area – and how your personal income stacks up. If your income is fairly low, especially compared to your neighbors, you have a really good shot at securing a USDA loan.

And if you’re thinking you have to live way out in the sticks to qualify for a USDA home loan, you’re incorrect. Due to the subjective nature of the term “rural,” in this case, it is most commonly used to describe homes and properties that are not near any large cities.

In other words, you don’t need to buy a home light years away from civilization to qualify. In most cases, a modest home in any small town will do just fine. You can search a map of eligible areas on the USDA’s website.

When figuring out whether to apply for a USDA direct loan or guaranteed loan, it might help to take a look at the requirements. Here’s what you need to qualify for each type of USDA home loan, courtesy of the USDA:

Direct USDA Home Loan Requirements

To qualify for a USDA direct loan, you must:

• be without decent, safe, and sanitary housing;
• be unable to obtain a loan from other resources on terms and conditions that you can reasonably be expected to meet;
• agree to occupy the property as your primary residence;
• have the legal capacity to incur a loan obligation;
• meet citizenship or eligible non-citizen requirements; and
• not be suspended or debarred from participation in federal programs.

USDA Guaranteed Home Loan Requirements

Qualifying for a USDA guaranteed loan is a bit easier. You must:

• meet income-eligibility requirements;
• agree to personally occupy the dwelling as their primary residence;
• be a U.S. Citizen, U.S. non-citizen national or Qualified Alien;
• have the legal capacity to incur the loan obligation;
• have not been suspended or debarred from participation in federal programs;
• demonstrate the willingness to meet credit obligations in a timely manner; and
• purchase a property that meets all program criteria.

Because income requirements are based on median incomes in your area, there is no hard and fast income cut-off or rule. It all depends on where you live, and how wealthy or poor your neighbors and community members are.

If you’re worried you may not qualify, you should also know that the USDA can sometimes go to great lengths to extend these loans. If you’re on the edge of qualification or worried you won’t be able to repay, the U.S. Department of Agriculture might make special exceptions or offer assistance. For USDA direct home loans especially, the USDA offers incredibly low interest rates, payment assistance, and a payback period of up to 38 years.

Should I Apply for a USDA Home Loan?

If you want to purchase a home and have shaky credit or little to no credit history, a USDA loan might be the best way to get into permanent housing. Low-income, rural individuals with few assets are also great candidates for both direct and guaranteed USDA rural development loans.

Another important detail to consider: As long as you stay put, you only need to qualify for the home loan once. In other words, taking advantage of the USDA loan program and locking in an affordable mortgage in a year when your income is low doesn’t mean you can’t earn more money in the future.

The bottom line: If you’re in the market for a modest home in a rural area or small town and you have a relatively low or average household income, you have nothing to lose by applying for a USDA home loan and seeing where the process takes you.

Frequently Asked Questions About USDA Loans

Do USDA home loans require a down payment?

No. Qualified borrowers can purchase a home with no required down payment, which can save thousands of dollars in upfront costs.

Do USDA home loans have PMI?

No. Instead of private mortgage insurance (PMI), USDA loans include a premium for upfront mortgage insurance in your loan. The cost of this insurance is typically 2% of your total loan cost.

Are USDA home loans only for first-time buyers?

No. Families and individuals who have owned homes previously are not barred from accessing the program.

Can you take out a USDA loan for a rental or investment property?

No. USDA home loans can only be used for your primary residence.

How much are closing costs on USDA loans?

Closing costs can vary widely depending on your location and specific home loan. However, you may be able to wrap closing costs into your home loan. Ask your lender or USDA representative for more information.

Can you use a USDA loan to purchase a modular property?

Yes, but appraisal requirements still apply.

What is the purpose of USDA home loans?

Per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this program “helps lenders work with low- and moderate-income families living in rural areas to make home ownership a reality. Providing affordable home ownership opportunities promotes prosperity, which in turn creates thriving communities and improves the quality of life in rural areas.”

How can I determine if my family or a property we’re interested in is eligible for a USDA loan?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists a number of resources that can help you determine eligibility on the USDA website.

The post USDA Loans: Not Just for Farmers appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Virgin Money shoots to top of cash Isa charts

Sylvia Morris

cashisa.jpg

Virgin Money has launched a two-year fixed rate cash Isa paying a tax-free 2%.

Virgin Money has launched a two-year fixed rate cash Isa paying a tax-free 2%. The rate puts it comfortably ahead of the former best deals of 1.8% from both Nationwide and Shawbrook Bank. The Virgin deal is fixed until September 2017 and is available in its branches and online.

Virgin Money shoots to top of cash Isa charts

Feed Copy: 

Virgin Money has launched a two-year fixed rate cash Isa paying a tax-free 2%. The rate puts it comfortably ahead of the former best deals of 1.8% from both Nationwide and Shawbrook Bank. The Virgin deal is fixed until September 2017 and is available in its branches and online. Its one-year rate for new savers is also up at a leading 1.71%. On easy access cash Isas, the best deal comes from National Savings & Investments at 1.5%, but you can't transfer your existing cash Isas into this account. The best deal for transfers comes from Nationwide Instant Isa Saver Issue 3 at 1.4%. Virgin pays a marginally higher 1.41% but limits you to three withdrawals of capital a year. On easy access taxable accounts Paragon Bank has launched another version of its Limited Edition Easy Access account at 1.46% before tax (1.17% after tax). It is slightly less than the 1.5% (1.2%) you earn in French bank's RCI Freedom account. The French deal comes under the European deposit administration scheme, which covers savers for up to €100,000 (around £72,000). Money in the Paragon account is covered by the UK scheme up to £85,000, but this will fall to £75,000 from 1 January. On fixed rate taxable bonds Charter Savings Bank pays 2.06% (1.65%) for one year or 2.25% (1.8%) for two years, available online. Also among the leaders are United Trust Bank at 2.05% (1.64%) for one year and Secure Trust at 2.33% (1.86%) for two years. This article was written for our sister website Money Observer

Best cash ISA rates this week

Best savings rates this week

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Nisa strategy tips for beginners

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Cars We Remember: Atco Dragway Funny Car memories from 1966

Q: Hi, Greg! I came across your article on “Rare Comet Cyclone GT” recently and noticed that you had seen Dyno Don Nicholson at Atco Dragway in Berlin, New Jersey, in the summer of 1966. I was there also, and remember Dyno Don being there with his all fiberglass flip top funny car, and Jack Chrisman, too, as part of an eight car show. I was wondering who won the event, as I remember other years but the 1966 event is driving me crazy as to who won it all. [...]

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Email Subscribers On Demand, Working Your Public Relations “Hit List,” Part 2

Columnist Daniel Faggella brings us the second piece in a multi-part series exploring how to market your business using a powerful PR "Hit List."

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Why Buy When You Can Try? Unusual Things You Can Rent

You can test drive just about anything these days.


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4 Roads to Early Retirement

Try these strategies to quit your job sooner.

Source U.S. News - Money http://ift.tt/1HXDSis

We Found a Super Easy Way to Make $60 a Year With Your Phone

You pick up your cell phone dozens of times a day, whether to check the weather report, answer emails or text a friend.

What if you could make money just by picking up your phone to do all those ordinary things?

We’ve found ways for you to make money with your phone by taking surveys, scanning barcodes, taking photos and more.

But this is even easier. I found an app that pays me to look at ads on the lock screen of my phone. If you’re in the United States and have an Android phone, you should check out Slidejoy.

Why Should I Put Ads on My Phone?

The real question: why not?

Instead of a picture of your dog or some flowers on your lock screen, Slidejoy presents ads for various products and services. Like what you see? Swipe left on the ad to go straight to the advertiser’s website, YouTube video or app download page. If the ad doesn’t resonate with you, or if you’re in a hurry, simply slide right to go to your phone as normal. Or, if you just want to check your notifications, just slide down to display them.

Either way, you get paid just for looking at the ads on your lock screen. Over time, Slidejoy adjusts which ads you see based on how you reacted to previous ads.

Wonder how this all got started? It turns out, people are more willing to see advertisements than you might expect.

“Since 2011, Amazon has been selling a discounted version of its Kindle for $15-20 cheaper than the regular version,” founder Rob Seo told AlleyWatch. “The difference between the two is that the discounted version shows content, deals and ads on the lockscreen. Funny thing is that the discounted version outsells the regular version for every single model.”

Seo and his team took that willingness to your phone, which you probably look at 50 to 100 times each day. Instead of bombarding you with all the spammy web ads you’re tired of (how many times have you fallen for the ad about the one easy trick to lose weight?), Slidejoy offers ads that look more like magazine spreads, from companies like Macy’s and Adidas.

Tell Me About the Money

Slidejoy isn’t clear about how much you can actually earn. “There is no fixed amount, but you will earn the most if you use your phone like you normally do,” the FAQ page explains. “Our algorithm will detect users who viewed/swiped through abnormally high numbers of ads, and will automatically lower their payment amount.”

(So no cheating, folks.)

If I use my phone normally, I can expect to earn $3-5 per month with Slidejoy. I earn not depending on how much I use my phone, but depending on how many advertisers Slidejoy has, and what they’ve paid to run ads on the service. As Slidejoy grows, my earnings may grow too.

But $5 per month still isn’t anything to sneeze at. It could add up over the course of a year to pay your phone bill for a month. Or, it could get you 12 venti lattes at Starbucks (plus an extra treat or two), if you redeem your points for a Starbucks gift card (more on that below). Those couple of extra dollars can go further than you might think.

What Happens to the Money I Earn?

You’ll be able to see the previous day’s earnings in the Slidejoy app every evening. How you get that money is up to you.

Cash out using Paypal or contribute your earnings to one of the nonprofit causes Slidejoy supports. But don’t earmark those dollars yet — you can only cash out money you earned three months ago.

Inside the Slidejoy app, you’ll see your earnings tallied as both dollars and points, which Slidejoy calls carats. Instead of cash, you can also redeem your carats for gift cards to retailers like Amazon, CVS, Target, Sephora, Fandango — we could go on. One dollar equals 100 carats, but there’s no advantage of choosing one payout method over another. If I have 5,000 carats, I can choose to receive $5 or a $5 gift card.

One reviewer in the Google Play store, Guzzo Davenport, called the app “Amazing,” writing, “With a combination of me and a couple of other people using this app, we’re funding a small Minecraft server through Slidejoy. If this app can do that, I’m happy.”

The Penny Hoarder’s Take

If you’re attached to your phone all day, every day, and don’t mind an extra step to access your apps and features, it’s worth downloading Slidejoy. It may take some time before your earnings add up, but we’ve never been ones to turn down some extra cash.

Your Turn: Have you tried using Slidejoy? What did you think?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

The post We Found a Super Easy Way to Make $60 a Year With Your Phone appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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How to Cut Your Bounce Rate in Half with Interactive Content

You can grow your blog in two ways:

1. Get more traffic.
2. Do more with the traffic you have.

In my opinion, you should do both even though most people focus on the first option.

Those who don’t realize they’re losing a large chunk of their traffic before it even has a chance to convert.

One of the best ways to see how well you’re using your traffic is to look at your bounce rate.

The average bounce rate across all industries is about 45%. Bounce rates just for blogs are usually higher as illustrated in the image above.

But that’s just the average. Some sites have bounce rates in the 20s, while others have bounce rates in the 80s.

If 4 out of 5 visitors leave your site immediately, there’s a problem—likely multiple problems. 

Compare that to a 20% bounce rate (1 in 5 visitors leaving without interacting). This lower bounce rate means that you would only need a quarter of the traffic of the other site to get the same engagement results.

There are many ways to improve your bounce rate, but in this article, I want to show you an underutilized way of reducing your website’s bounce rate and increasing all aspects of engagement.

The main problem is that you need visitors to take action to reduce your bounce rate. But people are notoriously passive on the Internet.

The 1% rule states that only 1% of forum users will actually post on a forum, while the rest will passively lurk:

We see the same kind of behavior on blogs, where typically about one visitor out of 100 will comment (depends on subject and article).

In fact, people behave like this in many settings, especially on the web:

News consumption is actually really passive, unless there’s some sort of virus going online, because it’s just whatever appeals to you in the fishbowl.” – Choire Sicha, The Awl

And it’s this behavior that marketers struggle to change. According to one survey, 58% of B2B marketers struggle to produce engaging content:

The reason why they struggle so much is that the Internet is a very different medium than other forms of entertainment, and most marketers are stuck in mentality of the past.

People have always consumed news passively on TV, but they had no choice in most cases other than to watch a show or even a commercial. With the Internet, there are always 100 other sites just a click away.

If you want engagement, you need to create an engrossing experience for your visitors. That sounds hard, doesn’t it?

It can be hard, but I’m about to show you how you can easily use interactive content to make your content much more engaging. If you put the tactics in this article into action, you can probably drop your bounce rate by 10-15% in most cases, or even more.

The psychology and science behind interactive content

Engagement and interactive content go hand in hand, and we’ve known it for quite a while.

Interactive education was originally studied at home and schools even before the Internet was a thing.

Let me define interactive education: Interactive education is teaching that requires participation from students.

Interactive content, as we’ll soon see, is the same thing—just swap out students for readers.

At first, researchers found that interactive teaching was effective at engaging students who were raised in hyper-stimulated environments. Hyper-stimulated environments? Does that sound like something else you know? (Hint: the Internet).

The reason that interactive teaching was studied in the first place is because the researchers determined that it led to higher engagement levels. To take it further, studies showed that higher levels of engagement led to deep learning.

Deep learning means that you’re actually understanding concepts and can use that knowledge later. Surface learning means that you’re just memorizing facts to pass a test.

Anyone who has ever studied for a test knows that surface learning doesn’t last. As soon as you finish writing the test—whoosh—that information evaporates from your brain.

When it comes to your blog posts, you want your visitors to gain a deep understanding of the topics you write about. For one, this makes you and your website more memorable. More importantly, your visitors will actually be able to apply this information and make their lives better. Guess with whom they’ll associate those benefits? That’s right—you.

Other studies of high school and university students have confirmed that interactive-engagement methods lead to better grades and retention.

One study looked at how clickers (those multiple-choice polling remotes) given to students and used during class affected students. It was found that frequent use led to deeper learning. I’ll be showing you soon how to use similar polls to boost engagement in your posts.

But interactive learning goes far beyond quizzes and polls. Studies have found that other types of interactive learning deepens learning just as much or more:

• creating case studies
• doing experiments
• student research
• team learning

Do you know what’s even more interesting? Games can be a form of interactive learning, and they work well.

Let’s get to the results, however, because that’s what you’re probably wondering about. A recent study on university students found that professors who use interactive teaching methods had double the engagement rate of other professors and had a 20% higher attendance rate.

Having a higher attendance rate in class corresponds directly to having your blog subscribers read your articles more often. Wouldn’t you want a 20% boost in your email update click-through rate?

Teaching on the web is finally being implemented, and it’s catching up with traditional interactive learning. But bloggers and marketers are adopting it slowly, so you have a chance to get ahead of the curve.

One example is Codecademy. Every lesson involves you learning a programming technique by completing a task. It is incredibly engaging and effective at teaching beginner programmers:

The reason leading blogs are sold on interactive content

Like I said, blogs are playing catch-up here, but some have already recognized the potential of interactive content.

In general, audiences can either be active or passive.

The Internet is a bit weird because users actively choose what content they’ll consume, but most of that content is set up for passive consumption.

This is why visitors don’t get as much from your content as they should and why very few ever take action.

You need to create a situation where your visitors both actively choose to read your content and also actively consume it, meaning they take some kind of action.

We’ve talked about the main benefits: your readers will learn more, and you’ll become more memorable.

That alone should be sufficient motivation, but there’s actually more to it.

You can use interactive content to learn about your readers.

For example, if you embed a tweet somewhere in your content, you can see which of your readers not only read that far into your posts but also liked it enough to share it. These are your best readers.

In addition, if you take some sort of a poll, you can use the results to learn more about what your audience thinks.

Or what about a short pop quiz? See if the majority of your audience understands what you’re teaching. If they’re not, how could it possibly help them? It gives you a chance to refine and improve your writing.

That’s enough about why you should be using interactive content. Now I’m going to show you 7 different ways to implement it on your website.

1. Social media is for lazy busy people

People love to share content as long as it doesn’t take much effort.

Every day, over 500 million tweets are being created. They are a maximum of 140 characters and don’t take much effort.

The more you can remove friction by integrating sharing functions with your content, the higher your engagement rates will be.

At first, there were browser plugins that made it so that you didn’t even have to visit the social network to share something.

After that, came share widgets, which are still pretty effective.

But sharing widgets are still a bit disconnected from the content and require people to both choose which social network they want to share the content on and craft a description.

But there’s a way to erase the border between content and sharing to make it extremely easy for readers to share: embedded social media.

Look at this embedded tweet on a Crazy Egg blog post:

It actually improves the look of the content. In addition, it’s at an appropriate point in the content, and readers can tweet the pre-filled message with one click.

I’m going to show you how to embed social media content from the biggest social media networks. However, if you use a smaller network heavily, there is probably a way to embed that content as well if you dig around a bit.

How to embed tweets

The simplest way to do it is to use Twitter’s embed function. This is a perfect way to showcase your tweet. It allows readers to follow you or engage with that particular tweet without leaving your website.

To start with, find the tweet you want to share. Click on the “…” button.

Once you click “Embed Tweet,” a pop-up will give you the embed code. Copy the HTML, and paste it on your website. Once you do, it will show up in your article like this:

The drawback of that method is that you’re limited to one tweet. What I prefer to do is use a plugin like TweetDis (which we use on Crazy Egg) to create beautiful custom tweets.

You can create any message and use the plugin to highlight it. A reader can then click on it to tweet it. I like to include a relevant username (e.g., @neilpatel) in the message so that I can track them.

You can also create multiple tweetable bits throughout your article.

Once you have the plugin installed, highlight some text in your article that you would like to use as a tweet, and click the icon in the text editor bar:

A window will pop up with your options:

Under the “Add” dropdown menu, pick which kind of embedded tweet you want. A “Box” will give you a full box like I showed you at the start of this section. In addition, you can also pick a “Hint,” which highlights the full sentence instead:

How to embed Facebook posts

For niches dominated by Facebook, embedding a post can get you extra comments, likes, and shares.

I haven’t found a good plugin for WordPress, so you’ll have to stick with the default method that Facebook gives you.

Find a post that you’d like to embed, then click the little down arrow in the top right corner:

Once you click the embed option, a window will pop up that gives you the HTML code you need to embed the post.

Once you put that code on your site, this is what it will look like to your visitors:

They can like, comment, or share the post, and they can also like your page without leaving your site.

You’ll notice that this procedure is very similar to embedding content from Twitter on your site. In fact, almost all social networks are the same, so just look for an embed option in a dropdown menu on a post on any other network you’re interested in.

2. Pop quiz time

Quizzes are one of the oldest forms of interactive content, right up there with simple calculators.

While some marketers may feel that quizzes have been overdone, they still work really well.

In a study of 100 million articles in 2013-2014, it was found that eight out of the top 10 most popular pieces of content were quizzes.

This was number one: “What Career Should You Actually Have?”:

Not only do people like quizzes, they also love to share them to show their friends who they are, what they care about, and, of course, how cool they are.

Coding a quiz from scratch would be fairly time consuming, but there are many quiz tools you can use.

For example, you can use Qzzr to design a quiz, which will give you an HTML code to copy and paste in your article—that’s it.

Here’s what the backend looks like:

You have a ton of options: you can create text or image answers for each question. Your quiz can have as many questions as you like.

Once you’ve set all your questions and results, you’ll get an embed code to paste on your site. Then it will look something like this to the visitor (“Which Iron Man armor suit are you?”):

To make it even easier for many of you, there are also quiz plugins for WordPress such as SlickQuiz, which is also free.

You can make the quizzes right in your admin panel:

You won’t have quite as many options, but you can still get started with testing your quizzes. When you’re done, you just use a shortcode to embed the quiz on your site:

Once your visitor completes the quiz with either tool, they will see their result and have a chance to share it on popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Now, Iron Man suits are fun but not very useful from a teaching perspective, which is what you want.

I recommend putting quizzes in the middle or near the end of the post, and using them to test your readers’ knowledge. It’s a great opportunity to reinforce a key teaching point.

Secondly, make the question and result useful. Don’t ask a basic or irrelevant question. Ask something that will force your reader to think about and apply the information in your article.

For example, let me ask you a question. Which one of these would be the most appropriate question if I were to include a quiz right now?

1. Is interactive content good?
2. Which of the following is not a benefit of using interactive content in blog posts? (multiple choice answer)
3. Is Iron Man cool?

Question 1 is too basic—you could answer it just based on the title of this post.

Question 3 is irrelevant to the overall teaching points.

Question 2, however, forces you to think about what engagement leads to. The sample answers might be:

• more return visitors
• more comments
• better search rankings
• higher time spent on page

If you’ve read and understood everything up to this point, you’d be able to figure out that “better search rankings” is not a benefit of using interactive content.

3. How to lower your form abandonment rate

At one point or another, I am sure, you’ve filled out a long form, clicked “submit,” and then gotten an error saying you missed something. What’s worse is when you have to re-enter your data.

Most forms are terrible. They fulfill the basic functional requirements and nothing else.

That’s why I really liked Typeform when I first came across it.

This tool allows you to create highly customized forms. You can ask questions or request information and incorporate all sorts of form elements. They look great and function perfectly.

Additionally, you can create forms that are engaging because you can insert them in the middle of a sentence.

Put all these features together, and you get highly interactive content whether it’s on your blog or somewhere else on your website.

Over the course of a month, Typeform records 5 million form submissions with a completion rate of 59%. In comparison, other form tools get between 3% and 28% completion rate.

Let’s look at how you can create a form.

Start by creating an account and clicking on the “create new form” button.

You can either start from scratch or choose one of the many templates:

Once you’re inside, drag and drop different elements to your form. You can include text, questions, scales, pictures, or ask for answers from your visitor.

Your next step is to pick a design and some simple settings. Once you embed it on your site, your visitors will see something like this:

You can walk through actual examples here.

As as bonus, you can even use Typeform to make quizzes if you didn’t like the other options I gave you earlier:

4. Make your content fun with polls

Polls are highly related to quizzes.

You ask a question, typically with a few definite answers, and results are tallied based on input by visitors.

Polls are great when you’re trying to find out what your audience cares about or thinks about a specific topic.

The most attractive poll tool I’ve seen is ContentTools Poll. What your visitors will see is a simple poll, and when they click on an answer, they will see the results and buttons to share the results:

It is a paid tool, but you can start with a free trial.

Alternatively, there are many other poll tools out there. Two of the most popular options (both work with WordPress) are PollDaddy and Wedgies.

Almost all of them work the same. You simply type in your question and answers, and drop whichever elements you’d like into place:

After you do that, you’ll just need to copy and paste the HTML code to your website, or use the shortcode that the WordPress plugin gives you.

When your visitor clicks on an answer, they’ll see the results and share buttons as expected.

There are lots of options to create polls—that’s the easy part. The harder part is using them effectively.

Don’t just create polls for the sake of engagement. Create them so that you can learn about your audience.

For example, I could create a poll for this post that would ask you which type of interactive content you are most likely to use on your website. Based on your most popular answers, I could create further content. If 77% chose quizzes, I would create a step-by-step guide to creating quizzes. Alternatively, I could write an in-depth post about the psychology behind quizzes and engagement.

You could also use the answers to monetize your site. Once you learn which topics your audience is most interested in, you can create products around those topics.

5. Which is better: long or short content?

If you’ve ever been to Quick Sprout before, you’d notice that I like long content.

Writing longer content helps get extra search traffic, but more importantly, it allows me to go into great detail on a particular topic and include lots of examples.

It works for me, but it doesn’t work for everyone. In fact, the top two reasons why people don’t read content are related to content being too long:

Even some of my readers complain that my posts are too long sometimes.

If you want to give your readers more control over your content, you can use hypotext. Essentially, you create links in your content, but instead of opening a new window or tab, they open a hidden section in your content.

Hypotext allows you to hide extra information that only a portion of your readers might want.

When that text is compressed or hidden, only essential text will be visible on the page.

Here’s what happens when someone clicks a hypotext link:

A section expands just below the paragraph of the link clicked with all the content that you’ve hidden. You can hide:

• detailed explanations
• more examples
• more research
• pictures

The other bonus, in addition to giving readers more control, is that it also engages them. They decide for themselves if they want to learn more or explore the content deeper.

If you want to try hypotext, start by installing this WordPress plugin.

Then, when writing your article, wrap the text you want to serve as the link with shortcodes, e.g,:

[hypotext target=”your-target-id”]your link text[/hypotext]

Then, wrap another shortcode around the text you want to be hidden:

[hypotext id=”your-target-id”]the hidden text[/hypotext]

Make sure that the target name and id name are the same, or it won’t work.

6. Take infographics to a whole new level

Another type of content I love is infographics. They can still be used to drive over 60,000 visitors per year to your website.

I’m not the only one who likes them. Just under 80% of marketers use and share infographics sometimes or frequently.

Infographics are great, but there are two minor problems with them. First, they’ve saturated the web. Even high quality infographics don’t produce the results they used to. Secondly, they aren’t engaging. Infographics are typically skimmed, and then some viewers might share them or leave a comment.

But what if you could make infographics into a story that involved user interaction?

Here’s a screenshot of an interactive infographic that was created by GOOD and Deeplocal:

It shows the number of small businesses each state has. When you move the mouse across the picture of the United States, different states are highlighted, and their stats come to life.

In addition, the “home” page of the interactive infographic allows you to choose what you’re most interested in. The first option takes you to the map, but there are several other interactive screens you can choose.

This type of infographic forces people to read and explore rather than scan. I shouldn’t really use the word “force” because most people will find this fun.

Here are nine more such infographics if you would like more examples.

The catch is that interactive infographics are not easy to make, which is part of the reason they won’t be widespread anytime soon.

There’s no easy tool that lets you make them (although if you could make a good one, you could make a killing).

You can create them yourself using software like Adobe Edge Animate, but it’s far beyond my design skills.

If you’re interested in creating one, I suggest posting a job on Dribbble or a freelance platform like Upwork (formerly oDesk).

7. Choose your own adventure with videos

Video marketing is getting more popular.

People love videos because it’s just like watching TV.

The problem, as we’ve seen, is that passive viewers don’t take nearly enough action.

If you use video ads or incorporate videos in your content, you might want to think about making them interactive to improve engagement.

Most of us are familiar with those “choose your own adventure” books we read as kids—they were fun. You had a choice of two pages at the end of each page to customize your story as you saw fit.

Similarly, you can let your viewers choose their own adventure.

In a Philips video (the shaving company), there’s a short intro of a guy who had a wild night that, he says, “started with shaving.” You get to pick the style of his facial hair at the beginning of the night and see a different video depending on your choice.

For a product video, you could let your viewers choose which aspect of the product they care about (features, manufacturing, company background, etc.).

If you have a video editor (an actual human), he or she will probably already know how to create a video like this. For regular marketers, it’s not exactly easy. You’ll need to use a tool such as Vidzor or Rapt Media to create videos like the example above.

One simple option is to simply use YouTube annotations. You can use these to let viewers navigate to other videos. Sure, it won’t be as fancy as a professional option, but it’s a good way to test if you’d like to start creating interactive videos in the future.

Here is a complete tutorial on creating annotations on YouTube videos:

Your viewers should see clickable annotations pop up on the video at specified times:

It’s up to you where those annotations direct them to.

Conclusion

Interactive content is a huge opportunity that’s still in its infancy. If you ever wished you discovered something before everyone else adopted it, this is it.

You probably noticed that not all types of interactive content is easy to create. I don’t recommend you try to create all of the types at the same time. Pick one or two that fit well with your audience and website, and focus on perfecting those.

What you should see, once you start creating interactive content your readers are interested in, is a much lower bounce rate, higher time on page, and a significant bump in the number of shares and comments you get.

Now, I have a challenge for you: pick one type of interactive content, and brainstorm a few different ways you could create content for your website with it. Then leave me a comment below, letting me know how you plan to use interactive content in your content strategy.

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