Why Donald Trump’s net worth might be down more than $50 million since running for president

Since starting his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has made a series of controversial statements that his detractors say have disparaged women and immigrants. Surprisingly, his statements have seemed to endear him more than they've hurt him among likely primary voters. His business contacts and corporate partners, however, are not as understanding.

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Apple CEO says diversity is key to great companies

Technology and diversity are the key to a strong corporate America, says Apple CEO Tim Cook, which is why his company is giving iPads and Macs to public schools around the country.

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Taxi rates in Southern Nevada to rise at end of week

Southern Nevada taxi rates will go up at the end of the week with a slight bump in the drop and mileage rates and a 3 percent tax that also will affect limousines and transportation network companies.

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Best Personal Checking Account Promotions in 2015

If you need a new checking account, banks from coast to coast are offering attractive promotional bonuses to lure your business. A bank checking account bonus usually consists of cash deposited into your account after you open a new account and meet certain criteria within a specified timeframe, including making a minimum deposit, setting up a direct deposit, or making a set number of debit card or bill payments.

This list focuses on higher-dollar personal checking account offers at banks with a national or significant regional presence. It is by no means exhaustive, and some will be limited to customers in certain states. You’ll want to check with smaller local banks you’re considering to see whether they have any promotions, too. If you know of a great offer we’re missing, let us know in the comments below.

You’ll note that many of the accounts below require you to jump through some hoops to avoid monthly fees. If you’d rather not deal with that headache, check out our post on the Best Free Checking Accounts.

If you’re also in the market for savings options, we offer advice on the Best High-Interest Savings Accounts and the Best Money Market Accounts. If you’re considering CDs, read up on How to Find the Best CD Rates.

Nationwide and Online Offers

Chase: Up to $150 bonus for new checking customers

If you’re new to Chase bank, you can nab $150 for opening a new Chase Total Checking account. To take advantage of the Chase checking account bonus, you’ll need to deposit $25 or more when you open the account, as well as hook up direct deposit within 60 days.

Chase will waive the $12 monthly service fee on its Total Checking accounts if you either:

1. receive at least $500 in direct deposits every month in the account,
2. maintain a daily balance of at least $1,500, or
3. maintain an average balance of at least $5,000 across qualifying Chase accounts.

Chase has more than 5,000 branches nationwide, including most of the West and Midwest, and more than 15,500 ATMs. You’ll also get free online banking, mobile banking, and bill pay as well as a debit card with chip technology.

Bank of America: $100 for new checking customers

Anyone who doesn’t already have a personal checking account with Bank of America can receive a $100 bonus by opening a new account by the end of the year. You’ll need to use promo code BAW100N when you open the account, and have to set up and maintain direct deposits of at least $2,000 a month for 90 days.

Bank of America’s Core Checking has a $12 monthly service fee that can be waived if you:

1. hook up at least one direct deposit of at least $250,
2. keep an average daily balance of at least $1,500, or
3. are a Bank of America Preferred Rewards client.

You’ll also have online bill pay, a debit card with embedded chip technology, access to the Keep the Change savings program, and a network of more than 16,000 ATMs. Bank of America has more than 5,000 branches nationwide.

PNC Bank: Up to $300 for new checking customers

PNC Bank will give you a $50, $200, or $300 bonus until Aug. 31 depending on how much you hook up in direct deposits to your new Virtual Wallet checking account. In the first 60 days of having your account, you’ll need to hook up $500 in direct deposits for a $50 bonus, $2,000 for a $200 bonus, or $5,000 for a $300 bonus. You’ll also need to make at least one payment with PNC online bill pay.

The monthly service charge of $7 can be waived if you:

1. maintain an average monthly balance of $500,
2. have at least $500 in monthly direct deposits or
3. make all deposits and withdrawals via ATMs or online and mobile banking.

You’ll get a free Visa debit card, free online bill pay and mobile banking, and access to more than 8,000 ATMs. PNC will also reimburse two non-PNC ATM fees per statement period. PNC has 2,600 branches in 19 states and Washington, D.C.

TIAA Direct: $150 for new checking customers

Use promo code 65DD150 through Aug. 31, 2015 when you open an Interest Checking account at online bank TIAA Direct, and receive a $150 bonus when you hook up at least $2,500 in direct deposits within 90 days.

Minimum opening deposit is $100, and there are no monthly maintenance fees. Account features include mobile check deposit, reimbursement of ATM fees up to $15 a month, and an APY of 0.05% to 0.15%, depending on your balance.

EverBank: 1.60% APY bonus rate for new checking customers

Open a Yield Pledge Checking account with EverBank, and you’ll receive a 1.60% APY bonus rate for the first six months on balances up to $100,000. After that, your rate will adjust to anywhere from 0.30% to 0.61% APY, depending on your balance.

You’ll need at least $1,500 to open the account. There is no monthly fee, and you’ll receive free online bill pay and mobile check deposits. EverBank also reimburses fees from ATMs nationwide.

Discover Bank: $50 for existing customers

Existing Discover card or non-checking Discover Bank customers can receive a $50 bonus for opening a Cashback Checking account until Sept. 15, 2015. There is no minimum deposit required, and the account has no monthly fee — no strings attached.

You’ll also have free access to a massive network of 60,000 ATMs, free online bill pay, free checks, and assorted other perks. The biggest might be getting 10 cents back on every debit-card purchase, check, or online bill payment, up to 100 transactions a month. That could put up to $120 back in your pocket each year.

Regional Offers

SunTrust Bank: Up to $200 for new checking customers

SunTrust Bank will give you a $100 or $200 bonus until Oct. 12, 2015, for opening a new Essential Checking or Select Checking account, respectively.

You’ll need the code ONLINECHK100 for the $100 offer, and must hook up $500 or more in direct deposits within 60 days. You’ll need the code ONLINECHK200 for the $200 offer, and must set up $2,000 or more in direct deposits within 60 days. Minimum opening balance for both accounts is $100.

To avoid a $7 monthly maintenance fee with Essential Checking, you’ll need either:

1. 10 transactions per statement,
2. $500 or more in direct deposits per statement, or
3. at least a $500 daily balance.

For Select checking, the minimum daily balance is $2,000, or $2,000 in direct deposits to avoid a $15 monthly fee.

Benefits include free online banking and bill pay, a Mastercard debit card, free access to more than 2,500 ATMs, and no-fee person-to-person payments. SunTrust has more than 1,500 branches primarily in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Fifth Third Bank: $150 for new checking customers

Open a new Essential Checking account with Fifth Third Bank until Oct. 17, 2015, and you can receive a $150 bonus. Fifth Third will also donate $150 to Stand Up to Cancer.

You’ll need to make a minimum opening deposit of at least $50, link up direct deposit, and make three online bill payments within 90 days. Essential Checking has an $11 monthly fee that can be waived if you maintain a $1,500 monthly average balance across your Fifth Third checking and savings accounts.

Account perks include unlimited check writing, free online banking and bill pay, and free access to more than 2,400 ATMs. Fifth Third has more than 1,300 branches in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Citizens Bank: $150 for new checking customers

Citizens Bank is offering a $150 bonus for new One Deposit Checking customers. You’ll need to make an opening deposit of at least $25 and then make either one additional deposit or five qualifying debit card payments within 45 days. The account’s $9.99 monthly fee is waived as long as you make one deposit of any amount per statement period.

You’ll have free online banking and bill pay and access to more than 3,100 ATMs. Citizens has more than 1,200 branches in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

KeyBank: Up to $300 for new customers

KeyBank will give you a $100 or $300 bonus until Oct. 9, 2015 when you open certain types of KeyBank checking accounts.

For the $100 offer, open a Hassle-Free, Key Express, Key Advantage, Key Privilege, or Key Privilege Select account with code ONAS0615 and:

1. make a direct deposit of $500 or more and
2. make at least five total debit-card and bill payments within 60 days.

For the $300 offer, open a Key Advantage, Key Privilege, or Key Privilege Select account with code ONPA0615 and:

1. make a direct deposit of $1,000 or more and
2. make at least five total debit card and bill payments within 60 days.

Key’s basic Hassle-Free checking account has no monthly fee or minimum balance, free online banking and bill pay, and access to nearly 1,300 ATMs. There are nearly 1,000 branches in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

Santander Bank: Up to $240 for new checking and saving customers

Open and link an extra20 checking and savings account at Santander Bank, and you could earn $20 a month (up to $240 a year) in bonuses.

To earn the bonus, you’ll need to set up at least $1,500 in direct deposits a month, which will earn you $10 for that month. You’ll also need to pay at least two bills with the bank’s online bill payment service each month to earn another $10.

The bonus goes into your savings account. You’ll need at least $25 to open the checking account and $10 to open the savings account. The checking account has a $10 service fee that you’ll only pay if you don’t maintain at least $1,500 in direct deposits.

Santander has about 700 branches and 2,100 ATMs in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

M&T Bank: $150 for new checking customers

Open a new MyChoice Checking account with M&T Bank, and receive a $150 bonus until Sept. 30, 2015. You’ll need to link up at least a $100 direct deposit within 90 days to receive the bonus. The account has a $6.95 monthly maintenance fee that can be waived with:

1. direct deposits of at least $200 a month,
2. 10 or more debit card purchases or payments each month, or
3. an average monthly balance of at least $500.

You’ll receive free online banking and bill pay, and access to more than 1,500 ATMs. M&T has more than 650 branches in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

BMO Harris: $200 for new checking customers

New checking customers at BMO Harris can get a $200 bonus until Jan. 22, 2016, by opening an account with a deposit of at least $100 and hooking up at least $300 in monthly direct deposits. The bank’s Everyday Checking account has a $10 monthly maintenance fee that can be waived with at least $500 in direct deposits per statement period or a $1,000 minimum daily balance.

You’ll receive a debit card with chip technology, online banking and bill pay, and access to more than 1,300 ATMs. BMO Harris has more than 600 branches in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida.

First Citizens Bank: $200 for new checking customers

Customers who open a Premier or Prestige checking account with First Citizens Bank can receive a $200 bonus until Nov. 30, 2015. To receive the bonus, you’ll need to either hook up a direct deposit of at least $500, make 10 debit card purchases, or complete five bill payments or Popmoney transactions via online or mobile banking within 60 days. The minimum opening deposit is $100.

Premier checking has a $16 monthly fee and Prestige has a $20 monthly fee; both can be waived by meeting various criteria, including maintaining a daily balance of $5,000 or $25,000 across First Citizens accounts, respectively.

With both accounts, you’ll receive a free Visa debit card, free online banking and bill pay, and out-of-network ATM fee reimbursements. First Citizens has more than 560 branches in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington state, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.

The post Best Personal Checking Account Promotions in 2015 appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Reid calls for NV Energy to "get real" about rooftop solar

Sen. Harry Reid on Monday called on NV Energy to "get real" about rooftop solar or risk alienating customers and perhaps losing in court.

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Proposal calls for LVCVA chief to get $100K raise, $128K bonus

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's compensation committee was in a generous mood Monday, recommending an increase in President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter's salary that would put him in the top 20 of Nevada's public officials.

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Nevada gets $300,000 grant to help with overseas initiatives

Nevada was awarded a $300,000 federal grant to help fund ongoing initiatives with China and Poland, the Governor's Office of Economic Development announced Monday.

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Las Vegas gaming company centerstage as stock market tumbles

A Las Vegas-based gaming company found itself front and center during one of stock market's wildest days on record.

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Wild day for stock market as Dow closes down almost 600 points

U.S. stock indexes plunged almost 4 percent on Monday as investors, rattled about China's economy, sold heavily in an unusually volatile session that confirmed the S&P 500 was formally in a correction.

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Local financial planners try to calm nerves as stocks plunge

It was a teeth-gnashing day for investors.

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Healthy, Affordable Dinners for Busy Nights: 12 Meals to Save in Your Freezer

Want to save more? Click here and we’ll help you makeover your grocery budget!

Meals in the freezer are like money in the bank.

For one thing, you can buy ingredients in bulk, and often at a discount. For another, dishes that freeze well mean less food waste. Didn’t quite finish that homemade sweet potato soup? Pop the leftovers in the freezer and enjoy a “free” dinner months down the line.

But despite their cost-cutting benefits, freezer meals can get a bad rap. Too often, we think of retro casseroles or cheesy, carb-laden dishes — boring, bland trays of food lacking vegetables and fresh, vibrant flavor.

It’s time to give them a second chance! Frozen dishes can be light, healthy and delicious.

Here are some of my favorites, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and paleo options.

1. Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Soup

Photo Credit: Turnip the Oven

This soup will cost you peanuts — literally. And it’s vegan to boot.

The secret ingredient is 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, which imparts an incredibly luscious texture. A big pinch of cinnamon and a sprinkle of chopped peanuts are the perfect finishing touch.

The recipe yields two quarts, so you can serve one tonight and stash the other for another time.

2. Cheesy Vegan Rutabaga Casserole

Photo Credit- Simple Seasonal

The rutabaga is an underappreciated, dirt-cheap root vegetable. In this vegan recipe, you’ll layer thinly sliced rutabagas with kale and sweet potatoes, then smother them with cashew cheese.

To freeze the casserole, assemble and wrap it tightly in a layer of plastic wrap and foil. Thaw and bake before serving.

3. Salsa Verde Smothered Veggie Burritos

Photo Credit: Naive Cook Cooks

While they’re always cheap, most burritos aren’t exactly low-fat. This vegetarian recipe forgoes the calorie-laden meat and guacamole, replacing them with taco-spiced peppers and mushrooms and cilantro-lime rice.

To freeze, wrap burritos individually in aluminum foil.

4. Zucchini Noodles with Jalapeno Pesto

Photo Credit: Turnip the Oven

Wait, you don’t already have pesto in your freezer? You’ve gotta get on that. Pesto freezes beautifully for months on end.

This version replaces pricey pine nuts and Parmigiano-Reggiano with more wallet-friendly walnuts and Asiago cheese. Jalapeno adds an unexpected, spicy kick.

To serve, simply defrost the pesto and toss with spiralized zucchini for a low-calorie, gluten-free dish, or freshly cooked pasta for a more substantial meal.

5. Chicken & Spinach Lasagna Rollups

Photo Credit: Jessica Wood

Traditional lasagna is often loaded with ground beef and oozing with cheese. Delicious? Yes. Healthy? Not so much.

These chicken- and spinach-stuffed rollups are easier, faster and lighter. The recipe yields two pans — one to bake and one to freeze.

6. Quinoa Zucchini Casserole

Photo Credit: Food Done Light

There’s an infamous recipe online for a broccoli cheese casserole with canned cream of mushroom soup, loaded with fat and sodium.

This recipe is a refreshing revamp made with protein-packed quinoa and fresh mushrooms. Make it now while markets are still overflowing with cheap zucchini.

7. Carrot Soup with Orange, Cinnamon and Ginger

Photo Credit: Turnip the Oven

A two-pound bag of carrots costs less than $2 at the grocery store, so carrot soup is always a huge bargain.

This is my all-time favorite version; I must’ve tested the recipe half a dozen times to get it right. The secret ingredients are freshly squeezed orange juice and full-fat coconut milk. This is a make-ahead must for winter cold season.

8. Kale Lentil Balls

Photo Credit: Veggies Don’t Bite

These kid-approved bean balls include with mushrooms, kale, lentils, oats, flax meal and sunflower seeds. Could they be any healthier?

Smother them with your favorite tomato sauce and serve over pasta, or stuff them in a roll for a veggie meatball sub. They’re quite filling, so you can freeze half the batch for another meal.

9. Chipotle Sweet Potato Turkey Burgers

Photo Credit: Well Plated

These gluten-free, paleo (if you skip the bun) burgers stretch a single pound of ground turkey into six portions by supplementing it with grated sweet potato. Freeze the uncooked patties for up to three months.

10. Hummus and Red Pepper Soup

Photo Credit: Turnip the Oven

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true — a couple of containers of hummus can feed six people for dinner.

This vegan soup includes so many wholesome (and cheap!) ingredients, including rice, spinach and chickpeas, that a big bowl really is a complete meal. I stock up and make this whenever hummus is on sale.

11. Teriyaki Meatballs

Photo Credit: Rhubarbarians

Yes, these meatballs are made with slightly pricier organic beef, but it’s so much better for you! Justify the splurge by freezing half for a future meal.

The addictive homemade teriyaki sauce is spiked with plenty of garlic and freshly grated ginger — you’ll never pay for the bottled kind again.

12. Slow Cooker Black Bean Chili

Photo Credit: Vegan in the Freezer

This is the ultimate cheap, healthy, fuss-free meal. The slow cooker transforms dried beans, a couple of cans of diced tomatoes, an onion and pantry-staple spices into a hearty, smoky, fiber- and protein-rich vegan chili.

Your Turn: What’s your favorite meal to make ahead and freeze? How do freezer meals help you save money?

Want to save more? Click here and we’ll help you makeover your grocery budget!

Lucy Baker blogs about vegetables (and occasionally desserts) at Turnip the Oven.

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Man killed in police shootout at Rio was high on cocaine, Metro says

A man wanted by police in connection with several casino heists was high on cocaine when police shot and killed him at the Rio last December, a Metro detective testified Monday.

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Marketing Day: Jump Start Your Content Marketing, Google’s Eddystone & EU Case Against Google

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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Virgin and Halifax offer top rates for savers

Sylvia Morris

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Halifax has raised the rate on its one-year fixed rate cash Isa for new savers to a tax-free 1.6%.

Halifax has raised the rate on its one-year fixed rate cash Isa for new savers to a tax-free 1.6%.

Virgin and Halifax offer top rates for savers

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Halifax has raised the rate on its one-year fixed rate cash Isa for new savers to a tax-free 1.6%. The move puts it among the top rates on the high street, just behind Virgin Money's 1.71% and Nationwide at 1.65%. If you are willing to run your account over the internet, then Shawbrook Bank pays a higher 1.75%. For two years Coventry Building Society pays 2.05% fixed until 30 November 2017, while Halifax, Shawbrook and Virgin Money along with Skipton Building Society all pay 2%. On easy-access cash Isas, National Savings & Investment Direct Isa pays a top 1.5%. But you cannot transfer your existing cash Isas into this account. The best deals for transfers include Nationwide Instant Isa Saver issue 3 at 1.4%. Virgin Money pays a higher 1.51% on its Defined Access Isa, but you are limited to making three withdrawals a year from your capital. Fixed-rate bonds and easy-access accounts On taxable fixed-rate bonds, top deals include Charter Savings Bank at 2.06% (1.65% after tax) and Kent Reliance at 2.02% (1.62%), both for 12 months. For two years you can earn 2.38% (1.9%) with Secure Trust Bank or 2.35% (1.88%) with Aldermore Bank. On easy access accounts French bank RCI, part of the Renault group, pays 1.65% (1.32%) on its Freedom Account. With this account you are protected by the European deposit scheme, not the UK equivalent. The European scheme gives you €100,000 (around £73,485) cover if the bank goes bust. BM Savings, part of Halifax, pays 1.6% (1.28%) on its Online Extra issue 18, but this comes with a bonus for the first year, after which the rate drops to 0.5% (0.4%). Kent Reliance High Balance Easy Access account issue 2 pays 1.55% (1.24%) on a minimum £20,000. This article was written for our sister website Money Observer

Find the best Cash Isa at Moneywise Compare

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Enterprise Web Analytics Platforms 2015 – New Marketing Intelligence Report

Completely updated with the latest industry statistics, developing market trends, new vendor profiles, and product updates.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Jump-Start Your Content Marketing With These 4 Strategies

With all the time and effort that goes into content marketing, the big question is: How do you get it to truly work? Columnist Quinn Whissen outlines four winning strategies.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Obsessed With Chipotle? 6 Ways to Get a Bigger Burrito for the Same Price

Leave it to interns to hack the fast-food industry and figure out how to get more food for less money. Interns always know the best tricks for getting free food.

Thanks to one intern at ApartmentList.com, we now know six ways to get at least 15% more ingredients — and in some cases, up to 86% more — in your Chipotle burrito.

Dylan Grosz visited the restaurant several times over two weeks and ordered five burritos each visit to determine where the biggest benefits were apparent.

He toted his haul back to the office to separate and weigh the ingredients, which is quite noble — I probably would have gotten four minutes into this experiment before aimlessly eating all the variables.

How to Get More Food in Your Chipotle Burrito

“Burrito legend has it that the bowl’s lack of tortilla constraints influences servers to give burrito bowl customers huge portions in general,” Grosz noted.

So instead of getting those fajita veggies wrapped, ask for a bowl and wait for the goodness to be heaped on.

You can still get a tortilla — just ask for it on the side. The intern found that asking for a bowl-plus-tortilla over a wrapped burrito yielded 15% more food in his belly.

Another surefire method is one I see a lot in the Chipotle line, so I know servers don’t balk at the request: two meats.

Grosz’ tests showed that by asking for two meat options in your burrito — half chicken, half pork, whatever your craving — you won’t get a true half-and-half split. You’ll really get three-quarter scoops of each meat. The intern says that you get 54% more meat, resulting in a 9% increase in total burrito weight.

The intern warns that you’ll be charged for the more pricy of your meat choices, but what’s a couple of cents when you’re getting almost two scoops for the price of one?

Remember to get those two meat options in a burrito bowl to maximize the generosity of Chipotle’s serving spoons!

Foil-Busting Burrito Fun

If you use these two ordering tricks plus the other four the intern suggests, you’ll have a gigantic meal, a burrito so large that you’ll have to double-wrap it with two tortillas ordered on the side. In fact, you’ll get a burrito that weighs up to 86% more than a normal burrito from Chipotle.

Splitting your giant burrito bowl with a friend is kind. Saving it for yourself to eat for two meals is smart spending. But such simple schemes were not enough to determine the fate of the many, many burritos brought back to Grosz’ office.

After parsing out and weighing the ingredients of each burrito during the experiment (going to guess he used a few forks for this, not his hands), Grosz reassembled the burritos and left them for the masses in the office kitchen.

“They all mysteriously disappeared within a few minutes,” he says. I guess you could say he was paying it forward.

Visit the ApartmentList.com Rentonomics blog for all the money-saving, order-increasing tips before your next trip to Chipotle.

Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster based in Baltimore. She orders a veggie bowl so the guac comes free.

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At energy summit, Reid helps unveil new Pahrump solar project

Nevada's U.S. Senator Harry Reid on Monday helped unveil a new 80-acre "community solar generation project" to be managed by Pahrump-based Valley Electric Association.

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Stop The Interruptions! Marketing In The Age Of The Always-On Consumer

The growth of the Internet of Things is bringing marketers unprecedented opportunities, says columnist Kevin Lindsay. But he warns it also increases the likelihood of getting it wrong.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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Investigators rule cause of Cosmopolitan pool fire undetermined

Fire investigators could not find exactly what caused a July pool deck fire at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Clark County officials said Monday.

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Personal loan rates at lowest-ever levels

Laura Whitcombe

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Personal loan rates for sums of £5,000 and £7,500 have fallen to their lowest-ever.

Personal loan rates for sums of £5,000 and £7,500 have fallen to their lowest-ever.

The average rate for a £5,000 loan is 6.05%, which is just over a fifth lower than it was at the start of 2015, according to analysis by MoneySuperMarket.com.

Personal loan rates at lowest-ever levels

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Personal loan rates for sums of £5,000 and £7,500 have fallen to their lowest-ever. The average rate for a £5,000 loan is 6.05%, which is just over a fifth lower than it was at the start of 2015, according to analysis by MoneySuperMarket.com. The average rate for a loan of £7,500 is 4.19%, some 16 percentage points lower than what it was at the beginning of the year. The reduction in rate would save a borrower £168 over five years. The rates on loans between £15,001 and £19,999 have also been cut by several lenders over the past month. Sainsbury's reduced its rate from 5.8% to 3.6% for repayments over a maximum 36-month term and made them available to new customers. The comparison explained that previously "sub 4% rates weren't unusual in the higher borrowing category, but they were 'existing customer only' loans". It added: "Since the beginning of July, both Sainsbury's and Cahoot (loans provided by Santander) have re-priced loan rates to 3.6%, opening up a more competitive loans market. Overall, Ratesetter has the lowest loan rate in this category at 3.5% but it comes with a £51 borrowing fee." Personal finance expert Andrew Hagger of Moneycomms.co.uk said: "The record low personal loan rates we are seeing now have been driven by competition among some of the banks and more recently peer-to-peer providers RateSetter, Zopa and Lending Works. "The traditional high street banks are less competitive in this space (exceptions are Santander and Nationwide) – the price war has in the main been driven by the likes of Tesco Bank, Sainsbury's Bank, Cahoot and M&S." Hagger pointed out that lenders tend to cherry pick and be more competitive for larger loans i.e. £7,500 and above, and this is where you'll find the best deals. For example, Cahoot, Zopa and M&S Bank are joint top at 3.6%APR. Nationwide is offering the same rate too – but only for existing customers. However, the rates on smaller sums are much higher with lenders blaming this on the fact that default rates tend to be higher on such sums. His research has found that many high street providers charge rates "well into double figures at this level, with Barclays today quoting 22.9% for a £3,000 loan over three years and Halifax 18.9% for the same amount/term". He suggested borrowers looking for loans of this size could instead consider using a credit card that permits money transfer – which is the ability to transfer cash from your credit card limit into your current account. MBNA and Virgin Money are the only two card providers that allow this. With the MBNA Platinum credit card you can take a 0% money transfer deal for 24 months with a one-off fee of 1.99%, or for 36 months with a 2.99% fee. Hagger said this is "a smart way to obtain low rate finance as long as you are disciplined enough to make the regular repayments every month". He explained: "On a £3,000 loan your only cost is £59.70 (1.99% fee) or £89.70 (2.99% fee) – a shrewd financial move when you consider the Barclays 22.9% example mentioned above would cost you £1057.71 in interest over three years." Kevin Mountford, head of banking at MoneySuperMarket, said: "Lenders have slashed personal loan rates in recent years, and we're still continuing to see them fall now, with a notable drop in the average rate over the last month. Anyone thinking about borrowing money should take advantage of these low rates now, as there is no guarantee on how long they will remain at this level, especially with recent speculation of a rise in Bank of England Base Rate."

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Eddystone Beacon Explainer: An Interview With Google’s Chandu Thota

On July 14 Google announced a new developer initiative called Eddystone. It’s a new open format for Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons. It’s open-source, flexible, cross platform and will equally support iOS devices. In order to better understand how Eddystone works and Google’s...

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How to Overcome Job-Search Misery

Escape the cycle of being sad because you can't get a job, and then not getting a job because you're too sad.

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9 Ways to Invest on a Small Budget

Living paycheck to paycheck doesn't exclude you from investing if you know how to start.

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France honors 3 Americans, Brit for disarming gunman on train

French President Francois Hollande on Monday awarded France's highest honor, the Legion d'honneur, to three U.S. citizens and a Briton who helped disarm a machine gun-toting suspected Islamist militant on a train last week.

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10 Steps to Max Out Your IRA

Try these strategies to boost your IRA balance and avoid penalties.

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5 Easy Ways to Save Money Without Leaving Your House

Let’s face it: Unless your last name is Gates, Bush or Trump, you probably don’t have piles of cash lying around with nothing to spend it on.

We all have expenses and a limited income to cover them, and sometimes we run out of money before we run out of month.

When my wife and I graduated from college last year, we had a pretty good idea of our income, but we didn’t expect how much our expenses would grow simply by moving on to the next phase of life.

The average new grad in my field was making around $50,000 a year, or just over $3,600 a month after taxes. With my income in college averaging between $1,000 and $2,000 a month, I figured we were going to be set.

However, I didn’t account for a few extra expenses:

• Renting a house instead of an apartment: about $250 a month
• Our kids started school and needed supplies, lunches, after-school programs, etc.: anywhere from $25 to $50 a month
• A new health and dental insurance plan: $400 a month
• More expensive car insurance because we moved to a new state. Nevada is ranked 25th nationally for average car insurance premiums. Not the highest, but a lot higher than #40, where we were before: $200 a month
• Babysitting. We were lucky and rarely had to pay for it in college: $500 to $600 a month
• And of course, the ever-present student loan payments: after the grace period, $400 a month

A few months after graduating, I realized things just weren’t adding up and started keeping a detailed budget for the first time in my life. What I found just about floored me: My paycheck was not going nearly as far as I had assumed, and our credit card debt kept climbing higher every month.

I immediately started looking for ways to cut costs. And to tell you the truth, I was actually a little surprised at how easy it was to cut some of the red out of our budget.

Here are a few of the easiest ways I found to cut costs, all of which you can do from the comfort of your own home, without even putting on pants.

1. Ask for a Discount

One of the first things I did was call my internet provider and insurance carrier. All I did was ask if they had any specials going on or if I qualified for any type of loyalty discount.

My internet provider knocked $10 a month off my bill, saving me $120 a year. And my insurance carrier discovered I actually qualified for a discount because of my driving record, saving me another $20 a month, or $240 a year. That’s a total of $360 a year in savings, just for making a few phone calls!

Cable, insurance, internet, cell phone, and other subscription-based service companies often offer poorly advertised promotions and loyalty discounts. All you need to do is sit down with your budget or a stack of monthly bills and make a list of every company you pay.

Then, start calling. It’s as simple as that. You never know what discounts you could qualify for, just by asking.

2. Shop Online

This idea can save you both time and money, and can be a lot of fun too. Retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Shopko and Kmart offer free shipping for online orders over a certain amount, making your online order cost the same as a trip to the store.

The savings: You’re done shopping in 10 minutes, rather than an hour and a half — plus you save travel time and gas!

I use this strategy primarily for household and personal necessities such as vitamins, shaving cream, batteries, toilet paper, light bulbs, shampoo, deodorant and diapers. I turned my four or five monthly trips to Wal-Mart into just one online order every month.

Now, to make this method work, you do need to plan ahead so you don’t run out of something (like the toilet paper) while you’re waiting for the order to come in. But keeping a running list of everything you’re almost out of throughout the month makes it simple and easy.

In addition to the time and gas savings, this strategy limits the amount of “impulse buys” that inevitably come with every trip to the store. You know, those items that are on sale or just otherwise seem like great deals at the time. Estimating conservatively, shopping online saves me an average of $20 to $50 a month, just by limiting impulse buys. That’s anywhere from $240 to $600 a year in savings!

If you’re not a fan of shipping delays, you can still take advantage of the benefits of online shopping without having to wait for UPS to show up at your door. Most stores actually offer some type of free “site-to-store” shipping option, and your purchases are often available the same day you make the order.

When you order online and select “site to store,” the store employees gather your purchases for you and hold them at an “Online Order Pickup” desk. All you have to do is show up, pick up your purchases from the desk and go home. It’s still a whole lot faster than walking around the store yourself!

3. Ditch Your Landline

We’d actually always done this one, and I’m glad we’ve been able to enjoy these savings. My wife and I have not had a landline in nearly 10 years of marriage. We’ve both always had cell phones and never really saw the point of having a third line that we would rarely, if ever, use.

Consider how often you use your landline, and whether simply using your cell phone would work. You could easily save $20 a month or more, depending on the cost of your service.

4. Get Rid of Your TV (or At Least Cable)

Are you staring at your screen in shock, incredulous that I would even suggest such a thing? Hear me out.

Not only were we spending way too much time in front of the TV, but we were paying for a lot of channels and services we weren’t using. We dropped everything: cable, Netflix and even going to Redbox. By the time all was said and done, we saved around $70 a month (about $840 a year), and suddenly had a lot more free time!

We started using online news sources to stay up on current events, and spending more time reading and (gasp!) actually talking to each other.

It was really, really hard at first, but has turned out to be the best thing we could have done for our marriage and our family. We plan to turn the TV back on after we’re completely out of debt (I’m looking at you, student loans), but even then, we still plan to limit how much we watch.

5. Quit Paying for Subscription Services

Services such as Amazon Prime, Shoprunner, gym memberships, unlimited data plans, or anything where you pay a certain fee for unlimited access instead of paying each time, may not actually be as good of a deal as you think.

These companies count on you to overestimate how much you’ll use their services, and then to never think about it again.

I understand the allure. I was a loyal Amazon Prime user for years and loved it. Every time I ordered something with free two-day shipping, I would think to myself, “I’m getting such a good deal! Look at how much that would’ve cost me!” I wasn’t thinking about the yearly fee I paid to get that “free” shipping.

When I broke down my spending, I realized I was spending a lot more on Prime than I would have on shipping, even if I selected the two-day option every time. So I (somewhat reluctantly) canceled my Prime membership shortly before it was going to renew, saving myself the $100 membership fee.

Take a quick look at your past purchases to see if these services are really helping you save money. Go back over the last 12 months and look at how much you’ve actually used the service. Whether that’s how many times you went to the gym, how many times you ordered from Amazon or used Shoprunner, or how much data you’ve actually used with your cell phone.

Then, add up how much it would have cost if you had paid each time and see if it really is cheaper to pay for the unlimited access. Most of the time, it isn’t. And if it is, congratulate yourself on being a wise and thrifty shopper.

Your Turn: What’s the easiest way you’ve saved money without leaving your house?

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!

Tom Gordon is a freelance writer and recovering spendaholic living in Las Vegas with his wife and three incredible sons. He has developed a passion for common-sense, real-world ways the average American can save and earn extra money, and wants nothing more than to share that passion with the world.

The post 5 Easy Ways to Save Money Without Leaving Your House appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Email Marketers: The Marketing Leaders Of The Future?

Is email marketing the right career path for you? Columnist Jose Cebrian explains why email marketers' skills are just what the marketer of the future needs — and explores how those responsibilities are broadening.

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Europe Widens Antitrust Probe Of Google Around Ad Contracts, Content “Scraping”

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that The European Commission (EC) is expanding its antitrust probe of Google. Currently the EC is in the late stages of its vertical search inquiry and has filed formal charges, which Google has until August 31 to rebut. It’s at an earlier stage of...

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Don’t Get Fooled: 17 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an SEO Company

Pretty scary, right?

Hiring SEO help can make or break your company.

A good SEO will get you on the path to making tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per month, but a bad SEO could cripple any existing search traffic you get.

It’s important to choose carefully, and that’s what I want to show you how to do today.

If you’re thinking about hiring an SEO company, I’ve put together 17 questions that can help you make the right choice.

You should ask these questions before hiring anyone so you know exactly what to expect.

Finally, you don’t need to ask all of these questions, but I’ll explain why each is important so that you can decide if a question is relevant to your situation. 

Types of SEO help

Before we get into the questions, I want to go over the different types of SEOs:

• individual SEO consultants - these are freelancers who offer their SEO services.
• SEO companies/agencies - these companies have teams of SEOs and standardized SEO processes for the most part. They typically work with businesses of a decent size (with budgets of at least a few thousand dollars per month for SEO).
• in-house SEOs - if your business is very large or is growing rapidly, it often makes sense to hire an in-house SEO team. You can set it up yourself or hire an SEO consultant to help put things into place and come up with an initial strategy.

The questions in this post are primarily for the first two types of SEOs.

There is a lot of variation in freelancers and SEO agencies. Some are great, others are terrible.

Here’s what I can say: a great SEO will never charge low prices. If you’re hunting for a discount, chances are you’ll end up with an SEO who cuts corners and hurts your site in the long run.

That being said, a high price doesn’t guarantee quality work either. Many agencies will mark up prices of basic work by an obscene amount. Since most website owners don’t know how to evaluate SEO work, these SEO companies can get away with a lot.

Luckily, you’re not an average website owner.

At the very minimum, just by reading this article, you’ve shown that you’re taking initiative to carefully weed out bad SEOs.

As long as you ask the right questions and pay attention to the answers (I’ll show you how now), you should be able to find an SEO that makes a positive impact on your business.

Ready? Let’s start…

1. How will you improve our search engine rankings?

You don’t get any significant results without a serious SEO strategy.

If you decide to randomly target keywords or to build links, you might see some small sporadic results, but you’ll never see consistent traffic increases.

What this means is that all good SEOs have a process, whether they freelance or work for an agency.

They probably won’t be able to tell you: “We’re going to get links from X, Y, and Z websites.”

What they can tell you, however, is something along the lines of: “We’ll start with an on-site technical SEO audit to identify any areas for quick wins. Then, we’ll identify the best keywords to target.”

Ask about the links: Backlinks have been a big part of search engine algorithms for a long time and will continue to play a big role in the future. All SEOs will “build” links to your website in order to attempt to improve rankings.

As you might know, not all backlinks are created equal.

One good backlink is worth more than thousands of low-quality backlinks.

Low-quality backlinks are the ones that can be automated and are often used for spam link building. Think of the typical gigs you see on Fiverr where you can buy hundreds or thousands of good links for $5-10.

A single good link will cost a minimum of $20, and that’s a best case scenario. Usually, a link from an agency will cost you more than $100 each.

If someone is promising you a large number of links, and it works out to $1 or less per link, run the other way.

2. How will you keep me informed of changes you make to our website?

A good SEO company will send you regular reports. The most common frequency is once per month (typically at the end), but some will send you quick weekly updates as well.

The first thing you’ll need to give an SEO company is access to your website (at least part of it). This is one of the main reasons it’s important to hire an SEO company that you can trust.

You can mitigate any risks, if you like, by having all website changes made by an in-house developer. The obvious consequence is that changes will be made slower, and you will have to make sure there is an open and constant line of communication between your developer and your SEO company.

Some SEO consultants won’t ask for any website changes to be made. If this happens, it’s another red flag. While off-site work is a large part of SEO, on-site work is often more important, especially at the start.

Changes need to be tracked: You need to make sure that your SEO company is diligent about any website changes they make.

If something goes wrong, you need to know exactly what caused it.

If an SEO company says that they track changes internally, that’s not good enough.

Think about what would happen if your SEO freelancer or agency suddenly became non-responsive (yes, it does happen) and you were stuck with a broken or damaged site.

In order for you or an emergency consultant to fix the problem, you need to know what caused it.

Any good SEO company will be prepared to send you a detailed log of any website changes they make.

3. Can you share information on some of your past clients and their results?

Shopping for an SEO company is just like shopping for anything else. You want to see reviews, testimonials, case studies, and who their past clients were.

You shouldn’t expect an SEO company to hand over their entire address book, but most will be happy to give examples of 2-3 big name clients. In addition, they should be able to easily show their results (ideally over a long time period).

If they can’t give you any examples of clients who are legitimate businesses, that’s a pretty big warning sign. Either they weren’t able to deliver for big clients in the past, or they don’t have the experience for that level of SEO.

Then, follow up by asking who their longest active client is: I’ve already mentioned that one of the biggest problems with shady SEO firms is that they use short-term risky tactics.

They want to show clients quick results, not caring if they’re doing anything that jeopardizes the site in the future.

If you’re interviewing an SEO company that has been around for a while and their longest active client has been with them for under a year, that’s a red flag.

A good SEO consultant or team is worth their weight in gold. Good SEO alone can grow a business by 5-15% per month. And I’m talking about on a consistent basis, year after year.

No sane client is going to give up an SEO firm that produces great results unless they decide to build an in-house SEO team or the SEO company decides to end things.

4. Do you always follow Google’s best practices?

Following Google’s (and to a lesser extent Bing’s and Yahoo’s) best practices is crucial to long-term traffic growth.

Google applies approximately 500 algorithm updates per year. All of these updates are for one purpose: to provide better results for searchers.

The guidelines are essentially the “golden rules” of user search, published by each respective search engine.

When you violate the rules, Google isn’t happy.

That’s why it has released certain algorithms that have penalized a large number of manipulative sites. On-page violations are penalized by algorithms such as Panda, while off-page violations are penalized by updates such as Penguin.

When you get hit by one of these, your traffic will be hit hard.

The biggest problem is that it can take months or even years of recovery work (depending on the skill of your next SEO) to correct the penalty. You’ll miss out on tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue during this time, which is why emphasizing the long-term results in SEO is typically best.

5. Which tools do you use?

While many people are under the impression that any SEOs that use tools are “blackhat” SEOs, that’s not the whole story.

The word “tool” typically describes a wide variety of applications when talking about SEO.

Tools allow you to process lots of information in a short amount of time. This can save a ton of time and money, which is good for everybody.

But there are different tools:

• Reporting tools - While reports could be created manually, it’s a lot easier to create a custom report that combines analytics, keyword rankings, and other SEO metrics. Most of the report can be automated, which saves time, plus you know exactly what to expect as a client.

• Link building tools - These allow you to create hundreds or thousands of links with the click of a button and a few proxies (more on these below).
• Technical SEO tools - Tools such as Screaming Frog allow SEOs to crawl large sites quickly for a variety of technical issues. This would take a long time to do manually, and you can often find important problems that need to be fixed.
• Research tools - There are now tools such as BuzzStream that allow you to gather contact information of a large number of people in minutes. These tools in general help you gather prospects and conduct keyword research.

Most of these tools are good. They help you comply with Google’s guidelines for good SEO. However, pure link building tools are bad…very, very bad. (Did I mention that they’re bad?)

These tools are designed to comment on hundreds or thousands of blogs, forums, or web 2.0 websites (think Blogger, Weebly, etc.). These are the lowest quality links you can build, which can easily lead to penalties.

If your SEO company mentions tools such as Xrumer, SE Nuke, or Bookmarking Demon, stay away.

One more tool I want to mention is Scrapebox. Scrapebox can be used for spam blog comments, but it can also be used for legitimate research and reporting activities. If your SEO company specifically mentions Scrapebox, ask for more details on how they use it.

6. What types of SEO work will you do?

This may come up when you ask other questions on this list, but if it hasn’t yet, make sure to ask this question at some point.

There should be at least a basic technical SEO audit done once you hire a company. If this isn’t part of their process, they likely aren’t very good SEOs.

Technical SEO involves all of the background aspects of SEO that search engines still care about. Finding and addressing web crawler errors, 404 pages, redirect problems, and evaluating site navigation are all part of basic technical SEO.

7. Can you guarantee that our site will rank #1 for a major search term?

This is the easiest way to weed out the SEO salesmen from legitimate SEOs.

If an SEO freelancer or company is simply trying to make a sale, they’ll typically be happy to say that they guarantee #1 rankings (in Google).

Here’s the thing though: no one can guarantee #1 rankings every single time—especially not in any specific time period. Here are a few reasons why:

• No SEO knows the exact Google algorithm - Google had a revenue of $17.3 billion in the first three months of 2015. Most of this revenue is only possible because of Google’s search engine. Suffice to say, they protect the exact algorithm closely. If anyone claims to know the exact algorithm, they’re lying. (If you knew the algorithm, you could make way more than you could as an average SEO consultant).

• No one knows how Google’s algorithm will change – Google pushes out more than one algorithm change per day on average. Unless you’re working at Google, you can’t know when or how Google will change in the future. You can certainly guess, but be prepared to be wrong quite often.

• Penalties can come out of nowhere - Penalties can be algorithmic (like from Panda or Penguin) or manual. Google doesn’t often say when certain algorithms will be run. The next Penguin could be run in a week, a month, or a year. In addition, manual reviews and penalties can be triggered at any time.

What all of this means is that while SEOs should be able to increase your search traffic consistently over time, they can’t guarantee specific keyword rankings. If that’s their main promise: run the other way.

There’s one important caveat though: Some SEOs might ask you which keyword you’re targeting or might suggest one. If you’re targeting a very easy keyword, they might offer a guarantee.

Note that offering a guarantee and guaranteeing a #1 ranking are two different things. Offering a guarantee typically means that they expect that you will rank #1 for an easy term, but if they can’t help you do that, they’ll give you some sort of refund.

This type of guarantee is okay although you need to be careful because it might lead to them being overly aggressive to get short term results, which could be dangerous.

8. How often will you report on your work, and what will it look like?

We talked about SEO companies reporting on any website changes they make, but they should also report on their activity and results.

I’d say that you should look for a monthly report—that’s pretty standard. If you prefer a different reporting frequency, most SEOs will try to accommodate you.

All SEO reports should include a few things:

• summary of activities – this should include things such as details about email outreach campaigns, content creating, and how many new links came into the site.
• search traffic – one of the most important markers of progress is an increase in search traffic. A report should show your search traffic for the month as well as the percentage change from last month and last year (the same month).
• search rankings - if you’re targeting any main keywords, you should get a quick update in each report.
• conversions – The most important of all: how many search visitors are converting to the next step(s) in your sales funnel? Without conversion, there is no return on investment, regardless of search traffic quantity.

This question won’t typically help you tell a good SEO from a bad one, but it will tell you what to expect from the company if you hire them. Having clear expectations from the start will minimize frustrations on both sides in the future.

9. What is your payment structure?

Different SEO companies use different payment structures.

It’s important to know how much and when exactly you will need to pay so that you can factor it into your budget.

Because SEO can be done in so many different ways, many consultancies will charge by the project. In fact, according to a Moz survey, 70.1% of SEOs offer project-based pricing. If this is something you’re interested in, you can find someone who offers it. Expect to pay between $1,000 and $7,500.

The survey also revealed that retainers range anywhere from under $500 to $2,501-$5,000. A retainer is a monthly payment that essentially reserves time of an SEO to work on your site.

Another option is to pay by hour, which is a popular option if you’re dealing with freelancers (although agencies also offer it). Expect to pay $76-$200 per hour for a good SEO.

Finally, find out when you’ll have to make your payments. Freelancers typically like to be paid as soon as possible, but paying 30, 60, or even 90 days after an invoice isn’t unheard of. Find out if there is an interest fee for late payments.

10. How will we contact you?

SEO is different from other services in that you don’t typically need to contact your SEO company more than a few times a month.

However, if something does go wrong, or you have an important issue to discuss, you want to be able to get a hold of them as soon as possible.

Find out which methods of communication they prefer, and also tell them yours (they should ask you at some point anyway). Also ask how to contact them in case of emergencies (if the site went down or if search traffic dramatically declined).

11. How will your work tie into our other marketing efforts?

SEO is no longer separate from marketing—it should be one seamless system. It doesn’t always work like that, of course, but that’s the goal.

Because of this, many SEO agencies or consultants have rebranded themselves as digital marketing or inbound marketing specialists.

While they are similar, here’s a quick definition of each:

• inbound marketing - focuses on creating content of all kinds that attracts links, which can then improve search traffic.

• digital marketing - essentially covers all parts of marketing online, including inbound marketing. They will typically have experience in PPC, email marketing, SEO, and other branches of marketing.

So, when you’re looking for an SEO company, don’t automatically rule out agencies that primarily brand themselves as marketing consultancies. They often still have SEO specialists on board but can provide other highly valuable services.

12. What happens if we terminate the contract?

This is for your own protection. It’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into.

Understandably, most SEOs want you to sign on for at least a minimum period (usually at least a few months). It takes time for SEOs to make changes, and it takes even longer for those changes to produce significant results.

At the same time, if your company has a crisis and suddenly can’t afford to pay for SEO services, you need to know your options. (It’s rare but it does happen.)

There are other scenarios in which you would want to break the contract. Maybe you’re disappointed with the work the SEO has produced, or maybe your marketing department wants to focus resources on a different traffic source.

Regardless, find out if there are any fees written into the contract for early termination. Have them changed if you need to.

13. Have you worked with penalized sites? If so, how did you fix them?

Penalties weren’t really part of the SEO landscape until a few years ago.

Instead of penalizing sites for violating certain guidelines, like building backlinks, Google used to devalue the backlinks. Once Google was able to accurately determine which sites were using spam tactics, it started penalizing sites (like with Penguin).

Since 2011 or so, both manual and algorithmic penalties have skyrocketed. If your SEO has been working for at least a few years, they’ve no doubt been involved in working with a penalized site.

Once a site has been hit with a penalty, it’s not easy to recover it. However, good SEOs can still achieve a pretty high success rate.

Find out how successful your potential SEO has been at bringing sites back from the brink as well as how they will prevent those penalties from occurring in the future (to your site).

14. Are you up to date with the latest algorithm changes?

While I told you earlier that Google releases about 500 algorithm changes per year, they aren’t all significant.

Most of them have a very minor impact on any one site.

There are, however, a select group of algorithm updates that were significant enough to deserve being named. All SEOs should be familiar with all of these.

You can see an updated list of algorithms at Search Engine Land:

Ask your SEO to describe a few of them, and then confirm that they know what they’re talking about by reading through those links.

All you’re trying to do here is filter out incredibly inexperienced SEOs or the ones that are just trying to make a quick buck without having much expertise in the field.

I don’t know if it needs to be said, but ask these over Skype/phone or in person so that they can’t just Google an explanation and email it back.

In addition, you want an SEO that stays up to date with SEO news. Ideally, they should be active in forums and other SEO communities.

One way to quickly test this is to ask them to name a few of the most recent major algorithm updates.

Moz keeps an updated list of all major algorithm updates that you can use to check if they’re correct:

It’s not important that they know the exact date of an update, but if they can say: “There was a Panda update in July and a Quality update a few months before that,” they obviously know their stuff.

15. How will your team adapt your strategy to my industry?

In my experience, most small to medium sized business owners are hesitant to invest in SEO because they’re not sure that it will work for their industry.

If that’s you, you’re not necessarily wrong; some SEO strategies and tactics will not work in your industry.

That being said, a good SEO/marketer knows how to adapt an SEO strategy to work for virtually any industry. If you ask them this question, they should be able to address your concerns.

16. How do you determine if you’re successful?

If your expectations are not met, you’ll feel frustrated.

The clearer you are on what to expect from your SEO, and the better they understand what you need from them, the less frustration both of you will experience.

This question is designed to shed some light on how your potential SEOs determine if their work has been successful.

• Do they aim to increase traffic by %X in Y months?
• Do they want to see a %X increase in a specific metric?
• Do they consider themselves successful if they can get a main keyword onto the first page? top 3 rankings? number 1?

Whatever their answer is, it will help you determine if you think a successful result on their end would justify the investment you’re about to make on yours.

Also, ask: “Which metrics do you track?” If this didn’t come up when you asked them about reporting, ask it now.

This is a really easy way to differentiate between experienced, successful SEOs/marketers and the rest.

Pretty much any SEO will include the following:

• keyword rankings
• search traffic
• on-page metrics (bounce rate, time on page, etc.)

But for the most part, only solid firms and freelancers will mention one of two things: either return on investment (ROI) or conversions, possibly both.

Although keyword rankings and traffic increases are nice, they don’t really mean anything. You want traffic that actually builds your business.

Yes, those metrics all go hand-in-hand most of the time, but experienced SEOs and marketers know that they don’t always, which is why more attention needs to go to ROI and/or conversions.

17. Why should we hire you over other SEOs?

This is obviously a very open-ended question. It doesn’t have a right answer.

What you’re really looking for are a few red flag answers. If they respond with anything involving:

• we’re cheaper than other options
• we can build you more backlinks (instead of better quality)
• we don’t know
• we can get you faster results,

then you need to proceed cautiously.

Good SEO will not come cheap. Why? Because as I said, good SEO work can add tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to your bottom line. It is an investment that takes at least a few months to see significant results.

If the SEO you’re interviewing is advising you to cut corners or be extremely aggressive with link building, it’s best to move on to the next candidate.

Ideally, when you ask this question, they will respond by pointing to their track record that should include their past successes, current and past happy clients, and the respect their name and brand have in the industry.

Conclusion

Remember that SEO is a long-term investment.

It’s going to take months before results, or a lack of results, become apparent. One of the biggest reasons why shady SEO firms continue to stay in business is because they aren’t found out for many months.

Many of the 17 questions I’ve laid out for you in this post are designed to help you weed out those shady SEO companies and individuals.

The other questions will help you decide if a particular company offering SEO help is worth hiring for your business.

Use as many or as few of these questions as you need to ensure you find SEO help you can trust.

It may be a pain, but trust me, a good SEO team can be essential to building a business to 7 figures or more.

If you have any questions about these points, or if you think I forgot to mention something important on the topic, leave me a comment below.

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