MAKE MONEY ONLINE POSTS: 07/05/17

الأربعاء، 5 يوليو 2017

IRS Private Debt Collectors are Allegedly Playing Dirty. Are You Surprised?

Four private companies can now collect federal tax debt for the IRS. But that doesn’t mean they’re all doing it in accordance with the law.

A group of Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Benjamin Cardin and Jeff Merkley — shared a letter with the New York Times last month in which it accused Pioneer Credit Recovery of violating fair debt collection practices.

After reviewing call scripts obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the investigating group made four claims against Pioneer.

4 Complaints About Pioneer’s Tax Collection Tactics

Want to know what the letter says — in plain English? Here are the major complaints the Senate group made against Pioneer Credit Recovery.

1. “Pioneer fails to adequately protect taxpayers from criminals posing as IRS agents.”

The company allegedly did not provide people enough time to verify the legitimacy of Pioneer employees before engaging in conversation about their unpaid balances.

The IRS sends unique identifying codes to taxpayers with unpaid balances that a private debt collector can use to show their legitimacy when they contact that taxpayer. The taxpayer can request a new copy of their identification number by mail, which puts their account on hold for 60 days. Pioneer was found to hold accounts for only five days before calling taxpayers again.

Faking urgency is a tactic IRS impersonators commonly take, the complaint letter explains.

2. “Pioneer pushes taxpayers into products that could risk their home and retirement security.”

According to scripts the Senate group obtained, Pioneer suggested credit cards, a second mortgage or borrowing against your 401(k) as ways to find money to pay your tax bill. “No other debt collector makes these demands,” the letter says.

3. “Pioneer’s call scripts may violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.”

Pioneer scripts allegedly advised agents to offer payment plans of longer than five years and instructed agents to tell people they could make extra or greater payments at any time. But the Internal Revenue Code only permits payment in full or installment payments that cover the full amount over no more than five years.

The New York Times found that all four tax collection contractors — the other three are CBE Group, ConServe, Performant Recovery — told people they could set up a seven-year installment plan to pay their tax debt.

Pioneer’s call script also allegedly implied the company had the power to involuntarily seize payment from someone who hadn’t paid their tax bill. This violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, since these contractors don’t have that power.

4. “Apparent violations of Pioneer’s IRS contract and IRS policies.”

The IRS’ contract with Pioneer specified that Pioneer must refer cases back to the IRS for negotiation if the case involves “significant hardship” for the taxpayer. But Pioneer’s scripts didn’t indicate this option, nor did it inform payers about the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

“When Congress required the IRS to hire private debt collectors to collect certain tax debts, it did so under strict provisions to ensure that taxpayers were not put at risk during the collection process,” the letter from Senators Warren, Merkley, Brown and Cardin states. “But it appears that Pioneer is not adhering to these protections.”

The group requested that Pioneer modify its scripts to reflect IRS law and policies, and address problems that have arisen from “faulty scripts.”

Pioneer Credit Recovery Responds

Jack Remondi, president and CEO of Pioneer’s parent company, Navient, responded in a letter to the editor of the New York Times on June 30. He insisted that the company is compliant with federal collection requirements, calling the claims in the letter “unsubstantiated.”

Pioneer Credit Recovery was removed from its duties of collecting overdue student loan debt in 2015 for misleading borrowers. Navient, however, continues to work with the Department of Education — the DOE renewed its loan-servicing contract in August 2016.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing Navient for failing to inform student loan borrowers about income-based repayment plans.

Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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5 Strategies to Help You Get Back on Track With Your Abandoned Resolutions

The months are just flying on by. It’s July, and 2017 is halfway over.

If you’re like most people, you probably haven’t given a second thought to those New Year’s resolutions you set way back in January. The U.S. News and World Report says 80% of those idealistic goals are usually forgotten by February.

I know you had all the best intentions in getting things accomplished, making this year your year and finally getting your life in order. So, what if things haven’t gotten off to a smooth start? I’m here to tell you not to give up.

You still have six months to make it happen. Half the year may be over but that means you still have half a year to work with.

Think glass half full, not half empty.

You can do it. Go into 2018 feeling happy about all your accomplishments.

Here’s some help to tackle some of those commonly set resolutions without spending a fortune to do so.

1. Get in Shape

Is your gym membership gathering dust? Have you already given up and canceled it?

Don’t fret. You’re already on the internet. After you finish reading all your favorite content from The Penny Hoarder, bring up YouTube and check out these five YouTube channels that offer great workouts you can do from the comfort of home.

Running is also a super-cheap form of exercise. Just lace up your jogging shoes and go!

But if running happens to be the bane of your existence, here are several other low-cost alternatives to the gym. You could turn an area of your home into your personal gym with just a few pieces of equipment and still end up paying less than six months of gym memberships.

Another incentive to working out — you can get paid to lose weight! With Healthy Wage, you can bet on yourself to drop the pounds and get money, if you are successful.

Getting healthier is totally doable by the end of this year. Let this 92-year-old serve as your motivation to getting and staying fit.

2. Get Organized

You may have shirked your plans to get organized by telling yourself you know where everything is within your jumble of stuff. But there are so many good reasons to get things in order. Here are eight ways getting organized will help you save money.

You can even turn your quest to get organized into a money-making opportunity by selling items you don’t need or use. Decluttr will give you money for those old DVDs and video games you’re no longer interested in and are just taking up space.

You could take your organization to the extreme and embrace minimalism. Less stuff means less clutter to go through next January, if your New Year’s resolutions tend to be the same every year (like mine are). A minimalist lifestyle helped this couple pay off $95,000 in debt!

3. Revamp Your Career

Perhaps you dread going into work every day but have gotten so used to it that you don’t even think about the light at the end of the tunnel. Well, 2017 is your year to find a new job.

Use the upcoming months to make yourself stand out as an amazing job candidate. Get your resume and cover letter in order and think about how you’ll answer all those intimidating interview questions (and avoid these interview deal breakers).

And start applying! Here at The Penny Hoarder we regularly post about available jobs in various industries, especially work-from-home opportunities where it doesn’t necessarily matter where you live. Check our Jobs section or like The Penny Hoarder Jobs on Facebook to learn about the most recent jobs available.

4. Get Your Finances in Order

Just because you haven’t budgeted beyond January doesn’t mean you can’t start now. Here’s a seven-step plan to creating an effective budget. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking these budgeting myths are real.

This post will help you save a little each month and stop the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. You can put those savings in an emergency fund, stack it up to go toward a big purchase or use it to pay down debt.

Tackle debt by using either the snowball or avalanche method. Or use these creative ways to bring down your debt and raise your credit score.

5. Travel and Make Good Memories

If your plans for this year included going out of town and experiencing something new, low gas prices have made this summer a great time to take a road trip.

Camping is another affordable getaway option. If a beach destination is more your thing, check out this post on how much it’ll cost to visit the top-ranked beaches in America.

Snag some tips from this woman who saved $10,000 in seven months to travel internationally. While we don’t have seven months before 2017 is over, you could potentially save a few thousand in half that time and take a less-expensive vacation in November or December.

If that trip includes flying, make sure you factor in your baggage fees while booking a ticket.

And if you’re traveling with kids, make sure to check this post on ways to save money and your sanity.

Disclosure: A toast to savings! Thanks for allowing us to place affiliate links in this post.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She didn’t set New Year’s resolutions for 2017, but it’s shaping up to be a great year for her so far.

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Update: Honest Co. Creates $7.35M Fund to Pay for Alleged Dishonest Tactics

The Honest Company believes in “clean without compromise.” At least according to its website.

But a lawsuit filed against the company suggests Honest has not been honest with its customers. The suit accuses the company of using chemical ingredients it swore never to use.

The company — made famous by its co-founder, actress Jessica Alba, and its promise to stay clear of potentially harmful chemicals that are common in mainstream household products — has reached a settlement after nearly two years of litigation.

Honest already agreed to pay $1.55 million to settle the national false advertising class-action lawsuit.

Now, it has created a $7.35 million fund to cover the cost of the payouts after agreeing to a second settlement last month.

According to CNN Money, customers who bought the detergent but didn’t hold on to receipts could qualify for up to $50 under the initial settlement term. But those who kept their receipts could claim more.

Under the second settlement, those who did not keep their receipts will qualify for a payout of $2.50 for each product they purchased and can file up to 10 claims. Those who have proof of purchase can file for more.

A judge still needs to approve both settlements before consumers can file any claims.

The Dishonest Company?

Despite agreeing to the million-dollar settlement, Honest says it has, indeed, been honest. (OK, I’m done with the “Honest” puns. Honest.)

“We vigorously deny any and all allegations alleged in the lawsuit — specifically that any of our cleaning products contain SLS,” spokeswoman Karen Richman said in a statement to CNN Money. “However, given the fact that continued litigation could be protracted and expensive, we have settled this lawsuit to limit further costs and distraction to our business.”

Despite that denial, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal based on two independent chemical analyses of the the company’s laundry detergent found that it contained sodium lauryl sulfate.

Representatives for the company and its manufacturer told the WSJ that it added no SLS to the product and used sodium coco sulfate (SCS) instead. Honest says SCS is a milder alternative to SLS, which, in concentrated amounts, can cause skin irritation.

“More than a dozen scientists interviewed by the Journal said SCS, which is made from palm or coconut oil, is a mixture of various cleaning agents that includes a significant amount of SLS,” the WSJ reported.

Although Honest said the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing, it did agree to change its formula.

Desiree Stennett (@desi_stennett) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s doesn’t qualify for this class-action lawsuit.

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8 Expert Travel Hacking Tips for 2017

“Travel hacking” is when you work within the rules of airlines, hotels, and travel credit cards to earn rewards such as points and miles to put toward free travel. Despite its name, travel hacking is simple (and legal), and lots of people do it every day to save money and see the world. If you have ever wanted to take the family on a trip and just couldn’t afford the airfare, learning to travel hack can solve your dilemma.

Meet the experts

We reached out to the following travel rewards experts for their advice on choosing a travel card, maximizing rewards, and making the most of points or miles at redemption. Here’s what they told us.

TravelExperts-Grid

Tip #1 – Take advantage of more than just free travel.

You might not know this, but travel credit cards are good for more than just earning points. Some of these cards grant you and your family access to additional perks. Ariana from TopCashback explains:

Airline miles or hotel loyalty points may seem like the only rewards, but think again! In addition to miles, some reward programs (such as American Express) give you access to airport lounges, restaurant and hotel concierges and deals on rental cars.”

Rewards programs may also offer opportunities for earning extra points with participating car rental services, hotels, and airlines. All the more reason to make sure you read up on everything your card has to offer.

Tip #2 – Choose cards with miles bonus incentives and flexible redemption.

Travel hacking is all about finding ways to earn miles and points faster while working within the existing rules. Cat Holladay from The Compass is Calling explains how some cards make that even easier:

“The key is to sign up for the cards with the most miles’ bonus incentive AND the most flexible usage. Several cards out there give 50-60,000 ‘miles’ after spending $3-4,000 in the first 3 months. 60,000 miles is the equivalent of 2 domestic tickets on many airlines, almost two international tickets on Singapore Airlines, and one international ticket on most carriers.”

Choosing a travel credit card with flexible redemption means more options when it’s time to redeem your hard-earned miles. Some top travel cards offer 1:1 rewards transfer to airline and hotel loyalty programs or discounts on travel booked through the card’s rewards program, and more. Others allow you to redeem miles for a travel statement credit, which means you can reimburse yourself for eligible travel purchases, no matter where you book. And, as Cat points out, many of them offer generous mile bonuses for spending a couple thousand dollars within the first few months.

Tip #3 – Maximize rewards on everyday purchases.

What kind of purchases do you make in your everyday life? Do you find yourself eating out more often than not? Are you brand loyal? It is wise to sign up for a credit card with a rewards program that aligns with those everyday spending habits.

“By signing up for a new credit card with a hefty welcome bonus and just doing your normal, everyday spending, you can accrue points or miles towards free flights (plus taxes or fees, generally low) or hotel rooms,” explains David Slotnick of The City Miler.

One of the best things about a credit card that rewards your everyday spending habits is that you don’t have to change anything. You don’t need to adjust how much you’re willing to pay for something just to hit a particular threshold, and you’ll earn your way toward a free trip in no time.

Tip #4 – Don’t opt for cash back.

Some cards let you cash in your points for a pre-paid gift card. While that might seem like a perk, it’s a colossal waste of points and miles. With most travel cards, you’ll get the best points redemption value for, you guessed it, travel. (Some travel credit cards even give you a nice redemption bonus if you book through their cardmember portal!)

“It’s tempting to exchange your points for cash back – you see the dollar amount beckoning to you on your screen, just one click away,” says Kaja of Reward Expert. “However, people need to know that it’s not necessarily the best value available to them. In fact, redeeming for air travel is typically offers the most lucrative return.”

Tip #5 – Study loyalty program terms for extra points.

Travel isn’t the only category where loyalty programs exist to help you earn and spend points. In fact, quite a few travel credit cards on the market feature loyalty programs in other categories for dining, car rentals and more. Studying and understanding the terms of these programs is a great way to maximize your point accrual, according to Torsten Jacobi of Mighty Travels:

“Loyalty programs often offer bonus miles or points just for signing up to them for free. If you shop online, you can use various portals like MileagePlus Shopping and AAdvantage eShopping to earn as you spend and some loyalty programs also have dining programs so you can earn as you eat. You can earn with your car rentals, your mobile phone provider, when you buy an Internet service, order flowers and sometimes even when you buy or sell a property!”

Another way to earn extra points is with loyalty programs that let you “level up” in terms of spending and earning points. “Just for signing up you get 3 American Airlines points for every dollar you spend at participating restaurants,” explains Sean Ogle from Location Rebel. “Once you hit 12 transactions in a year, you get bumped up 5 points per $1 spent. So to give you an example, if you go out to a dinner and spend $100, you’ll get 500 Aadvantage points just for being part of the program. If you register one of your rewards credit cards, then you’ll also get points from them.”

Tip #6 – Consider a card with an annual fee.

No one likes to pay annual fees on their travel credit cards. However, in some cases, the annual fee is worth it, as Matthew Kepnes of Nomadic Matt points out:

“For those who travel a lot and fly a lot, I think it is worth it to get a card with a fee. Fee-based cards tend to give you a better rewards scheme, where you can accumulate points faster, get better access to services and special offers, and get better travel protection. With these cards, I have saved more money on travel than I have spent on fees.”

The cost of the annual fee can pay for itself several times over. This is especially true with cards that come with a generous sign-up bonus. For instance, if you opt for a card that nets you 60,000 points just for signing up, the cash back on those points could pay for the card for several years. It’s also worth noting that some of these cards offer to waive the annual fee for your first year.

Tip #7 – Be flexible.

Generally, flexibility is a good thing to have when life throws little curve balls at you. This is especially true for booking travel and redeeming hotel rewards. Some rewards programs help you save money or earn extra points if you are flexible about your departure date and are willing to shift things around. You might even be eligible for more rewards if you downgrade your hotel accommodations.

“Flexibility is key when trying to maximize airline and hotel rewards. Sometimes the award space will appear just days before your trip. If your travel dates aren’t flexible, book a backup itinerary and change it as better options become available.” – Scott Mackenzie, Travel Codex

It’s often important to opt for travel credit cards that have flexible spending and redemption bonuses. The same is true for how flexible you are in redeeming those points.

Tip #8 – Transfer points to partner programs.

Sometimes it pays to transfer your points to a partner program. Take it from the Financial Panther himself, Kevin. He explains:

“[Some card issuers have] a bunch of travel partners of which you can transfer your points over and get tremendous deals. For example, I have a friend this year, who is flying to Hawaii round trip from Minneapolis for 25,000 points! He did this by transferring his points to Korean air partner, who partners with Delta, and they have a deal where you can fly anywhere in the US roundtrip for 25k points.”

Some top travel credit cards feature 1:1 points transfer to several airline and hotel loyalty programs. That means you won’t lose any points if you decide to do like Kevin’s friend and transfer those points for a better deal.

These are just a few expert travel hacking tips you can use to earn free travel while making the most of your points. So don’t let the rising cost of travel stop you or your family from seeing the world. Take some tips from our panel of travel experts, and start making the system work for you.

The post 8 Expert Travel Hacking Tips for 2017 appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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The Real Cost of Eating 72 Hot Dogs Like Joey Chestnut Did on July 4

Q: What’s more American than a hot dog?

A: 72 hot dogs.

That’s how many full franks reigning champ Joey Chestnut downed in 10 minutes to win yesterday’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.

This construction manager turned pro eater holds 40 records in everything from apple pie to burritos, according to Nathan’s hall of fame. (And yes, we’ve got “how to become a pro eater” on our to-do list now, so stay tuned.)

Cost of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs

Chestnut got this gargantuan 4th of July lunch for free, of course. Unless you count the opportunity cost of never enjoying a hot dog ever again.

Or the physical price his body is probably paying today.

If he’d ordered the fare at host Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Stand in Coney Island, New York he’d have paid $2.49 each, or $179.28. Add sales tax of 8.9% for a total of $195.24.

That’s an expensive meal. Hope he relished it. (And you thought the dad jokes would end with the fireworks.)

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Dana, let’s be reasonable. If I wanted to eat 72 hot dogs, I wouldn’t waste money ordering them at a restaurant. I’d make them myself.

Smart move.

So, a five-pack of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs is $4.98 at Walmart. For 72, you’ll need 15 packages, so you’ll fork over $74.70.

And don’t forget, Chestnut downed 72 buns, too. He soaked them in water to make them easier to eat. Clever trick, if also the grossest thing ever.

An eight-pack of buns at Walmart will run you just 84 cents, so you’ll spend $7.56 there.

That’s a grand total of $82.26 to ketchup with the champ.

But we know you can do it cheaper.

How to Save Money on Hot Dogs

If you want to shop — and eat — like a Penny Hoarder, you’ll want to download a rebate app to save money.

Our favorite is Ibotta, which gives you cash back on your hot dogs and buns — and even healthy staples like milk and bananas.

But who ever heard of a banana-eating contest? (Add “cream pie” to that equation, though? Now we’ve got a competition.)

To save on your hot dogs all summer — and all your groceries — here’s how to get started with Ibotta:

Sign up with Ibotta here, using your name and email address.

Browse the cash-back offers in your area, and note them next time you go shopping. For example, today there’s a deal for 75 cents cash back on McCormick beef franks and 50 cents cash back on a few kinds of mustard. If you’re a ketchup person (we won’t tell), you can get 50 cents back on a bottle of Sir Kensington’s.

Snap a picture of your receipt with the app when you get home, and your cash-back reward will be added to your account within 48 hours.

Plus, you’ll get a $10 cash-back bonus when you redeem your first receipt! That’s no weenie of an offer.

Save Money on Groceries, No Matter What You Buy

I know you’re wondering why we’re talking about a hot dog contest. Frankly, we mustard lost our minds, right?

Nope. We’re dead serious. We’ll take any chance we can to remind you of all the ways you can save money. Like this: Here’s how to save on groceries every time you shop.

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

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Pop-Up Ads Are Annoying — But They Work

With so many annoying types of web advertising out there, what could advertisers do better? HowStuffWorks looks at pop-up ads.

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Pop-Up Ads Are Annoying — But They Work

With so many annoying types of web advertising out there, what could advertisers do better? HowStuffWorks looks at pop-up ads.

Source Business & Money - HowStuffWorks http://ift.tt/2sMxapl

What I Learned from Checking BuzzSumo Every Day for a Month

I use a lot of different tools and various software for marketing.

But one of my absolute favorites is BuzzSumo.

I love it!

At this point, I consider it a linchpin useful for several different aspects of marketing.

And apparently I’m not alone.

Big name brands, such as TechRadar, TechTarget and even Rolling Stone magazine, use BuzzSumo to optimize their campaigns.

And because I tend to be compulsive about certain things, I’ve gotten into the habit of checking BuzzSumo every single day.

As you might imagine, I’ve come up with some pretty interesting insights along the way.

In this post, I’ll share with you what I learned from checking BuzzSumo every day for a month.

It’ll tell you, without a doubt, which influencers to target

One of the major selling points of BuzzSumo is it allows me to perform streamlined influencer research.

If you’re wondering whom to target for a guest post, brand endorsement, etc., BuzzSumo will let you know.

Here’s an example of how to use it.

From the dashboard, enter the topic or keyword you’re interested in.

In my case, it’s “digital marketing”:

Click “Search”:

This will show you which content has received the most shares.

But I want to take it one step further, so I’m going to click on “Content Analysis” at the top:

Scroll down a bit, and you’ll see a section called “Most Shared Domains by Network”:

This lets me know which publications, websites and blogs are getting the most shares, telling me how influential they are.

I also like the pie chart, quickly showing me how things stack up.

If I wanted to pitch a few brands with a guest-posting idea, I would want to aim for some of the top brands on the list, like Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, Social Media Today and so on.

But wait, there’s more.

Go back to the top, and click on “Influencers.”

Here’s what I get:

It’s a massive list of influencers along with accompanying key metrics such as their page authority, domain authority, follower count, etc.

I can literally find thousands of influencers in the digital marketing niche.

I can then reach out to any of them by visiting their website or contacting them on Twitter (BuzzSumo provides links to both).

I honestly can’t think of a more streamlined and efficient way to find the top influencers.

If influencer marketing is your bread and butter, BuzzSumo is a godsend.

You can see where competitors are getting their links from

Backlinks are everything.

It’s a toss up as to which is more important: content or links.

But I think we can all agree that the quality and relevancy of the sites linking to you impact your search rankings heavily.

One of my favorite features on BuzzSumo is “Backlinks.”

With a simple search, you can find out who’s linking to your competitors and which specific pieces of content those links are coming from.

Here’s how you do it.

First, click on “Backlinks” from your dashboard:

Now, enter the URL of the competitor you want to check out.

I’ll use Kissmetrics as an example:

Click on “Search.”

Voila! Just like that, I can see where their backlinks are coming from.

Here are just a few:

And I can take it one step further by checking the rest of the backlinks coming from a particular website.

Just look at “View [X] More Links”:

If you see that a particular site is linking to your competitor like crazy, this is a good indicator they may be willing to link to you as well.

This is helpful because it gives me plenty of ideas for backlink opportunities.

By knowing who’s most likely to link to content in my industry, I know to whom I should reach out and who’s most worth my time.

You can tell which topics are trending in your industry

Evergreen content is definitely important and serves its purpose.

In particular, I’m a fan of long-form evergreen pieces.

But as good as evergreen content is, it’s also important to cover the hot topics trending right now.

This is especially true for fast-moving niches like news and politics.

Striking while the iron is hot is a surefire way to bring attention to your brand and grow your audience.

And it just so happens that BuzzSumo is perfect for determining which topics are trending in your industry.

All it takes is a quick search.

You first want to go to your dashboard and filter by a recent date.

I usually look at content from the previous week, but a month or even 24 hours can work as well, depending on your industry.

Click on the filter you want to use:

Type in your keyword:

Now click “Search.”

Within seconds, I can see which topics are trending and the number of shares each piece of content has received:

The more engagement content receives, the more interested I am in it because people are obviously responding to it favorably.

I know for a fact this content is resonating with my audience at this particular moment.

If I create a similar post or skyscraper it, I’ve got a good chance of getting positive results.

And believe me, this beats the heck out of manually scouring the Internet, trying to figure out what’s working.

Going that route is incredibly arduous and labor intensive.

It also involves too much guesswork for my taste.

By using BuzzSumo, I know for sure what’s trending and have access to several helpful metrics, which means I’m basing my findings on concrete data—not just a hunch.

You can determine which content formats to use

This one’s a biggie.

Which content formats should you use to reach your audience most effectively?

You could always experiment and base your content strategy on speculation.

Or you could use data to guide your strategy.

Although I think most successful marketing campaigns do require a certain amount of experimentation, I’m a fan of using data whenever it’s available.

And in this case, BuzzSumo makes it readily available.

This information is also available in the “Content Analysis” section.

Just look for “Average Shares By Content Type.”

For digital marketing, a list format is your best bet:

For “IoT” (the Internet of Things), it’s video:

Just plug your industry/niche into the search box, and you can instantly tell which type of format is resonating the most with your audience.

You can use it to find the sweet spot for content length

I’ve written quite a bit on choosing the right length for your content.

I even published an article that specifically points out what the ideal word count is according to your industry.

And quite frankly, word count is one of the most widely discussed topics in the content marketing world.

If you’re not quite sure how long your posts should be, BuzzSumo can definitely point you in the right direction.

Again, you’ll want to go to “Content Analysis.”

Then scroll down until you reach the section called “Average Shares By Content Length.”

Here’s what pops up for digital marketing:

I can see that aiming for over 3,000 words is my best bet for maximizing shares.

But this isn’t the case for all industries.

Here are the results I got when searching for IoT:

In this case, I’m better off aiming for 2,000-3,000 words.

And here’s one more random example—marathon running:

In this niche, 1,000-2,000 words would be best.

This shows you how this feature can work for almost any industry.

It lets you know which social networks produce the most shares

Another question many marketers have is which social networks they should focus on.

Should you stick with the biggest user base and put the bulk of your attention on Facebook?

Or are you better off opting for another network?

BuzzSumo will let you know for sure which platforms are best for your industry.

Just look for “Average Shares By Network” on the “Content Analysis” page.

Here’s what I got for IoT:

It’s clear that Facebook is bringing in the most shares, followed by LinkedIn and Twitter.

I would probably want to focus on those networks in that order.

Here’s what I got for digital marketing:

For this industry, Twitter is actually bringing in the most shares, followed by Facebook and LinkedIn.

You get the idea.

The only catch is you’re limited to these five platforms because BuzzSumo doesn’t currently feature Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc.

But it’s still a good way to gauge which major networks are most worth your time.

Conclusion

BuzzSumo is a gold mine for marketers!

Whether you want to know which influencers to target, where your competitors are getting their backlinks from or which content formats to use, BuzzSumo will provide all the details.

It’ll give you in-depth insights on how to best approach your marketing campaign, and it’s super easy to use.

Most people can figure out the basics in minutes. It’s very intuitive.

I use it to guide multiple areas of my marketing and highly recommend you try it as well.

What’s your take on BuzzSumo? Do you use any similar tools?

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10 Smart Ways to Use Leftover Sweet Potatoes (Smart Staple Strategies #5)

This is part of a short summer series covering smart strategies for using leftover staple foods – things like rice, beans, pasta, and so on. Here’s what you do when you cook a bit too much and don’t know what to do with the rest!

Sweet potatoes are one of my family’s “hidden” staple foods. It’s not one of the obvious ones that people often point out, like rice and beans, but sweet potatoes are always available at a really inexpensive price, they’re always tasty, and they can be prepared in a lot of different ways.

In our house, we often eat baked sweet potatoes instead of normal ones. We’ll eat them as a side dish for many meals by wrapping them in foil and baking them in the oven, then serving them by simply slicing them open and adding butter and sour cream (and maybe a bit of brown sugar, too).

Sweet potatoes are rather large and they’re also a bit dense, which means that it’s really easy to cook far too many for your family’s needs, especially when they constitute a side dish. If you find yourself with some extra cooked sweet potatoes at the end of a meal (and you haven’t jazzed them up too much), there are actually a lot of tasty things you can do with them in the next day or two. Here are ten of my favorite ideas.

Make mashed chipotle sweet potatoes as a side dish.

This recipe for mashed maple chipotle sweet potatoes is a great use for leftover sweet potatoes. Since step one is just cooking the potatoes in a normal way, you can just skip that and jump right into the two remaining steps, which basically add up to adding some flavorings to the potatoes and mashing them like mashed potatoes.

These end up being this perfect mix of sweet and savory and work perfectly as a side dish for all kinds of meals. The secret here is the chipotle pepper, which adds a great spiciness to the natural sweetness of the potato and the hint of maple syrup. This stuff is so delicious!

Cube cooked sweet potatoes into tiny cubes and add them to oatmeal.

We often have steel cut oats for breakfast and we usually flavor them in simple ways, with brown sugar or maple syrup. Those are flavors that practically beg to also have a bit of sweet potato.

It’s easy – just cube up a baked sweet potato just before serving and toss the cubes in there just long enough to warm them up. Make the cubes relatively small – you want a small bit or two in with your oatmeal, not a whole mouthful of sweet potato – and you’ll find yourself with a surprisingly delicious breakfast treat!

Cube the cooked sweet potatoes and add them to a salad.

This might seem a bit different, but you’d be surprised how well some cubed sweet potato works on most salads. Their firm texture and hint of sweetness works with many different kinds of salad and many vinaigrette dressings work like a champ in terms of complementing the flavors of the sweet potato.

I often make salads out of whatever green mix is on sale at the store, often for lunch, but sometimes as a side dish for dinner. Adding some cubed sweet potatoes to the salad makes the whole thing distinct and surprisingly flavorful.

Turn them into sweet potato pancakes.

This is so easy. All you need to do is take a cooked sweet potato with the skin removed, add two eggs, add a pinch of nutmeg and sweetener if you want, then mash it into a consistent mix. Form that mix into pancake-sized discs and cook them on a griddle or in a skillet with a bit of oil to prevent sticking. They turn out delicious and fluffy and you just can’t get enough!

I’m quite serious when I say that I would happily replace normal pancakes with these. They are almost magical with some maple syrup on them.

Another approach, if you’re not quite that committed to sweet potato pancakes, is to just puree one cooked potato without the skin along with some ordinary pancake batter. That way, you get a nice jolt of sweet potato flavor with the ordinary texture and cooking style of pancakes.

Blend them and use it to thicken chili.

Just take a leftover cooked sweet potato, remove the skin, add a couple of cups of chili to a blender, toss in the sweet potato, and puree it until it’s a thick paste. Mix that back into your chili.

This process thickens the chili and adds a bit of sweet potato flavor to it while also improving the nutritional value. The flavors tend to combine really well. It also bulks it up quite a bit, meaning that the same amount of chili can now feed another person or two.

Turn an uncooked sweet potato into a bunch of sweet potato chips.

All you have to do is take an uncooked sweet potato, slice it as thinly as possible (a food processor really helps here), then dredge the slices through olive oil, then top them with a bit of salt or other powdered flavorings of your choice, then bake them at 250 F for two hours, flipping them halfway through.

These make for a wonderfully crispy treat, flavored just the way you like them. It’s a great way to transform a leftover uncooked sweet potato or two into a snack that everyone will devour.

Mash them and make sweet potato quesadillas.

Got some leftover tortillas, too? Just take a sweet potato without skin, mash it thoroughly, then spread that mashed sweet potato thinly on the inside of a tortilla. Add some shredded cheese, fold it in half, and cook it in a skillet over high heat until the tortilla is just barely browned in places. Perfect!

It turns out that the sweet potato flavor meshes well with quite a few different cheese varieties, making this a very simple and tasty sandwich for lunch. You can also jazz it up with additional ingredients as you so choose – I like to add just a little bit of salsa to this.

Shred them and make sweet potato latkes.

I absolutely love these next to a fried egg for breakfast. Their flavors just bounce off of each other so well, and they’re easy to prepare, too.

Just take an uncooked sweet potato and shred it. For every pound of shredded sweet potato, add 1/3 cup flour, two large eggs, a teaspoon of salt, and some black pepper to taste and mix thoroughly. Then, just take about 1/8th of a cup of this mixture, flatten it into a disk, and add it to a skillet with a bit of oil in it over medium high heat. Cook until brown on one side, then flip and brown it on the other side. Perfect!

Mash them and bake them into sweet potato cupcakes.

Sweet potatoes make for a wonderful backbone for sweet baked items, such as sweet breads and, yes, cupcakes. Without getting too much into detail, here’s a great recipe for sweet potato cupcakes that works perfectly with the insides of a leftover sweet potato or two.

Baked goods like this perfectly accentuate the gentle sweetness of a sweet potato, bringing out all of those flavors and mashing them up with other flavors (like cinnamon) for an amazing sweet treat. For a different take on turning sweet potatoes into a delicious dessert, check out this amazing pecan and sweet potato bread recipe, which works great with leftover sweet potatoes.

Scrape out the insides, preserve the skins, and make loaded sweet potato skins.

What about all of those unused sweet potato skins? You can easily turn them into “loaded skins” for a great snack. Just take a bit of the sweet potato insides and mix it up with things that you like – cheese, sour cream, bacon crumbles, whatever sounds good to you. Blend it to consistency, then scoop that mix right back into the skins.

I like to then top them with a bit of cheese and bake them for a short while at 350 F until the top is just a bit crisp and the whole thing is just perfectly warm throughout. It’s such a delicious snack!

A leftover sweet potato, whether cooked or uncooked, can be used in so many ways. It doesn’t have to be the centerpiece of a meal or even a side dish on its own. Instead, get a little creative and you’ll find infinite easy ways to enjoy that sweet potato flavor!

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Traveling Solo? These 25 Resources Will Help You Make the Most of Your Trip

Three Credit-Boosting Ways to Tackle Credit Card Debt

Does the idea of taking 20 or more years to pay off $10,000 worth of credit card debt sound appealing? Does the thought of paying more than $15,500 in interest fees on that $10,000 debt seem like a wise financial move?

These are silly questions, or course — the answer is clearly no to both of them. Yet if you choose to make only the minimum monthly payments on your credit card accounts, this math is a very real example of the situation you could be facing – a lot of wasted money over a very long period of time.

If you’ve done your homework, you already know that revolving an outstanding credit card balance from one month to the next will not only hurt you financially but can also damage your credit scores. For this reason, it’s important to tackle your credit card debt problem sooner rather than later. Here are three ways to go about it:

1. Accelerated Payback

One method of tackling credit card debt involves scaling back on your charges and accelerating the payback of your outstanding balances. If you’re carrying balances on multiple accounts then you’ll also need to prioritize which balances to pay down first (while maintaining on-time minimum payments on every account, of course). Here are a few options to consider.

Pay off the balance closest to being maxed out: This option may help your credit scores since scoring models like FICO and VantageScore pay attention to how much of your credit limits you utilize. As your debt-to-limit ratio falls, your credit scores will likely improve.
Pay off the lowest balances first and move upward: This option, sometimes called the “debt snowball”, can help you build early momentum – and may help to improve your credit scores as well. Credit scoring models not only pay attention to your debt to limit ratios on each card, but also your total number of accounts with outstanding balances. The fewer accounts with balances, the better from a credit scoring perspective.
Pay off the highest interest rates first: This is clearly a financial move. However, remember that anytime you pay down credit card balances, you’re likely helping your credit scores as well.

Remember, there are few “bad” ways to eliminate credit card debt. All of the options above can help to save you money and may potentially improve your credit scores.

2. Zero-Interest Balance Transfer Options

It is no secret that the interest rates on credit card debt are notoriously expensive. Even if you’ve begun to scale back your spending and are paying off your debt as aggressively as possible, high interest rates can slow your progress. For this reason many people will opt to use a zero-interest balance transfer as part of their credit card debt elimination plan.

If your credit is in decent shape, you may be able to qualify for a new credit card with an attractive balance transfer offer of 0% interest for some period of time, normally six to 18 months. In fact, some of your existing accounts may even have balance transfer offers as well. Without the burden of added interest, each payment will make a bigger dent in your debt. You may need to pay a balance transfer fee in the neighborhood of 3%, however, so make sure you can pay down the entire amount transferred within the interest-free introductory period to make it worthwhile.

Remember, though, if you’re fortunate enough to have access to a low- or 0%-interest balance transfer option, you need to stay committed to your newly formed good habits. Slip back into your former tendencies to overspend and you could find yourself in worse shape than when you started.

Related: Five Steps to Take Immediately After Doing a Balance Transfer

3. Personal Loan

Personal loans represent another potentially smart move when you are tackling a credit card debt problem. A personal loan might not save you as much money in interest fees as a zero percent balance transfer; however, your new lower rate will not have an expiration date either.

Additionally, when you pay off high-risk revolving debt (credit cards) with low-risk installment debt (personal loan), your credit scores are likely to see a near immediate boost as an added bonus. Of course, for this or any other debt elimination strategy to work effectively, you’ll want to avoid charging up new balances on your freshly paid-off credit card accounts.

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John Ulzheimer is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books on the topic and has been interviewed and quoted thousands of times over the past 10 years. With time spent at Equifax and FICO, Ulzheimer is the only credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has been an expert witness in over 230 credit related lawsuits and has been qualified to testify in both federal and state courts on the topic of consumer credit.

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Woodford Patient Capital: the reasons to buy

Following a trip to the AGM, Richard Beddard outlines the investment case for Woodford Patient Capital trust.

By Richard Beddard

Whichever way you look at it, the case for investing in Woodford Patient Capital (WPCT) is all about reputation.

Brand power

Brand names and logos originally served to identify products, but over time brands have come to encompass our perception of a product, and all the good, or bad things we associate with it. Sometimes a firm's reputation is synonymous with its products and its brand.

I was thinking about the power of brands at the Woodford Patient Capital Trust Annual General Meeting on Monday. Patient Capital is, I think, an investment company that depends on the reputation of its fund manager, Woodford Investment Management, which in most people's minds is inseparable from the reputation of its head of investment, Neil Woodford. Woodford had a long and impressive record at Invesco Perpetual before setting up his own firm in 2014.

In my mind, Woodford's chiselled face embodies craggy Ama Dablam, the Nepalese mountain also known as the Matterhorn of the Himalayas, adopted 30 years ago by Invesco Perpetual as its logo.

Meeting brand Woodford

Woodford Investment Management goes out of its way to involve shareholders, blogging, and disclosing all the holdings in its funds. Patient Capital's AGM has been organised to invite discussion too. It's in Oxford's Museum of Modern Art, which is imposing on the outside, but convivial on the inside. Woodford and chairman Susan Searle sit on a softly lit raised platform surrounded by sofas full of shareholders.

He gives a presentation reminding us the trust aims to make good a deficiency in the funding of scientific start-ups in the UK, which prevents them reaching their potential. By investing, the trust will help create global multi-billion pound businesses, which will be good for shareholders, and good for the economy, especially as the economy's prior engine for growth, financial services, is a busted flush (I'm paraphrasing).

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Despite the performance of the trust, its share price and Net Asset Value (NAV) have declined modestly since it was launched in 2015, Woodford reassures us it's still way ahead of where he expected it would be after two years. The quality of the businesses, science and people it has invested in, and also the quality of its network, the academics and the universities spawning start-ups and like-minded investors funding them, have surprised him.

He takes questions from the sofas, and, with some of his fund managers and the trust's directors, he mingles with shareholders afterwards.

Sticky shareholders

I think exposure to brand Woodford is fundamental to the trust's strategy. Providing long-term capital to small, and sometimes unprofitable and unquoted businesses will result in setbacks and giant leaps forward. The annual report documents a setback, Circassia (CIR), which has written off its research into vaccines against animal allergies. It's share price has declined by more than two-thirds.

Purplebricks (PURP) shows the potential for holdings to grow quickly, though. Woodford first invested when the online estate agent, then unlisted, was valued at £6 million. Today its market capitalisation is over £1 billion.

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With short sellers interested in up to 25 per cent of the share capital of listed holdings like Allied Minds (ALM) and Prothena (PRTA), there's a propaganda war being fought between those who would benefit from a decline in the share price and those who trust in their interpretation of the long-term fundamentals. Woodford is patient, he operates on a three to five-year time frame, and is more confident than ever the trust will meet its 10 per cent annual growth target, but shareholders must share his confidence if they are to stick with the trust.

No win, no fee

According to the trust's innovative fee structure, Woodford Investment Management will not be paid for its work until it achieves the target. Although Woodford thinks the hurdle is lowering as the fundamentals improve, in mathematical terms the hurdle is higher after two years because the target increases by 10 per cent every year, and ground must also be recovered due to the fall in NAV. Could the fund manager lose patience? How long is the firm prepared to work for free?

Woodford himself is a shareholder, he voted at the meeting like the rest of us, but the size of his holding isn't disclosed. It doesn't have to be because it's not greater than 3 per cent of the equity in the company. A notifiable holding would be worth in excess of £23 million today so we can be sure Woodford's is worth between 92p, the price of one share, and £23 million! I'm assured it's big, growing, and may be notifiable one day.

Apart from skin in the game, the glue that binds the fund management company to Patient Capital is a contract that can be terminated at three months' notice and Woodford's reputation.

Network effect

Woodford's reputation doesn't just give me confidence, I believe it gives other investors confidence too, and that confidence means the trust is more likely to succeed. Patient shareholders allow Woodford to put money to work for the long-term.

That's one dimension of competitive advantage. There are others. Brand Woodford's reputation surely encourages start-ups to seek funding from Patient Capital, because its patient and an investment is tantamount to an endorsement.

Fund Briefing: US Equities

The revelation that Woodford collaborates with like-minded investors surprises me. I'd imagined the dearth of investment, the opportunity Woodford spotted, would intensify as Britain leaves the EU and, in my binary way, I'd assumed pools of capital compete to invest in the same companies.

Both assumptions are wrong, or at least the situation is more nuanced. Perhaps because Woodford has drawn attention to the opportunity, foreign funds are increasingly disposed to invest. The trust has invested all its money, and probably needs to increase its NAV before it raises more, but companies still require funding, so Woodford is collaborating to keep the science niche growing, enhancing shareholder returns and, of course, Woodford's reputation.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

Reading this homage, you may be thinking I've swallowed Patient Capital's PR handbook, but I've done something potentially more rewarding and dangerous. I've joined a few stray dots myself. Reputations can be destroyed, so you have to believe Woodford's brand will endure to buy any of this, but I think the bigger the brand, the less likely it is to fall. Strong brands reinforce themselves.

Conflicts of interest and high fees make it difficult for fund managers to beat the market over their careers. For that reason, and because I prefer to pick my own shares, I've only ever invested in four funds: two investment trusts and two open ended funds. They are, or were at the time of my investment, managed by fund managers whose reputations transcend the self-destructive mechanics that weigh on lesser funds.

Fund briefing: smaller companies

Two of the funds are managed by Fundsmith, which is Terry Smith's investment company. Smith's reputation in fund management is shorter than Woodford's, but his reputation as an investment analyst and businessman is extraordinary.

His funds allow me to profit from markets I don't understand well or even have access to, super-massive multinationals and companies traded on exchanges far away. Woodford Patient Capital serves a similar purpose. It enables me to invest in unlisted and young listed firms whose science and valuations I can often barely comprehend.

My first investment, to pay off the interest only mortgage on my first house, was an investment in the Invesco Perpetual High Income fund, previously run by Woodford. With hindsight, I wish that investment had been perpetual.

This article was originally published on our sister website Interactive Investor.