WordPress Security-How To Keep Your Website Safe Online

Are you unintentionally helping cyber criminals distribute malicious code to your customers, friends and family through your website? Read on to find out, and how to prevent it. (Or Click Here to get your site tested for FREE) As scary as the thought may be, more and more WordPress websites are being found silently distributing malicious code because they’ve become infected with website malware (malicious software) under the radar of the site owners and administrators. It’s true, 30,000 new websites are identified EVERY DAY distributing malicious code to their visitors! (according to Sophos Labs) The majority of these 30,000 sites belong to ordinary small businesses. It’s not that the cybercriminals are targeting each specific small business they infect. Instead they have created automated tools that crawl the web for vulnerable sites. If a vulnerable site is found, these programs will automatically infect the host site and begin sending out more copies of itself to any passers by. Thus these automated programs, or “bots” can spread and infect many sites secretly before they are detected. Just 5 years ago, these malicious bots played a much smaller role on the web so malware infections on WordPress websites were a less common problem. But over these last few years, malicious bot traffic has increased to a whopping 30% of all web traffic! (According to Incapsula) Here at HogTheWeb.com our security team has noticed this increasing trend as well. When looking at the statistics from one of our clients websites that is protected by our Firewall, we can see that almost HALF of the traffic coming to this site had to be blocked because it was detected to be malicious. That client was very happy that she had our firewall in place, otherwise her site would have almost certainly become infected. If you’re concerned if your WordPress website is vulnerable or already infected, you can get a free scan by the HogTheWeb security team HERE. Here are the top 5 basic steps you can take to ensure your WordPress website is protected from such intrusions. 1. Keep Your WordPress, Plugins, and Themes All Up to Date One of primary reasons that developers come out with updated versions of their software is because security vulnerabilities are detected and must be patched and closed to prevent intrusions.  If you don’t keep your site software up to date, then you aren’t closing these security holes that will inevitably be entry points for malware. Did you ever notice that after you do a lot of site updates some of the things on your site get out of whack? This is a common grievance of WordPress users. This is due to the fact that every plugin and theme, and WordPress itself is developed by a totally different team of developers, and each configuration of the hundreds of plugins and themes has never been tested with the updated code before they take it live. So your site ends up being the test site for your particular configuration of plugins and themes. Unfortunately this […]

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Visme Review-Best Infographic Software I Have Found

I really do love using Visme. It is a super easy to use program. I highly recommend anyone who is looking to make a fantastic graphic, presentation or infographic to look into using Visme. Not being a photoshop pro, I always thought making great graphics was not in my wheel house. I had to wait days on Fiverr or similar sites to get a great graphic. Now, takes about 7 minutes to get an amazing and engaging infographic. You should check them out! What Visme Looks Like

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How To Tell If Your SEO Company Provides Real Results?

Have you been working with an SEO company to attract more online consumers to your business? If so, then you’re one step toward the right direction. But instead of simply taking the company’s word that they’ll help skyrocket your organic rankings and bring in a wealth of targeted traffic, you must take a more active role in determining whether they can provide real results. Countless businesses have trusted an SEO agency to take care of their online marketing needs only to have their websites wiped out from the index entirely. Following are telltale signs that allow you to see whether your SEO company actually helps or hurts you. They Aren’t Afraid To Show If you’ve worked with multiple SEO firms in the past, then you have probably come across numerous companies that just wouldn’t tell anything about the actual practices they employ. Many clients also make the mistake of focusing solely on a spike in rankings. What you should understand is that being successful in SEO goes far beyond your placement in the SERPs. Sure, you might enjoy high rankings for some time, but if the company used black hat techniques to get you there, don’t expect to hold on to the number one position. A good sign that the company knows what they’re doing is when they offer reports regularly from the initial consultation all the way through the end of the contract. During the first few weeks or months, the company should provide a complete audit of your website, a link profile analysis, content marketing strategy, and social media marketing plan. Don’t feel satisfied when they say that they have something in the works. Make sure they show you what they do. They Talk About Your Business Another common reason why many businesses don’t achieve the results they want even after working with an SEO company is a gap in communication. Understand that different businesses have varying SEO requirements. This is why your SEO agency must be able to come up with a custom solution based on what your business actually needs. Numerous firms out there, however, use the same tactics on all their clients’ websites. If the company doesn’t ask you for anything, then their strategy is probably limited to building more links to your website from their vast network of spammy domains. An agency that genuinely thinks about the best interests of your business asks you for admin access to your CMS, social accounts, Google Analytics, and Google Webmaster Tools. They may also ask for your list of target keywords and then offer suggestions where improvements can be made. Guarantees?? How many times have you stumbled upon SEO agencies that promise to take your website from the bottom to the top of the search engine results pages? This is one of the biggest red flags to watch out for. The sad thing is that many business owners fall for this claim. You must realize that only Google knows what goes on in their search algorithm. Any […]

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Expected Digital Marketing Strategies to Trend in 2017

Are you thinking ahead of time? In 2017, there are digital marketing strategies that you can expect to make waves. These strategies have had established its footage this year and even in the recent years. Let’s dissect and analyze each of them in the later parts of this article. Because this year has neared towards its end, it’s quite important to prepare for a tighter competition next year. Here we go… Today’s digital era is challenging. Everyone in the business sector has to pay attention to investing in a search marketing campaign. The developing of Google friendly content is essential. Generating relevant search traffic is always important in digital marketing. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that your content marketing efforts are designed to draw traffic and convert the user. First, you must be critical to mobile searching methods. For example, in Las Vegas, there are many resorts and hotels that cater to the leisure needs of many people. Now the use of mobile marketing is quite helpful in bringing success to those particular businesses. Just in February in 2016, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) has been the talk of the town. It’s noted that AMP loads fast to provide great results to those people searching solution to their online queries. The Google-hosted cache that is cloud-based delivers pages 30 times faster than the non-AMP pages. It’s amazing, isn’t it? Second, do you like videos? Most people like them. In 2017, video marketing will provide great impacts to online marketers worldwide. Relevant videos on YouTube and other platforms can make every business profitable. The conversion of leads can become higher than ever before. That’s why it is important to look for experts, like Las Vegas SEO, to assist you in realizing this goal. Third, how about Paid Search Advertising? Well, in the past couple of years, paid advertising has been achieving success. Businesses that embrace this particular method on Facebook and Google have had enjoyed higher profits than those not doing it. But the contents are crucial in this aspect. In considering Google Adwords interface, you have to present engaging ads with less blue links to avoid high failure rate. MasterMind Las Vegas is one of the digital experts in this field. Fourth, progressive website apps should focus on mobile targets. Online marketing people are shifting towards a mobile web. Why? Google has just announced that mobile first index is now functional. It works to prioritizing the indexing of a mobile site. This process will work ahead of a desktop site. Thus, you must learn about mobile indexing. Otherwise, you’ll be left behind as the Progressive Web Apps provides great experience for the mobile uses. It is important to complement SEO efforts by digital marketers, like SEO Las Vegas. Those marketers are able to delivering an amazing experience to the users. Web-based apps can work in any mobile browser. Yes, it’s not necessary for every business, yet it can help increase in the mobile search presence. Last, Resource Description Framework Schema […]

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Top 10 Vegas Attractions For Thrill Seekers

The Park Vegas This 6-acre promenade has restaurants, cafes, shops, bars and entertainment spots. Its 40-foot Bliss Dance statue is an added attraction. Located between the New York-New York and the Monte Carlo, The Park Vegas is open 24 hours.   Sake Rok Restaurant at The Park   Vegas Indoor Skydiving This gives you the ultimate skydiving experience. It is open Monday-Sunday at 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM and is near the Las Vegas Strip at 200 Convention Center. A single flight costs $75. Neon Museum Located at 770 Las Vegas Blvd. North Las Vegas, Neon Museum represents the vibrant city of Las Vegas. It is more magical during night tour because of its magnificent lights. Tours are available daily but tour times vary. General admission for day tours cost $19, while night tours cost $25. Neon Museum by night   Chateau Night Club  This is at 3655 S. Las Vegas Boulevard and is open only on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10:30 PM to 4:00 AM.  This is a sophisticated and sultry club with a French theme. The posh Chateau Night Club Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Las Vegas is also about nature. The Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a 14,000-square feet garden. This is a beautiful conservatory with various flowers, plants and trees.  This is at 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard S.          The Roller Coaster at New York-New York The roller coaster is on the second floor of the New York-New York Hotel-Casino. It has towering drops, many loops and magnificent view of the entire Vegas strip. It is open on Monday-Thursday 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM. On Friday-Saturday, it is open during 10:30 AM to 12:00 AM, while on Sunday 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM.  The ticket costs $14/person. Dream Racing Driving Experience Get high with race driving at the Dream Racing Driving Experience in Las Vegas Motor Speedway. You can race at a certified race track. Plus, driving luxurious cars such as Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Lamborghini and GT . Every tour length is around 120 minutes. Adventure Canyon at Buffalo Bill’s This is Las Vegas’ most death-defying 35-foot drop. You will not only get drenched but also you can play laser shooting while taking the water ride. It is open only on Friday-Sunday 12:00 PM – 9:30 PM (Friday and Saturday). On Sundays, it is open on 12:00 PM and will close at 7:30 PM. Buffalo Bill’s is about forty miles south of Vegas in Primm.  Prices are $30 for whole day and $22 for half day.   Discovery Children’s Museum Another a must-experience in Las Vegas is the Discovery Children’s Museum. It is in Downtown at the Donald W. Reynold’s Discovery Center. It is next to The Smith Center. For only $14.50 entrance fee, kids can learn about science, and the culture and arts. The museum is open Monday-Sunday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Palazzo Waterfall Atrium  This is in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian. Experience the Palazzo Waterfall Atrium’s beautiful and refreshing view. It has a […]

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The 10 Best Tours Of The Las Vegas Strip

Enjoy Las Vegas Strip with the following best tours: Las Vegas Lights Night Tour by Open-Air Jeep The Las Vegas Lights Night Tour provides a 3.5-hour tour to the best spots along Las Vegas Strip using an open-air jeep with driver. The best spots include the dancing fountains at Bellagio, light show at Freemont Street, and the filming location of the TV show “Pawn Stars.” The night tour usually costs around $82. The dancing fountains at Bellagio https://www.facebook.com/Vegas/     The Freemont Street Experience https://www.facebook.com/Vegas/ Las Vegas Strip Night Flight by Helicopter  This 8-minute helicopter tour gives you a view of the colorful Las Vegas Strip. Usually, there is a champagne toast before the flight. From up above, you can view down the dazzling lights of the Stratosphere, Bellagio, the Freemont St. and so much more. The helicopter tour usually costs around $90. The visible Stratosphere in a night helicopter tour https://www.facebook.com/Vegas/ Las Vegas Night Tour in Limousine  To further feel the luxurious Las Vegas life, you can take a night tour along the Vegas Strip through a limousine with driver. The 3.5-hour limo tour allows you to stop and watch the outdoor shows. A complimentary bottle of champagne is also usually available during limo night tours. The prices for the limo tour range from $190-$500, depending on the kind of limo you will be using.    Limo night tours allow you to stop-over the always lively Sin City in Las Vegas Strip   The MGM Grand facade   Party Bus Tours Party tours usually come in a bus wherein your group of friends can enjoy club hopping in Las Vegas. Aside from visiting various clubs, you can also have your own parties inside the bus. The tour comes with a host and some drinks. The typical rate for party tours is around $90. Ladies’ squad enjoying the party bus tour https://www.vegas.com/tours/las-vegas-tours/club-crawl/ Club Crawl https://www.vegas.com/tours/las-vegas-tours/club-crawl/ Hog Car Tours  Do you want to tour the Las Vegas Strip in a cute pink hog car? Then, this is the best tour style for you. Visit and take photos of various attraction sites at the Strip either during day time or at night. You will be guided by a host/driver. Complimentary foods and drinks are also available during the tour. Rate is usually around $270. Roam around Las Vegas in a cute pink car https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/Attraction_Review-g45963-d9865455-Reviews-Hog_Car_Tours-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html#photos;geo=45963&detail=9865455&ff=173337849&albumViewMode=hero&albumid=101&baseMediaId=173337849&thumbnailMinWidth=50&cnt=30&offset=-1&filter=7 You can drive around Las Vegas Strip with Hog’s car Big Bus Tours Big bus tours are available when taking a tour around Las Vegas Strip. Big buses have open-air roof deck which gives guests a wider view of Las Vegas. Tickets are usually around $3-$4. Big Bus tours for both day and night tours Walk Tours  You can also get up close and personal with Las Vegas through walk tours. This can be a little bit challenging because you have to walk the entire Las Vegas Strip. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes. There are tour guides who can guide you with this walk tour. Their rates […]

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Top 5 Outdoor Adventures in Las Vegas

When one thinks of Las Vegas, slot machines and baccarat tables come to mind. But this city in the state of Nevada is The Entertainment Capital of the World for a reason. The entertainment the city offers is endless. So the next time you are in Vegas, stop losing money. Instead, gain more life experience—gain an adventure. Here are the top five outdoor adventures in Las Vegas: Richard Petty Driving Experience             One of the most exhilarating experiences in the world is driving without regulation. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway allows tourists to feel like Michael Schumacher. At just $109, you can already feel like the king of the road. There are three alternatives to enjoying this Richard Petty Driving Experience. In Ride-Along, you ride in the passenger side. A professional instructor will drive you around the track. In Rookie Experience, you will drive eight laps. The professional instructor rides in the passenger seat. As for the King Experience, you will enjoy a total of 18 laps. Zero 1 Desert Adventures Tour The Mojave Desert is the driest desert in North America. It has three parks. One is the Death Valley National Park. It is as breath-taking as the Joshua Tree National Park. And of course, there is a Mojave National Preserve. These provide a picturesque scene that tourists flock to. This is one of the major attractions in Las Vegas. The Zero 1 Desert Adventures Tour allows tourists to go off-roading. They will be aboard a Polaris RZR XP1000. Hiking Hard to imagine why people would ever leave the casinos while in Las Vegas. But some people are adventure seekers. The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Art gives thrill-seekers a chance to hike. Beginners may be able to use shorter Lost Creek Tail. The trail leads to a seasonal waterfall that just looks so pretty. If you’re an experienced hiker, you may use the Turtlehead Peak. Picnic in the Grand Canyon This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that families will surely remember for the rest of their lives. Or you can do this with your significant other, too. Through this adventure choice, the hotel will pick you up on a limousine to drop it off here. At the Grand Canyon area, a helicopter will then whisk you away. The helicopter ride will allow you the prefect ride to check on. The ride shows glimpses of Lake Mead, Hoover Dam and Colorado River. Wild West Horseback Adventures You can be a cowboy for one whole day. This is a Wild West Horseback Adventure. You will even enjoy a Western-style luncheon. The one-hour adventure is best undergone with friends. After the ride, you can visit a cowboy town and a petting zoo. See? There are too many adventures that you may do in Las Vegas. Not all things in Vegas need chips and loads of money. It’s about time people also enjoy the tourist attractions of Vegas. There are so many attractions in Vegas that are often overlooked. How about taking home some […]

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The 10 Best Luxury Hotels in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is The Entertainment Capital of the World. It has a lot of casinos and lively shows and classy musical acts. It is a resort city—home to hundreds of hotels. Choosing the best hotel or resort to stay in is a tall order. We have listed the 10 best luxury hotels in Las Vegas based on recommendations and feedback. Here is the list for your perusal:                 The Mansion Thousands of people flock to Las Vegas every day. So a long line in the check-in counter is a regular occurrence. But in The Mansion of the MGM Grand, you don’t need to wait for anyone. This luxury hotel gives the best and most luxurious service to its clientele. A room at the mansion may cost $350 a day.                 Skylofts This is where one experiences modern urban lifestyle. The development believes in “open concept” design. This means that the living room, dining room and kitchen flow together as one space. The lofts adhere to the green standards. Staying in the Skylofts will cost you over $900 a day.                 The Villas This is paradise in the center of Las Vegas. The Villas gives you both luxury and privacy. You can have your own private villa or lanai starting at $1,500.                 The Cromwell   It is not as expensive as the others, but just as luxurious. Visitors rave about the friendly hotel staff. Some are calling it the “Friendliest Casino on the Strip.” Room rates start at $143.                 The Palazzo The rooms in The Palazzo are huge. It is perfect for family vacations. It is also ideal for bridal showers and stag parties. The room rate starts at over $200. (Photo: https://www.facebook.com/Vegas/)                 The Venetian This is another accommodation that boasts of large rooms. Since it is a large room, expect to find not just the bedroom but the walk-in closet as well. Rooms here are between $200 and $500.                 ARIA This five-star accommodation is a one-stop destination. It is home to one of the hottest clubs in Las Vegas. It also has a wide array of luxury items up for grabs in the strip’s many shops. There are great fine dining options to choose from.                 The Bellagio At $200 to $500, the Bellagio is worth every penny. It is in the middle of the strip. This makes it the perfect spot to party. After that, you can transfer wherever you want.                 Mandalay Bay When you’ve checked in to this hotel, you never want to leave. It is only over $100 to over $500 bucks a day.                 Four Seasons The Four Seasons Hotel is popular all over the world, and for good reason. Room rates start at $200. So here are the 10 best luxury hotels in Las Vegas. According to Forbes magazine, these luxury properties will help make our lives easier. Las Vegas is home to about half of the 40 biggest hotels in the world. These hotels offer lodging minus the long […]

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How To 10X Your Business By Outsourcing-[Guest Post With Vitale Web Solutions]

If you’re in business, especially if you’ve been in business for more than a year, you’ve probably heard of or know something about a concept called search engine optimization, also known as SEO. Simply, Google, for example is a search engine, so when someone performs a search query, a search engine optimization expert then knows how to optimize your website for Google’s robots that go out, search all the websites to read and discover what they are about, and who they are associated with, as in a “bad neighborhood” or “ good neighborhood”, and if they are in accordance with Google’s algorithmic rules, of what they feel is the best to the worst starting at number 1 page 1, all the way down hundreds of pages.  Of course page 1 is where all the action’s at and who doesn’t want to be #1 right?  Well that’s a job of an Expert SEO Consultant, a full-time job, one in which the consultant has know what is working currently with Google as their algorithms change constantly. You already have a business to run, so I’m going to go over advantages of hiring an expert, what it can do for you, and how to choose the right consultant for you and your business to grow immensely through Google’s Search Result Pages, or SERP’s for short. Why do I need to hire an expert for SEO? You need to hire an expert to do your search engine optimization for your business because you’re ready have a business to run and this is a full-time job that takes constant learning constantly learning staying up in your network having Mastermind groups being part of those you know meeting weekly there’s a lot that goes involved testing making sure that you know exactly what Google is wanting right now because they’re always changing and a lot of the times they don’t tell you or they miss guide you so if you don’t know what you’re doing completely you could have a website on Google 1 day and the next day it’s gone  because it was penalized by Google. It Can Build A Good Reputation If you are a new business or if you’re an existing one and now you’re getting on the Internet for the 1st time, or if you want to revamp it all, one great thing that happens with proper SEO is that it will create a reputation. As your company receives reviews naturally by many sites such as Yelp, Facebook, Google+ etc, then the SEO is going to enhance them, so that when a potential customer Google’s your company’s name to do research because approx 80- 90% of people go online to check a company out before they actually decide to do business with them, so a good reputation goes a long way online, which can be created with SEO. Your competitors are using SEO, so why aren’t you? This is probably one of the biggest reasons to have SEO in your advertising budget, […]

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Four Cornerstones to Building a Brand for Business Stability and Profitable Growth – Part 3

Networking: Networking has become something of a lost art. Wow, that is a big statement. But here is what I mean by that. We will often become acquainted with just one part of an individual rather than understanding the complete individual. Each of us have lead lives that are filled with a diverse passed. We are too often completely focused on the needs of the immediate to stop and listen the history of the individuals we are talking with. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time but that is still no excuse for purposely getting to know someone and the abilities that they provide. There are two things that could be both the greatest tool in networking but also the greatest challenge to our ability to network. Social Media has created a generation of individuals that know everything and yet nothing about those they interact with. It is the greatest tool that can connect virtually anyone across all geographical barriers. We no longer need to show up at one place to interact. However, with all the connection, it causes us to feel that we don’t have the time to go any deeper in any one topic. We have too many others that need to be contacted or too many relationships that need to be maintained. Currently the average individual has 338 friends on Facebook.  Summits and Events have become more of a show. A loud sometimes obnoxious gathering of individuals that attempt to show everyone else how great they are doing, because they can spend more than the other guy. Many of the after parties are a time when everyone ‘lets their hair down” and no one remembers what happened the next day. I know that has always been part of sales and network. Fact is China has a long history of doing business with only those that they eat and drink with. But the difference is that the American culture takes after parties to a club or something similar and no one talks to anyone. I know… I have probably stepped on some peoples toes. But if you can stick with me through this you will be able to increase the ability to expand your network and create relationships that will help improve your brand. To be an incredible network focus on these few simple points. It will GROW your Brand. When meeting with someone, make it a point to learn one thing about them that is beside the point of what your original topic of discussion. I am always amazed at the talent that people have hiding just beneath the surface. At a recent event I had the privilege of meeting with a talent young lady. Gabby was speaking on email marketing at the event. She is very passionate and has spoken on this topic many times. She really knows her stuff. But here is the interesting thing. She would love to focus more on organic social media. Her talent in creating organic social media is equal to her […]

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Is Content Marketing The Same As SEO?

Producing great content and increasing your rankings in Google often seemed at odds. Now, hear me out before you close this tab. Everyone wants to rank higher in Google, but not everyone is willing to put in the work. To paraphrase the great Ronnie Coleman, “Everyone wants to be a body builder, but nobody wants to lift the heavy weight!”. If you are not currently publishing content on a consistent basis, you probably think that content marketing is a headache. I mean, who wants to come up with a content schedule, publish several times a week, and promote it on social media as well as through email outreach? Successful people do! I have had decision-makers ask me,”Can’t you just rank me?”. Well, yes. But that would involve some gray or black hat techniques that will not be best for the long term viability of your website. Content marketing, and body building have some important things in common. Both require dedication. Both require persistence and consistency- doing many of the same things over and over to get lasting, positive results. . If you are a consultant, your job is to show the decision-maker that producing valuable content and using outreach to promote that is the way forward to success in Organic SEO. Larger, well-established brands may already have an “authority website“. One of the benefits of having an authority website, is that when you have a new post, it will usually be read and shared by your existing audience. That post can and (most likely) will start ranking in Google. Just look at SEJ, and the posts that are on the front page. Those posts typically have several hundred, to several thousands of social shares and get linked to quite regularly as a trusted authority. In smaller organizations with less red tape it can be much easier to get the necessary buy in for content marketing. When you have one or two decision makers in a small business, you can pivot and adapt rather quickly to take advantage of new trends. Larger businesses with a board of directors often are much slower moving when changes need to happen. When working with an outside digital marketing agency or content marketing group, large companies (the established brand) often have a digital marketing coordinator who runs a team of people themselves. Often a consultant will encounter some push back from the in-house group, as no one really likes “handing over” control of the group, or r told there’s a better way. But, if everyone works together in these large groups some amazing things can happen. One of the massive benefits of working with an established brand is they often have content creators already on staff. Content creators can be writers (bloggers) or social media people who produce Instagram and Facebook posts for organic reach and paid ads. They already know the brand’s voice and can, with relative ease, take the suggestions of the consultant group to reach a large audience and achieve higher rankings […]

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Wait, Las Vegas Hotel Paris Loses Power And People Can’t Get Their Luggage?

So, how would you feel if you on vacation and staying at a hotel and because the power went out, you were not able to get your luggage.  What if you had to leave to catch a flight? Too bad.  Only people with prescription medications that were necessary to retrieve were being brought back to their rooms. I get the safety concerns, but man- that really stinks for anyone who was on vacation and could not take their belongings back home with them. Hotel guests were forced to find other lodging with the help of hotel management at other properties up and down the strip. Cheers to Paris, helping people out but man that really puts a damper on any vacation. Read the rest of the story here.

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Would You Promote Someone Who Compromised The Security Of Your Business?

Ok, so HR related conundrum of the day, what do you do when you have someone that has been with your company, 30 years? She is mean spirited, angry, has lots of enemies, and is plan NASTY. Would you promote her to Senior Vice President of your company? Or how about CEO? Wait did I mention she compromised the security of your business, your clients and affected your ability to take care of your family because your clients did not trust you anymore? Ooooh, she also got some of your buddies killed because she would not help them….. So what, oh what in the world am I to do about keeping her employed? Should I promote her to the CEO of my company because she intimidates, coerces and uses her prestige within the company? Or should I fire her ass and say “Good Riddance?” Seriously America, if you are an employer and you have an employee who acts like Hillary Clinton, would you promote her? People who work for a company, would you be upset if this person got a Promotion INSTEAD OF YOU? Be honest you would probably go APESHIT!  I know I would. I would scream nepotism, I would scream that the “system is rigged!”, and do you know what?  I would be right. As Grant Cardone stated- “I’m not a Republican Or a Democrat. I’m An Entrepreneur”. And as the CEO of my company, I will vote what I think is the best for our country, and our economy. And those two are really the same things. This country was made great by people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Henry Ford and others who started a business and employed people. If we don’t protect small businesses and allow them to grow (without taxing the HELL out of them), then we are cutting our own necks, as small businesses make up about 64% of net new private sector jobs. ATTENTION crazy Big Government People- The government can’t “CREATE JOBS” without raising taxes. That’s the only way they bring in revenue, besides PRINTING IT (can you say inflation?). This has been a public service annoucement by a concerned citizen, who worked his butt off to build a company and serve his customers, but what do I know, I’m “Entitled”. Image Credit- https://twitter.com/grantcardone/status/692938464518627328

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What We Can Learn From Pepsi Co’s Pivot In The Marketplace

Like Mcdonald’s, Pepsi Co, is not immune to a massive shift in consumer preference. In business and in sports it’s essential to “RUN TO WHERE THE BALL IS GOING… NOT WHERE IT IS.”  If you run to where the customers are right now, by the time you scale up and are really understanding what the consumer wants, trends will most likely be shifting again, and you will be playing catch up… AGAIN. Is Pepsi Co, Too Late In Adapting To Lifestyle Trends? Healthier lifestyle trends which  are being seen across the web and in daily life are being inspired by “Crossfitters”, “inspiration coaches” and people who are simply looking to lead healthier lives. With Pepsi looking to pivot to “healthier drinks”, as in fewer sugars and “less than 100 calories per single serving” (Ok, but what about the artificial sweeteners which are often “More” bad for you than regular sugar?), will they win over consumers who are “half in” on adapting to a healthier lifestyle? With people using a “caveman diet” or often referred to as the “paleo diet”, they are losing lots of potential customers right off the bat, that would be and could be their target demo in the “healthier lifestyle category”. Digital Trends And Spends Pepsi and other large brands are seeing a massive benefit from leveraging social media, with their paid placement through TV ads. Often done in tandem, campaigns have a more effective “push” when done in a coordinate approach. While digital costs  may not be outpacing what  these large brands spend in TV ads, the writing could be “on the wall”. With Paid SMM (Social Media Marketing) and paying “Influencers” for partnerships, plus the staffing costs for creatives etc to run the campaigns, digital marketing is growing and will continue to grow. In advertising you want to “Get In Front Of The Consumers Where They Spend Their Time”, and right now and in the future it looks to be online, and in particular Social Media sites and applications. Is Your Business Running To Where The Ball Will Be Or Where It Is? via GIPHY  

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Google Home Service Ads Disrupting PPC And Organic Listings

If you do Google Adwords for your business or for your clients this is very important. We have been hearing about this roll out coming for some time, and now it’s in beta mode.  Google is entering the home service lead market. As if they do not collect enough revenue in ads? How will this affect your PPC game if you run ads for your clients? How will it affect your business if you are the service provider? Well, you had better bid correctly and stay on top of your conversions. The new interface looks like it allows the searcher to contact 3 service providers for bids. Better make sure that your phone is on, and someone is there to answer it. If your office is closed, make sure that you have call forwarding enabled. The searcher will be able to select how they want to get contacted for quotes: Phone Call-Better pick up and have a great greeting. Email- Make sure your email is set to pop up on your home screen with an alert. Text Message- Check your phone! This could be bad for marriages…. Lead generation websites or niche directories, pay heed this will affect your ability to get qualified leads, so might be time to look at a slight pivot. If you want to sign up for the beta program (and get on a waiting list) which is currently in the Southern California area:     Click here to read the rest of the original story. image credit- www.cleanfax.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/google-image2.png

Google Home Service Ads Disrupting PPC And Organic Listings was first published on MasterMind

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What Is SEO? How Does It Work? And Why Do I Need It?

SEO is short for “Search Engine Optimization”. When people say, SEO what they typically mean is the “free” or non paid, organic listings from Google (or other Search Engines).  The paid ads, PPC (Pay For Click) would be considered SEM or (Search Engine Marketing) or paid search. Let’s say that the internet is the library. You walk into a library and it’s not organized and you can’t find anything, you will probably leave. Or, you will ask the librarian for help. Well, no library would survive if it was unorganized and uncategorized. Before Google, the web was kind of an uncategorized mess. Google came in and started sorting and organizing the web. They do this by using their algorithm to read content (words) on the page and code or microdata. Once they scan the website they figure out what the site and its individual pages or posts are about. Google they starts building an “idea” or theme around what the site and its pages and posts are about. They then display the content that is most related to the person who is searching for that answer. Just like when you go to a library and ask for a help finding something. If you keep asking for a certain book or to find info on an author, and the librarian keeps giving you bad directions or the wrong info, you will probably go to another library. Google is the same way. They want you to get your answer and then “terminate your search”.  That way they solve your question, or problem, or helped you buy something. No need to visit another “Library”. Ok Great- I Have Content On My Site And I’m Still Not #1 Yes, having content on your site is essential. But, everyone has content on their site. It’s really a lot more to getting top rankings than that. Over the last few years, “Content Marketing” has been the buzz in digital marketing as well as SEO. Since it is the popular thing to do these days, it seems that just about every website that is serious about increasing their visibility online is producing content. And that content can be images (look at Pinterest, they are almost all image based), video (YouTube) or actual words on a blog post.So with companies and agencies pumping out more content every day, how do you get your business to stand out in the space? Ok, so you have heard my librarian analogy. Now its time for another one. Scenario- you walk into a party where your friend invited you. Only problem is, the friend who invited you is a serious “flake” and decided to “watch netflix and chill”. So you are here all alone at this party. What do you do? Do you leave? Do you start talking to yourself out loud and see if anybody else will some how hear you (and not think that you are crazy) and want to listen and invite their friends over to listen to you? […]

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Optimizing Your Content For [Near Me] Searches

Google is pushing people toward "Near Me" search types, and populating many "auto suggest" terms when you type in phrases like "Gyms Near Me".  Don't believe me? Open up your cell phone and type that into your device. See what is the first auto suggest term that pre-populates.

Why Is Google Pushing "Near Me" So Hard?

Google is calling instances where people have an immediate need to know, buy, or find something, "Micro Moments".  These micro moments need a result delivered quickly to solve a point of pain. People are looking to find breweries, restaurants, coffee shops, ice cream places and others while on the go.  Think about when you are on vacation. You are walking or driving around a new town and are wondering where to go. Do you stop a stranger and ask them where to eat? Ok, I do but I'm not anti social.  I take what they say and then I "Google" the restaurant's reviews online to see if I would like to eat there. Additionally I'll look for other results from the "restaurants near me" search on mobile.

Increase Of Near Me Search Results Infographic-MasterMindSEO.org

The Rise Of Micro Moments And The Need To Deliver Instantaneous Geo Specific Results

Yep, mobile has been the reason there is such a massive uptick in "near me results". With mobile devices, people search differently. Some use SIRI, others use Google Now's speech to text search tech. So when you are speaking into your device you will ask for different things. Example, "Find a chinese restaurant in Toronto" vs typing a search into your device, most people will type something like, "chinese res" and then stop because "chinese restaurants near me" will pop up on their device and they will simply click it.

Two Types Of "Organic Listings" Results For Near Me Searches

True organic listings which show 1-10, and MAP rankings, which show the blue "directions" button on mobile as well as the "call" button on mobile. With AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) becoming a "legit thing" that publishers and web site owners should be focusing on, how can you capitalize on delivering super fast loading answers and results? AMP up your content!

So How Do I Optimize My WebSite For Micro Moments?

Well, having a steady publishing strategy will help build relevance to your website. If you have blog posts that are content rich, have great images or infographics, and also inner link to your top level sales pages (where people actually buy or get directions- typically a product sales page or the home page) then you will help build trust and authority in the eyes of Google. You can add a specific page to your site that targets the exact query for "Near Me Searches". So if I am looking to rank for "SEO Companies Near Me" in Las Vegas, I would build out a page "mastermindseo.org/seo-companies-near-me-las-vegas", that is not an actual url I built just FYI. In the Title Tag I would include some variation of "SEO" or "Search Engine Optimization Agencies Near Me".

This is a solid basic strategy to help you on page get tighter and increase your chances of coming up in the SERPS for "Near Me Searches". If you want to learn more about Optimizing Your Google My Business listing for greater visibility in the MAP listings you can apply lots of these same principles I mentioned above.

   

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How Much Does SEO Cost?

How Much Does SEO Cost?  That is typically the first question that business owners ask us. Well to answer that question, we must actually answer it with a question of our own. What are the goals of the business with SEO? If the goal is to increase rankings to sell a product or service, that has Content Marketing and Organic SEO written all over it. If the goal is brand and reputation management to "push down" bad mentions of your brand or person on the web, that is more reputation management. If the goal is to "get on facebook" and advertise there, thats SMM (social media marketing). SEO as a term has so many associations, some people think Facebook ads are SEO, and Instagram etc.  Those are Paid Social Media Marketing strategies, and are part of an overall branding and digital marketing strategy. So before determining what the cost is for "SEO" we have to define the goal and actual need of the business/owner or decision maker. After that has been decided you should look at the competition. If the competition is Super Hard, we use Ahref's Site Explorer to determine how "strong" the profile of the competition is. If the backlink profile of the competition is on the "lower side" then we price accordingly, if it is "higher" typically higher usually means 60 or higher. Medium is 40-59 and lower competition is the remainder. This is not a hard and fast rule however and pure metrics alone don't tell the whole story. [caption id="attachment_35878" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]

How much does seo cost?[/caption] The topical relevance of a website, which is really how niche specific are the referring websites linking to the researched domain, plays a part in the analysis.  For example, Amazon. So Amazon is the 800 pound guerilla in the e-commerce world. Not only is Amazon it's own Search Engine, as in people go right to Amazon and search and buy from within that ecosystem, Amazon products typically rank on the first page of Google for just about everything that you can buy online. That being said, just because Amazon is a "beast", doesn't mean you can't slay the beast. How? Topical relevance. That one page product listing is "themed" for that particular product offering. Meaning it's dedicated to, oh let's say, "lip ointment". Well, if you have a website that is dedicated to lip ointment (think chapstick), and you build alot of really good content that is backed by research with great images etc, you can eventually compete with and beat the Amazon listing. Why? Because YOUR WHOLE SITE is topically relevant to a particular search. So when we figure out pricing on a potential new client, we also have to take into consideration, who is producing the content? If you have your own writing staff and outreach for white hat link building, then you may only need Consulting. However most businesses, unless they are well established and have a dedicated marketing team are not equipped to Add MORE WORK to their already loaded plates. So, figuring out what level of frequency we need to publish on your website, and the amount of work for our outreach staff (they contact other website owners that are related to your niche about guest posting on their site so that you can earn a legit back link and get access to their audience), all come into play.

Do We Have To Keep Paying For SEO And Content Marketing After We Hit #1?

Have you ever played "King Of The Hill"? It was that crazy game we used to play on tops of dirt piles or snow hills as children. Everyone wanted to get to the top, and whoever was at the top was trying desperately not to get knocked off. So you had typically dozens of kids (yes I played it during school) trying to get to ONE spot. The Internet, and specifically top Google rankings are that ONE spot. Everyone wants to be king of the hill, and they are constantly trying to knock you off once you get there. Maintaining a strong strategy and executing on it, will help you stay there. "To be the champ, you have to BEAT the champ". So everyone is always going to be coming for you.

   

The following article How Much Does SEO Cost? is republished from MasterMind Digital

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The Ultimate List Of “Gig Based” Websites

Want to become a freelancer, or are you looking to hire a freelancer? Here are the best websites that can help you find who and what it is you are looking for: Upwork-Previously known as oDesk, freelancers at any stage in their profession can easily discover short-term or long term jobs on Upwork. To make Upwork a lot more enticing, rival Elance is now a part of it neighborhood-- which need to extend its reach. Also FreeLancer is becoming Upwork as well- can you say "800 Pound Guerilla?" Craigslist-Craigslist can be used more than just selling and purchasing pre-owned items. It's likewise a great platform to discover freelancing chances in your hometown. However, you can still browse the major cities for freelancing gigs and work remotely. Toptal- If you're a skilled and skilled designer, you can join the Toptal community to protect work from high-profile customers like Airbnb, JP Morgan, or Zendesk. Damongo-Damongo is a microjob site that links freelancers and customers from all over world. Whether you're a virtual assistant, author, translator, programmer, animator, SEO, and even musician, you should be able to discover a freelance task in your field rapidly and easily. Wonolo- Whenever a business needs immediate short-lived work, even for just a day, you'll get an alert on your smartphone by means of the Wonolo App. And, freelancer, called Wonoloers, will get paid the next day. Source Wave Market- This is a niche specific for the most part type of market. Mainly SEO related. If you need Press Releases, Writers or content, this is a decent option. Relatively new but pretty user friendly. SerpSpace- This one is really only for buying IFTTT gigs. But it’s a great place nonetheless. You can’t sell on here, only buy. Demand Studios-For innovative freelancers like filmmakers, professional photographers, or writers, Need Media has one of the best communities to find work given that you deal with their website to demonstrate your skill and attract customers. 99 Designs-When a company requires a logo or website design, they head over to 99Designs to try to find submitted graphic design work by freelancers. They can also work personally with freelancers if need be. Fiverr-Given that innovative projects only cost $5 to $10, you most likely will not earn a living solely working on Fiverr. However, it's a terrific location to begin if you're brand-new to freelancing because you can use it to construct your portfolio. Guru-With a wide range of freelance work work, including legal, engineering, and monetary services, Guru is perfect for the more experienced freelancers. Besides finding a job opportunity, the Master Work Space allows you to manage all work like hours and dedications. SimplyHired-No matter your skill set or competence, you're bound to discover a task through the millions of posts on SimplyHired. You can even search for gigs by area or by checking out the business directory. Fourerr-Fourerr is a marketplace where freelancers in the tech and creative industries can discover smaller jobs. Aquent-Aquent is a staffing company, but imaginative and marketing freelancers can use it to rapidly find gigs in the their city. Peopleperhour-Tailored more to SEO, web designers, and designers, Peopleperhour is a popular platform to find your next freelancing gig. LinkedIn-LinkedIn is the biggest expert network in the world, so it should not be surprising that freelancers like designers can utilize the network's job board to discover work. College Recruiter-Although this website is specifically for current college graduates, freelancers at any level can still use it to scope out the freelancer market and use the helpful suggestions shared through blogs. There's a even a nifty resume critique feature. Findeavor- Findeavor is another micro job site where freelancers can try to find published jobs in a variety of fields ranging from advertising to writing to music. You can also search by price, which varies from $5 to $300. The Creative Group-This is the imaginative division of staffing company Robert Half. Freelancers can get connected with companies who need freelancers focusing on advertising, marketing, or style. FlexJobs-Freelancers, and part-time workers, can easily discover a task opportunity through FlexJobs in more than 50 different profession tracks that have posted by over 25,000 companies. Crowded-Crowded can assist freelancers land a new gig in the most popular industries that have been aggregated by the most popular sought-after platforms. Freelanced-Billed at the biggest freelance social media network, you can publish your freelance task and share your portfolio with this 100,00 plus network. iFreelance-Here you can bid on tasks as well as display your work to draw in new customers. Freelancers can likewise keep 100% of their profits. Real Jobs-This is a totally free service that provides you the chance to look for freelance chances in your location of competence. CrowdSource-This is a terrific alternative for writers and editors who are looking to get high compensation by dealing with big online publishers, media business, or merchants. Smashing Jobs-This is Smashing Magazine's job board where you can get connected with customers all sizes, including big wigs like Amazon, Tesla, and Nokia. Gigblasters-Freelancers can search for jobs by either popularity, ranking, or rate in a wide range of classifications. Project4hire-This is a market where programmers, web designers, graphic artists, IT experts, translators, writers, virtual assistants, HR consultants, accountants, paralegals can easily find tasks. Assist Cove-With Assistance Cove, you can out your freelancer abilities to great use by teaming up with businesses that help non-profits. Krop-Krop lets freelancers develop and share portfolios and signup for their newsletter so that you can get the latest job postings from brand names like Gucci, Forbes, Nike, NBC, and Facebook. Gigbucks-Gigbucks is another site where freelancers varying from singers to SEO expert can find gigs that pay between $5 to $50 for their services. Peer Hustle-Similar to Uber and Tinder, Peer Hustle is an app that relies on geolocation. This suggests that you're only taking on freelancers in your area for jobs that have actually been posted by regional companies. Clients are also required to begin an escrow account, so you do not have to fret about not earning money. We Work Remotely-This website focuses exclusively on remote jobs that can vary from developers to consumer assistance to service management. Skillbridge-If you're an elite freelancer or consultant in sectors like energy, finance, health care, real estate, or retail, then this is the best website for you to secure a strong paying task. MeFi Jobs-If place matters, then you must definitely use MFi Jobs to find based on your longitude and latitude. Greatlance-Greatlance works board, a freelance startup guide, and number of tools and resources that can assist you with time management and legal suggestions. Hirable-If you're a designer, ensure that you end up being a part of the self-curated Hirable neighborhood. You might have the ability to score a gig from companies like Google. Gigdollars-Here's another microjob site where you could possibly earn money to $1,000 for your services. Crew-Signing up with Team as a freelancer indicates that you'll be vetted so that when a company requires a web designer, logo style, or copywriter, you'll be put at ease knowing that you're experienced and trustworthy. IMGiGz-This microjob website focuses more on freelancers who have experience in digital marketing. Gun.io-Gun.io is one of the best places for clients to find top notch designers and designers that have been handpicked by the site. Simply Answer-If you're a specialist in practically any field, like medical or car, you can join the Simply Response community and make cash for your understanding. If you get approved, you can hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars each month assisting consumers. LocalSolo-If you're an agency-level freelancer, this is one of the leading sites, it's also free, to get discovered by regional business owners. JobBoy-JobBoy is mainly used for social media wizs who could utilize a little extra dough and build their portfolios. OnSite-This is an invite-only network of freelancers that have actually been carefully curated. Zeerk-Another microjob website where you can post a gig or look for tasks that interest you. HireMyFriend-If you desire a little help from your fellow freelancers, or just good friends in general, then have a look at HireMyFriend. Simply make an anonymous profile that describes your skills and what type of work you 'd like to do. You then ask individuals who you trust to endorse you so that you can make connections in a shared network. Mechanical Turk-Amazon's Mechanical Turk is a solid marketplace for freelancers planning to make some fast cash on Human Intelligence Tasks. YunoJuno-Joining the YunoJuno network not only assists talented freelancers discover well-paying jobs, they'll earn money within two weeks, and have access to unique benefits and discounts. GigScribe-Unlike the majority of other sites, GigScribe lets you explain your abilities and set your pay scale. After registering for totally free, you'll get everyday alerts on gigs that match your talents and rate range. Microworkers-This global has lots of easy tasks ranging from writing evaluations to registering for newsletters. You most likely won't make too much cash, but it's an excellent place to start considering that you'll be evaluated for finishing deal with time. Sologig-If you specialize in IT or engineering, then Sologig is most likely your best finest on finding decent paying gigs. Workhoppers-Built like a dating website, Workshoppers matches customers and freelancers so that the best jobs are managed by the right people. Authentic Jobs-If you're a creative freelancer and seeking to land a task with major business like Apple. Facebook, HBO, or ESPN, then Authentic Jobs may just be the ticket. RapidWorkers-Yet another microsite that has a number of fast tasks-- thus the name RapidWorkers. Again, it doesn't pay much. However, it's a start for newbies. Working Wanderers-For designers, developers, and management professionals who want to work remotely, this is an obvious location to start looking for tasks. Tutor-If you're experienced in topics like Algebra or English, you can tutor college students to make a little additional money on the side. Bark-Bark combines local service professionals together. Business owners search for the services they need-- such as a photographer, cater, or plumber-- and they'll get employed for the task. Short Job-You can make fast cash by completing less intensive projects like transcribing audio recordings to writing material. Taskr-Freelancers with experience in photography, graphic design, programs, or service services can easily find jobs that require their services. Personnel-If you're trying to find more long-lasting projects, then sign up with Personnel where jobs need to be more than 3 months long. TenBux-You can post or search this microjob site to find gigs in a variety of fields ranging from administration to composing. Designers & Programmers. CrowdSpring SEOClerks WPHired Joomlancers Folyo Project4Hire Gigster Developer Meet Designer Crowdsite Get A Coder. DesignCrowd JavaScript Ninja Jobs Matchist Localancers Envato Studio  

The Ultimate List Of “Gig Based” Websites See more on: MasterMind Service Blog

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Google Is Splitting The Index And Giving Mobile Priority Over Desktop

Pubcon hosted in Las Vegas is over and gone. It brought lots of exciting news about SEO and Digital Marketing. The biggest update, which comes as a surprise to no one really, is that Google is splitting the index and giving mobile the first priority with crawl budgets and updating the index faster. What this means is that yes, Google is indeed going "Mobile First", and that trend has been happening for a long time.  Think mobilegeddon, and the fact that users close webpages down that do not render in about 3 seconds. If they are on a mobile network, sometimes they will wait longer, but on WIFI? Nope, not waiting. While mobile will be given priority as far as budget, freshness and overall focus, that doesnt mean that users will stop using laptops, and desktop computers. So while your main focus should be on mobile, don't forget about delivering a quality desktop experience as well.

Add AMP To Your Website

Yes you should Add Accelerated Mobile Pages to your website. Seriously DO IT.

via GIPHY If you want to know more about what is happening in Las Vegas with SEO then stay tuned to our SEO News Category.    

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Twitter, Spotify And Others Down Temporarily After DDoS Attack

Wondering why your streaming was weak or your Twitter Account wouldn't load? Well you were not alone.  According To Dyn's website where they issued this statement:

"Starting at 11:10 UTC on October 21th-Friday 2016 we began monitoring and mitigating a DDoS attack against our Dyn Managed DNS infrastructure. Some customers may experience increased DNS query latency and delayed zone propagation during this time.

 This attack is mainly impacting US East and is impacting Managed DNS customer in this region. Our Engineers are continuing to work on mitigating this issue."

A DDoS attack is basically just swarming a server with multiple sources of traffic.  Think of it as Blitzkreig, or a full on blitz where the offensive line just forgets to block.

via GIPHY You know I'm a Michigan Fan So gotta represent! Keep coming back for more news, or check out our SEO News Category.  

Twitter, Spotify And Others Down Temporarily After DDoS Attack See more on: http://www.mastermindseo.org

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Should I Add Accelerated Mobile Page Capabilities To My Website

Since Google made an announcement about Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in October 2015, they have consistently been selling developers and the online marketing community on the idea. There is no doubt Google is making efforts to see how AMP can improve mobile search since it has already overtaken search from desktops (percentage based searches). They made clear their intentions with the Mobilegeddon back in April 2015, triggering a huge migration to mobile sites as well as responsive sites. But Google hasn’t been satisfied with the experience mobile users are getting from most sites even after introducing the mobile friendly ranking signal. They think their open source framework, based on AMP HTML, will help make the web lighter once again and make mobile users happy.

Mobile search optimization still needed to improve user experience

Most sites haven’t been optimized enough to make their page weights lighter for mobile users. The poor speed at which most pages load on mobile browsers has been disappointing users, to an extent that ad blockers are increasingly becoming popular and largely defeating monetization efforts. Even if we protested against AMP because of some obvious challenges, or rather difficulties related to its implementation, we may be forced to jump onto the bandwagon soon or later. Google isn’t likely going to drop its AMP moves, while many SEOs have already figured out most of the possible benefits of implementing AMP.

But AMP isn’t yet a Google ranking signal?

Gary Illyes in a chat with some SEO experts recently said that’s because of some Google’s policy considerations. At the SEJ Summit in Chicago, Gary made a presentation to explain what AMP is all about, its future and why everyone should start implementing it. Support is soon expected to extend to product pages including the ones for Amazon. When giving a keynote at the most recent Pubcon event in Las Vegas, Gary also didn’t miss an opportunity to talk about the benefits of AMP, including other search optimization issues to consider and the mobile algorithm change expected in January 2017.

Time To Consider Implementing Google AMP? Mobile users Demand 3 Sec Or Faster Page Loading Speeds

But nobody can deny the impact faster loading page speeds can have on Local SEO. It’s also highly likely that in future Google will consider making AMP an official ranking signal. Perhaps those are good reasons to consider making the AMP switch, especially for clients that do not have mobile or responsive sites with pages loading in less than 3 seconds. Research has shown that about 40% of users abandon pages loading for more than 3 seconds. Some sites that have switched to AMP have reported an increase in their page views. If the switch is not carefully made though, it could attract the duplicate content penalty. To prevent that from happening, the rel=canonical tag must be used in the HTML head parts, to transfer link juice in between the original page and the AMP page.

Conclusion:Catch The Wave Before It Drowns You

Although some people consider AMP to be Google’s response to Facebook Instant Articles, it could be the best solution over the long-term preventing mobile users from taking extreme measures like installing ad blockers. If the mobile search experience improves, site owners will benefit from increased site traffic. Monetization will still be possible and so is the opportunity to invest in great content. So everyone might be a winner if AMP is widely adopted, perhaps the reason why Google has preferred the open source framework.  

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Google Penguin SEO Penalty Meme

By Popular demand. Here is our cute and cuddly Penguin SEO Meme. Wait, will this post trigger a Panda Penalty? Thin content? Possibly, But I bet it gets some shares... So what weighs more into the algo "thin content" or viral proof that something is valuable? Is "thin content" more than just a word count or quality of the words? Images are content too.  

Google Penguin SEO Penalty Meme See more on: MasterMind SEO

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AMP-Accelerated Mobile Pages Why You Should Be Using It RIGHT MEOW!

If you are not use AMP- or accelerated mobile pages... you need to start, like RIGHT MEOW! Ok, so maybe you have heard of AMP, and maybe you have not. Basically it is an effort spearheaded mainly by Google to give mobile users a better faster web. Let's take a look at what the official site has to say,"For many, reading on the mobile web is a slow, clunky and frustrating experience - but it doesn’t have to be that way. The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project is an open source initiative that embodies the vision that publishers can create mobile optimized content once and have it load instantly everywhere." Faster loading pages and posts means you will be happier right? If you as a consumer of content are happier with faster load times, wouldn't your subscribers or readers be as well? We already know that page load times are a ranking factor in Google's Algorithm. Google is also showing AMP results for search terms that have frequent news updates, try Googling "UFC" or "Lebron James" And these results Pop Up: As you can see Google is displaying AMP results at the top of the SERPS, so in certain, but not every news related search, Google is favoring the faster loading AMP results. Is AMP not showing up for your industry yet? Well, that does not mean you should not prepare for it. It's similar to the semantic web. Just because it is not a massive ranking factor, does not mean that you should not use JSON-LD or other schema to define and build your brand. In fact the early adopters like in most new tech developments are the ones that get the biggest push or results particularly as it relates to Google, and ranking higher in their search results. So whether you are publishing your own content or using a content marketing agency to do it, make sure that your website is ready for AMP RIGHT MEOW!

via GIPHY Here is a link to some AMP plugins for wordpress.  

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How Is Google’s Panda Penalty Affecting Sites Right Now?

Panda is one of the most important ranking algorithms that Google uses to make sure low quality sites especially due to low quality (thin content) or -spammy content can’t continue to manipulate the SERPS. When a panda penalty hits, the offending site gets its rankings adjusted downwards (to put it lightly). That’s because such sites with their low quality content don’t help Google in achieving their goal of providing users with the most helpful search results or the great experience they expect.   When the first panda update was introduced into Google’s ranking algorithm, there was a lot of chaos because rankings of many sites took a dive over quality issues while others containing scraped content were unfairly rewarded. Sites hit by the update had to work on improving the quality of their pages, but they also had to wait for the next panda update to recover their rankings. The updates in 2011 were almost monthly, but the last update of panda 4.2 in mid-July 2015 came after a long wait from the previous one of panda 4.1 in September 2014. Having to wait even for a month after being hit with a panda penalty is a long time in the world of SEO. Panda demands today still challenge many SEOs and their clients, especially if they can’t clearly tell most of the myths from facts about this important spam-fighting ranking signal. But the good news is that now after any panda penalty hits a site, quality issues can be resolved and rankings recovered much faster.  

No more panda update announcements

Panda is now part of Google’s core algorithm, along with Rank Brain meaning it is affecting sites constantly. Previously Google had to announce every panda update and its affect would begin to take place almost immediately. Any sites deemed to be of low quality would have their rankings drop after every update. But now what is happening is a more gradual process through which the panda algorithm assesses the quality of each page on a site, and then adjusts the overall site ranking accordingly. So the earlier you start to figure out which pages on your site need to improve in terms of quality, then go ahead to address the issues, the earlier you can expect to go up the SERPs. You will have to monitor the data on your analytics more closely to identify where most your efforts should be going to address all possible site quality problems.  

Panda penalty demotes rather than devaluing

  Google fights spam using panda and also penguin, both which are now part of its main algorithm and therefore more updates would be expected in future for these ranking signals. But each of these signals still has its own specific way of affecting sites. When Panda detects any spam on your site pages, the site is demoted and drops rankings until the problem is resolved. Penguin on the other hand devalues spam, especially spammy links, and reportedly deals with it on a page by page, not site wide basis, so that it doesn’t count or unfairly improve or penalize the domain in the case of negative SEO tactics. Google still insists the guidelines they gave when announcing the first panda update still remains relevant. Taking a more holistic approach towards improving the quality of a site would be the best thing to do going forward in order to gain rankings that can last over the long-term. The means continuous efforts in evaluating and analyzing content quality beyond the obvious issues like spelling errors, duplicate content and keyword stuffing. A useful analytics tool should help you understand the true meaning of bounce rates, low traffic and similar data tracked for each page. That should give you the best idea on how to improve quality and keep your website panda-friendly.    

The article How Is Google’s Panda Penalty Affecting Sites Right Now? Read more on: http://www.mastermindseo.org

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Rank Brain And Machine Learning Have Been Here For A While.. Now What?

Google has said on numerous occasions that they use over 200 ranking signals, but lately there’s a lot of talk about RankBrain. It is the third most important ranking signal after links and content, but there is a lot of speculation on what it’s all about and how Google uses it for ranking. The fact that RankBrain determines rankings based on machine learning and to a certain extent that’s considered to be Artificial Intelligence (AI) either fascinates or intimidates. But it’s just a single component of the Google’s ranking system which depends on more than 200 rankings signals.   All of the ranking signals Google uses could be based on machine learning, although that may not happen any time soon. The reason why the entire Google core algorithm cannot be based on machine learning is that it would become difficult or almost impossible to do any debugging. It wouldn’t be easy to debug machine learning or AI decisions as there would be too many layers of neural networks. Gary Illyes has stated so in numerous articles. So let's focus on RankBrain and what it means for SEO.

Rank Brain- Rise Of The Machines

It's important to remember that Panda and Penguin are also based on machine learning systems. Google is using machine learning to come up with new signals or to aggregate signals. That helps them to keep improving the search results they deliver to users. RankBrain uses historical signals to do its re-ranking of results from Google’s core algorithm. This type of ranking filter started applying in October 2015 and now contributes to all Google search rankings. Machine learning allows Google ranking signals like RankBrain to keep improving the overall ranking system over time. The improvements happen more gradually with machine learning than they do with human controlled ranking processes. When humans apply changes to the algorithm, the changes take place all at once and sites are affected in a big way. So as ranking signals based on machine learning systems become smarter and smarter, there will be less of unwanted surprises and the best SEO strategies will get rewarded almost on real-time basis.   RankBrain plays an important role within Google’s search ranking mechanism as it quickly learns from historical data and refines the search results especially for search queries. For complex search queries using long-tail keywords, Google confirmed that tests performed showed that RankBrain does better than its own engineers. It is therefore expected to be more helpful to experienced searchers that tend to look for more specific answers using long search queries. Machine learning in that case helps the search algorithm to best understand context, semantic relationships and even need for personalized search results. Check out our new JSON LD Tool to help build your semantic profile.   RankBrain as an advanced ranking signal based on machine learning makes it possible for Google to deliver a great experience for searchers. The search results they get largely depend on the meanings of their search queries rather than the exact words they entered. So SEO Agencies will be forced to pay little attention to keywords, but to focus on making sure content is as helpful to users as possible. Understanding the user intent will be critical in order to make the content great for them. With the Google’s core algorithm expected to become more dependent on machine learning and artificial intelligence going into the future, it would soon become almost impossible to game search rankings if that isn’t already the case. At some point, Google may just achieve the goal of a search algorithm that quickly learns form search queries, and automatically updates itself to improve on the accuracy of search results without human intervention.  

Rank Brain And Machine Learning Have Been Here For A While.. Now What? was originally seen on MasterMind Digital

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Entrepreneurship Define By Peter Thiel

Keep Grinding. Keep Hustling. If you have the vision, pursue it.

Entrepreneurship Define By Peter Thiel See more on: MasterMind

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Recent Google Patent Gives Clues On How Social Signals Might Affect Rankings

Google has on many occasions downplayed the importance of social interactions as far as their ranking signals are concerned. But there are still many reasons to believe that soon or later Google may increasingly take social signals into account. One of the strongest indications has to be their recent patent US 2016/02466789 A1, which goes by the title “Searching Content of Prominent Users in Social Media”. A patent doesn’t of course mean the technology will definitely be implemented, but it does provide the necessary clues we need to know what would be considered if the implementation is ever done. So even if Gary Illyes and other folks at Google say they don’t use social signals for ranking, don’t think they totally don’t or aren’t considering doing that.   With the new patent that Google has been granted, we clearly see the possibilities as far as taking into account social as a ranking signal is concerned. The patent covers the methods, systems and apparatus that Google may use to do so. If they eventually decide to use the technology behind it all, it means searchers will be more likely to see results based on what their prominent social connections often recommend. If such prominent social users recommend certain resources, they may start to determine rankings. But it depends on which resources they reference in social sites and whether searchers are attracted to them or not. If a searcher ignores any recommended resources, Google may devalue such resources and therefore they may not impact on rankings.   At this point it may not be easy to fully understand how social signals will work. But when a search is being done, the prominent social users connected to the person doing the search are those whose followers meet a certain threshold. From the Google patent content, user social graphs will be used. Each social graph may include direct connections or even higher degree connections. So this may not just be limited to single social networks but also multiple social networks. The focus will also not be limited to traditional social sites but also pretty much anything social including chat, email, blog posts, reviews and so on.   Frequency of social interactions will also count in determining the degree of separation in the social graph, and how it will be used to augment search results. Google will not only look at what a searcher’s social graph members are sharing or engaging with, but also any content they may have created themselves. For instance, a searcher’s social connections may have created written or video reviews of restaurants or other services and products. If such social users and their reviews are taken into account when returning results for search queries, a searcher is likely to find the search results more useful.   Considering that there are many other ranking signals used, we cannot always expect conclusive answers from anyone in Google regarding what exactly happens with each ranking factor. That’s why they could tell you social signals don’t count, when they actually mean it isn’t a direct ranking signal yet. Remember RankBrain is the third most important ranking factor after links and content. Since RankBrain functions based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities, it’s easy to see why at some point not even Google engineers will be able to say the exact contributions of different ranking signals. At least as far as query interpretations and similar aspects of Google search rankings are concerned. The engineers will still know more than we do, but they will certainly not know everything because RankBrain teaches itself without using detailed programming inputs from humans.   Since Google has been granted a patent that allows us to get an idea of what they might be doing, it helps to refine our SEO strategies without dismissing the idea of social signal impacting on rankings. We have to create great content that friends of our prospective clients can engage with as well. It is easy to see why establishing a strong social media presence is necessary.    

The following article Recent Google Patent Gives Clues On How Social Signals Might Affect Rankings is available on www.mastermindseo.org

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SEMRUSH Launches Open Beta-SEO Ideas

We love SEMRUSH.  We use it for looking for guest post opportunities for our content marketing division. We use it for looking at how our competitors are getting traffic, looking at low hanging opportunities for existing content pieces. For on boarding new clients we love the "low hanging fruit" options as the new client often has some form of content marketing-blogging going on. So all we need to do is structure additional content to support it in an SEO Friendly way. SEMRUSH's New Open Beta- SEO Ideas- is going to be a big hit around our offices as well. I'll let them tell you about it, "SEO Ideas offers a complete and structured list of things you can do to improve the search engine optimization for select pages of your website.Full of helpful tips, SEO Ideas doesn’t just tell you what to do, it also lets you know why doing so is a good idea." For client reports and planning our digital strategies when we take a new client, showing them this is what you need to do, and here is why you need to do it as historically had quite a bit of push back. We tell them to do paid social if it makes sense, content marketing, guest blogging and influencer round ups etc. With a third party validation tool like this, it will help tell the story of what their competition is doing well, how you can duplicate it and why you need to. Looking forward to exploring this new tool even more!    

The following blog post SEMRUSH Launches Open Beta-SEO Ideas Find more on: www.mastermindseo.org

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