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How Athletes Can Improve Their Immune Systems

No athlete wants to have to stop training due to getting sick. If you want to help stave off the common cold, then you should try to work on improving your immune system. Take a look at some ways that athletes can improve their immune systems by reading the information below. It should help you to get yourself on track so that you won’t have to put up with getting sick. 

Eating a Balanced Diet

Your immune system is going to be much better off if you are eating a balanced diet. Becoming the healthiest version of yourself can help you to stave off a cold. You can ensure that your blood sugar is properly balanced and that you’re getting all of the recommended nutrients. Doing all of this while also drinking enough water should help you to be less likely to get sick. 

Manage Stress Levels

Sometimes, the best thing to do to avoid getting sick is to manage your stress levels properly. Too much stress can have a negative impact on your body and it can throw your balance off. This could cause you to be more likely to get sick even if you’re eating right. Don’t keep overworking yourself and understand when it is time to take a break from everything. 

Get Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep is also crucial when you’re trying to avoid getting sick. If your sleep schedule is really bad, then your body is not going to be working very efficiently. It can throw off that delicate balance that you have been reading about and your good nutrition habits won’t save you from getting sick. Those who are sleep-deprived are more prone to dealing with illness and it will have a negative impact on your immune system. 

Washing Hands Regularly

Even if you are very healthy, you can still get sick by being exposed to bacteria or other things. If you take the time to wash your hands very regularly, then you will be less likely to get sick. Always be sure to wash your hands when you’re out in public as well. Be mindful of what you’re touching and you should be able to keep yourself from getting sick nearly as often as most people do. 

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Are Brick-and-Mortar Stores Making a Comeback as High-Tech Platforms?

You’ve probably heard about how brick-and-mortar stores are disappearing across the nation. With the rise of online shopping, many brick-and-mortar businesses simply are not doing as well as they used to. There might be signs that certain stores are making a comeback as high-tech platforms, though. Keep reading to examine this topic and you’ll see whether physical shopping locations might be sticking around for longer than some people thought. 

Creating Worthwhile Retail Experiences

One of the biggest ways that technology is helping retail stores is that it is helping them to create better retail experiences. For the most part, retail stores have been using the same warehousing model for many decades now. Technology makes it possible to approach retail in a different way. Many of the most successful retail stores are now offering seamless experiences that allow for shopping online and picking items up at the store. This is happening in the world of grocery stores and it’s also happening at electronics stores and other big-box retail chains. 

They’re also changing the way that product selection is handled. In the past, you had to go to a store to see if they had an item in stock or you could call and ask an employee to check. Presently, you’re able to check the inventory of items online at most of the popular retail chains. These little enhancements make the overall retail experience much better than it was in the past. 

Creating better retail experiences makes it more likely for customers to continue to shop at these stores. Customers can enjoy some of the conveniences of online shopping without having to wait for a package to arrive. Integrating smartphone apps helps retail chains to be able to communicate with customers more effectively as well. An employee can come right out to your car to deliver your groceries or packages due to being able to track your location on the app with your permission. 

More Change Is Necessary

More change is necessary if retail stores are going to be able to compete with online shopping. The retail industry has made strides recently in becoming more appealing to consumers once again. Even so, things need to continue to evolve so that consumers can be provided with a more convenient shopping experience. Time will tell whether brick-and-mortar stores will still be around in the decades to come.

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The Importance of Brand Authenticity

Developing a brand isn’t something that happens overnight and you want to make sure that you’re doing things the right way. Brand authenticity is very important when you want to gain the trust and respect of your customers. Creating a brand that seems to be fake in some way will lead to a negative image of your company. Read on to examine why brand authenticity is so crucial to your success. 

Customers Can Tell When Brands Aren’t Being Genuine

Customers can tell when brands aren’t being genuine. Sometimes, brands will try to showcase what they have to offer in ways that are not authentic. Perhaps they will attempt to pander to a certain audience because they think it will lead to increased sales. Customers will often be able to see right through this attempt to rebrand a company since it doesn’t come from an authentic place. 

Your brand represents what you and your company are all about. Presenting your goals and ideals in an honest fashion allows people to understand what you have to offer. You can build a genuine connection with customers based on honesty. A large percentage of customers say that authenticity is the most important factor when they are choosing which brands to use. 

The Values of Your Brand Matter

The values of your brand truly matter and you should think about how you want your company to be viewed. When you’re doing things such as marketing, it’s going to be good to lay out your values. Look at everything from the standpoint of whether it represents your company well. All advertising materials need to line up with the core values that you want to be a part of your brand. 

Being Transparent Helps

Being transparent is also going to be helpful when you’re gaining the trust of consumers. People don’t like it when brands seem shifty or they appear to be hiding certain things. Be transparent about what you are and the types of values that you represent. You’ll attract people that can relate to the type of brand that you’re going for and everything will work out better for you. 

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The Future of Sports Technology

Sports technology is a very exciting topic and it’s interesting to see how the world of sports is making use of advancements in technology. As humanity continues to become more technologically advanced, many people are curious about what the future of sports technology has in store. Keep reading to take a look at some ways that sports technology will be developing in the near future. 

Wearable Sports Technology

Wearable sports technology helps athletes to get more data about how they’re doing. This can be useful for training purposes and sometimes wearable tech will even be used during games. It helps people to monitor specific data points and it’s very helpful for health reasons. Improvements in this realm of sports technology should help to keep players safer and more informed than ever. 

Improved Stadium Technology

Improved stadium technology will make attending games much better than in the past. Many stadiums are already making significant changes to modernize what they are doing. Some stadiums make use of companion apps to make navigating the arena easier and all major stadiums seem to use modern display screens to keep people engaged in the games. There will be more advancements in the ways that stadiums use technology to give fans a better experience. 

New Ways to Watch Sports

New ways to watch sports will become more prevalent in the future. This could involve engaging with sports using augmented reality, virtual reality, or mixed reality technology. It could also refer to being able to watch sports via new platforms instead of just using traditional televisions. The ways that people watch content continue to evolve and sports will follow suit with whatever the public is demanding. 

The Rise of eSports

The rise of eSports is seen as a controversial topic by some, but it’s hard to deny the potential of video games. Many people see competitive gaming as something that will rise to the level of traditional sports in the coming decades. Technology is at the forefront of everything in eSports and sports technology will be directly tied to this burgeoning competitive sports scene. Time will tell just how popular eSports will become. 

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The Best Wearable Tech for Athletes

Athletes are always looking for things that will help to give them an edge in training. There are many ways that technology can help athletes to train smarter than ever before. Many of the best athletes are making use of wearable tech. Take a look at some of the best wearable tech for athletes below. 

The Zephyr Bioharness

The Zephyr Bioharness is an interesting piece of wearable technology that professional baseball players are using. This is a piece of technology that can track movement while monitoring your heart rate, respiration, and acceleration. It can be used during games and it straps directly to the chest. Information like this helps to keep players safe and it shows them how they’re doing in several key areas. 

Motus Compression Sleeve

The Motus Compression Sleeve has been specifically designed for baseball players. It helps to provide players with important pieces of data and it can give them throw limit recommendations. It’s also going to give data on pitch locations and can help to show how athletes are performing. It’s an interesting piece of wearable tech that is even available for public purchase. 

Whoop Strap

The Whoop Strap is a device that is worn on your wrist and it gives you many different metrics to analyze. Athletes can get data on their heart rate, ambient temperature, and motion. This is an expensive piece of tech that provides a lot of information that can help athletes to get better sleep and manage their habits. It has proven to be especially popular among NBA players. 

GPS Trackers

Many professional athletes make use of special GPS trackers as well. They use special GPS trackers that can give out metrics such as speed and distance. These can also give information about a person’s heart rate. Many NFL players, NBA players, and MLS players use GPS trackers in this fashion. 

Wearable Tech Will Become More Prevalent

Wearable tech is going to continue to become more prevalent in the world of sports. Athletes need to have access to data to ensure that they are doing all that they can to succeed. As technology continues to improve, the athletes of tomorrow will be able to use new and more interesting methods to pursue athletic excellence. 

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How to Improve Your Instagram Marketing Techniques

Instagram is a powerful tool for marketing. To get the most out of this tool, you need to schedule content. It seems as though everyone uses Instagram to promote their businesses and different demographic groups are viewing Instagram at different times. Content scheduling can ensure that you reach your market and convert views to sales.

How Does Instagram Content Scheduling Help?

Instagram content scheduling helps in a number of ways. First of all, it is difficult to publish bulk posts on a regular basis. When you schedule them, the process is automated. This means that you can set aside a specific time to plan your content scheduling and it will be posted at the appropriate time. This way, you don’t need to be online at the same time as your target audience.

Your posts will be more consistent and your viewers will learn when to expect your content. All in all, this will increase your followers and keep your site engaged. You can actually create better content since you will be able to plan it and have the time set aside. You can prepare your content for the week and schedule it to post at the right times. Not only that, but you can review your engagements and analyze your strategy. This way, you can make changes as needed.

What Is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

You always want to post on Instagram when your audience is there to see it. The whole point of your posts is to engage your audience. This answer will vary depending on who your target audience is. Luckily, Instagram has a tool to help you learn when your audience tends to be online.

Instagram insights will tell you information about your audience, such as their gender and location. It will also tell you when they are online. The important thing is that other Instagram users who are not in your audience tend to be online at these times as well. That means that you can target new viewers and followers by posting at the right times.

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What Are Puck and Player Trackers in the NHL?

The NHL is currently looking into installing puck and player trackers in the NHL stadiums across the league. What does this mean and why are they bothering to do this? This is actually a very interesting development that is going to put the NHL on the cutting edge of technology. Read on to examine more about this topic. 

Data Analysis

One of the reasons why puck and player trackers will be so important is that it provides more data than ever before. This is going to give teams the ability to get detailed information about how players are moving, the speeds of certain players, trajectories, and so much more. There is a lot to consider and this information can be useful for teams when they are preparing for games. From a training perspective, having data like this to analyze will prove to be invaluable. 

This puck and player tracking technology is less about the teams using it and more about what it can do for the fans, though. Many fans have noted that watching hockey live is much more engaging that watching hockey on television. The idea is that this new technology can help to make the television presentations of hockey games more appealing for everyone. How can this technology do that, though?

Improving the Presentation of the Game 

Improving the presentation of the game is going to be about putting players in the game better than ever before. The puck and player trackers give fans new ways to engage with the game that they love so much. This will give people insights into the game of hockey and they can examine things from new angles. Sports are consumed differently in the modern era and having technology that can keep up with the desires of younger hockey fans is important. 

Getting real-time data on the players and what is going on with the puck will be useful. It can help fans to engage in fun activities such as fantasy sports as well. Some people even like to simply study data like this from an educational standpoint since they love the game so much. Sports fans love statistics and technology like this gives you more stats than ever before.

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How to Learn From Other Companies’ Customer Service Mistakes

Everyone has experienced that dreadful customer service response. This is one of the leading causes of people refusing to bring their business back to a company. When people order a product, they expect it to arrive and function properly. They expect it to be the product that they ordered. If it isn’t, they expect customer service to solve the problem. This may sound simple but that isn’t always the case.

What Do Customers Want From Customer Service?

The majority of the time, customers begin with a phone call. The number-one frustration for customers is when a representative doesn’t treat them with respect. It is also important to have live (not automated) customer service representatives who answer the call and assure the customer that they will find a solution.

In addition, people want assurance that the problem will be fixed, whether that means shipping a new product or repairing a broken product. Empathy is a key ingredient to customer satisfaction. They want to feel as though the company understands and acknowledges the inconvenience. Less important but still on the list are appreciation, an apology, and giving the money back.

What Do Customers Do If You Don’t Solve the Problem?

In today’s world, customers are finding that the best way to get a quick response is to take their issue to social media. When they are unsatisfied with the results or left on hold for too long, many customers will send out a tweet or post on Facebook or Instagram. This strategy is proving to be effective because it is a way to get the company’s attention.

Once a customer makes a complaint about a company on social media, it is out there for everyone to see. Social media today has allowed almost anyone to be an expert and if a customer casts a business in a negative light, people will respond. Businesses are well aware of this and they are very responsive to social media complaints.

The biggest thing to learn from other companies’ mistakes is that a business needs to address customer dissatisfaction swiftly and in a solution-oriented way.

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How (and Why) to Mitigate Distractions While Working From Home

Eliminating distractions while working from home — especially with kids running around belting Frozen II and housemates doing mid-day workouts — might not be entirely feasible. However, it is still possible to mitigate distractions. After all, they’re hurting you — and your business — more than you might realize. You might have heard the popular statistic that you need an average of 25 minutes to get back to your original task after a distraction.

But there’s more affecting your productivity than that. We looked through some of the research behind the psychology of distractions and found some interesting insights:

Distractions have a demonstrably negative effect on our ability to perform, even when the distractions had little significance.

People who consider themselves at multi-tasking may be worse at moving from task to task than others.

Even if you attempt to “move on” to another work-related task, you may find yourself distracted by the first task of your day.

With that in mind, let’s dig deeper into the studies and find some better strategies for managing distractions:

1. Too Much Information Has a Detrimental Impact on Performance

In one UK study, researchers had volunteers carry out problem-solving tasks in a quiet environment—then tested them while they were “bombarded with new emails and phone calls.” Even though the volunteers didn’t have to respond to any of these messages, simply being aware that they were taking place had a significant impact on their ability to concentrate.

The result was that performance suffered. The average IQ dropped by about 10 points.

The conclusion is that not only are interruptions distracting, but if you allow distractions to weigh on your mind in even the slightest way, they can have a detrimental impact on performance. Given that volunteers didn’t have to respond to any email or phone call and still found them distracting, we can only imagine the impact distractions have on us when the emails and phone calls do need responses.

So try having an open dialogue with those you live with and creating a chart that hangs outside of your workspace where it will be seen that alerts housemates of your current work status. It may include options such as “available,” “busy,” “in a meeting” or “do not disturb unless facing a MAJOR emergency”.

2. Switching Between Tasks Takes Up More Energy Than You Think

A 2009 study at the University of Minnesota found the existence of what they dubbed “attention residue.” They defined it as the delay that occurs when someone sets aside one task and takes up another.

It turns out that the mental task of switching gears takes more energy and attention than we might have thought. And that led to some interesting conclusions, including the “surprising result that heavy media multitaskers performed worse on a test of task-switching ability.”

That’s right: even experienced multitaskers aren’t as good at switching between tasks as they might have thought. In fact, they may even be worse than the population at large.

This should lead most people to reconsider their approach to multitasking and asking the following questions:

Am I really a good multitasker, or do I just multitask often?

How long does it take me to “switch gears,” and do I often put off work because of the energy required to start a new task?

Where are some areas in which I might combine activities to minimize “switching gears” and improving my overall concentration?

These questions will help you identify some of the habits that may be leading you to lose concentration as you move from task to task. So whether you claim to be a good multitasker or not, try scheduling out your day in the early morning to help limit the amount of times you have to switch tasks and accommodate for the needs of those you live with.

3. The First Problem You Focus On Tends to Get Most of Your Brain Power

They call it “cognitive fixation.” If you like to multi-task, you may find that the first activity during your day is the one that retains most of your attention later on, even while you’re attempting to give 100% of your attention to something new.

This is evidence in favor of the strategy of attacking your most important tasks first. If you were to work on a big work project in the morning and only take on lighter menial tasks later in the day, part of your mind will continue to work on that “big” work project that you started off with. This can work to your benefit, so long as you’re aware of the effect and schedule your day accordingly.

4. Distractions are Disproportionately Affecting the Young

Millennials and Gen Zers—those most affected by the digital lifestyle—are also the groups that report the highest rates of distraction, with a rate of 74% identifying themselves as frequently distracted. This suggests something other studies have observed; the multi-tasking demands of the digital lifestyle have a detrimental effect on our ability to concentrate, which means that strategies for reducing social media usage may have long-term benefits for personal productivity and concentration.

One other reasons many of us may be suffering from distraction issues: using multiple devices at the same time can negatively affect self-control. So try to limit the number of devices you have within your reach while working from home. Allot yourself windows of time during the day — if needed — to check on certain devices.

5. Attention is a “Limited Resource”

Not only is our attention limited by the time we have in a day, but our energy is subject to the demands of being a living, breathing being. We simply don’t have as much energy to devote to willpower and attention as we’d like to have.

One study, as reported by Psychology Today, found that distractions eat into about 2 hours of our daily work lives. Given that our attention is a limited resource, the strategy of working on the most important task of the day as early as possible—while we still have the concentration to do it—may seem most effective.

One Reason to Use Distractions to Your Benefit

This post paints a very dire picture of the impact of distractions on our life. But if you can manage them effectively, you can sometimes use them to your benefit as well.

One study at Carnegie Mellon found that the regions of the brain that handle your decision-making process will still be in use even when you’re consciously focusing on something else. That means that sometimes, actively seeking distraction when you’re stuck on a problem can be a great way for you to relax, loosen up, and allow a solution to suddenly pop into your mind while you’re thinking about something else.

Otherwise, if you want to be productive while working from home, try to keep the distractions at a minimum (as much as possible), schedule out your day, and focus on your most important task of the day as soon as possible. Your calendar will thank you.

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How Athletes Can Sleep Better

Everyone needs to get sleep at night to function properly in the morning. If athletes have a hard time sleeping, then they will not be able to perform properly while playing sports. There are certain things that athletes can do to help them sleep better at night. Examine the solutions below that will make getting a good night’s rest simpler. 

Relaxation Exercises Help a Lot

Relaxation exercises can truly help a lot if you’re dealing with restlessness. You might feel like you can’t sleep some nights and will need to use these exercises to get your body ready to go to sleep. Breathing in and out of your nose slowly while counting can help you to get into the right mind space. You need to try to calm your heart rate and clear your mind so that you can truly rest. 

Avoid Using Devices

Using devices such as smartphones while you’re trying to sleep will be very counterproductive. You might get tempted to check your phone since you’re having trouble sleeping. This is actually going to keep you awake and it’s going to make falling asleep even tougher. Keep your devices unplugged and out of reach at night if you have problems with temptation. 

Ensure That Your Room Is Dark Enough

If your room isn’t dark enough, then you might not be able to get to sleep. Investing in blackout curtains that keep your room very dark will make a difference. It’s also worth ensuring that no ambient light can be seen so that you can focus on falling asleep. Many people need almost total darkness to be able to sleep right and you might be one of those people. 

Lower the Temperature in the Room

Lowering the temperature in the room can be very helpful, too. People sleep much easier when it is cold. If you can use your air conditioner or central cooling unit to lower the temperature of the room somewhat, then it might be easier to fall asleep. You could also consider the clothes that you’re wearing and the types of blankets that you’re trying to cover up with. Being comfortable and cool might make it so that you can fall asleep and stay asleep. 

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The Most In-Demand Professional Skills

Having certain professional skills will make you more appealing to potential employers. If you want to have the most success possible, then it’ll be a good idea to develop some of these skills. Keep reading to examine the most in-demand professional skills. Working on these skills will be beneficial and you’ll be able to have an easier time realizing your career goals. 

Software Engineering Programming Languages

Learning software engineering programming languages will help you to be a more in-demand professional. If you take the time to learn languages such as Python, React, Java, Javascript, and Docker, then you’ll be a very useful person to have on the team. Being more versatile with your skillset is going to be a good idea. Take the time to brush up on your program languages. 

Marketing Skills

Having a broad range of marketing skills will also be very useful in your career path. You can learn about digital advertising and how to use it to your advantage. Web development skills can also fall under this category as they can go hand-in-hand with online marketing. A good understanding of how advertising works on Google will go a long way toward helping you secure a job. 

Important Sales Skills

There are various important sales skills that should be considered as well. General communication skills are necessary to become an effective member of a sales team. It can also help to be well-versed in public speaking if you want to be comfortable in a sales lead role. Finally, learning how to use spreadsheet programs can help you out when you need to create a presentation or showcase important data points. 

Finance Skills

Finance skills should be developed if you plan on working in any finance-related sector of a company. You’ll need knowledge of spreadsheet programs and knowing how to use SQL to manage databases will come in handy, too. You need to be able to look at data while assessing it to make sound recommendations. Working on understanding data and developing knowledge of financial trends will prove to be a good decision. 

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The Best Content for Companies to Invest in

Content is a driving force these days. It is essential for growing and maintaining a strong SEO presence because Google values strong content more than ever before. Spamming keywords doesn’t work as it used to and websites are now forced to provide quality content.

But not just any kind of content will do. It has to be both informative and relevant to your target audience. If it isn’t, it will get lost in the shuffle and not do your website any good. Excellent content will not only improve your SEO but it will give your company the brand recognition that is so valuable.

Here are a few types of content that your company should be investing in so that you can maximize your content strategy.

Video

Video is one of the fastest-growing forms of content on the Internet. This is for a couple of reasons. The first is that it has a major SEO impact. YouTube SEO functions much the same as Google SEO and being able to rank highly on YouTube just means an even larger audience that your content is exposed to.

Not only that, but video is generally easier to engage your audience with. Video provides easy-to-digest content without having to worry about font types or readability. “How-to” videos tend to be especially successful because they are available to users looking for something specific.

Blogs

No matter what kind of product or service you offer, your website should have a blog. This is one of the most effective ways of delivering content and drawing in visitors to your website. Having an FAQ section is a great idea in order to answer some of the pertinent questions that your audience may have.

If you don’t have an FAQ section, make sure that your posts cover relevant questions that your audience might have. This is an excellent way to make certain that your audience continues to visit your website. Those extra views will eventually translate into money and your bottom line.

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Helpful Nutrition Tips for Athletes

Nutrition is very important for everyone, but it’s going to matter even more for athletes. If you aren’t eating right as an athlete, then you’re going to have a harder time getting the results that you want. Look at the nutrition tips below that should help you out as an athlete. It’ll make it easier to get your nutrition where you want it to be. 

Don’t Forget to Eat Vegetables

It might seem like a generic tip, but some athletes don’t focus enough on eating vegetables. Many focus on eating enough protein and watching their carbohydrate intake. Vegetables are crucial to your diet because they’re a prime source of vitamins and minerals. You should try to incorporate vegetables into your diet very regularly. 

Berries Help to Reduce Inflammation

Eating berries after training sessions can be very useful when you’re trying to recover. Research has been done that shows that berries can work to give your body improved inflammation and immune responses. You should be less likely to get sick and it might even help some with soreness that is associated with training. Berries can be a healthy snack as well, so making them a part of your post-training routine will be a good idea. 

Don’t Keep Unhealthy Food in the House

You can avoid the temptation to eat bad foods by simply not having it around. Some people make the mistake of keeping processed foods in their cupboards and refrigerators. If this stuff isn’t in your home, then you won’t ever run the risk of making poor nutrition choices. Choose your groceries wisely and you’ll be able to keep working toward your fitness goals as an athlete. 

Prepare Meals Ahead of Time

Preparing meals ahead of time will help you to get ready for the week. You can have meals all laid out for yourself so that it’s easy to keep things on track. If you plan things out meticulously, it’ll be easier to make sure that you’re getting the proper amount of nutrients as well. You want to have these meals ready to go so that you don’t have to try to cook when you’re tired after training really hard. 

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SEM vs SEO vs PPC: What’s the Right Balance for Your Business?

SEM. SEO. PPC. What’s the best mix for your business?

The question is more complicated than it might first appear. After all, who wouldn’t want to optimize their SEM, SEO, and PPC efforts? But limited budgets, limited capabilities, and limited expertise can be obstacles—particularly if you’re stronger in one area than another. Let’s discuss what these phrases mean and how you can find the right mix for your own small business:

SEM vs. SEO vs. PPC: What’s the Difference?

If you’ve had enough acronyms thrown at you in your time in business to fill a bowl of alphabet soup, you can be forgiven if you sometimes miss the distinctions in these digital marketing terms. But let’s separate SEM, SEO, and PPC from each other and get really clear about what they are—and what you should expect from them.

SEM, or search engine marketing, is an umbrella term. It’s there for marketing efforts (both paid and organic) that are directed at boosting traffic from search engines. However, keep in mind that SEM, as an umbrella term, may sometimes be used to refer to PPC marketing in some contexts, which helps explain some of the confusion.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a marketing strategy aimed at organic search. The concern here is how to improve your natural position in popular search engines without paying anything additional to said search engines. Yes, you can buy a position with PPC, but with SEO, you’re concerned about the quality of the links pointing to you, the quality of your content, and the relevance of your topics to the search queries that users are typing into Google. The goal is to create high-quality content that will continue to drive your SEO strategy in the future.

PPC, or pay per click advertising, is aimed exclusively at paid ads in search engines. In PPC advertising, you can bid on certain keywords to buy your traffic. But it’s not always as simple as that. PPC often requires that you build high-converting advertisements to ensure that the search engines aren’t just putting anyone with money at the top of the listings; they still want to serve their users.

What is SEO?

Let’s dive into greater detail on SEO. Search engine optimization is the art of designing your page and your content for targeted placement in organic search results—no paid advertising required. Although the search engine algorithms are highly sophisticated, SEO remains a top priority for many business owners; 61% of marketers list improving SEO and rankings as their top goal.

Today’s top search engines include Google, Bing, and Yahoo, with many of the content marketing and internet marketing campaigns aiming at Google and Bing. You’ll find that the majority of your SEO efforts will tend to focus on Google, thanks to its dominant place in the market.

The beauty of SEO is that any business can compete for organic listings; you just have to have the most relevant, valuable information available for any search query. Sound difficult? You don’t have to start creating the world’s greatest blog posts just yet. Search Engine Land has a guide for small businesses so you can begin optimizing your site as soon as possible. From on-page SEO to technical SEO, there are always small improvements you can make to give your site a leg up on the competition.

Here are some of the other terms you’ll want to be familiar with in SEO:

SERPs: Search engine results page.

Backlinks: The links pointing to your site, used by search engines to determine your page’s popularity and relevance.

Crawlers: Automated bots that search engines use to scan your site and log the latest information, which they can then use in their search results. Crawlers might dig through your meta descriptions, title tags, and on-site SEO to get a gauge of what your site is and what your business has to offer.

Technical SEO: search engine optimization focused on the technical aspects of your website, not necessarily popularity and relevance.

Link building: The practice of promoting your site to as many potential linking avenues as possible in an effort to drive up your relevance. These days, legitimate link building practices tend to be those that are mostly organic, such as guest posting on popular blogs.

What is PPC?

PPC has potential benefits for small businesses in that it offers an opportunity to buy your way to traffic if you have the budget. Small businesses that need growth now will find that PPC generates the quickest results when it comes to getting on the first page, while content and SEO tend to require focus on the long-term future.

To optimize your PPC, you’ll want to make keyword research a hallmark of the way you market. Tools like the SEM Rush PPC tool will help you identify those keywords that are most relevant to your business, all while driving a substantial amount of traffic. Google Adwords, the most popular PPC platform, also has plenty of tools for you to use as you research. But don’t forget that Bing also has keyword tools you can use to gauge interest in keywords.

With PPC, your goal is simple: combine relevance and traffic. Relevance is how well you can answer the “question behind the query.” In other words, relevance is how well your website answers what customers are really thinking. Someone typing in “vacations,” for example, may be looking to book a travel agency. But your travel agency business won’t do well by serving those who were only curious about vacation statistics.

With search ads, your goal should be to get as much relevance as possible, because you’re going to need to optimize your click-through rates.

When comparing SEO vs SEM and the strategies listed above, you’ll find PPC can produce the most immediate returns. After the proper keyword research, a PPC campaign can quickly give you access to a large amount of traffic that is highly targeted to your keyword and your business—that is, if you’ve put in the time to ensure that your business lines up with the search queries you’re looking for.

How to Strike a Balance Between PPC and SEO

There’s no single answer for whether search marketing, SEO or PPC is best for you right now. But if you start with competition research, you should notice opportunities for advancement—whether that comes in specific keywords, sponsored ads, brand awareness, or even simply building a better landing page. Look at your budget and understand where PPC and SEO most help businesses—and make your investments accordingly.

from The Grasshopper Blog - Insights for Entrepreneurs https://grasshopper.com/blog/Striking the Right Balance between SEM SEO and PPC/ via IFTTT

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Marketing Methods That Can Help You Go Viral

Marketing is a crucial factor in every business. No matter how good your product or service, your business will be dead in the water without a proper marketing plan. Using these strategies is how you engage with your target audience and get the leads that are the lifeblood of your business.

Finding the keys to an impactful campaign is the key to reaching your target audience in more effective ways. Here are just a few methods that you can implement to make your marketing strategy successful.

A Reason to Share

In order to go viral, you have to be shared. People need a reason to want to share whatever it is you’re promoting so there has to be a shareable component to that content. Not just any piece of content gets the viral treatment, after all.

The shareable component can be triggered by a number of different things. It could be a fact, a feeling, an emotion, or anything that garners a response. Whatever drives the virality of your campaign should be the focal point and highlighted throughout the campaign.

Relevant Content

Having relevant content is more important than ever before. Not only can a great piece of content help you go viral but it can strengthen your SEO game as well since Google values content so highly. When you create a relevant, brand-driven piece of content, you not only get the shares and interaction that makes for a viral piece of marketing; you gain brand recognition.

That brand recognition is the most important aspect of marketing. You want your audience to associate your brand with that specific service or product. A viral piece of content can be the key to the brand recognition that you have been looking for.

Viral content is not easy to create but when you do, you can have an infinitely valuable marketing tool to help boost your business. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t go viral right away; it is a process that requires patience and a lot of trial and error.

from Dermot Coll | Business http://dermotcoll.com/marketing-methods-that-can-help-you-go-viral/ via IFTTT

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How to Prevent Injury While Playing Sports

No one wants to get injured while they’re playing sports. Sadly, injuries can happen and they can happen when you least expect it. If you want to protect yourself from injuries as much as possible, then you should take certain precautions. Read on to look at how you can potentially prevent injuries while playing sports. 

Strengthen Your Muscles 

Stronger muscles will be less likely to get injured during play. Focus your training on strengthening your muscles so that you can have fewer problems while playing sports. There are various conditioning exercises that you should work into your fitness routine. Working with a trainer on strength training exercises should prove to be beneficial. 

Work on Your Flexibility 

Being flexible can help you to stay protected from injuries, too. You might want to start stretching more often so that you will be more flexible. Stretching out before playing a game will make a difference. You can increase your flexibility over time and fitness routines such as yoga are great for this. 

Technique Matters

Having the proper technique really matters when you’re playing sports. If you are performing certain actions in the wrong way, then you can become injured due to repetitive motion. For example, tennis players can get tennis elbow if they aren’t using the proper form. This is going to be true in all sports and you should learn how to move your body to protect yourself from injury. 

Rest Is Important

Rest is important as well when you’re trying to keep yourself from getting injured. Sometimes, athletes have a tendency to push their bodies too much. If you keep working really hard without giving your body time to rest, then you’ll be more prone to getting injured. Get rest so that you can be your best when it comes time to actually play the game. 

Use the Right Gear

Finally, it’s also crucial to make sure that you have the right gear to play the sport that you’re trying to play. Trying to play with equipment that is shoddy or worn-down will not do you any favors. Make sure that your pads and gear are fitted properly as well. This will keep you from having to put yourself at risk unnecessarily. 

from Dermot Coll | Sports http://dermotcoll.net/how-to-prevent-injury-while-playing-sports/ via IFTTT

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The Best NHL Players of All Time

The NHL has seen many phenomenal players compete over the years. When it comes to determining who the best NHL players of all-time are, it’s going to be tough to come up with a definitive list that pleases everybody. Regardless, you can keep reading to examine some of the best NHL players of all-time. These players have earned their reputations as some of the best hockey players to ever take the ice. 

Wayne Gretzky 

No list of the best NHL players of all-time would be complete without mentioning “the great one.” Wayne Gretzky might be the most well-known hockey player of all-time as well. He is the best scorer in NHL history and his combined total of goals and assists is almost absurd to think about. Gretzky won the Stanley Cup four times in his career and will always be remembered as one of the best ever. 

Gordie Howe

Gordie Howe is one of the most important hockey players of all-time and is an iconic Detroit Red Wing. He played for 25 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and he won six league MVP awards along with six scoring titles. Howe also won the Stanley Cup four times in his career. He also has the distinction of being the player to appear in the most NHL games. 

Mario Lemieux 

Mario Lemieux is another one of the greatest scorers in the history of the NHL. During his career, he racked up a total of 1,723 points. He was also an all-star nine times and he hoisted the Stanley Cup twice. Lemieux will be remembered as a prolific scorer and consummate professional. 

Mark Messier

Mark Messier is another very famous NHL player who played for a long time in the league. Messier had a 26-year NHL career with several different teams. During his time on the ice, he became a 15-time all-star. Messier won the Stanley Cup an astounding five times in his career and he also became the league MVP once. 

Bobby Orr

Bobby Orr might be best remembered today for his dramatic celebration after winning the Stanley Cup in 1970. He is a unique player because he managed to lead the league in scoring for the first time ever as a defensive player in the 1969-1970 season. He was the league’s top defensive player eight years in a row and deserves recognition as one of the best ever. 

from Dermot Coll | Sports http://dermotcoll.net/the-best-nhl-players-of-all-time/ via IFTTT