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quakerjoe · 4 years

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In the first employment report after social distancing measures had taken hold in many US states, the Department of Labor announced that 3.3 million people had filed jobless claims. A week later, in the first week in April, an additional 6.6 million claims came in—almost unfathomable compared with the previous record of 695,000, which was set in 1982.

As bad as those numbers are, though, they greatly understate the crisis, since they don’t take into account many part-time, self-employed, and gig workers who are also losing their livelihoods. Financial experts predict that US GDP will drop as much as 30% to 50% by summer.

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In late March, President Donald Trump warned against letting “the cure be worse than the problem itself” and talked of getting the country back to business by Easter, then just two weeks away. Casey Mulligan, a University of Chicago economist and former member of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, warned that “an optimistic projection” for the cost of closing nonessential businesses until July was almost $10,000 per American household. He told the New York Times that shutting down economic activity to slow the virus would be more damaging than doing nothing at all.

Eventually the White House released models suggesting that letting the virus spread unchecked could kill as many as 2.2 million Americans, in line with the projections of other epidemiologists. Trump backed off his calls for an early reopening, extending guidelines on social distancing through the end of April. But his essential argument remained: that in the coronavirus pandemic, there is an agonizing trade-off between saving the economy and saving lives.

Evidence from research, however, shows that this is a false dichotomy. The best way to limit the economic damage will be to save as many lives as possible.

A novel recession

Part of the difficulty with setting policy now is that the situation is unprecedented in living memory. “It’s impossible to know how the world is changing,” says David Autor, a labor economist at MIT. “It isn’t like anything we’ve seen in a hundred years.” In any past recession or depression, the economic solution has always been to stimulate demand for labor—to get workers back on the job. But in this case, we’re purposely shutting down economic activity and telling people to stay at home. “It’s not just the depth of the recession,” Autor says. “It’s qualitatively different.”

One of the biggest fears is that those least able to withstand the downturn will be hit hardest—low-wage service workers in restaurants and hotels, and the growing number of people in the gig economy. For the last two decades, service workers have become an increasingly large part of the labor force as many of the midlevel office and manufacturing jobs previously open to people without college degrees have dried up, says Autor. It’s people in these service jobs, already low paid and often with few health and other benefits, who will struggle the most.

“On a good day they are vulnerable, and on a bad day they are even more vulnerable,” Autor says. “And this is a very bad day.”

Provisions included in the $2 trillion legislative package passed by Congress in late March were meant to give affected workers and businesses the means to weather the shutdown and, once the outbreak is under control, help restart the economy. Each adult earning less than $75,000 will be given $1,200, and for the first time, gig workers and self-employed people will qualify for unemployment benefits. Hundreds of billions of dollars will also go to helping businesses stay afloat.

But it almost certainly won’t be enough, especially in the hardest-hit areas of the country. Cities like Las Vegas and Orlando, “places with gargantuan leisure hospitality economies,” will be badly affected, says Mark Muro, coauthor of a report from the Brookings Institution analyzing the numbers. But any region with a large service economy is vulnerable. Muro points out that many of these places never recovered from the 2008 financial crisis.

The people losing these low-wage service jobs were already experiencing skyrocketing mortality rates from what economists have begun calling “deaths of despair,” caused by alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide. The coming crash could make things much worse.

The value of a life

Yet shutting down businesses is the only real choice, given that an unchecked pandemic would itself be hugely destructive to economic activity. If tens of millions of people become sick and millions die, the economy suffers, and not just because the workforce is being depleted. Widespread fear is bad for business: consumers won’t flock back to restaurants, book air travel, or spend on activities that might put them at risk of getting sick. In a recent survey of leading economists by Chicago’s Booth School, 88% believed that “a comprehensive policy response” will need to involve tolerating “a very large contraction in economic activity” to get the outbreak under control. Some 80% thought that “abandoning severe lockdowns” too early will lead to even greater economic damage.

Meanwhile, any measures to slow deaths from the virus will have huge downstream economic benefits. Michael Greenstone, an economist at the University of Chicago, finds that even moderate social distancing will save 1.7 million lives between March 1 and October 1, according to disease-spread models done at Imperial College London. Avoiding those deaths translates into a benefit of around $8 trillion to the economy, or about one-third of the US GDP, he estimates, on the basis of a widely accepted economic measure, the “value of a statistical life.” And if the outbreak is less severe than predicted by the Imperial College work, Greenstone predicts, social distancing could still save some $3.6 trillion.

“Our choice is not whether we intervene or whether we go back to the normal economy,” says Emil Verner, an economist at MIT’s Sloan School who has recently looked at the flu pandemic of 1918 for insights into today’s outbreak. “Our choice is whether we intervene—and the economy will be really bad now and will be better in the future—versus doing nothing and the pandemic goes out of control and really destroys the economy.”

Overall, Verner and his coauthors found that the 1918 pandemic reduced national manufacturing output in the US by 18%; but cities that implemented restrictions earlier and for longer had much better economic outcomes in the year after the outbreak.

Verner points to the fates of two cities in particular: Cleveland and Philadelphia. Cleveland acted aggressively, closing schools and banning gatherings early in the outbreak and keeping the restrictions in place for far longer. Philadelphia was slower to react and maintained restrictions for about half as long. Not only did far fewer people die in Cleveland (600 per 100,000, compared with 900 per 100,000 in Philadelphia), but its economy fared better and was much stronger in the year after the outbreak. By 1919 job growth was 5% there, while in Philadelphia it was around 2%.

Today’s economy is much different—it’s geared more toward services, and far less toward manufacturing than it was 100 years ago. Nevertheless, the cities’ stories are suggestive. Verner says that even a conservative interpretation of the data suggests there is “no evidence that interventions are worse for the economy.” And most likely they had a significant benefit. “A pandemic is so destructive,” he says. “Ultimately any policy to mitigate it is going to be good for the economy.”

The cure, then, isn’t worse than the disease. But for every day that normal economic activity is shut down, a huge number of Americans won’t be earning an income. Many already live paycheck to paycheck. Many may in fact succumb to diseases of despair. Families will fall apart under the stress. Hard-hit cities will feel abandoned. The urgency to open the economy will only grow.

However, a number of influential economists and health-care experts are saying there’s a way to get America quickly back in business while preserving public safety.

Reviving the economy

These days Paul Romer sounds exasperated. “We’re caught up in the trauma: kill the economy or kill more people,” he says. There is so much “learned helplessness, so much hand-wringing.” The New York University economist and Nobel laureate believes he has a relatively simple strategy that will “both contain the virus and let the economy revive.”

The key, says Romer, is repeatedly testing everyone without symptoms to identify who is infected. (People with symptoms should just be assumed to have covid-19 and treated accordingly.) All those who test positive should isolate themselves; those who test negative can return to work, traveling, and socializing, but they should be tested every two weeks or so. If you’re negative, you might have a card saying so that allows you to get on an airplane or freely enter a restaurant.

Testing could be voluntary. Romer acknowledges some might resist it or resist isolating themselves if positive, but “most people want to do the right thing,” he says, and that should be enough to snuff out the spread of the virus.

Romer points to new, faster diagnostic tests, including ones from Silicon Valley’s Cepheid and from the drug giant Roche. Each of Roche’s best machines can handle 4,200 tests a day; build five thousand of those machines, and you can test 20 million people a day. “It’s well within our capacity,” he says. “We just need to bend some metal and make some machines.” If you can identify and isolate those infected with the virus, you can let the rest of the population go back to business.

Indeed, in an early April survey by Chicago’s Booth School, 93% of the economists agreed that “a massive increase in testing” is required for “an economic restart.”

In a piece called “National Coronavirus Response: A roadmap to reopening,” former FDA director Scott Gottlieb also argued for ramping up testing and then isolating those infected rather shutting in the entire population. Likewise, Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s department of medical ethics and health policy, called for increasing testing in a New York Times piece called “We Can Safely Restart the Economy in June. Here’s How.” Harvard medical experts, meanwhile, have outlined similar ideas in “A Detailed Plan for Getting Americans Back to Work.”

The proposals differ in details, but all revolve around widespread testing of various sorts to know who is vulnerable and who isn’t before we risk going back to business.

There is, however, little evidence that massive and frequent testing will be implemented anytime soon. Despite the appearance of new tests, screening is still largely unavailable for anyone but the most severely ill or those at the medical front lines. Test kits and equipment to perform them are still in short supply. Many hospitals and doctors complain they can’t get needed tests; and Roche’s CEO said at the end of March that it will be “weeks, if not months” before there is widespread coronavirus testing in the US.

It’s the type of inertia that clearly frustrates Romer. He calls the $2 trillion legislation passed by Congress “palliative care” for the economy. If you took $100 billion and put it into testing, he says, we would “be far better off.”

One day we will have to reopen the economy. Perhaps we’ll be able to hold out until the pandemic is showing signs of receding, or perhaps the economic suffering will prove intolerable both to those in charge and to those living in hard-hit regions. When that day comes, if we do not have widespread testing, we will be sending people back to work without knowing if they’re at risk of getting the virus or spreading it to others. “We’re thinking about this the wrong way,” Romer says. The idea that one day you will be able to restart the economy without massive testing to see if the outbreak is under control is just “magical thinking.”

It could be a gradual process—those who are found to be free of infection or immune might be allowed back first. But without testing we won’t know how to manage this transition. In that case we will in fact be left with the Trumpian choice: between salvaging the economy and risking countless deaths.

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weightofworlds-blog1 · 6 years

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GIANT CHARACTER SURVEY

[ tagged by ]: @eloquated [ tagging ]: if you’d like to do it, feel free!

G E N E R A L

[ name ]: Catarina Loss [ nicknames ]: Cat, if you must. [ birthday ]: I know that it was in early to mid August, but keeping track of the date was difficult in those days, and my mother was uneducated. But really, what does it matter? I’m immortal. Birthdays are hardly an occasion. [ birthplace ]: Lisbon, Portugal [ age ]: Don’t you know that it’s rude to ask a lady her age? [ eye color ]: Naturally, they’re blue. Under the glamour I usually wear, they’re dark brown. [ height ]: 5″4 [ weight ]: Really? First my age, and now my weight? I’m fit, according to the BMI index, and since I’m a nurse, I would know. [ nationality ]: That answer to that question is a bit more complicated than it seems. My mother was originally from Africa, but taken to Portugal to be a slave. I was born there. My father, however -- well. He has no nationality, nor do I care. [ astrological sign ]: Leo [ location ]: My apartment in Brooklyn, New York. [ siblings ]: My mother had no other children. I suppose I could have some half siblings, somewhere, but I have never cared to find out. [ pets ]: I’m a nurse. Having pet hair all over my clothing would be unhygienic. Besides, I’m never home enough to take care of one. Perhaps when Madzie is older, though! [ in the morning i’m ]: either coming home from a shift at the hospital, or on my way to one. [ all i need is ]: coffee and a great deal of patience. [ love is ]: the reason we are all here. The love of our parents, the love of each other -- ultimately, it is why I live the way I do, why my life is dedicated to healing and the daughter I’ve adopted. [ i’m afraid of ]: loss. Being unable to protect Madzie. Failing at the job I’ve chosen. I’m afraid of many things, but the centuries have taught me to live despite these fears. [ i dream about ]: Usually? Camping trips far away from civilization.

H A V E . Y O U . E V E R ?

[pictured your crush naked?] Oh, for heaven’s sake. Yes. I suppose I have. [ used someone? ]: I have lived for a long time, and I have made mistakes. Yes. I have. [ been used? ]: Yes. [ been cheated on? ]: Technically, I suppose so. But I was not invested in the relationship, and he knew it -- so I’m not sure he can be blamed for that decision. [ considered cheating? ]: No. If i don’t want to be in a relationship any longer, I end it. [ been kissed? ]: I am not a nun, so. Yes. [ done something you regret? ]: Can anyone live for as long as I have without regrets? I find it unlikely.

F A V O R I T E

[ food? ]: Lately, I’ve been rather partial to Kung Pao chicken. [ fruit? ]: Apples. [ candy? ]: Snickers. I eat an embarrassing amount of them from the vending machine in the hospital break room. [ color? ]: Embarrassingly enough, I’m partial to blue. [ number? ]: I can honestly say I have never had a favorite number. [ animal? ]: Doves. The symbolism behind them is rather beautiful. [ drink? ]: Coffee. Or craft beer, depending on the circumstance. [ soda? ]: Coke. [ book? ]: The Princess Bride. Harlequin romances. [ room? ]: My living room. Or Ragnor’s office, though I certainly wouldn’t tell him that! [ movie? ]: Gone With the Wind

D O . Y O U ?

[ have a boyfriend/girlfriend? ]: No. [ like cleaning? ]: Absolutely not. For that, I use magic. [ have a tattoo? ]: No. [ have any piercings? ]: My ears are pierced. [ cheat on tests/homework? ]: I never had a formalized education, so I never really had the opportunity. [ drink/smoke? ]: Drink, yes. Smoke? That’s a repulsive habit, even if I am immortal and cannot die from lung cancer. [ swear a lot? ]: I suppose that would depend on your definition of ‘a lot.’ I try to keep it to a minimum around Madzie. [ like watching sunrises or sunset? ]: If I have the time, yes. [ pray? ]: Not in a long time. [ go to church? ]: No. [ have secrets? ]: No, of course not. No secrets at all. [ have a best friend? ]: Magnus Bane or Ragnor Fell -- I refuse to even attempt to pick between them. Magnus would pout for ages, and Ragnor would become even more prickly. [ like your own handwriting? ]: I may not be a doctor, but my handwriting tends to resemble that of one, unfortunately.

A R E . Y O U ?

[ obsessive? ]: Does anyone admit readily to being obsessive? I suppose some people may think my dedication to healing is obsessive, but it isn’t. [ excited? ]: Under the right circumstances! [ bored? ]: I live with a five year old, and have a high pressure job. When do I have time to be bored? [ happy? ]: Most days. [ missing someone? ]: Always. [ confused? ]: Only when discussing fashion with Magnus. [ tired? ]: Again, I live with a five year old and work in a hospital. What do you think? [ mad? ]: At this moment? No. [ sleepy? ]: Are sleepy and tired two different things now? I’m not answering this twice.

D O . Y O U . E V E R ?

[ wait around just to talk to someone? ]: I’m not a teenaged girl, so no. [ write about those ‘special’ moments? ]: No. [ wish you were a member of the opposite sex? ]: I used to, frequently. Men could become doctors, officially, and had many more opportunities in the medical field. I am happy with where I am, now, but I would have liked the opportunity to do something different.

W H O . W A S . T H E . L A S T . P E R S O N . W H O ?

[ you talked to? ]: Magnus -- he called to check in an hour or so ago. [ you hugged? ]: Madzie, before bed. [ you kissed? ]: Also Madzie, on the forehead, after I tucked her in. [ sent you a letter? ]: Do fire messages count? I believe that was Tessa. [ you sent a letter to? ]: A response to Tessa, most likely. [ you laughed with? ]: One of the other nurses. Humor in the ER is always important. [ slept in your bed? ]: Madzie, after a nightmare. [ you shared a drink with? ]: Does Magnus stealing sips of my wine count? [ you went to the movies with? ]: I have no idea. I haven’t seen a movie in a theater in a very long time. [ yelled at you? ]: Ah, a parent of a patient I could not save. The girl was only thirteen, and her mother was distraught. I didn’t blame her for yelling. [ you called? ]: The babysitter, to be sure she was still able to watch Madzie during my shift today. [ you kicked? ]: I haven’t kicked anyone in recent memory -- is that something that people normally do? [ you saw? ]: Madzie, before I put her to bed.

W H O . I S ?

[ the most handsome person you know? ]: Hm. I’ve always thought that Ragnor was rather nice to look at. [ the weirdest person you know? ]: Most certainly Magnus. [ the funniest person you know? ]: I think I’ll award that one to Simon Lewis. [ the loudest person you know? ]: That would be my darling daughter, after she has had a chance to warm up to everyone in the room. [ the quietest person you know? ]: Tessa, maybe? [ the sweetest person you know? ]: Though she has been gone for many years, this title will always go to my mother -- a woman who risked her life every day for eighteen years to look after a blue, magical child. [ the most serious person you know? ]: Ragnor, I expect. [ your best friend? ]: Again? I still refuse to pick between the two of them. [ the person you hate the most? ]: Valentine Morganstern. If what he did to the Downworld was not enough, what he did to Madzie would have put him at the top of that list on its own. [ the person you see most? ]: Madzie. [ your soul-mate? ]: I don’t believe in this nonsense.

W H A T . I S ?

[ the first thing you thought of when you woke up? ]: Madzie - she was bouncing at the edge of my mattress! [ the song that best describes you? ]: This one. [ your best feature? ]: I’m rather partial to my hair. [ your most treasured memory? ]: When I was very young, my mother took me to the river near our home. It was always just the two of us -- this was long before I knew what a glamour was, let alone how to use one -- but I got to leave the cottage, and was able to run around and chase after butterflies while my mother watched. I treasure all of the time I spent with her, but these memories are some of my favorites.

I N . T H E . F U T U R E

[ what is the age you hope to get married? ]: I hardly thing age is the important factor in that decision. [ number and names of kids? ]: I have raised a child already, and his name was Aurelio, and now I have Madzie. I can’t say that I will never take in another, though I’m fairly content now. [ where do you see yourself at age twenty? ]: Oh, for the love of -- [ describe your dream wedding? ]: I have no idea. I’ve given up on dreaming of such things, for the most part. [ when and how do you want to die? ]: This is a fairly morbid question! I suppose I’d like to die peacefully, somehow. [ what are your career plans? ]: I’ve been a healer for hundreds of years, and don’t plan on changing that anytime soon. [ some place you’d like to visit? ]: I’d like to return to Portugal, someday. I always enjoy London, as well.

L A S T . T I M E

[ last time you went out of state? ]: The last time I went hiking with Ragnor, before his death. [ last time you were outside? ]: On my way home from the hospital this evening. [ last time you had a snowball fight? ]: I don’t think I ever have! [ last time you were listening to music? ]: I have jazz playing now, actually.

O T H E R

[ how many people would you say are good friends of yours? ]: Friends that are still alive? 2. [ what hurts the most, physical or emotional pain? ]: Emotional. [ have you felt this recently? ]: Grief is the worst sort of emotional pain, and we have all suffered loss, lately. [ what do you wear to bed? ]: sweats, usually. [ when’s the last time you slept with a stuffed animal? ]: Madzie brought her bear to bed last time she had a nightmare and climbed in with me, so then, I guess. [ have you ever used a ouija board? ]: No. I prefer not to interact with the spiritual realm. [ how many rings before you pick up the phone? ]: Admittedly, I’m awful at answering the phone. Usually, it rings until it goes to voicemail, and I have to call back later.

#headcanons: catarina loss #GIANT survey yikes

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yourlifeinsurance411 · 5 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.lowestpricetermlifeinsurance.com/index.php/2019/10/14/7-common-excuses-dads-give-for-not-getting-life-insuranceand-why-none-of-them-are-true/

7 Common Excuses Dads Give for Not Getting Life Insuranceand Why None of Them are True

7 Common Excuses Dads Give for Not Getting Life Insurance (and Why None of Them are True)

http://yourlifeinsurance411quote.com

Don’t get life insurance because you are going to die, get it because your family is going to live.

October 9, 2019, by John Holloway

One is for the family of a man who was recently killed in an accident while cutting down a tree. The fundraiser raised just over $8,000 to help pay for his funeral expenses. There are hundreds of stories just like this, and almost all of them could have afforded to have a small life insurance policy.

Us dads know that life insurance is important, but surveys show that we are still dropping the ball when it comes to getting coverage. A Stanford study found that the average age of new fathers is 31 years old, but according to NoExam.com, 60% of fathers wait until after the age of 45 to shop for life insurance. So why are most people putting off something so important?

I’ve listed the seven most common excuses fathers use for waiting to get life insurance and added the primary reasons that these excuses just aren’t valid.

#1 I’m Too Busy

Dads love to play the busy card. Between work, parenting, exercise, yardwork, and the honey-do list, there isn’t enough time in the day. After all, it’s a long-drawn-out process that takes months and requires a medical exam, right? Dads often wonder, “When am I going to have the time to do all of that?”

The “I’m too busy to get life insurance” excuse might be the flimsiest excuse on the list. Not many people know that you can now complete the entire application process for life insurance online in less than 30 minutes. It can be done during a lunch break, and it does not require a health exam.

#2 It’s Too Complicated

Yes, it’s true, life insurance can be complicated. But the type of policy that most people need isn’t. It’s called term life insurance, and here’s how it works:

You select a length of time you’d like to have coverage, usually 10, 20, or 30 years. You select a coverage amount of 10x your yearly income, plus all debt balances and future education expenses. You pay a monthly premium that coincides with the length of the term you’ve selected. The rate never goes up. It’s a very simple product that only takes about 15 minutes of reading to fully grasp. So please, let go of that excuse too.

#3 It’s Too Expensive

Just because you don’t know how much something costs, doesn’t mean it’s not affordable. Studies have confirmed that no one really knows how much life insurance costs until they start shopping for it. If you think it’s too expensive now, when you are in your 30s for example, wait until you see the price in your mid-to-late 40s. Spoiler alert, it will be nearly double.

The cheapest time to buy life insurance is when you are young and healthy, putting it off will only cost you a higher monthly premium.

#4 I’m Planning to Lose Weight

This is the “I got a quote, but the agent said it’d be cheaper if I lost 10 pounds” excuse. But let’s be real, it’s football season. Plus, if anything, you risk gaining weight over the winter since we are biologically programmed to do so. The good news is that when you lose weight, you can apply again for a better rate. Once it is approved, you can cancel the other higher-priced policy. The best thing to do is go ahead and get a policy in place, then use the money you will potentially save as motivation to drop the weight.

#5 I Don’t Want to Take the Health Exam

A lot of people have anxiety over taking a life insurance health exam. What do they test for? It’s an invasion of privacy. A stranger in my house drawing my blood? It just feels creepy. What if this is how I find out I’m unhealthy?

Though they will never admit it, a lot of dads are afraid of the health exam. It’s not the needle prick they are scared of. It’s what the blood work might reveal that deters many of us from scheduling that health exam in order to get life insurance.

But we all know the truth. The old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you,” is not true when it comes to your health. Of course, no one wants to find out they have health problems, especially from a life insurance exam. We also don’t like the idea of letting a stranger into our house to poke and prod us and ask seemingly intrusive questions about our health and habits.

Luckily for us, many life insurance companies now allow people to bypass the exam without increasing the cost of their policy. The health exam is optional, and most policies can be underwritten with data from health bureaus and medical questionnaires.

#6 I’m Getting it Next Month

Pablo Picasso is famously quoted as saying, “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” Don’t procrastinate doing what is necessary to protect your family’s livelihood. I speak with people every day who, upon learning that I work in life insurance, say, “Oh, yeah! I’ve been meaning to get some.” The truth is, it only takes a few minutes. Don’t get life insurance because you are going to die, get it because your family is going to live.

#7 I’m Healthy and Fit

I’ve talked to many people who think life insurance is only for old or sick people who are nearing death. The fact is, no one plans to get sick or die at an early age. You’re healthy until you aren’t. A routine trip to the doctor could suddenly reveal a health condition that increases your life insurance rate. A freak accident could suddenly take your life or render you disabled. Furthermore, perfectly healthy people get diagnosed with serious health conditions every day. While unlikely, it is possible. It would be foolish to think it can’t happen to you.

http://yourlifeinsurance411quote.com

Mike Sheehan

#20 year term life insurance #7 Common Excuses Dads Give for Not Getting Life InsuranceÂ (and Why None of Them are True)#cheap term life insurance #term life insurance

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digitalmarketingcourses · 5 years

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How to Optimize for voice search in 2018- 2019| Voice Search SEO

Every day, around us we hear people asking their phones for help … OK Google, where is the nearest Vegetarian Restaurant? OK Google, how can I reach the airport in the quickest possible time? We have many similar platforms helping us find the information we are looking for including Siri, Cortana, Skyvi (Siri like assistant), Robin, Jarvis., Dragon mobile assistant, and alike. Smart Voice Assistant and new ones are coming up and also are here to stay.

In short, with advancement of mobile technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Voice search is HUGE right now and it’s only becoming more popular day by day. It is not incorrect to say that we are in the middle of a voice search revolution. The recent statistics and data display the growth of the number of users of voice as a technology and also the various trends that have added to the convenience of everyday tasks of life and work in today’s tech times.

Voice search has grown 35x since 2008 (KCBP) and 25% of the popular Windows 10 desktop searches are done via voice. As per a Google survey, 41% of adults and 55% of teens use it daily and another facet being that 20% of all Google mobile queries are voice searches. However, as widely believed it has transcended mobile devices as well and people are talking to their desktop computers and smart speakers. Very soon smart speakers will be a norm and according to predictions by 2020, 50% of searches will be voice and soon keyboard based search will be a thing of the past. Searching by your voice is 3.7 times faster than typing. So it’s a simple equation; faster searches translate to faster answers.

How do we optimize content for SEO in voice search?

Because it is so convenient, it is being used more often and in more places than ever before. Google reports that “near me now: searches have grown by 150% over the last two years. With advancements voice recognition technology is only getting better day by day and search engine technology mainly of Google is now 95% accurate. Yet, for SEO professionals it’s a challenge as not much has changed in the way content is optimized for this new way. The timing hence is perfect to pay more attention and focus on voice chat and start implementing and incorporating SEO strategies that can increase chances to show up in voice results. With the availability of its features and personal voice assistants like Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, Google Home, Amazon Echo and the Apple HomePod, people have now started migrating to have voice search and there is a paradigm shift in how how people search. Instead of cryptic text based searches like “hair stylist Bengaluru,” those using voice search can ask a question as if it’s a conversation or just like talking to another person: “OK, Google, where should I go to get a haircut?”

If you through voice search, you can hear your personalized “flash briefing” with information on local weather forecast, local news highlights, what’s on your calendar and other quick tidbits of things Siri knows you are interested in. This is a great time saver in the times we live. Convenience and time saver can be the best excuse to shift to voice search.

The market is flooded with search assistants like Amazon Echo (Alexa), Apple’s HomePod and Google Home devices with new players entering the fray everyday. The new Harman Kardon Invoke smart speaker includes Microsoft’s virtual assistant Cortana to answer questions and manage smart home technology to streamline tasks and operations. Soon there will be more profusion of such devices. According to reports on ZDNet, Alexa will be added to personal computers (PCs) and laptops from Acer, Asus and Hewlett Packard (HP) making it a significant challenger to Cortana.

Half of smartphone users use voice technology, and of those, one in three use it daily as per ComScore. As an SEO, one needs to have a solid understanding of some of the search strategies that can help in ranking up. With a thorough understanding of these strategies and effectively using them on your site, one can increase the odds of being the answer to a question.

Some basics of voice search:

When you’re optimizing for voice search, you need to think about SEO differently. Unlike typical search queries on a computer, these queries are longer than their text counterparts; they tend to be three to five (or more) keywords in length. Hence it’s imperative one change the way you do keyword research and think about longer long-tail keywords. Search queries tend to specifically ask a question and use trigger words like who, how, what, where, best, where, why and when. Use these words in your content. Additionally, you need to make sure your site and its content meet SEO best practices.

Voice search best practices:

Create Voice Search FAQ Pages: This because question keywords are on the rise and Google wants to give their users 30 plus word answers. Voice search results are also 1.7 times more likely to come from an FAQ page compared to desktop results. FAQ pages can rank for hundreds to thousands of different queries. Voice searches are more natural and less robotic than keyboard searches and they are significantly longer than keyboard searches. But that doesn’t mean you want to create 1000 pages optimized around 1000 different voice search terms. In fact, one of the most surprising findings from the study was that less than 2% of all results had the exact keyword in their title tag. The bottom line is to write content with natural language and embed lots of long tail keywords in your content. In this way a single page can rank for lots of different voice search queries.

Optimize website loading speed: It has also been noticed that websites that come with swift loading abilities have a lead in Google Voice search results. Interestingly, voice search fetches quicker results which mean your answers will be delivered in lesser time. With the launch of Speed Update by Google, you can now have a clearer picture of how your website can increase the ranking in the search engine and also know more about its indexing. It may be possible that search engines use such applications to include in their algorithms that might affect your website ranking. Thus, you must be ensured that the website loads ASAP.

Get Mobile Optimized: Ensure that the website is always mobile friendly. Since most of the users use smart phones, this stands as one of the crucial elements. Voice is perfect and easy for mobile searches. As per data 60% of mobile searchers ‘at some point in time’ use a voice search. It is more convenient as one doesn’t have to type and its biggest benefit lies in the reality that it makes space for multi-tasking.

Use structured data: This might help in normal searches but maybe not too apt for voice search. It was discovered that using Schema does not significantly contribute to this factor but might improve the search visibility in the overall sense.

Great content that answers audience questions: This is where content comes into full focus. Using natural language that is conversational might prove to be a sensible approach. Also, if the content is shared considerably it automatically leverages the quotient. Though social media sharing is not a factor used for ranking, it only boosts the stand of the website find rate. A recent study shows that Google tends to answer voice search queries with 29-word results. So, it is important that your content answers someone’s query in 30 words or less. In such a scenario it doesn’t make sense to write a 30-word blog post. An interesting trend that is noticed is the fact that voice changes how people search. Firstly, we notice that the searches are longer and the searches are more conversational. However, you should include short, concise answers in your content.

Build link authority: It is a known fact that backlinks are considered to be a key element for a search engine while ranking a page. However, it is drawn that for voice search this really does not impact much. As Google has to give away impeccable information it might depend only on domain authority over page authority. This means that Google will show a trusted website than decoding the links that might be useful but that need more time to be analyzed. This means that your website must be SSL certified that ensures Google about the authority of the website.

Apart from this the factors such as using Alt text and tags for images, making presence through online snippets, easy navigation, strong site hierarchy, reviews and responses can fuel the SEO aspect. As a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist, are you prepared to get your content to show up in voice search results? If yes, then start optimizing your content for voice.

To know more on Advanced Digital Marketing Strategies, Request a call back for our Free Demo on Integrated Digital Marketing Certification Program.

#Digital Marketing training in bangalore #Advanced digital marketing courses with placements #digital marketing strategy and planning

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digitechniks1-blog · 5 years

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How to Optimize for voice search in 2018- 2019| Voice Search SEO

How do we optimize content for SEO in voice search?

Some basics of voice search:

Voice search best practices:

To know more on Advanced Digital Marketing Strategies, Request a call back for our Free Demo on Integrated Digital Marketing Certification Program.

https://digitechniks.com/how-to-optimize-for-voice-search-in-2018-2019-voice-search-seo/

#Google voice search #google voice search assistant #Ok Google #Future of voice search 2019 #what is voice search #How to optimize for voice search #advanced digital marketing courses in bangalore #best digital marketing institute with placements #integrated digital marketing certification with placements #google adwords #influencer marketing #marketing automation

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micdotcom · 7 years

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As a former member of Congress representing New York’s 3rd congressional district, I want to chime in. I’ve seen activism from both ends — as an ordinary citizen and an elected official — and I’ve seen what works and specific actions we can all take that will truly resonate.

1. Show up

I recently recorded a video for Mic about the most effective action you can take to influence your lawmakers. To sum it up: In 2010, we saw the Tea Party quickly rise to power across the country as the Affordable Car Act was being considered. I remember some of my colleagues in Congress reporting back to me that they had held town halls, which usually attracted maybe 20 constituents, and walked into rooms filled with hundreds or even thousands of people. I saw for myself when I held a town hall on Obamacare and had to answer to hundreds of constituents asking me questions about the legislation.

You may not agree with their politics, but the Tea Party was effective in getting members of Congress to answer their questions and consider their opinions.

My call to you: Show up to events that your local congressperson or senator (on both the state and federal level) are hosting. Don’t know how to find that information? Call 202-224-3121 and asked to be connected to your member of Congress or senator. Ask them when their next public event is. Then show up and ask them why they voted a certain way, voice your support if you agree with what they’re doing, tell them why you disagree if you don’t agree with how they voted.

2. Join a civic organization

Yes, I likely have many years on you. I remember a time when there was no such thing as a home computer, never mind the internet. We are so much more powerful these days. We have access to an incredible amount of knowledge and can be part of networks without even leaving our couch. But, this is also a disadvantage. We don’t talk to each other face to face, and we hide behind a screen that allows us to retreat into our corners.

My call to you: Join an organization. Maybe it’s a church, synagogue or mosque. Maybe it’s a volunteer group. Maybe it’s a political organization or maybe it’s simply a book club. Talk to new people. Get to know what scares them and what motivates them. Don’t let the bullying and name calling that dominates public discourse detract from your own humanity. We need more opportunities to connect with each other in our increasingly polarized country.

3. Learn about how the government works

According to an Annenberg Public Policy survey done in 2015, only 31% of Americans can name all three branches of our government. There’s hardly a statistic that scares me more. We can do all the yelling and opining we want, but if we don’t understand how our government works, how can we expect to affect any positive change? Imagine an electrician showing up to your house who doesn’t know how the wiring works.

My call to you: Educate yourself! Re-read our Constitution, understand what it is our Founding Fathers were creating, know which branch controls which function of government. Read books like George Orwell’s 1984 or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to understand the warnings they share. We are all affected by government and laws at every level in our daily lives (Did you drive on roads today? See a law enforcement officer patrolling?). It’s imperative we understand its inner workings.

4. Devote half an hour every day to reading diverse sources of news

I get it. Reading news can be hard these days. In fact, it seems hard to separate fact from fiction. But Thomas Jefferson was right when he said, “An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy.” We cannot expect to hold the president and Congress accountable if we don’t know what they’re doing.

My call to you: Read the news. Devote a half an hour a day. Diversify your sources, but stick to real journalism. Avoid overly partisan rants on both sides. Get the facts. Support our journalists — their jobs are more important than ever.

5. Vote!

This is a no-judgement zone, but I must ask: Did you vote this past November? Only 55% of Americans did. And that number gets even lower when we look at years in which there’s no presidential election. In 2014, only 36.4% of Americans took the time to make their voices heard. And we’re worse off because of it. Even though we only vote for a president every four years, we vote for state and local officials, congressmen and women and maybe your senator or governor on other years. Make sure you’re voting whenever there’s an election. All elections matter.

My call to you: In 2018, there will be a midterm election. Every member of Congress will be up for reelection, as well as many senators. Make sure you vote. Make sure your voice is heard. There’s nothing more important you can do as a citizen.

— Former Congressman Steve Israel, Read more

#activism #how to be an activist #Steve Israel #news #Trump #politics

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caplofan · 4 years

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Stuck at Home During Corona Virus Lockdown? Do This 24-Minute Money Challenge

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Stuck at Home During Corona Virus Lockdown? Do This 24-Minute Money Challenge

Some of the links in this post are from our sponsors. We provide you with accurate, reliable information. Learn more about how we make money and select our advertising partners.

At this point, most of us are living within the confines of our home, only venturing out for groceries or exercise.

And that’s what we should be doing — what we need to be doing — to flatten this COVID-19 curve. But we get it: We feel a bit stir-crazy, too. After all, there are only so many push-up challenges you can post to your Instagram story before your arms give out.

That’s why we created a quick 24-minute money challenge.

This is perfect for those of us stuck at home and worried about the uncertain state of our country and our own personal finances. It’s a great way to spend 24 minutes today, and you’ll feel more productive for it.

Ready?

Once you’re done, pass it along to your friends, so hopefully they’ll stop nominating you for that darn push-up challenge.

1. Stop Overpaying on Your Monthly Bills (2 Minutes)

Your monthly bills are non-negotiables, right?

They’re just something you’re stuck paying.

Wrong.

The truth is, you can probably find better deals on a number of your monthly bills, freeing up room in your budget for other necessities during this trying time.

The easiest one to start with? Car insurance. Experts suggest shopping your options every six months or so, but let’s be real — when’s the last time any of us have done that?

But a free website called The Zebra will do the shopping for you — in just two minutes.

All you have to do is enter basic information about your car and driving history, then The Zebra compares prices from more than 100 companies to find you the best price.

In fact, The Zebra says it saves its users up to $670 a year. If you find a policy you like, you can sign up online instantly.

After you take two minutes to do this, take a look at some of your other monthly bills, like your cell phone (check out discount providers) and home insurance (compare rates).

2. Ask This Website to Take Care of Your Credit Card Bill (2 Minutes)

If you have credit card debt, you know. The anxiety, the interest rates, the fear you’re never going to escape…

And the truth is, your credit card company doesn’t really care. It’s just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates. But right now is the perfect time to take action. A website called AmOne wants to help.

If you owe your credit card companies $50,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.

The benefit?

You’ll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 3.99% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster.

AmOne won’t make you stand in line or call your bank, either — you can do this from your couch. And if you’re worried you won’t qualify, it’s free to check online.

It takes just two minutes, and it could help you pay off your debt years faster and boost your credit score.

Corona Virus Finance Challenge

3. Grab Yourself a $5 Amazon Gift Card After You Take 5 Surveys (10 Minutes)

Since we’re trying to leave the house as little as possible, many of us will likely notice an uptick in our Amazon orders. That’s good — we’re doing this whole social distancing thing correctly — but our wallets might not be too thrilled.

If you want to help offset the costs, snag yourself a free $5 Amazon gift card with MyPoints.

MyPoints is a research company that’ll pay you to answer questions about different products and services you use. In return, it’ll give you free gift cards. You can even do this from your phone.

To date, MyPoints has paid people more than $236 million in gift cards.

To get your $5 Amazon gift card, just sign up and complete your first five surveys. Then, next time you’re posted up on the couch watching Netflix, take a few more surveys and keep earning.

4. Finally Check Life Insurance Off Your Perpetual To-Do List (5 Minutes)

For many of us, getting life insurance is something we know we need to do. After all, you’ve probably wondered how your family would manage without your income after you’re gone. How will they pay the bills? Send the kids through school?

Now that life’s slowed down a little, it’s time to finally check this off your to-do list.

With a company called Bestow, this shouldn’t take more than about five minutes, and rates start at $5 a month. You can cancel or change your plan at any time. Plus, the security of knowing your family is taken care of is priceless.

If you’re under the age of 54 and want to get a fast life insurance quote without a medical exam, pushy sales calls or even getting up from the couch, get a free quote from Bestow.

You’ll feel better once you can finally get this done.

5. Check Your Credit Report for Any Errors (3 Minutes)

At this point, you understand the importance of your credit score. It will help you make big purchases one day, like a house or a new car. But when’s the last time you checked in on your score?

You could have an error on it that’s unknowingly holding you back. (One out of five reports do, according to a study from the FTC.)

Now that you’ve got some extra time on your hands, take a look with a free website called Credit Sesame. It’ll show you your credit score and help you detect any errors. If you find one?

Credit Sesame will even help you dispute it.

Salome Buitureria, a working mom in Louisiana, found a major error on her report this way. Using Credit Sesame, she was able to fix the mistake and take additional steps to raise her credit score from 524 to nearly 700.*

Want to check for yourself? It only takes about three minutes to sign up and take a look.

6. Launch an Investing Portfolio With $1 (2 Minutes)

It’s no secret the market has had its fair shares of ups and (mostly) downs these past few weeks, but you shouldn’t panic. If you’ve got money you’ve invested, consider riding it out.

Markets are unpredictable, and they will always be volatile, which means sometimes they’ll go up, and sometimes they’ll go down — but over time, they tend to go up.

If you haven’t started investing and have some money to spare, you can start small. Investing doesn’t require you throwing thousands of dollars at full shares of stocks. In fact, you can get started with as little as $1.1

We like Stash, because it lets you choose from hundreds of stocks and funds to build your own investment portfolio. But it makes it simple by breaking them down into categories based on your personal goals. Want to invest conservatively right now? Totally get it! Want to dip in with moderate or aggressive risk? Do what you feel.

Plus, with Stash, you’re able to invest in fractions of shares, which means you can invest in funds you wouldn’t normally be able to afford.

If you sign up now (it takes two minutes), Stash will give you $5 after you add $5 to your invest account. Subscription plans start at $1 a month.2

* Like Buitureria, 60% of Credit Sesame members see an increase in their credit score; 50% see at least a 10-point increase, and 20% see at least a 50-point increase after 180 days.

Credit Sesame does not guarantee any of these results, and some may even see a decrease in their credit score. Any score improvement is the result of many factors, including paying bills on time, keeping credit balances low, avoiding unnecessary inquiries, appropriate financial planning and developing better credit habits.

1 For Securities priced over $1,000, purchase of fractional shares starts at $0.05.

2 You’ll also bear the standard fees and expenses reflected in the pricing of the ETFs in your account, plus fees for various ancillary services charged by Stash and the custodian.

Original Source: thepennyhoarder.com

Curated On: https://www.cashadvancepaydayloansonline.com/

The post Stuck at Home During Corona Virus Lockdown? Do This 24-Minute Money Challenge appeared first on Instant Cash Advance Loans 2020 | Instant Advance Payday Loans 2020.

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#Finance News

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asfeedin · 4 years

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5 Blogging Tips to Help Boost Your Content Now

Every year, Orbit Media releases their Blogging Statistics and Trends survey.

To compile their findings, it’s sent to over 1,000 unique bloggers and content marketing specialists.

Naturally, it’s packed with valuable information, graphs, and tidbits that can transform your outlook on content creation.

But reading a 5,000+ word blog post and deciphering the meaning of dozens of graphs is time-consuming.

And remembering all of it down the line without taking copious, detailed notes? Slim chance.

So, I did it for you!

Here are the biggest takeaways you can learn from the 1,000+ bloggers surveyed to improve your content.

1. Start Spending More Time on Each Post

Most people spend an average of 3 hours and 57 minutes writing a blog post before sending it live, according to the Blogging Survey.

Unless you’ve been an expert in that specific field for the last 10 years, that still isn’t enough.

The problem with spending only four hours on a single post is lack of research.

It’s nearly impossible to conduct impactful (deep) research, synthesize the information, and condense the key takeaways into 2,000 words in four hours or less.

A common issue then becomes the regurgitation of already existing content.

Essentially, just Googling the target keyword, pulling tips from top posts, and then calling it “new.”

That’s not original and it’s sure as heck not going to get results.

Some of the most interesting (and successful) content is months in the making before being published.

Prime example: Search Engine Journal’s 18-part 2020 SEO Guide.

Now go try to write a 2020 SEO guide that matches the quality above in four hours and get back to me with the traffic and ranking results.

It ain’t gonna work.

Content is becoming incredible.

It’s more detailed than ever before.

It delves deeper into each subject’s subtopics and sub-subtopics.

It’s complete with tutorials, tips, studies, original research, and unique value.

If you want average results, spend the average 1-4 hours on your content.

But bloggers spending 6+ hours per post are 38% more likely to report stronger results.

And I’d be willing to wager that with each additional hour (up to a point), those results increase even more.

2. Stop Putting (Real) Editing on the Backburner

Most content out there is dead boring.

It’s dry, nails on a chalkboard content.

Even if the copy is appetizing, it doesn’t mean squat if nobody can digest it.

Content should get people aroused and pique their senses.

It needs to be flawless in tone, style, and delivery.

Without an editor, this becomes a fool’s errand.

You’ve just written 2,000+ words. The last thing your brain wants to do is re-read it five times to check for grammatically incorrect phrases or to see if every last sentence matches the tone of your target audience.

Are you editing your own work?

If so, you aren’t alone.

According to the survey, 41% of writers edit their own work.

Another 28% informally showcase it to one or two people.

Only 22% of writers have a formal editor.

And guess what? Those that use one or more formal editors report 38% better results.

Bad grammar and sloppy editing can damage your credibility and even hinders your likelihood of being promoted and accelerating job advancement.

Plus, the readers don’t lie:

42% of ‘em state that spelling errors give them a negative perception of brand and status.

And, according to the Blogging Survey, showing it to a friend isn’t good enough.

You need serious editors dedicated to the task of content perfection.

There are countless sites like Fiverr and UpWork where you can hire quality editors:

Feeling frugal?

There are dozens of grammar and editing tools online.

I never send off an article without running it through Grammarly:

It checks for plagiarism, spelling, grammar, punctuation, fluency, conciseness, formality, clarity, variety, and vocabulary.

Plus, you can customize goals to deliver more accurate editing suggestions based on what intent, style, and emotion you are going for:

This should serve as a baseline for editing your content.

Once you do this, it’s time to run it by an editor.

Can’t find one?

Grammarly even offers human proofreading services, so you have no excuse.

No matter what you do, always run your content through an editing tool and a professional editor.

Your readers can (and will) thank you later.

3. Stop Neglecting Old Content

Writing a top quality blog post takes hours. Days. Weeks.

Maybe even months if it’s a long guide with production quality visuals.

With so much time invested in a piece of content, it’s easy to hit the publish button and kick back in your chair.

You did it, right?

Sort of. But not really.

Content doesn’t just stay evergreen because you want it to.

Sure, planning in advance for more evergreen topics can help, but even still, nothing in digital marketing stays the same for long.

Once you hit publish, your work is only 75% of the way done. Posts can become outdated in just weeks.

According to the Blogging Statistics and Trends survey, over 33% of content marketers aren’t updating their content after hitting that shiny, instantly gratifying publish button.

I’ve been guilty of going on cruise control, too.

Yet those who do update old content are “2x more likely to report success.”

Updating content gives you the opportunity to grab low-hanging fruit and overtake posts above you if you fall behind, or ensure that competitors can’t do it to you.

Start by looking at your analytics for given posts.

What rankings and traffic did you have when your post was at its peak?

Has traffic flatlined?

Check to see if rankings have changed over time:

If they have, it’s time to update your post to fit searcher expectations.

Head to SERPs for the target keywords and examine the few posts ranking above yours.

Are they targeting Google’s machine learning by answering critically related questions?

Is their content more in-depth, longer, or contain more visuals than yours?

Does it touch on the latest updates and news to keep it relevant?

Ultimately ask yourself:

What are they doing that I haven’t?

Fix it, republish it, and reclaim your rightful SERP position.

4. Start Conducting Your Own Research for Backlink Goldmines

Infographics have long been touted as “link bait.”

But most are far too long, dense, and text-heavy to make a big impact.

Not to mention their cheesy illustrated graphics that we’ve all seen thousands of times over.

And now, good infographics are few and far between.

Hootsuite wrote about the decline of infographics back in 2015.

And a study from 2010-2015 proved that infographics were declining in usage and impact.

So, what works to generate genuine backlinks now?

Original research – ironic, considering I’m writing an entire post about an original research study.

And it’s true: original research is killing it right now.

Case and point, the study I am deconstructing here has 4.25k backlinks already.

Plug in just about any reputable, informative, relevant, and statistically significant original research post and you’ll see similar results.

Tons of:

Links.

Keywords.

Traffic.

Winning.

Why?

Because anybody that writes good content knows research is critical to making your point stick.

Writers need data to back up claims, and marketers need data-driven strategies to maximize their budget.

Providing original research nails both with precision.

According to the Blogging Statistics and Trends survey, 85% of those publishing original research report stronger results than traditional blogging.

Want to create better content that gets noticed?

Start developing original research on unique and trending topics in your niche.

Sure, it might cost you a few thousand bucks to do, but that’s why it works:

You aren’t posting cookie-cutter content.

5. Start Doing What Everyone Else Isn’t Doing

It’s tempting to pump out a bunch of content for the sake of content.

It makes you feel great when you click on your blog and see dozens of long-form posts.

But, unless you are actively doing what most people are not doing, content is a total waste of time.

If you think that you can go write a cookie-cutter SEO tip post in the current age and generate good rankings, think again.

Today’s landscape is brutal.

Even for the most obscure, low-traffic keywords.

Check out the SERPs for “International SEO,” a keyword with just 250 searches a month.

Moz, Search Engine Journal, SEL, Neil Patel, WordStream, SEMrush, and HubSpot. Not a single DA under 87.

Yikes.

Want to rank for it without a DA above 87 and hundreds to thousands of backlinks over years of time?

Two-thousand words ain’t gonna cut it.

“Long-form” doesn’t mean jack if it’s not different in some fundamental way.

You’re gonna need much more, and most people are far too stingy or lazy to do it.

But that’s actually good news.

If everyone was doing it, you’d be stuck in the same position: unable to outrank the big players.

Thankfully, there are tons of strategies that most bloggers are not using, including said big players.

This gives you a powerful opportunity to capitalize on what readers (and Google) want to see:

Only 11% publish 2,000+ word posts: Increase your length, but make sure the content isn’t fluff. Actively research subtopics and provide value. Nobody wants to read 5,000 words if it doesn’t help them solve a problem.

Only 1% collaborate with influencers: Reach out to influencers for quotes to boost credibility. The benefit here is both credibility and the increased chance of these influencers sharing the content and linking back to it.

Only 26% add video content to their articles, and only 7% use audio, but they generate the biggest impacts: For just a few bucks, you can outsource video and audio summaries of your articles to freelancers on UpWork or Fiverr and add immense value for mobile users who enjoy video or want to listen podcast-style.

All of these strategies are listed as the least common tactics among 1,000+ bloggers.

And unsurprisingly, they also rank as the most effective.

Why? Because everything else is beaten to a pulp.

As tactics become more popular over time, receptiveness sinks like a rock (see: Law of Shitty Click-Throughs)

Want better content, better rankings, and better engagement?

Invest in what most content creators are skipping.

Conclusion

With millions of blog posts being written, edited, and published on a daily basis, differentiation is the holy grail.

If you take anything away from this post, it should be this:

Do what other content creators fail to do.

Spend more time on each post (more research, more outlining, more flow development, and more writing).

Have multiple, dedicated editor third-parties edit and proofread your work. They are going to catch errors you simply can’t.

Start revamping your old content and be consistent. Once you hit publish, your job is far from done.

Start producing your own research studies. People love original research. Is it hard to produce? Duh. Is it time-consuming? You know the answer. Is it worth it? Data says yes, unequivocally.

Invest time and money into tactics that most content producers don’t: video, audio, influencer outreach, and more.

More than 1,000 bloggers can teach us that going the extra mile is the only hope in the noise of modern SERPs.

More Resources:

Image Credits

Featured Image: Pixabay All screenshots taken by author, April 2020

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wahooo0-blog · 5 years

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a pretty fab annotated bib

Coleman, Gerald D. “Is America Going to Pot?: We Need to Weed through the Pros and Cons of Marijuana Use before Rushing into a Decision on Its Legalization.�� U.S. Catholic, vol. 79, no. 5, May 2014, pp. 23–27. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=reh&AN=CPLI0000585550&site=eds-live.

Coleman writes that there is a generational divide to the acceptance of marijuana. Age is the strongest predictor in attitudes towards marijuana legalization, according to Coleman. He explains that young adults (18-29) are more than twice as likely to consume marijuana than seniors (65 and older) who believe that marijuana legalization is a sign of America’s decline. Coleman also writes about the legalization of marijuana in many states. In 2013, Colorado and Washington state became the first states to allow recreational marijuana consumption following referendums. Colorado projected to make 67 million in marijuana taxes in 2014, the first 40 million would be earmarked for school construction. This is an example of the good that can be done through marijuana taxes. By legally selling and taxing marijuana, we could put marijuana tax money back into communities most affected by unfair drug laws and unjust policing. Marijuana taxes could also boost the economies of poor states, especially those in the south where marijuana can be grown readily. According to Coleman, federal laws prevent legal marijuana merchants from using bank accounts or credit cards, forcing a multimillion-dollar business to operate in cash. This is the most dangerous aspect of the legal marijuana business, according to Coleman. Coleman also notes the plethora of benefits attributed to medicinal marijuana. However, most marijuana revenue is from recreational marijuana, which many people still take issue with. Many Americans believe marijuana should be legalized for medicinal uses, but not recreationally. The federal government needs to at least decriminalize marijuana to end disproportionate policing when it comes to marijuana.

“Drug Scheduling.” DEA, www.dea.gov/drug-scheduling.

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency organizes drugs, substances, and chemicals used to make drugs into five distinct categories or schedules depending on the drug’s medical use and the drug’s abuse or dependency potential. A drug's position on the schedule largely impacts one’s conviction if they are caught with the possession of certain drugs. For example, a person arrested for the possession of marijuana would likely face a longer, harsher sentence than someone arrested for the illegal possession of Xanax because marijuana is a schedule one drug whereas Xanax is a schedule 5 drug. The organization of the drug schedule is hotly debated because many of the drugs’ placements on the schedule do not correlate with their actual danger or risk for dependency. LSD, marijuana, ecstasy, and peyote are all listed in the schedule one category, but there have been no recorded overdoses on any of those drugs. The DEA would like you to believe these drugs are at high risk for dependency and have no accepted medical use, but this is untrue for most of the drugs listed on the schedule one category. For example, marijuana has recorded medicinal benefits and one can not become chemically addicted to marijuana, unlike many of the other drugs on lower schedule categories. The position of peyote on the drug schedule is also contentious because of its use in Native American ceremonies. Many believe its position is used to target Native American communities. Cocaine, methamphetamine, and many prescription opiates are listed on lower drug schedules despite their high risk for dependency and abuse. There have been no changes made to the DEA drug schedule in years, which many take issue with because of the rise of opiate overdoses and growing rates of abuse benzodiazepines (Xanax) among teenagers.

Goldstein, Margaret J. Legalizing Marijuana : Promises and Pitfalls. Twenty-First Century Books ™, 2016. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1283710&site=eds-live.

In this book, Goldstein gives readers a different perspective on marijuana users. Most people think of the stereotypical stoner in coming of age films, but Goldstein writes of a family in Colorado who gives their daughter a non-mind-altering form of marijuana to control her seizures, which has saved her life. Up until taking medical marijuana to control her seizures, she would suffer hundreds of seizures a day. She had tried many common powerful treatments] but nothing worked. Doctors told the family to prepare for their daughter's death, but after taking medical marijuana for months, the number of seizures she suffered monthly was reduced greatly. She now only has a few seizures a month, mainly in her sleep and she can live a pretty normal life. This family is extremely lucky to live in a state where medicinal marijuana is legal, if they had lived in a state where it was illegal, their daughter could’ve died. Goldstein also explains how even though many states have legalized marijuana, it is still very illegal at the federal level because of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which states that when federal and state laws conflict, federal laws take precedence. This allows the federal government the power to enforce anti-marijuana laws even in states where it is legal. Goldstein notes that in the past ten years, the DEA has conducted numerous raids on medical marijuana operations in California. This is interesting, considering mainly republican lawmakers oppose marijuana legalization. Aren’t conservatives for State’s rights?

“Marijuana Arrests by the Numbers.” American Civil Liberties Union, 2019, www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 52% of all drug arrests were for marijuana in 2010. These were not drug kingpins, rather they were people with small amounts of marijuana. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests from 2001 to 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana. Aside from marijuana being relatively harmless, many would argue the over-policing of marijuana is a waste of taxpayer money and police powers, especially when there are worse crimes being committed and more dangerous drugs being used. The note that police aren’t arresting drug kingpins is important because police aren’t looking at helping communities when they arrest an individual carrying drugs, they are only seeking to punish the individual. This only leads to more harm to communities suffering from police targeting. If the police wanted to help communities, they would focus more on kingpins, those who introduce drugs to communities. The American Civil Liberties Union also found that black Americans are far more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. This is despite white and black consuming marijuana at roughly the same rate (white people actually consume more marijuana). It is noted that black Americans are nearly four times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession. I’m many U.S. states, black people are 7.5 to 8.5 times more likely to be arrested for having weed. This discrepancy in data has led many, including the ACLU, to conclude that police target communities of color in drug arrests. Arrests are expensive. Getting caught with marijuana could lead to losing a job or public benefits, which hurts communities. States waste well over three-million dollars every year enforcing marijuana laws according to the ACLU. Imagine the good it would do if that money were put back into education, or helping communities of color prosper.

McGinty, Emma E., et al. “Public Perceptions of Arguments Supporting and Opposing Recreational Marijuana Legalization.” Preventive Medicine, vol. 99, June 2017, pp. 80–86. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.01.024.

Essentially, McGinty explores the results of a 2016 national survey designed to answer two main research questions: (1) How do Americans perceive the relative strength of competing arguments about recreational marijuana legalization? (2) How are perceptions of argument strength associated with public support for recreational marijuana legalization? It compared the attitudes of people living in states where marijuana was still illegal and states where marijuana was legal and compared the attitudes of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. The results showed that 54% of Americans supported the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. This was for reasons including federal research limitations on schedule 1 controlled substances and the novelty of recreational marijuana laws. It is worth noting that Americans are being asked whether they support or oppose marijuana legalization without sufficient research into public health consequences. However, the lack of research is caused by the DEA’s placement of marijuana in the schedule 1 category. McGinty notes that the best available research shows that marijuana legalization could lead to increased rates of cannabis use disorders and death due to driving while under the influence of marijuana. There is also some research that suggests that recreational marijuana legalization could have beneficial public health consequences such as reducing prescription opioid overdoses. McGinty writes that one of the largest public health concerns regarding marijuana legalization is how well regulatory schemes will prevent underaged people from illegally accessing marijuana. Another big concern is that marijuana’s legalization would create a new powerful industry that puts profit before public health, like the tobacco industry.

McNearney, Allison. “The Complicated History of Cannabis in the US.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 Apr. 2018, www.history.com/news/marijuana-criminalization-reefer-madness-history-flashback.

In this article, McNearney describes cannabis’s complicated history in the U.S. She writes that initially cannabis was produced in the early colonies for hemp, to create rope, cloth, and paper. In 1619, a law was made in Virginia requiring cannabis to be grown at every farm in the colony. McNearney states that cannabis in the form of hemp was considered a proper form of currency in many colonies. Contrary to popular belief, the early North American economy was rooted in cannabis production. Eventually, hemp as a material to make clothing fell out of fashion as cotton gained popularity but following the Civil War, cannabis was becoming an increasingly popular ingredient in medicines and tinctures. Cannabis or Marijuana continued to gain popularity in the United States as Mexican refugees brought marijuana to the states fleeing violence. In the 1930s, it’s popularity would expand to the black jazz community. Crackdowns on marijuana began during the Great Depression after Prohibition. McNearney states that straight-laced bureaucrats wanted to turn their attention to Marijuana which was commonly used by Mexican and black communities. They painted the drug as something hurting the country and worsening the Great Depression. By 1931, twenty-nine states had outlawed marijuana and in 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, essentially making the plant illegal in the United States. This may have been what led to the unjust policing relating to communities of color, which still exists to this day. “Reefer madness” would continue in the 1950s, as parents began to worry about their teenage children consuming the drug.

Murray, Robin, MD, M.Phil, MRCP, MRC Psych, et al. Marijuana and Madness. [Electronic Resource]. Cambridge University Press, 2012. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat07712a&AN=flc.230340&site=eds-live.

First, this book begins with an overview of how cannabis works in the brain. This is followed by reviews of how cannabinoids other than THC (the psychoactive component of marijuana) affects the brain’s cannabinoid system. In looking at this, the increasing potency of cannabis is considered. It is noted in the book that the increasing potency of marijuana cannabis has been obscured in the debate of marijuana’s legality. However, it is worth noting that there is little evidence that suggests more potent marijuana could cause problems. For the most part, the book concentrated on the impact of marijuana on schizophrenia. It is recorded that long term effects of cannabis on the brain structure and neuropsychological functions in humans may mediate processes involved in the generation of psychosis. The book notes that one of the clinical conundrums of cannabis is the discrepancy between the benefits reported by cannabis users and the expression of schizophrenia noted by clinicians. The possibility that genetic predispositions to psychiatric disorders like Schizophrenia coupled with heavy marijuana use could lead to the development of schizophrenia in certain individuals. The book also explores the impact that cannabis has on depression and bipolar disorder, stating that it has been found that cannabis can help or hurt those suffering from those disorders. I’m the end, it is noted that the effects marijuana has on schizophrenia and other psychological disorders are “acute,” meaning they are minor. The author also takes a look at the impact of pubertal exposure to cannabis by examining animal studies. It also discusses the implications of marijuana legalization on mental health services, health education, and public policy.

Rojas, Andrea S. Marijuana. [Electronic Resource] : Uses, Effects and the Law. Nova Science Publishers, 2011.EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat07712a&AN=flc.234873&site=eds-live.

In this book, Rojas examines the uses, effects, and the laws surrounding marijuana use in the United States and other parts of the world. She first notes it’s medicinal issues, but then writes about marijuana use and it’s a correlation with developing schizophrenia, especially in those suffering from mental health issues. Rojas raises concerns about the increasing potency of cannabis and less safe ways of cannabis consumption coupled with increased rates of cannabis misuse disorders. She clarified that cannabis misuse disorders are characterized by consumption/smoking methods and purchasing habits. Rojas also considers cannabis use and adolescents, when she writes that in societies where marijuana use is heavily dissuaded, teenagers are more likely to abuse marijuana. She uses Italy as an example, where Italian adolescents are among the most likely to consume marijuana in Europe. The book also delves into some of marijuana’s history. It is noted that Cannabis sativa was one of the first plants cultivated by man and was used to great a plethora of illnesses and was used by adherents of some religions. Rojas then lists the many physical effects involved with marijuana consumption, including dry mouth, tachycardia, and psychomotor retardation. It is worth noting that all of these effects normally subside after coming down. She also lists psychological effects like anxiety, drowsiness, and depression which also normally subside. Rojos writes that there is no pharmacological treatment for marijuana misuse disorders and that psychosocial interventions are of great importance in the treatment of marijuana misuse.

Rowe, Peter. “For Moms Fighting against Drug Policies, a New Year’s Resolution.” San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA), 5 Jan. 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=2W61287194246&site=eds-live.

This article raises many arguments contrary to common beliefs held by parents. Rowe, the author interviewed Gretchen Burns Bergman, a mother, and co-founder of A New Path (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing). Bergman argues that the War on Drugs is destroying families. This is the case in many communities of color across the United States. In these communities, people of color are far more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, despite white people using drugs at the same rates. Drug laws and disproportionate policing been detrimental to communities of color because even misdemeanor drug offenses can impact employment, which in turn affects economic mobility and security. This has only exacerbated poverty seen in many communities of color caused by hundreds of years of systemic racism and oppression. Bergman claims we need a therapeutic, rather than punitive, approach to drug treatments. She also calls against “zero tolerance” policies and schools in workplaces, saying that that they become a pipeline to prison. She claims zero-tolerance programs should be reoriented away from punishment, and instead focus on treatment for substance abuse. As a society, we need to decide if we would rather help and uplift struggling communities, or just expand our nation’s already massive prison population. Bergman also provides some anecdotal evidence as to why zero-tolerance policies are so bad. She states that her son fell into heroin addiction after being arrested for possession of marijuana when he learned how to shoot heroin behind bars. Many see prison as a cure-all for the delinquent, struggling members of society, but this is not the case.

Vasquez, Margie. Marijuana : Medical Uses, Regulations and Legal Issues. Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2016. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1226236&site=eds-live.

In this book, Vasquez takes a pretty in-depth look at the medical uses, regulations, and legal issues surrounding marijuana. She first gives the reader some background information about cannabis Sativa and how it works in the brain. She also explains that according to Achievement Motivation Surveys and results on the Apathy Evaluation Scale, that marijuana use has no significant impact on one's motivation, which is contrary to popular belief. Many perceive marijuana users as lazy and not motivated. She then dismantled the DEA’s argument that marijuana has no medical use. She states that studies have shown that marijuana can control chronic pain, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, wasting syndrome associated with AIDS, and a plethora of other health conditions. Vazquez also notes that the studies showed that the alleviating benefits outweighed any negative side effects of the drug. She also makes the point that patients have a right to all beneficial treatments and it is a violation of human rights to deny them. The long term effects of marijuana consumption are becoming more of a concern as more and more states legalize the drug. However, federal laws restrict research into marijuana, so there is a huge deficit in information regarding its long term effects. Vazquez states that some studies show a risk of long term cognitive marijuana impairment while other studies show no correlation between marijuana use and mental and physical difficulties later in adulthood. Regardless, more research needs to be done. The federal government needs to change the laws just so the medical community can effectively research its effects, so we can create more, just laws surrounding the drug.

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jobsearchtips02 · 5 years

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20 Ways to Get Free Stuff Online

In a day and age where everyone seems to be offering free stuff online, it may be hard to discern which companies offering free stuff are legit, and which ones are a scam.

The truth is not everyone has your best interest in mind, and often times getting free stuff isn’t as simple as some people make it out to be. There’s almost always some sort of “catch.”

You’ll have to register an account. Download an app. Start a free trial.

You get the point.

It makes sense, though. Companies aren’t just going to offer free stuff online if there isn’t at least some heightened chance that you’ll do business with them in the future.

Fortunately, you don’t have to do business with them. Many companies offer free product samples, free makeup, or other free stuff by mail, with no requirements, commitments, or shipping costs.

To help you cash in on their desperation generosity, we’ve put together a list of 20 completely safe places you can get free beauty products, gift cards, and other common household items (from retailers such as Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart), at no cost to you.

20 Apps and Websites to Get Free Stuff Online

There are a number of companies that offer online freebies in exchange for completing easy tasks like taking paid surveys and watching videos. The tasks are generally pretty boring, but they offer a legit way to get totally free stuff with no strings attached.

Note: The apps and websites below can be accessed without a credit card (if you’d prefer to keep your information private).

Where to Get Free Gift Cards

Gift cards give you the opportunity to buy whatever your heart desires at various retailers, restaurants and more. The below websites may reward you with free gift cards, making it easier to score new clothes, enjoy a dinner out, or cover a week’s worth of groceries.

1. Swagbucks

With Swagbucks, you can earn points for things like shopping, taking surveys, watching videos, and playing games.

Once you earn enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards to popular places like Target, Amazon, and Walmart.

You can also earn cash and transfer it to your PayPal account if that’s your preference.

2. InboxDollars

InboxDollars rewards you for things you’re probably already doing. Think searching the web, playing games, taking surveys, and watching videos.

According to their website, most surveys “pay from $0.50 to $5.00 and take 3 to 25 minutes to complete. There are some online surveys that pay $10, $20, or even more if you match the demographic profile an advertiser is looking for. ”

The minimum redemption amount is $30. You can redeem your rewards points for Visa or retail gift cards, or you can opt for a physical check in the mail if you’d prefer.

Bonus Free Stuff: Get an instant, free $5 bonus when you sign up today.

3. Survey Junkie

You’ll love Survey Junkie if you don’t mind taking surveys and sharing your opinion. Most surveys only take a few minutes to complete and you’ll still get points for trying to take a survey even if it turns out you’re not qualified to take it. You can redeem these points for gift cards at hundreds of retailers or cash through PayPal.

Related: 35 Legit Ways to Get Free Money

4. MyPoints

The MyPoints rewards program gives you points for searching the Internet, reading emails, taking surveys, printing coupons and more. You can earn 60 points just by signing up and completing your profile. You can save up points for a $100 gift card or redeem fewer points for gift cards worth $10, $25, or $50.

Where to Get Free Stuff by Mail (Product Testing)

Companies rely on consumer opinions to improve their products and help them figure out whether or not they should be brought to market.

As long as you don’t mind sharing detailed feedback when it’s all said and done, you can earn good money testing products (and you may even get to keep the product for free once the testing period is over). Here are 4 places to do just that:

5. Pinecone Research

If you decide to become a panelist for Pinecone Research, you’ll get an email every time a survey is ready for you. You’ll receive multiple points for each survey you complete and can cash them in for cash or prizes. Occasionally, you’ll also get a free product to test. You’ll be able to influence the products of tomorrow while getting rewarded.

Note: One perk of Pinecone Research is that in addition to occasionally getting free stuff by mail (with no catch and no shipping costs), you’ll get paid $3 for each survey you complete.

6. American Consumer Opinion

To become a product tester for American Consumer Opinion (ACOP), you’ll have to take several 10-minute surveys each year. These surveys can inform ACOP of what types of products to send you. In exchange for free products, you’ll have to document your experiences and give useful feedback.

7. National Consumer Panel

As a panelist for National Consumer Panel (NCP), you’ll receive a handheld scanner or access to the NCP mobile app. You’ll then use the scanner or app to scan the barcode on all the products you or others in your family buy during a shopping trip.

The data you provide will be shared with manufacturers and influence the products they put on the shelves. Every week you participate, you can earn reward points that can be redeemed for things like electronics, household appliances, and sporting goods.

8. Crowdtap

Crowdtap will send you free products as long as you honestly review them. Every time you receive a freebie from Crowdtap, you’ll be asked to answer a number of questions related to it.

After you do, you’ll earn points that you can redeem for gift cards and other rewards

Where to Get Freebies by Mail with No Requirements

You don’t always have to take surveys, answer questions, or do other things in order to get absolutely free stuff by. Listed below are several websites that will send you freebies with no strings attached.

9. Cashbackbase

Cashbackbase was created to help you score the best deals on Amazon. It offers 100% discounts on some products and major discounts on others. Simply sign up for an account and contact the sellers to apply for the free products you want.

It’s a great way to get free stuff on Amazon with minimal effort. You may be able to score freebies like wireless earbuds, neck pillows, flameless candles, and magnetic phone mounts.

10. Free Stuff

The founders of Free Stuff regularly search the internet to find free stuff that you can claim. While they don’t directly provide the online freebies, they’ll link to websites that do. Even though the Free Stuff website is updated every day, free items come and go quickly so you may come across some that are expired.

11. I Love Free Things

I Love Free Things delivers free sample offers to your inbox twice a week. You won’t have to pay for shipping or do anything to claim any of these samples. Subscribe to the newsletter and wait for the emails to come. It’s really as easy as it sounds.

Where to Get Samples for Free

Many big names brands offer free samples so you can experience their products firsthand and talk about them to your family and friends.

12. PINCHme

PINCHme is a free sample program that sends you boxes of free samples from major brands. The site will release new samples once a month at noon EST. You can request samples if you sign up through Facebook or create an account.

You should make a note in your calendar so you can claim the samples before they’re all gone. To continue to receive free samples from PINCHme, you’ll need to review your freebies after you’ve used them.

13. Influenster

After you create a profile with information on your lifestyle and brand preferences, Influenster will send you a VoxBox.

This box is full of free samples from brands like Pantene and Downy. Sometimes, you’ll have to go the extra mile and do things like review products you’re currently using, or take a picture of you with a specific brand of shampoo.

14. Sample A Day

Sample A Day keeps an updated list of companies that are offering free samples. Check their site every day to get direct links to claim your online freebies.

The site’s founders double check the offers so you know they’re legitimate.

Related: 14 Ways to Get Free Gas Cards or Deeply Discounted Gasoline

Where to Get Birthday Freebies with No Catch

Why not treat yourself on your birthday by claiming freebies from your favorite stores and restaurants? There are many ways to get free birthday stuff and make the most out of your special day.

15. Godiva

If you’re a chocolate lover, you owe it to yourself to join the Godiva rewards club. You’ll get a chocolate birthday gift every year and other perks like free shipping for online orders and early access to exclusive sales.

16. Starbucks

Do you love going to Starbucks? If so, you can become a member of Starbucks Rewards and get a free drink or food item on your birthday. You’ll get an email with your birthday treat two days before your birthday and can present it to a barista on your actual birthday to redeem it.

17. Sephora

If you’re a makeup junkie, you’ll be excited to learn that Sephora will give you a free gift on your birthday as long as you sign up for its free Beauty Insider program. You don’t have to buy anything and can choose from a mini set from Kat Von D Beauty and Drunk Elephant.

18. Ulta

For another birthday makeup freebie, join Ulta’s Ultamate Rewards for free. You can earn points for every purchase and get a free gift on your birthday plus 2X points on anything you buy that day. Once you have 100 points, you can redeem them for products online or in-store.

Where to Get Free Baby Samples

Let’s be honest. Having a baby is expensive. But there are a number of free baby samples you can claim to reduce some of the costs that come with raising your child.

19. The Honest Company

Diaper samples are useful for every new parent. The average baby will use more than 2,700 diapers in their first year, and the average cost of a disposable diaper is $0.20.

The Honest Co. will send you a free Discovery Kit of Diapers and wipes if you pay a shipping charge of $5.95. After you receive your kit, they’ll automatically enroll you into a diaper subscription service.

Huggies will also send you free diapers as well as gift cards and sweepstakes offers if you join their free rewards program.

20. Similac

Like diapers, formula can add up quickly, especially in a baby’s first year of life. It costs $1,733.75 on average to feed a baby with formula during this time period.

Thankfully, the Similac® StrongMoms® Rewards program can hook you up with free formula samples and coupons. There’s also the Enfamil Family Beginnings® program, which can send you baby formula samples, coupons, and special offers.

Get Free Stuff Online in Your Spare Time

Since not all online freebies are created equal, it’s a good idea to look at all of your options to figure out which ones are right for you.

While you can absolutely get free stuff online, keep in mind that it can take quite a bit of time to apply for and wait for these freebies to arrive. Also, you may not be able to choose the types of free stuff you get and end up with some that you have no use for. Nonetheless, coming home to packages of free goodies can be an awesome feeling.

Related: 24 Easy Ways to Get Free Amazon Gift Cards

from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/20-ways-to-get-free-stuff-online/

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maxwellyjordan · 5 years

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Symposium: Only in America

Hans von Spakovsky is the manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative and a senior legal fellow at the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

Foreign observers must be shaking their heads in disbelief that adding a citizenship question to the U.S. census has proved so controversial as to result in litigation. Department of Commerce v. New York will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 23.

Predicting how the court will rule is always dicey. But given the broad authority of the secretary of the Department of Commerce under federal law to determine the questions on the census, and the extreme weakness of the legal arguments made by the lower-court judges to support their decisions against the government, it is highly probable that the challengers will lose and the citizenship question will appear on the census.

What is odd about the challenge by blue states and liberal advocacy organizations is that even the United Nations — an institution they often hold up as a model of progressivism that the United States should emulate — sides with the Trump administration on this issue. In its 2017 “Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses,” the U.N. recommends that member countries ask census questions identifying both an individual’s country of birth and country of citizenship.

A Commerce Department memorandum on this subject dated March 26, 2018, notes that countries asking a citizenship question on their census include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Yet federal district courts in New York and California have enjoined the Commerce Department from reinstating a citizenship question on the census, ruling separately that to do so would violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the enumeration clause of the Constitution.

This litigation got to the Supreme Court in near-record time. On February 15, the justices granted the government’s request to review the January 15 New York decision, skipping the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in a very rare move. When another federal district court in California issued a March 6 injunction in California v. Ross, the Supreme Court agreed to also accept arguments on the second case, similarly skipping the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

This action by the Trump administration, and specifically by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, has been portrayed as somehow unprecedented and nefarious. But the first citizenship question appeared on the 1820 census after being recommended by the notoriously conservative President Thomas Jefferson. The question has been consistently on the census form ever since. In 1950, the Census Bureau switched to sending out two census forms, the short form and the long form. Most Americans received the short form, but one in six households received the long form. The long form contained a citizenship question and over 50 other questions.

After the 2000 census, the Commerce Department ended the use of the long form. But in 2005, as a substitute, it started sending out another census form — christened the American Community Survey — on a yearly basis to about 3.5 million households. The ACS has many more, and more intrusive, questions than the regular census form, including a citizenship question.

It is important to note that the Trump administration announced it was taking the ACS citizenship question and reinstating it on the regular census form. That question does not inquire about legal status; it simply asks if the respondent is a U.S. citizen.

Why transfer the ACS citizenship question back to the regular census form? The Commerce Department’s March 26 memorandum cites the major reason as being the Department of Justice’s need for better information to enforce the Voting Rights Act. As a former DOJ lawyer, I can confirm that citizenship population data is essential to fashioning remedies for Section 2 violations in vote-dilution cases, especially cases filed on behalf of Hispanics. According to DOJ, “the current data collected under the ACS are insufficient in scope, detail, and certainty.”

The lower-court opinions spent hundreds of pages trying to justify their findings against the government, even though the legal issues here are very simple. Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution specifies that an “actual Enumeration” shall be done every 10 years “in such manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct.” By law, 13 U.S.C. §141(a), Congress has delegated to the Commerce secretary the authority to conduct the decennial enumeration “in such form and content as he may determine” and authorizes him “to obtain such other census information as necessary.” Thus, Congress gave the secretary almost unlimited authority to conduct the enumeration required by the Constitution — what we call the census.

The government in its brief argues, quite correctly, that the lower court erred in finding that the challengers even had standing to sue. The district court found standing based on four supposed injuries: diminishment of political representation, loss of government funding, harm to the accuracy of census data and diversion of resources. But all of these “injuries” would “not occur if everyone who receives the census form fully and truthfully fills it out.” In other words, the injuries will happen only if “in light of the citizenship question’s mere presence, significant numbers of people refuse to return the census form or falsely underreport the number of people in their households.”

As the government points out, not completing a census form at all or not answering it truthfully violates federal law. And the Census Bureau regularly engages in extensive follow-up efforts with households that don’t return their census forms. In other words, the alleged injuries that give the challengers standing would be “the result of the independent action of some third party not before the court” in violating federal law and “therefore insufficient to support standing” under Supreme Court precedent.

In any event, the Commerce Department pointed out that there is no empirical evidence showing that a citizenship question will have an impact on response rates. In fact, the nonresponse data on the citizenship question on the ACS shows that it was “comparable to nonresponse rates for other questions” such as educational attainment and marriage status. As the department said in its memorandum, “even if there is some impact on responses, the value of more complete and accurate data derived from surveying the entire population [instead of just a small portion as the ACS does] outweighs such concerns.”

The government also argues that the secretary’s decision is not subject to judicial review because under the APA’s own terms, judicial review is barred for any action that “is committed to agency discretion by law.” Action is committed to agency discretion when the governing “statutes are drawn in such broad terms that in a given case there is no law to apply.”

In a convincing argument that the Supreme Court will have a hard time disputing, the government says that “perfectly describes this case.” According to the solicitor general’s brief, “The Constitution ‘vests Congress with virtually unlimited discretion in conducting’ the decennial census, and Congress in turn ‘has delegated its constitutional authority over the census’ to the Secretary,” citing Wisconsin v. City of New York.

Thus, the government argues, Ross “possesses the same broad discretion that the Constitution confers on Congress. And neither the Constitution nor the Census Act provides any standard by which to judge the lawfulness of including (or excluding) a given question on the census form.” That very same reasoning also shows why the district court’s opinion in the California case that a citizenship question is unconstitutional also fails, despite the amount of verbiage the judge applied to try to justify his injunction.

The New York district court also found that the secretary’s reliance on the Justice Department’s need for more accurate citizenship population data was “pretextual.” But the court did not identify what the supposed “real reason” was for the secretary’s decision to reinstate the citizenship question.

The federal government argues that this violates “fundamental principles governing APA review of agency action.” Supreme Court precedent says courts are supposed to focus only on the “contemporaneous explanation of the agency decision”; “judicial inquiries into legislative or executive motivation represent a substantial intrusion into the workings of other branches of government.” Ross’ decision was supported by the administrative record and “agency action does not fail APA review merely because, as is often the case, the agency decisionmaker had unstated reasons for supporting a policy decision in addition to a stated reason that is both rational and supported by the record.”

The substantive issue in this case is, of course, the most important one. But a side issue before the Supreme Court is the New York district court order compelling the testimony of Wilbur Ross. The government argues that this violates the general rule, again based on Supreme Court precedent, that “the focal point for judicial review should be the administrative record already in existence, not some new record made initially in the reviewing court.” There is only a narrow exception if there is a strong showing of “bad faith or improper behavior” by the agency, and there was no such showing here.

Frankly, I will be surprised if the Supreme Court does not dissolve the injunctions and find for the government. The Constitution gives Congress almost unlimited discretion to conduct the census, and Congress has delegated that authority to the secretary of Commerce. Given the long historical precedent of including a citizenship question on the census up until the present day on the ACS, it becomes hard to conceive of the court’s reaching any conclusion other than that the executive branch acted fully within its authority to determine the “form and content” of the “Enumeration.”

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endorsereviews · 7 years

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Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017

Get Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017 right now!

Would you believe it’s the $25,000 gig? That is … if you know how to leverage your writing or copywriting experience into book ghostwriting Dear friend, You know what makes freelancing so hard? It’s NOT the work. It’s the challenge of having to bring in enough income every single month. Let’s say you need to gross $50,000 a year. And let’s assume your average project is worth about $2,000. This means you have to bring in about 25 projects a year just to pay your bills. That’s a new $2,000 project every other week! Worse yet, this struggle never ends! Day and night, you run on full throttle. You shovel these projects out the door. And you constantly worry about where the next one will come from. Back to the hunt. Back to haggling over price. Back to chasing down prospects who won’t answer calls or return emails. Back to worrying about where next month’s rent will come from. No wonder so many of us are stressed and exhausted all the time! But What If You Suddenly Landed a $25,000 Project? What if you could count on earning half of your target income in just one project? What would that do for your stress level? What would that do for your business? What would that do for your family? This is NOT a fantasy. This is the everyday reality for my friend and colleague, Derek Lewis. Derek ghostwrites books for experts and nonfiction authors. He’s worked with client-authors on five continents, including a Texas oil tycoon, a Turkish economist, an IT startup millionaire, a Brazilian federal judge and a Cajun colonel. His authors work with the International Monetary Fund, General Electric, DaimlerChrysler, SAP, Pixar, Disney, the US Marine Corps, and the Red Cross. But don’t let that intimidate you. Derek didn’t always work on big projects for people with big budgets. In fact, just 8 years ago he started just like most of us: down in the trenches of copywriting … chasing down prospects in the online job boards … sweating over every nickel … and praying he’d have enough to cover next month’s mortgage. This Is What I Love About Derek’s Business Are you ready for this? Derek’s average fee to ghostwrite a book… $50,000 to $75,000 — And he assures me he’s nowhere NEAR the top! Oh, did I mention he works with only 2 to 3 clients a year? Yeah. Do the math on that. And he doesn’t chase clients. They come to HIM! But here’s where you really want to pay attention: There’s nothing special or mysterious about ghostwriting. You don’t have to have contacts in publishing. You don’t have to accidentally land a book. There’s no secret fraternity of ghostwriters that keeps writers from entering the biz. (In fact, anybody can hang a shingle, and many people do. You’ll find $500 “ghostwriters” online all the time.) To become a serious and successful ghostwriter, you need to have the following: Good writing skills and a decent set of writing samples (they DON’T need to be book samples! Regular copywriting samples are fine.) An existing writing or copywriting business (in other words, you already have clients and have been generating freelance income) Time and patience (this is NOT a get-rich-quick opportunity) Willingness to work hard (yes, it’s going to take some work to get this off the ground!) Oh, I almost forgot the most important thing: A veteran ghostwriter showing you the ropes Do YOU Have All That? If you’re reading this, you probably have the first 4. But I would bet the farm that you don’t have #5. So here’s the good news… I’ve convinced Derek to put together an exclusive online workshop and small coaching group for my tribe. We’re calling it… Insider Secrets of a 6-Figure Ghostwriter: How to Make a Great Living Writing Books for Experts and Nonfiction Authors I’ll tell you more about that in a minute. First, you need to hear the short version of Derek’s story … because it’s not what you’d expect. Get Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017 on IMCLibrary.com right now! Can You Leverage Yourself into $25,000+ Ghostwriting? If you already have… A writing business Decent writing skills And some decent writing samples …then you have all you need to get started! What’s missing is a step-by-step roadmap. And that’s what you’ll get in this intensive workshop and coaching group: Here’s the best part… Derek is serious when he says that you need to start at $25,000 with your first book ghostwriting project. “Yeah, right,” I hear you saying, “Do the fees really start at $25,000?!” Seems far-fetched, doesn’t it? While I’ve done some pretty big copywriting projects in my career, I’ve never pitched that high of a fee. Certainly, I’ve earned that much from one client over a series of a projects stretching out over time. But for just ONE project? Never. But this is what Derek and hundreds of other professional ghostwriters just like him do all the time. I even asked him if he’d advise newbies to low-ball the first few projects. You know, just to get their foot in the door. “Absolutely not,” he said. “Ed, the target audience for this workshop is freelancers with established writing businesses. If they had absolutely zero experience…well, I’d tell them to go get some freelance writing experience first and then come back and talk. Ghostwriting isn’t for beginners. “But if they’re already established freelance writers or copywriters with clients and a good set of clips, they have the goods — even if those clips are NOT ghostwritten books. So, no — the people who attend this workshop should absolutely start at $25,000 a book.“ I countered, “But Derek, the people I’m inviting aren’t ghostwriters. How can they prove to prospects that they can ghostwrite a book for them?” I love his flip-the-world-upside-down answer: “Ed, most non-writers don’t realize how much of a difference there is between copywriting and ghostwriting. All they know is that you’re a writer and you’re in business. For most potential ghostwriting clients, that’s enough to assume that you know what you’re doing.” Plus, there are other ways to get to that $25,000 figure quickly. For instance, depending on where you are in your writing business, you can start this process by taking on a couple of book editing projects that pay very, very well. (That’s something Derek will teach you how to do)._ And then you can then use that experience as a springboard to a $25,000+ book project. But the key point is that your first book gig should NOT be for anything less than $25,000. But Are There Really THAT Many Prospective Clients Out There? That was my next question. There are a lot of copywriters because there’s a lot of copywriting to be done. But are there really THAT many prospective authors looking to pay this kind of money? Derek walked me through all the factors in the publishing industry affecting the demand for ghostwriters (just like he’ll do for you in the workshop). Factors such as Kindles and other e-readers … printing technology advances and Amazon … even the changing demographics of America and the world. I won’t bore you with the details here, but the short answer is YES. There is plenty of demand. There are plenty of authors who know they need a ghostwriter AND are willing to pay $25,000 or more to finally share their story and ideas. In the U.S. alone, 81% of adults want to write a book, according to a survey by the Jenkins Group. That’s 198 million people … which sounds absurd! But even if you narrow it down to the wealthiest 1% of that group, that’s still almost 2 million adults who have the financial resources AND the desire to make this lifelong dream a reality. This Is NOT for Everyone! (And I Mean That.) First, let me repeat: this workshop and coaching opportunity is NOT for everyone. If you’re looking for a big win fast, this is NOT for you. Building a ghostwriting practice is going to take some time. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it’s going to be easy. Yes, you truly want to charge $25,000 for your first book project. But you’re NOT going to land that gig next week. Even though Derek will shave off years of trial and error from your learning curve, it’s going to take several months to get there. In today’s “I want it now!” society, I know that’s not a very sexy proposition. But I’m just giving it to you straight. Also, if you don’t already have some kind of writing business — or at least some kind of freelance business and some decent writing experience — you’re going to be at a serious disadvantage. If that’s you, I respectfully ask that you pass on this opportunity. This workshop is about how to make the leap from being a commercial writer to also being a ghostwriter. You’ve got to be at the right jumping-off point in order to land on-target. HOWEVER … if you are an established freelance writer, this could be the smartest investment you ever make in your business! Ghostwriting is a fundamentally different business than copywriting. In some cases, you may even need to create a separate website just for your ghostwriting services. And you’ll be doing a very different kind of marketing to attract clients (mostly “attractive inbound marketing,” as opposed to “knocking on doors.”) Derek didn’t know that when started taking on ghostwriting clients. He had to learn a lot of things the hard way. And if his mentor hadn’t taken him under her wing, he’d STILL be learning by trial and error instead of earning a healthy six figures today! But guess what? You don’t have to go the hard route at all. You’ll start your ghostwriting service armed with the strategies, principles, mindsets, tips, and tricks that Derek’s learned from his mentor, his fellow ghostwriters, publishers, literary agents, published authors, and his own impressive experience. That’s priceless. What Will You Learn in This Workshop Series? Positioning yourself strategically: How to leverage your past experience to land ghostwriting gigs. And how to demonstrate competence when you’ve never written a book. How to develop the confidence to go after a high-fee book ghostwriting gig… even when you’ve never written one in your life. 12 overlooked portfolio-bulking techniques you can put into place immediately How to safely and quickly transition from writing or copywriting to high-dollar book editing… and then into $25,000+ book ghostwriting. To niche or not to niche? How to make the right decision when adding ghostwriting as a key service. And why you need to look at it differently. Attracting (and landing) the right kind of clients: Where to find clients—and where to NOT waste your time. How to align yourself, your message and your marketing with the authors looking for people like you The oft-overlooked (yet extremely lucrative!) book-ghostwriting markets that most new writers never even think of. The “Send Up a Signal” and “Bread Crumb Trail” strategies Derek uses to get the best clients to come to HIM. The repellant marketing approach that allows you to keep time-wasters and tire-kickers from ever picking up the phone in the first place. The “3 R’s” of a quality prospect—and how to immediately tell if they’re a fit for you. Pricing, negotiating and contracts: How to handle prospect inquiries and conversations with confidence. What to say, what to ask … and how to size up a prospect quickly. Derek’s 4 “green lights” and 6 “red lights” technique for qualifying ghostwriting prospects like a pro. What to include in your contract (and why). And how to present high fees confidently. Where to be flexible on payment terms, where to draw the line, and how to avoid payment problems. Ghosting the book: Derek’s 5-step process for delivering the book effectively and on time. Tips and strategies for staying on track. How and when to communicate with the client during each phase of the engagement. And after the party’s over … where to send your client once you’ve delivered their manuscript. There’s more, but that’s a good summary. Whom This Is For Again, this opportunity is NOT for everyone. Here’s what we’re looking for: You’re already an established freelance writer or copywriter. By “established” I mean that you’ve been freelancing for at least a year or two and have existing clients. You have good writing skills and some solid writing samples. Of course, this is subjective. But we’re looking for people who can already write well. This is a business-building coaching group, not a writing class. Your samples do NOT need to be book-length or long-format. And they CAN be copywriting samples. You have the time and patience to develop and grow a ghostwriting practice. This is not a get-rich-quick thing. It’s not going to happen overnight. Depending on where you are in your business, landing your first $25,000 book project could take a few months. So if you’re looking for a quick way to generate income for your next mortgage payment, this is not it. You’re enthusiastic and have a coachable spirit. In other words, you’re willing to be coached, to get out of your comfort zone, and to try new ideas and approaches to develop a lucrative ghostwriting practice. You’re willing to work in a small group. Which means contributing to the conversation, giving occasional feedback to others, etc. And of course, if you’ve already ghostwritten some books but you’re nowhere near the $25,000-per-book mark, you definitely qualify. What You’ll Get?

Six Training Sessions. Each is available in multiple formats (video, audio, transcripts and copies of all PowerPoint slides). All 6 training sessions in the program are pre-recorded and available to you as soon as you enroll. Since they’re not live, scheduled sessions, you can go through them at your convenience and at your own pace.

Weekly Coaching Calls. We’ll have 5 weekly group coaching calls on Thursdays at 3pm Eastern Time starting on June 29th and ending on July 27th. Derek and I will be there to answer your questions and coach you through your specific situation. All calls will be recorded. So if you miss one or want to review them again, you’ll have lifetime access to all the replays. And you can always pre-submit questions if you can’t be there. We’ll answer the questions live during the call.

Private, One-on-One Coaching Sessions. You’ll also get three 60-minute one-on-one coaching calls with Derek. You can use these private sessions anytime over the next 12 months, at your convenience. So when you land your book project and you need Derek’s advice and direction, he’ll be there to hold your hand. (This alone is worth the price of admission!)

Private Online Community. You’ll have access to a private, closed-door Facebook forum where you can connect with Derek, ask him questions and get his feedback and advice during AND after the program. Derek is very active in the forum, and you’ll have LIFETIME access to this private resource for advice and direction. (Here again… this is priceless!)

Personalized Web Copy Review. Finally, once you draft your ghostwriting services copy for your website, Derek will do a detailed copy review and give you his recommendations for improvement. Plus, you’ll get LIFETIME ACCESS to all the recordings, handouts, and supplementary materials. So you don’t have to worry about missing anything. And you can go back to the material any time and study Derek’s strategies in-depth! Get Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017 right now!

Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017 posted first on premiumwarezstore.blogspot.com

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sublimedeal · 7 years

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Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017

Get Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017 right now!

Ed Gandia and Derek Lewis – Ghostwriting Secrets 2017 published first on http://ift.tt/2qxBbOD

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