The girl who forced Grill’d to back down

FAST food chain Grill’d is changing its pay rates following a savage public backlash. This young woman can claim the credit.

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10 open house red flags you should not ignore

Summer is the prime time for purchasing new homes and moving. Certain warning signs during an open house, however, should have you questioning a property. As you embark on your open house adventures this summer, watch out for these red flags to avoid buying a money pit.

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Downtown closures attributed to growing pains

Growing pains.That's how Atomic bartender Jeff Grindley sees downtown Las Vegas and its recent cluster of bar-restaurant closings from the Fremont Street corridor to the Arts District.

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‘Trophy’ T-shirt: ‘fun wink’ or sexist?

TARGET is in a social media storm over its Trophy T-shirt for women. Target call it a ‘fun wink’ whereas it is branded sexist and worse in tweets.

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Coke making more by giving less

COCA-COLA’S profits have shot up even as it cuts down on portion sizes with expensive mini-cans and glass bottles.

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1If7D8x

All three commercial sectors show progress

A slowdown in national economic growth didn't make its way into local commercial development.

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Recall of movie cups that could kill

DEADLY novelty cups containing lithium batteries sold to children at cinemas screening Disney’s Inside Out film have been recalled in Queensland and NSW.

Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1Vx3XJd

Sands quarterly earnings tumble over Macau concerns

At least it wasn't a net loss. Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Wednesday financial issues surrounding the Macau gaming community resulted in the casino company reporting a 19.4 percent decline in revenue and 30.1 percent drop in profits during the second quarter.

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Ikea‘s deathtrap drawer warning

THE Swedish furniture giant is in a race against time to prevent another tragedy after two toddlers in the US were crushed by the same model of drawers.

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ABC Shops to close nationwide

ABC management has confirmed that 50 ABC Shops will be phased out around the country, with 300 staff set to be affected.

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ABC Shops to close, 300 jobs to go

THE ABC is shutting down its network of physical stores as it shifts to an online retail model.

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Marketing Day: 360-Degree TrueView Video Ads, Facebook Ad Report & MarTech Strategies

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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Energy firm wins bids for leasing land near Laughlin

A large energy company is the winning bidder to lease more than 4,200 acres of publicly-owned land just outside the town of Laughlin.

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DMV ends DashPass remote access

The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has scrapped remote access to the Dash Pass queue system because too many people weren'€™t showing up after securing a place in line.

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Ford Celebrated World Emoji Day By Tweeting Beautiful Images Made Out Of Emojis

Automaker capitalizes on new "holiday" in creative way to remind people not to text and drive.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Caesars loses bid to halt lawsuits; shares drop sharply

CHICAGO - Caesars Entertainment Corp. must defend creditor lawsuits claiming up to $11 billion after a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Chicago denied a request to put those cases on hold while the casino company's operating unit remains in bankruptcy.

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Sling TV Launches Hilarious #TakeBackTV Video And Social Campaign

Internet television service pokes fun at traditional cable providers in new marketing campaign.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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How Becoming Minimalists Helped Us Pay Off $95,000 of Debt

Have you ever thought about selling everything and starting over? It sounds like a crazy idea, but minimalist living helped my partner and I pay off nearly $100,000 of debt.

We love experiencing different neighbourhoods in our city in South Africa, so we tend to move a lot. In spite of this penchant for moving, we insisted on owning and carting around a household full of stuff.

While preparing to move yet again in July 2008, I realized I simply couldn’t face the stress of packing it all up.

We also had a mountain of debt we were doing our best to ignore: two car loans and a mortgage on a rental property, which amounted to about R800,000 ($84,000); a maxed-out credit card (R35,000, or $3,700); an overdraft at its limit (R25,000, or $2,600) and a bank loan from when we’d tried to consolidate our debt (R50,000, or $5,300).

Half jokingly, I suggested that we sell all our possessions to pay off our debt. Saskia was reticent at first, but the prospect of getting out of debt, saving money on moving costs and not having to pack won her over.

Here’s how selling all our stuff and becoming minimalists helped us get out — and stay out — of debt.

Make a Financial Plan

We’d been in and out of debt often enough to know we needed help, so we hired a financial advisor to create a road map for us outlining how to get out of debt. While his road map only addressed the symptom (the debt), not the cause (creating the debt), given the miserable state of our finances at that point, addressing the symptom was the first step toward getting things back on track.

He had us list our debt in details, then pay off the loan with the highest interest rate first, following the avalanche method. Any extra money — like what we were planning to make from selling off all our stuff — would go into this plan.

Then we made a budget, one that listed in detail our monthly income and all necessary expenses. And then we got to work.

Decide What to Sell

We sat down and made a list of what we could sell, from our rental property (who really needs to be a land baron?) and our second car down to smaller items like kitchen appliances and clothing.

Ridding yourself of the clutter in your life — everything you no longer use — isn’t easy, but be ruthless. Use the three-month rule to identify everything you haven’t used in the last three months. These are the things you can sell, clearing them out of your life, and bringing in extra cash.

If three months seems daunting, try the six-month rule. The important thing is to look critically at your possessions and identify what you can part with. As you sell each item, plug that money into your debt-repayment plan and tick each loan off your list.

Stop Buying Stuff

Don’t buy things just for the sake of buying them. When we tried this, we found the less we bought, the less we wanted. Delaying a purchase to really consider it helped us realize we were caught up in the desire for something we weren’t actually going to use.

Instead, think in terms of experiences. Save for a weekend away, treat yourselves to a nice dinner out, or take the kids somewhere fun for the day. The memories from these experiences will be worth far more than a new pair of shoes, car or smartphone.

Embrace Minimalist Living

We didn’t realize it while we were focused on getting our accounts back in the black, but by selling the majority of our possessions, we’d inadvertently changed our mindset about stuff.

We saw firsthand the benefits of not owning anything. We had more time on our hands because we were no longer spending all our time maintaining everything we owned. It’s amazing how much time goes into looking after our possessions (admin, upkeep, services etc.) — they end up possessing us.

By ditching one of our cars, the rental property and other items, we lowered our monthly expenses significantly and were less stressed. We’d completely reframed our thinking and now realized spending money on experiences provided far greater dividends than say, new clothes or furniture.

Stick to a Budget

Even though we no longer buy indiscriminately, we still stick to a strict budget. Ours lists our income, expenses, bank account totals, grocery budget and spending breakdown.

The income column tallies what we’ve earned, minuses our total monthly expenses, and shows us what we’re left with. This money almost always goes straight to our savings account.

The expense column is especially detailed. It includes everything we pay for each month, from medical and household insurance to bank charges, cell phone bills, rent, groceries and retirement annuities. We also include an additional amount to cover unexpected outlays like contributing to a colleague’s birthday gift.

Because groceries and food are our biggest expenses by far, we break them down into specific categories: general (food, toiletries, cleaning materials etc.), snacks, superfoods, supplements, eating out and takeout. Seeing exactly where we spend our money helps us adjust our habits accordingly.

Track Every Expense

Our minds have a nasty habit of underestimating how fast those seemingly insignificant expenses (coffees, chocolates etc.) add up.

Make sure you add each and every expense to your budget. It helps you make sure you don’t overspend, and it’s also an excellent way of keeping things in perspective. Seeing your coffee habit in black and white can have a pretty sobering effect.

Will You Become a Minimalist?

Selling nearly everything we owned helped us get out of debt, and now helps us grow our savings faster than we thought possible. We’ve found the less we own, the more we have: more money, more time and more peace of mind.

Your Turn: Have you considered selling everything you own? Would you try it?

Angela Horn is a Cape Town-based freelance writer and minimalist lifestyle blogger on a mission to declutter the world. She’s also an urban hippie, slow living advocate and a huge fan of peanut butter.

The post How Becoming Minimalists Helped Us Pay Off $95,000 of Debt appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Best Practices for Click-to-Call for Mobile Search- July 28 Webcast

What Paid Search Advertisers Need to Know to Compete in Today's Mobile Climate

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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How Is Credit Card Interest Calculated?

If you think credit card interest is painful, try figuring out how it’s calculated. Photo: B. Rosen

Paying credit card interest is painful enough. Figuring out how that interest is calculated? That’s almost as bad! The entire process is rife with complexity — and not always set in stone.

Still, if you’re carrying a balance on a credit card, you should know the science behind how much interest you’ll ultimately pay. This post aims to answer the question: “How is credit card interest calculated, anyway?”

How to Calculate Credit Card Interest

When you’re carrying a balance on your credit card, you probably focus most of your attention on your card’s APR, or annual percentage rate. Although that’s a decent way to figure out how much you’ll pay over time, it’s not the best.

Why? Because credit cards don’t add interest to your account annually as the name suggests – they actually charge interest every day.

This daily interest calculation is decided on using your cards DPR, or daily periodic rate. You can figure out your DPR by taking your APR and dividing it by the number of days in the year.

One caveat, though: Some banks divide by 365, while others divide by 360. Confused yet? We thought so.

Here’s an example that shows how it works:

Let’s say your credit card’s APR is 11%. Divide that number by 365, and you’ll discover that your daily periodic rate is 0.03%.

Here’s where things get even trickier. When credit card issuers charge interest using your DPR, they figure how much you owe using your average daily balance. This is because your credit card balance can vary widely throughout the month as you make partial payments or more purchases.

Here’s an example to illustrate how this works:

Let’s say you owe $500 on your credit card at the beginning of the month. Fifteen days after the new billing period begins, you charge another $500 on your card. Your card issuer determines your average daily balance for the month by multiplying each balance by the number of days you carried it, then combining them and dividing by the total number of days in the month:

($500 * 15 days) + ($1,000 * 15 days) = $22,500/30 days = $750

Using the daily periodic rate above, you’ll be charged $6.75 in credit card interest that month:

$750 * 0.0003 * 30 days = $6.75

How Is My APR Decided in the First Place?

No one wants to pay a lot of credit card interest, so it’s always in your best interest to choose a card with a low APR. The good news is, there are a wealth of credit card offers with low APRs, or even promotional 0% APRs, on the market. The bad news is, you may not always be able to qualify for them – at least not yet.

That’s because card issuers use your personal information and credit history to determine what type of interest rate they’ll charge you.

For example, those with good and excellent credit who have scores over 690 will generally qualify for cards with the most attractive rates. Meanwhile, those with a FICO score in the average, poor, or bad range (630 and below) may have trouble qualifying for cards with the best terms. Compare your FICO score to these credit ranges to see how your score stacks up:

• Excellent credit: 720 and up
• Good credit: 690 to 719
• Average credit: 630-689
• Bad credit: 300-629

If your score isn’t where you want it to be, take some steps to improve it over time. Above all else, those steps should include paying all of your bills on time, paying off as much debt as possible, and taking care of any delinquent accounts or inaccuracies on your credit report.

Once you do, credit reporting agencies will take note and adjust your score accordingly.

How to Avoid Paying Credit Card Interest

If you hate the idea of paying credit card interest on your purchases, one tried and true method will save you the heartache every time. Pay your balance on time and in full every month, and you’ll never have to estimate an interest payment again.

That’s right; staying out of debt is the only true way to avoid paying interest on your purchases. Here are a few tips that can help you avoid paying interest altogether:

Set a reminder to pay your bill early: All credit cards offer a 25- to 30-day grace period where you won’t be charged interest on your purchases. Paying your bill in full before your due date can help you avoid paying interest altogether.

Only charge what you can afford to pay off each month: If you’re worried about overspending, only use your card for purchases you have the cash in the bank to pay for. One way to keep track is to carry a notebook in your pocket and write down each purchase you make on credit.

Take advantage of a 0% APR balance transfer offer: If you’re paying too much interest on a balance, you might want to consider transferring your balance to a different card with better terms. Some cards even offer 0% APR on balance transfers for a limited time.

• Related: Best Balances Transfer Offers for 2015

Use your card only in emergencies: If you’re still worried you’ll overspend, it might be wise to save your credit card just for emergencies. For everyday purchases, stick to cash or use a debit card connected to your bank account.

The post How Is Credit Card Interest Calculated? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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A Programmable Thermostat Can Save You Money, But Only if You Know How to Use It

You got a fancy programmable thermostat because you thought it would save energy — and lower your electric bill. But after a few months, you’re not seeing much of a change in your power usage. What’s the deal?

You probably don’t know how to use your fancy new thermostat.

Turns out, a whole lot of people have no idea how to properly use these better-than-ever thermostats.

Energy Research and Social Science recently released a study that found that 40% of the programmable thermostat owners surveyed didn’t use programming settings, and one-third had their devices stuck in the “hold” mode, which overrides any scheduled adjustments in temperature. A full 70% of the 192 study participants said they didn’t know where their thermostat manual was.

Washington Post reporter Chris Mooney explained some of the implications of the study. “Even though we may have the right technologies to enable dramatic cuts in energy usage,” he writes, “it doesn’t matter if people don’t know how to use them.” Mooney noted that some energy-use myths are still prevalent.

How to Work With Your Thermostat for Best Results

So, are you ready to nerd out with your thermostat for the benefit of your energy bill?

The first step is to read the manual, from cover to cover. If you’re still not sure how to apply the features of your device, take it to the Internet. YouTube is full of instructional videos for installing and programming various thermostats.

Beyond taking the time to learn, is there anything else you can do? The Post’s video of thermostat use tips says yes.

Take a look around your home. Is your thermostat near a window or door? Does it sit in a sunbeam for half the day? These placements can throw off your thermostat’s readings, making the machine think your house needs to be warmer or cooler than it really does.

If your living situation will allow it, it might be worth having your thermostat moved away from these areas.

If you’re in an apartment or situation where you can’t just bring in an electrician to check all the wiring and move your thermostat, you can still do more for your energy bill.

Program your thermostat so that it’s not working as hard when you’re not at home — say, during the workday or while you’re out to dinner and a movie. In the summer, keep the thermostat in the high 70s when you’re away; in the winter, experts recommend the mid-60s when you’re out of the house.

The myth that it takes more energy to change temperatures in your house than it does to keep it steady all the time simply isn’t true, Mooney says.

Hop over to the Washington Post for some energy saving tips and more details about the study.

Your Turn: Do you have a programmable thermostat? Do you know how to use it?

Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor, and podcaster living in Washington, DC.

The post A Programmable Thermostat Can Save You Money, But Only if You Know How to Use It appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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YouTube 360-Degree Video Comes To TrueView Ads

To encourage ad engagement, viewers can click a mouse or move their phones to experience video from all angles.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Downtown Project CEO sheds light on Bunkhouse closure

Aside from a short message posted to the venue'€™s Facebook page, and an equally brief statement issued by Mark Rowland, chief executive officer of the Downtown Project, which owns the property and assets at 124 S. 11th St., there was no reason given for the closure.

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Why You Should Invest in Stocks for Retirement

Despite the risks, stocks offer great potential for growth.

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What Kind of Leaders Are Millennials?

A new survey shows how Generation Y will define the leadership of the future.

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What’s the Fastest Way to Make $1 Million? 8 Real-Life Strategies That Worked

If you invest $400 a month and make 7% annually, this investment return calculator says you’ll have a little over $1 million in 40 years.

Let’s say you’re 30 years old and you give up movies, Starbucks and dinners out for four decades to save that $400 each month. At age 70, you’ll have a million bucks and be ready to retire, right?

But wait! An inflation calculator shows that $1 million today has the spending power of about $229,207 in 1975 dollars. If we experience similar inflation in the next 40 years, your future million will also be worth just $229,207 in today’s dollars.

Then, if you keep making 7% annually, it will provide an income of… $1,337 per month (measured in today’s dollars). So you’ll be a millionaire, but it won’t be quite like you imagine.

Of course you’ll probably have some other income from social security or a pension, and $1,337 is a nice addition to other monthly income.

But what if you don’t want to wait 40 years to make your first million? What if you don’t want to wait even 10 years? Here’s how to make a million dollars quickly — with a little luck.

1. Sell Something

Maybe you didn’t want to hear this, but it could be time to learn how to sell. One of the surest ways to wealth is to see what people need and want and provide it. But you still have to convince them that it’s your something they need. That’s sales.

That’s how Dani Johnson went from being homeless to a millionaire in less than two years. At first she rejected the idea of selling a weight loss program, as if it was beneath her. Then she realized she was homeless, drinking, using cocaine and worse, so why not sell something?

She didn’t even have a phone, but with a $15 voice mail service and a handmade flyer put up in a post office, she started getting orders for the program. When she called the manufacturer to get her inventory, she had to borrow the address of a liquor store because she had no place to accept delivery.

From that start, she built her business and later sold it, becoming a multi-millionaire in the process.

Other examples of people who made $1 million fast by selling something include:

Fraser Doherty

He was 14 years old when he started making and selling “SuperJam,” and within a few years he had annual sales in the millions.

Cameron Johnson

He sold greeting cards at age 9, then moved on to selling Beanie Babies, software and advertising, and by age 15 he was making more than $300,000 per month.

Alicia Shaffer

Within three years of opening her shop on Etsy she was making close to $1 million annually selling handmade clothing and accessories.

2. Invest in Real Estate

When Julie Broad and her husband decided to buy their first income property they had just $16,000 saved up. Seven years later, they were millionaires and she retired — at age 31. Broad says one of the things she likes about real estate is the potential leverage:

“If you have $16,000 to invest (which is what I started with seven years ago), you can buy $16,000 worth of stocks and bonds. But, if you buy real estate, you can buy a property worth $160,000 (which is exactly what I did). If your stocks go up in value by 5%, you’ve made $800. But if your property goes up by 5% you’ve made $8,000!”

You make money with income property from rents, appreciation and equity gains from the tenant’s rent paying down the mortgage. You also get to exercise creativity and control with real estate investments.

Broad points out that if your stocks drop in value, your options are limited buying more or selling more, but with real estate,

“…there are plenty of creative techniques to try… Some people rent out the garage separate from the house… you can add vending machines or laundry facilities… you can change the usage of the property to sell it to someone who can make better use of it… There are dozens of ways to turn a simple house into a money making machine with creativity.”

Many real estate investors have similar stories to tell. For example, in his book, 2 Years to a Million in Real Estate, Matthew Martinez relates how he made his fortune in rental properties after quitting his 9-to-5 job.

3. Gamble

Mortgaging the house and betting $29,000 on number 17 on the roulette table probably isn’t a good plan. But not all gambles have to be that crazy.

Consider poker. A recent article from the Mirror profiled seven people who made more than $1 million playing poker in 2014. There is risk, but on the other hand, there is also skill, and you can parlay your profits into bigger ones without risking much to start.

Another option is gambling on the popularity of new currencies. Using $1,000 he got as a gift, Erik Finman made $100,000 on Bitcoin at age 15. He then used the money to create an online tutoring startup he hopes will make millions.

And yes, buying a lottery ticket is a terrible bet, according to statisticians. But it is one of the fastest ways to make millions, and buying a ticket or two each year probably won’t break you. Just don’t add yourself to the long list of lottery winners who lost everything.

4. Make YouTube Videos

The Internet may be the most obvious platform for making a million dollars quickly. And of all the many possibilities, creating videos for YouTube is perhaps one of the most fun. Here are just a few profitable types of videos you could create:

Comedy Videos

You may not have heard of him, but comedian Ray William Johnson made $1 million per year with his funny videos.

Toy Reviews

You read it right; the “EvanTube” channels (there are three) make an estimated $1 million annually for their 9-year-old founder and his family.

Cat Videos

Grumpy Cat may not have made $100 million, but her owner Tabatha Bundesen admits, “I was able to quit my job as a waitress within days of her first appearance on social media and the phone simply hasn’t stopped ringing since.”

5. Publish Kindle Books

You can set up an account for free and start selling Kindle books on Amazon’s ebook platform this week.

You’ve probably heard about authors who have hit it big on Kindle. John Locke, for example, sold a million Kindle ebooks in five months, and Mark Dawson earned $450,000 last year from his self-published ebooks.

But you don’t even have to write your own book to make a million dollars on Kindle. You can publish other people’s books. Bob Mayer and Jen Talty say they “built a seven-figure indie publishing house in just two years.”

6. Teach People

Do you like to teach people? Well, you won’t make a million doing it in a classroom. But perhaps you can go online:

The top 10 instructors on Udemy pulled in $17 million between them — and that’s just for last year. What could you teach in an online course, even a short pilot version?

Then there is teacher Deanna Jump, who became a millionaire in less than three years by selling lesson plans to other teachers on TeachersPayTeachers.

7. Trade Stocks

It might take 40 years to make your first million in stocks if you go for that slow and steady 7% return. On the other hand, there’s investing and there’s trading. And then there are volatile penny stocks…

The SEC says “investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment.” And Tim Grittani agrees that trading in and out of these low-cost stocks like he does, often within minutes, is risky. But his $1,500 became a portfolio worth more than $1 million within three years — at age 24.

8. Invent a New Way to Make Money

Not sure you’re ready to commit to making a million with any of the ways above? Then why not invent your own way? For inspiration, here are some examples of people who did just that:

Alex Tew

He created MillionDollarHomepage.com (the first of its kind) and sold one million pixels of advertising space for $1 per pixel to fund his college degree.

Zhang Yin

She started with $3,800, buying cheap cardboard from the U.S. to recycle into boxes in China, and is worth an estimated $4.6 billion.

Alan Jenkins and Pat Burke

They have shipped more than $1 million in Irish dirt to the United States, for nostalgic transplants to use on their Irish roses or caskets.

Many other weird businesses might inspire you to invent your own way to make a fast million. Of course, even if you give it a shot, you might also want to do the usual saving and investing. Forty years from now, you might thank your former self for putting aside $400 per month to provide that extra $1,337 per month in 2015 dollars.

Your Turn: Will you make your first $1 million the slow way, or aim for a faster route to riches?

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!

Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).

The post What’s the Fastest Way to Make $1 Million? 8 Real-Life Strategies That Worked appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Audio: Defending Your Brand on a Budget

You don't have to pay an expensive fee to keep your online reputation intact.

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No More Tricks: 5 Ways to Create Content That Google Wants to Rank

You might not want to hear this…

…but the fact is that your content may not deserve to rank #1 in search engines.

Only one piece of content can rank first for each search query—that’s a fact. Google (and other search engines) work hard to make sure that the first result is truly the best content for that keyword.

According to recent Google patents, we know that Google is constantly refining and improving its algorithm that automatically “ranks,” or scores, pages based on content quality.

In addition, they have a large manual search team that grade pages based on Google’s latest quality guidelines.

Not surprisingly, the best content fulfills all those guidelines.

A few years ago, you could create “good, unique content” that wasn’t really good, but it was good enough to fool search engine algorithms. Assuming you had the right off-page optimization, you could still rank for terms. 

But Google in particular has made incredible strides in the last few years. Recently, there was a huge Phantom update that caused huge shifts in rankings. This update was the result of Google changing its core algorithm once again. It’s only going to keep improving from here.

I know that some of you are frustrated and angry because of those changes. It sucks if your traffic declines because your pages now rank lower. I understand that, but in all honesty, does your content deserve to be #1?

It probably doesn’t. Maybe it did before, and maybe it got surpassed. Regardless of why, the good news is that you can get your rankings back.

How? Create the best damn content out there. There are no secrets at this point.

Considering organic search still makes up about 64% of referral traffic, it’s worth it.

But how do you create the best content for your targeted keywords?

I’m going to show you five different ways you can take your content to the next level. If you do just this, you will get a lot more search traffic. If you combine it with solid promotional tactics, you will grow your website rapidly.

1. Bigger is often better

When you’re looking to learn about SEO, email marketing, or any other topic, which would you prefer:

a list of three tips

or

a list of 20 tips?

There’s no question that the list of 20 tips will be more useful to more people than the shorter list.

Making something bigger (longer) is typically the easiest way to make it better.

According to an in-depth study by SerpIQ, the highest ranking pages are typically longer.

While there are some exceptions (such as an extremely narrow topic), packing in more information is usually better for the user, which is what search engines want.

My personal experience shows that such posts are more shareable as well, which is an indicator of their usefulness. In the past, I’ve shared that my own analysis of Quick Sprout posts found that posts longer than 1,500 words get an extra 68% more tweets and 22% more Facebook likes than shorter ones.

You’ll notice that posts on both Quick Sprout and the NeilPatel.com blog are usually very long (4,000-6,000 words), and they do okay for search engine traffic.

There are actually two ways that you can make a post longer to improve it.

Option #1 – Add more items: The obvious option is to just add more content to a post. The most common situation in which this is the best option is with a list post. Instead of “8 ways to do X,” write “20 ways to do X.”

If you’ve done your keyword research already, you can easily pick out terms in areas where people are looking for more. Typically, the best candidates are phrases that include the words:

• tips
• strategies
• tactics
• ideas
• ways

If you’d like to find more of these, use the Google Keyword Planner. Type in your main niche (e.g., health, marketing, decorating, etc.), along with any of the above words.

For example, if I wanted to create a monster list post for the case study site, I could search for “health tips” in the tool:

Without even scrolling down much, you could see that there are quite a few keywords that could be great targets. The fact that they don’t have a huge search volume (but still decent) means that there’s a better chance that no one else has created amazing content around the keyword (would you rather compete against QuickSprout.com or supercoolhealthtips.com?).

Copy down those keywords, and then search them one-by-one. Look at the top few results:

Searching for “weight loss tips” brought up almost exclusively list posts, and that’s what we want to see. In addition, they are all relatively short, which means that you can easily create a longer list.

Option #2 – Add more detail: Many lists simply lack the depth needed to be useful. If your tip is to “weigh out your food carefully,” that assumes that readers know why they should do that and how to do it.

If you were looking for health tips, would you rather have a simple list or a detailed actionable list?

For example, the #1 weight loss tips result from the above search looks like this:

That is extremely plain and not very useful. If I were writing a post like that, I would include a much longer description underneath the tip. I could include:

• a list of the best foods (maybe pictures as well)
• a sample meal plan or snacking schedule
• an actionable shopping plan
• some examples of how to combine foods most people don’t know

In addition, I could make it more actionable by showing step-by-step personal examples of how I “add” food.

Imagine you’re the reader in this situation and you’re looking for health tips, which one would you rather read? The more detailed and actionable one, of course.

Here’s where the real power comes in: What if you not only made your tips more detailed but also made your list longer. Instead of just “10 Easy Weight Loss Tips,” you could create “30 Easy Weight Loss Tips” AND go into more detail for every single tip. That’s how you create a resource that deserves to be #1.

2. Help readers navigate the waters

I know it might’ve been a while, but can you remember what it was like when you were first trying to learn about Internet marketing?

You knew absolutely nothing and had no clue where to start (although if you found Quick Sprout, I think you’re doing something right).

Additionally, the first few guides and e-books you found likely left you with more questions and confusion than you had when you started.

The good news is that when you’re introducing a new topic to a reader (big or small), you have the opportunity to make it easy for them. If your article can successfully educate a reader about a new topic more completely than any other alternative can, you deserve to rank #1.

In general, there are three ways to make it easier for readers to understand your writing.

Option #1- Make it clearer: Start by breaking down things as much as possible. Use words that almost all readers are familiar with, and don’t try to tackle a huge topic all at once.

For example, I’m not going to try to teach you how to succeed as a marketer in a single post. What I do instead is pick a much smaller part of marketing, and go into it with more detail. That allows me to really break things down for you.

Additionally, use metaphors, similes, and analogies wherever possible to describe complicated (abstract) concepts. If you don’t remember those terms from your English classes, they basically describe ways of comparing two different things (in slightly different ways).

“Metaphors allow you to make the complex simple and the controversial palatable. Conversely, metaphors allow you to create extraordinary meaning out of the seemingly mundane.” – Brian Clark

The biggest advantage of comparisons is that they let you present your teachings in multiple ways. Hopefully, at least one will be clear to your readers.

Some are really obvious and can span an entire post like Do Business Like a Prostitute.

Other comparisons can be used sporadically when a complicated subject comes up.

For example, in my guide to growth hacking, I compared the growth hacker funnel (which most people have never heard of) to a car oil funnel. This specific example helped readers understand that traffic is like oil, and it needs to run down a funnel if it’s going to reach the destination, i.e., the engine (or growth for your website).

Besides comparisons, you can also use examples to help clear things up. Often, when you hear a new concept, it makes sense, but it’s not immediately obvious how you can actually apply it.

That’s why I try to include as many examples as possible when I advise you to do something. For example, when I wrote about writing emails to your subscribers to let them know about your new posts, I included an example of an actual email I sent:

Finally, you can also use personal data or results from experimentation. For example, in this  post, I shared with you the results of my personal Quick Sprout analysis of word count impact on share count. I regularly publish the results of my experiments to help you learn.

Option #2 – Fill in any holes: Sometimes, you’ll come across a #1 ranking that is actually good. However, even good content often has holes. It might address the primary topic thoroughly but miss something, or it might not address secondary questions well.

There’s a really easy way to spot most holes. Since the article has probably been ranking for a certain keyword or phrase for a while, it’s had quite a bit of traffic. Typically, that means it will also have quite a few comments.

Many comments will note anything that was missing from the article. It’s not always valid criticism, but often it is.

Even in my posts, I can’t cover everything 100% (I try!). For example, I wrote the post “22 Gmail Plugins That All Content Marketers Need to Know About.” It was a relatively popular article, and I think it was well-received. That being said, if you look through the comments, you’ll find some like this:

I check out the recommended plugin and saw it looks pretty cool—it would have made a great addition to the list. There were others as well that I missed.

So even a piece of content that I think is pretty good (although I might be a little biased) can be improved in a number of ways.

Option #3 – Correct any mistakes: Have you ever heard that you can’t trust everything you read on the Internet? Most likely.

Although the web has a ton of amazing resources that you can access instantly, it also houses a ton of misinformation.

In addition, since pages never go away unless they are deleted or the website goes defunct, a lot of information is out of date.

For example, SEO guidelines saw many changes in the past decade. What used to be good advice is now terrible advice.

If you search for “Google ranking factors”, you’ll still see results from the past few years. Although they were good posts at the time, they now contain mistakes.

Compare that to the #1 result, which is a post on Backlinko. Instead of focusing on the year, Brian Dean keeps it continually updated, which means that it will continue to be the best result for searchers without losing its relevance.

3. iPod or Zune- which would you choose?

Almost 10 years ago now, the race for the portable mp3/mp4 player market began.

Apple launched the iPod classic, soon followed by the iPod touch, while Microsoft launched the Zune.

The Zune was a pretty colossal failure, while the iPod went on to help Apple become even more of a leader in technology.

The funny thing is that many argued that the functionality of the Zune was actually better than that of the competing products. The problem was that it was bulky and ugly and not exactly the cool product to be seen with.

In short: looks matter.

And just like a case and logo affect the user experience with an mp3 player, the design of your website affects the user experience of any of your readers.

Even with the exact same content, two different designs can yield drastically different results. Users may love one while not even to bother reading through to the other.

If you want to create a better piece of content for a search, start (or finish) by improving the appearance.

Formatting technique #1 – Include images (bonus for custom): We all have instincts. If someone throws something at you, you automatically flinch. For most online readers, if they see a page of nothing but text, they automatically run.

A wall of text looks exactly like a textbook. If you make reading your content seem like work, very few readers will put in the effort to read it.

The primary way I break up text (besides keeping paragraphs short) is with images. We process images up to 60,000 times faster than text. It’s much easier to look at a picture than it is to read a paragraph.

The research on great content says that you should have at least one picture for every 350 words.

Any image is better than none, but some images are better than others. In my experience, here are the best types of images to use in blog posts:

• graphs
• charts
• stock images
• custom images
• cartoons/comics

Graphs and charts are especially useful as they can help support your points and communicate important information. They’re also cheap, since you can typically just link to a source or create them yourself.

Custom images are fantastic but are more resource intensive. They will get you more social shares and backlinks, but take more time to make. You can either pay a designer to create them, or create your own.

Formatting technique #2 – Create a custom layout: If you really want to take a piece of content to the next level, create a custom layout for it. This is not easy or cheap (in time or money), so you can’t always do it.

However, for really important content, like my definitive guides, I find it’s worth it.

So what do I mean by a custom layout?

With a typical blog post, formatting is always the same. This isn’t a bad thing, but it limits you.

With my definitive guides, though, I was able to create custom tables of contents…

…and different background/fonts…

…and tons of custom images in the background to help readability.

It’s up to you how much time and money you want to invest in a particular guide. But the more you do, the more readable and useful it typically becomes, which will help you rank #1.

Formatting technique #3 – Use lists whenever possible: People love to skim on the web. They typically read no more than 28% of content.

There are many reasons to use lists:

• they are more readable (easier to skim);
• they break up content; and
• they are much less awkward than long-winded sentences.

Formatting technique #4 – Structure for maximum readability: People like to read fast; that’s partly why they skim. But they also do it because they have limited time and there is so much content vying for their attention.

You need to make your content as reader-friendly as possible. The easier it is to read, the more likely someone will read enough of it to be drawn in to pay closer attention to it.

The main key is to have a clear structural hierarchy. By that, I mean that your content needs to be logically organized within an article.

That’s where subheadings come in.

I format my main subheadings just like most others, wrapped in an H2 tag. This way they stand out. Readers can skim through an article and easily identify the subheadings. If one catches their interest, they’ll dig into it.

Here’s where my formatting on Quick Sprout and my other blogs is different. Most blog posts are written with H3s, H4s, and even H5s sometimes. Each of these sub-subheadings are on their own lines and stand out from the rest of the text.

The problem with this, from my perspective, is that it is really difficult to tell them apart when skimming. Each type of heading tag is typically of a similar color and size.

So how is a reader supposed to differentiate them from each other? They can’t—not easily at least.

Instead of skimming the article and paying attention to a select few important headings, readers just keep scrolling through. That’s because nothing is likely to catch their attention when there are too many subheadings.

But, of course, sometimes you need to break up a section further. The solution is to strategically use bold and italics to signify these breaks.

Since the bold doesn’t span the entire line, and it’s not any bigger than the rest of the text, it won’t interfere with skimming. However, if someone is actually reading the section, it will be clear that the bold description is the beginning of a sub-section.

That’s a small tweak that can produce significant results in terms of user experience.

4. Give them something they can believe in

Blogs originally were created as sorts of online personal diaries.

Since then, they’ve evolved to be much more informative and entertaining. Because of that, anyone can create a blog overnight and post as an “expert,” even if they aren’t.

That leads to a lot of wrong advice even if it’s not written like that on purpose.

So when someone makes a claim or statement in a blog post, most readers are left with a thought: “Is that really true?”

While this is one of the toughest parts of the puzzle for Google to put together, having credible content is important. The #1 result needs to be content that users can trust.

My best guess is that Google uses user interaction metrics to determine the credibility of the content. If you use either of the two methods I’m about to show you, readers will trust your content more and stop searching for alternatives, which should help your rankings.

Option #1 – Interview or cite experts: If I’m writing a blog post, I have to convince you that I’m an expert that should be trusted.

This is where I ran into problems with the nutrition blog. Since I’m not a licensed nutritionist, it’s hard for me to offer any opinions and expect them to be taken seriously.

However, interviewing nutritionists and including quotes throughout the article would add a huge amount of credibility to my points.

Think about what podcasts typically are. For example, Entrepreneur on Fire is one of the most popular marketing podcasts. At first, John Lee Dumas was a “nobody,” so no one would listen to a show that was just about his entrepreneurial experience.

So what did he do? He invited a guest to join the podcast every episode. They were automatically credible because they had already achieved success and established themselves as experts. People wanted to hear their opinions, and that’s why the show got so popular.

Now, after years of hard work, John is also considered an entrepreneurial expert, and people would tune into his shows even if it’s just him talking.

But until you become an expert, use the credibility that other experts have already developed.

Option #2 – Support every claim with data: Expert opinions are one way to support a point. Another way, that is equally as good in most situations (better or worse in some), is to cite credible data.

Many people have told me that I include a ridiculous amount of links in my posts, and they’re right. I try to back up every single claim if possible. The more data and references you can include, the more trusted your content will (and should) be.

There’re many ways to find statistics, but the simplest way to start is to just search for “[your niche] + statistics.”

If you’re in a niche like marketing, there are a ton of great resources that have up to hundreds of useful statistics.

Often, you can also get even more specific. For example, I could look for “content marketing statistics” if I was writing an article on that specific subject.

5. Give readers control in complex situations

Your audience is composed of many different types of people even if they all have a common interest in what you’re writing about.

They have different time available to learn, different amounts of experience, different preferences for learning, and so on.

On top of creating great content, you can also give readers control over how they consume the content, which will lead to better user satisfaction—the key criteria for rankings.

Tactic #1 – Offer content in multiple formats: Some people are visual learners, while others like to learn by reading or by listening. I’m a big fan of giving people what they want.

That’s why I produce both long text-based articles and high-quality infographics on a regular basis.

I post them separately, but you can also combine an infographic with an article to give readers more options:

If you know that your readers might appreciate being able to save a copy of your article or print it out, you can offer a PDF version of the content.

Since these extra formats take extra resources to put together, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask for a social share or email address before giving them out (it’s up to you):

Not all articles lend themselves to multiple formats, but keep it in mind.

Tactic #2 – Include a table of contents: Remember we talked about that people skim? They scan the content for headlines. Why not just give it to them? That way, they can’t accidently miss what they’re looking for because they’re scrolling too fast.

You can do this with a table of contents.

What’s that site that ranks decently for most terms? Oh yeah, Wikipedia, which actually ranks #1 for about 56% of searches. If you want to see great content, look at Wikipedia.

One thing Wikipedia does really well is it includes a table of contents on every single page.

It’s very simple, but it does exactly what it needs to. There are many WordPress plugins that you can use to create a similar table of contents in seconds.

Additionally, you can take it a step further on occasion. You can combine this tactic along with improving the formatting of your content by making an image-based table of contents.

It will draw even more attention, and it makes a great first impression on readers.

Tactic #3 – Let users filter out options: Some posts, especially list posts, can get out of hand once you start competing with other posts.

For example, Point Blank SEO has the biggest list of SEO tactics that I’ve seen by far. I’m not going to count individually, but from a quick estimate, I think it has over 150 tactics on the page.

The average reader doesn’t want 150 options even if it is impressive.

That prompted the author, Jon Cooper, to create a filtering mechanism.

You can check or uncheck the amount of time you have to implement a tactic as well as what it requires (dependencies) and the link value. This way, readers can take the massive list down to a few highly relevant and useful results, leaving them completely satisfied.

There aren’t any easy ways to implement this, so you’ll need to hire a web developer. But on a rare occasion when you end up with content that could be improved with a filter, it’s probably worth it.

Conclusion

Creating great content isn’t easy, but that’s the only way you will be able to achieve and sustain #1 rankings.

Think of each article as an investment. The more time and resources you spend making it the best resource on that particular topic, the more you will get out of it down the line.

But keep in mind that it will take time. It takes months of consistent publishing of top-notch content to see any results, and you won’t get 100,000 visitors per month over night.

The last major point I’d like to leave you with is don’t just use a single strategy or tactic from this article—combine them.

Think of a typical Quick Sprout article:

• Is it long and in-depth? – yes

• It is clear, simple, and actionable? – yes

• Is it user-friendly and readable? – yes

• Is it backed up with expert opinions and statistics? – yes

• Does it give readers multiple options? – sometimes (this could be improved)

My average article ticks 4 out of the 5 points for creating great content. That is how you create content that truly deserves to rank #1.

I’d love to hear how you’ve tried to make your content as great as possible in the past, and what you’re going to try now. Leave me a comment below!

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