Business – Page 2

Top 6 Keyword Search Tools for Your Business

Unlock your website’s potential with SEO

Do keywords really matter?

The answer, according to Google, is a resounding yes. Search engines use keywords to direct organic traffic to your website. Without the right keywords, your business has little hope of attracting the right customers and converting leads into sales.

If you’ve never done it before, keyword research can seem overwhelming. These six tools will help you build a keyword list and increase your visibility on the web.

1) WordTracker

WordTracker is a well-reviewed tool that will help you create a solid SEO strategy. Its automated search system saves you time and generates up to 2,000 keywords in mere minutes.

Using WordTracker, you can build keyword lists and optimize pay-per-click advertising. The tool stores your searches remotely so you can view your keyword lists anytime and anywhere. The best keywords have a low level of competition, but a high volume of traffic. WordTracker will help you find these search terms, along with up to 300 related keywords per search.

Rather than struggle with complicated spreadsheets, you can view your keyword results in an easy-to-read format. WordTracker’s database, which includes 320 million entries, also helps you identify the keywords your competition is using.

If you’re new to keyword research, WordTracker offers top-notch training in the form of webinars and ebooks. With a free seven-day trial, you can explore most of these features. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive SEO tool, WordTracker offers three paid subscription plans with additional keyword results and competition metrics.

2) Search Combination Tool

The Search Combination Tool is a great way to generate long-tail keywords for your content. Long-tail keywords, which are highly targeted and more than two words in length, will help you target a more specialized niche, and they often lead to more sales. Because long-tail keywords tend to have less competition, it’s important to include them in your SEO strategy.

The Search Combination Tool is unique because it blends different lists of keywords. To get started, simply enter two lists of keywords that are relevant to your niche. The tool will then generate new and unique phrases you can use in your online content. For example, if you enter animal names in list one and descriptive adjectives in list two, the tool will generate a third list of keywords that encompasses all possible combinations of keywords.

Search Combination Tool was developed by Internet Marketing Ninjas, a renowned SEO company with years of experience in the business. Its tools are free to use and are recommended by content-marketing experts from all over the world.

3) Wordpot

When you’re working on SEO, you need a tool you can trust. With over 60 million search-engine queries in its database, Wordpot is a dependable service that helps increase your site’s visibility and click rate.

Wordpot ranks keywords by total daily searches, making it easy to determine the best-ranked keywords at any given time. Because a website’s ranking can vary from one day to the next, it’s important to get up-to-date results on keyword trends in your industry.

While doing keyword research, you must keep in mind that Google, Bing, and Yahoo rank websites differently. Wordpot filters keywords by search engine, helping you plan a more diverse optimization strategy. With Wordpot, you’ll receive a full list of synonyms and related words for every keyword, so you’ll always know what potential customers want to find.

You can use the basic Wordpot tool for free, but paying for a subscription provides additional features and benefits. As a subscriber, you’ll be able to do more searches per day and will receive extra synonyms, related word matches, and projects.

4) Research Central

As a world-class company, Raven has something to offer anyone looking to bolster their web presence. A part of Raven’s suite of marketing tools, Research Central draws on comprehensive data from web services such as Moz, Majestic, Calais, and Google to construct a full profile of your website.

Using Research Central, you can pinpoint the needs of your ideal client. The tool uses Google AdWords to evaluate search terms and generate keyword suggestions that will optimize your online content. All this information is displayed in a user-friendly interface that allows you to explore your results with ease.

Successful marketers know how to get a handle on the competition. Research Central is the perfect tool for competitor analysis because it allows you to view the analytics profile of up to five different websites at once. Using this information, you can analyze any website’s quality by looking at its domain authority and the number of backlinks. You can also check which keywords your competition is ranking on major search engines.

You can try Research Central today with a free 30-day trial. If you like what Raven has to offer, you can purchase a subscription and receive unlimited website analytics, additional user accounts, and free training and support.

5) KeywordEye

KeywordEye is a creative tool with a fresh take on keyword research. Using KeywordEye, it’s easy to brainstorm ideas for your next pay-per-click or SEO campaign.

Lists and rankings are useful to most, but for the visual learner, KeywordEye takes a different approach. Unlike other keyword tools, KeywordEye displays search results in a cloud format. More popular search terms appear in a bigger font, making them easy to identify. This lets you make your own connections and play with the keyword combinations that are right for your market.

For even greater control, you can also filter results by search engine or country. KeywordEye’s Grid View displays keywords in a more traditional list that can be instantly downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet.

As an added feature, KeywordEye lets you see which queries your competition is ranking. With a trial account, you can do up to 20 keyword searches per day for free. KeywordEye’s paid Pro subscription is more suitable to larger marketing campaigns because it provides unlimited keyword searches, a competitor analysis tool, and several other additional features.

6) ÜberSuggest

ÜberSuggest is a free keyword tool with an easy-to-use interface. It’s a great place to start if you’re new to content marketing or if you’re looking to expand into another industry.

ÜberSuggest is similar to Google Suggest, which generates multi-word phrases that users are searching for online. ÜberSuggest replicates this process by combining your keyword with other popular search phrases. This unique algorithm can produce thousands of suggestions for your business website. By clicking on a keyword suggestion, you’ll discover even more long-tail keywords related to your industry.

To find the most popular keywords, you need to focus on different types of content. ÜberSuggest lets you search for a keyword using multiple sources, including images, news, and recipes. This broad scope makes ÜberSuggest one of the most useful search tools on the market today.

Keywords add the sparkle that makes your content shine

When it comes to ranking on search engines, there’s no better way to succeed than optimizing keywords. Keywords function like a treasure map, pointing users from all over the world to your content. If your goal is to find more customers, be sure to make keyword research a regular part of your content marketing strategy.

5 Types of (Not So) Professional Emails You’re Sure to Encounter

Coffee brews, keyboards click, and professional emails fly. Office life is one of constant correspondence, sometimes even with people you could reach out and swat if the desire struck—which, undeniably, it does from time to time (especially when you find yourself the recipient of one of these five common—and irritating—types of professional emails.

1. The “I don’t want to bother you, but…”

What it looks like: Someone asking very politely for a favor.

What it really is: A desperate, clinging, last-ditch cry for help.

RE: A Quick Favor

Hi Kathryn,

How are you? How’s the reboot going? I hope you’re not too busy. How are the kids? I hope everything is well. I’m so sorry to do this to you, but I could really use your help with the project I’m working on. I really thought I could complete it by the 12th, but it wasn’t until I really got going that I realized how massive of a project it really was. If you could help me out, I would really appreciate it. I’ve attached a spreadsheet with the tasks that still need to be completed—could you please let me know if you’re available to take on any of these tasks? Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how big of a help it would be. I don’t think I could do this without your help. Just let me know as soon as you can how many tasks you’ll be taking on. You’re amazing. I’ll be in my office until 3, so feel free to pop by with any questions you may have. You’re the best!

Gratefully yours,

William

2. The short (and not-so-sweet) request

What it looks like: A quick email including a brief instruction about something important.

What it really is: A very clear message that somebody (you know who you are) has done something unacceptable.

RE: Holidays

All time-off requests for July must be submitted by this Friday. Requests received after this will not be processed. Don’t even bother asking. Thank you.

3. The TMI and then some

What it looks like: A professional email about something office-related.

What it really is: Thinly veiled office gossip.

RE: Tuesday’s Meeting

Hey Heather,

I’ve been asked to send you the minutes from Tuesday’s meeting. I’ve attached them to this email. In case you haven’t already heard, the meeting was an absolute disaster. Julie threw a fit about the late reports, and I thought that Erica was going to lose it when Julie accused her of “not caring” about the completion of that competitor analysis. It was pretty intense. I don’t want to name any names, but let’s just say that a certain IT guy probably won’t be writing code for very much longer, if you catch my drift. It’s probably lucky that you missed it. Don’t worry, though—I’ll get you up to speed when we go out for drinks on Saturday. That’s if Bryan agrees to take care of Koen while I go out. If not, Ko will have to come with us. We may have to reconsider the bar scene. Anyway, here are the minutes. See you at lunch!

Kim

4. The “Ha-ha, I’m not here”

What it looks like: A polite out-of-office message.

What it really is: A co-worker bragging about the fact that he or she is on vacation while you are stuck at work sending emails.

RE: Out of Office

Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, I am out of the office, and will be until June 26th. If you have an urgent need to contact me, please stop, think, and remember that there is literally no such thing as an “urgent” Human Resources matter. You may consider contacting my assistant, Karen, who—for the next three weeks—will be taking on five times her regular amount of responsibility and receiving absolutely no compensation for this extra work. Thank you.

Kindest regards,

Sarah

5. The passive-aggressive “You’re wrong”

What it looks like: A helpful, professional email containing important information.

What it really is: A claim on professional territory—a metaphorical lifting of the leg, if you will.

RE: Memo Color

Hello Taylor,

I was just going over last week’s meeting minutes, and I noticed that some concern was voiced over the color of paper the memos have been printed on lately. Of course, I understand this concern, as memo color is a very important office issue that needs to be properly addressed. The minutes state that you personally suggested the memos should be printed on pink paper. While I agree with you that, aesthetically, pink would absolutely be the ideal memo color, I regret that I must be the one to inform you that such a color does not comply with our company’s policy on memos. I’ve attached a copy of our memo policy to this email; as you will see, this policy clearly states that all memos must be printed on yellow paper. Luckily, this is the measure I have been complying with during my five-year tenure as the company’s official memo printer. So we really dodged a bullet there. I hope that clears up any confusion you may have had about the memo paper color. Thank you.

Yours,

Mary

Conclusion

These examples may be a bit on the extreme side, but I’m sure we can all think of a time when we’ve received a professional email that was just a little off in tone. If you’re worried about accidentally sending a professional email like one of the five shown above, you may want to consider checking out a professional editing service before hitting the Send button. When it comes to communication, it’s often better to be safe than sorry!

Top 6 Legal Tools for Small Businesses

Learn about online legal tools for small businesses

No matter how straightforward your business is, you will eventually find that you need some form of legal advice. Keeping a law firm on retainer is not an option for cash-strapped small businesses, and the different law specializations would require you to keep a whole list of law firms in your contacts list to cover all the legal requirements you may encounter. For example, you may need to draw up a contract for a new employee or for a service provided by a freelancer. You may need to have a rental agreement checked before you sign it, or you may need a lawyer to handle a property sale. Even a very simple business will soon accrue a wide range of legal documents.

Many legal services are now provided online, and that means you can have much of your legal work carried out without driving across town and wasting time while waiting for an appointment. Take a look at this review of the top five legal tools available on the Internet to learn whether you can have your legal needs met without hiring a lawyer.

1) LegalZoom

The Business Attorney Plan from LegalZoom is like having a law firm on retainer without having to pay fees for any work the law firm actually does. If you sign up for the service for a year, you pay US $23.99 per month. Doing business in the USA is complicated by the fact that each state has its own legal system, which means that you have to find a lawyer that is experienced in the law of your location. LegalZoom matches you with a lawyer who is local to you and experienced in the law as it is applied in your state. The standard business plan includes a review of your small business’s contracts and legal documents as well as on-demand ad-hoc legal advice. The company also offers a special package for small business start-ups, which includes advice on setting up the legal structure of your company and templates for various types of business contracts. LegalZoom offers a range of legal tools and legal advice plans for individuals as well as for small businesses.

2) DocuSign

Conducting your business online presents specific problems that bricks-and-mortar businesses never encounter. One of the big problems of eCommerce is getting legal documents signed. You don’t want to lose business by insisting that customers print documents, sign them, and courier the original copies to you. Fortunately, there are legal tools that address this problem, and one of the most prominent digital signature services is called DocuSign. This system offers legally enforceable verification of agreements and legal documents. The company also offers options for cloud storage and document distribution tracking.

3) Trademarkia

You may be looking for legal tools that can help you verify the originality of your trademark, logo, company name, or business slogan. Trademarkia, a service created by LegalForce, allows you to search trademarks registered in a number of different locations, including the USA and Europe. The search service can be accessed for free at the Trademarkia website. You can also search the site for patents, web domain names, and logos for free.

4) Docstoc

Probably the most frequent need of small businesses regarding the law is not legal advice, but legal documents that follow an enforceable and legally recognized format. There are many online legal tools that specialize in templates for contracts and other legal documents. Docstoc has a library of templates for any type of legal document you are likely to need. You can either pick individual templates or buy a package of templates typically required for specific types of small businesses.

5) LawDepot

LawDepot is another online tool centered on the creation of legal documents. This service is specifically aimed at small businesses and individuals in the United States. Whereas Docstoc offers downloadable templates, LawDepot guides you through the compilation of your legal documents within its website; you then download the completed contract or agreement.

6) BizPal

Canadian small business start-ups are lucky to have an online legal tool that details the permits and licenses their particular type of trade requires. BizPal is a service provided jointly by Canada’s federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments. The website is free to use and details specific legal permits needed in any given location in Canada.

Assessment

Thanks to these online legal tools, you don’t actually have to hire a lawyer for many of the legal needs of your small business. You can get templates or legal documents written online, and US small businesses can get online legal advice through sites such as LegalZoom. Both online and brick-and-mortar businesses can save money using these online legal tools.