5 Components That Truly Define “Topical Authority” for Webmasters in 2017

All business owners want topical authority in their fields. Having “topical authority” means you’re regarded as an expert in a specific area. Website owners can leverage topical authority to improve inbound marketing and SEO efforts.

According to Mark Schmukler, Co-Founder, Managing Partner & Brand Strategist at Sagefrog Marketing Group, “Topical authority is the output of comprehensive and consistent thought leadership that educates and informs your audience. When done right, it’s a valuable mix of content such as whitepapers, blogs and downloads that surround a topic from all angles.”

Topical authority is a subset strategy of content marketing. From an SEO perspective, topical authority defines how trustworthy a domain is within any particular niche and what the topic is about. One way topical authority determines the trustworthiness of a domain is by the amount of content that links to a specific page.

So you aren’t just targeting a specific keyword; you’re targeting many keywords related to your area of expertise. Doing so allows you to focus on several niches under a topic umbrella.

Getting Inbound Links

Regardless of the changes Google makes to its algorithms, inbound links will continue to signal authority and relevance. Many website owners make the mistake of padding content with keywords to increase SEO. But content that isn’t valuable leads to much less engagement and inbound links.

Without inbound links, there’s little proof that you’re providing valuable content at all. There are many ways to promote inbound linking, and webmasters should be aware of the options and benefits for each method.

By the same token, external linking can be helpful too. Many businesses would rather avoid linking to a knowledgeable third-party source in favor of linking internally. Internal linking isn’t a smart, long-term strategy though.

Sometimes you do not have the relevant content to link to, and other times, linking to studies and reports can only boost your trust factor. Additionally, other businesses who see that you’ve linked to them will recognize the value you bring, and potentially return the favor—increasing your own inbound linking.

Relevant Content

The pages that make the top of Google’s search results are pages that feature high quality, relevant content. The goal of that content is to educate users by providing them with solid information that helps them make a decision.

Consumers will consider it a waste of time if they’re seeking help and only receive a keyword-padded overview of a particular topic. Webmasters and marketers should work together to ensure both parties are on the same page with the main topic. From there, branch out to niches and begin mapping out an editorial calendar that covers a breadth of topics in depth.

Build a Loyal Audience

Building a loyal audience is a huge part of gaining topical authority. You can achieve a loyal audience by incorporating your social icons onto your website and on each blog post. On all marketing materials, be sure to leave your social handles, and engage with visitors consistently through those social media channels.

You can even promote your social campaigns through contests, online rewards, and advertising. Keep in mind that the biggest part of building a loyal audience is providing valuable content. Many businesses choose to give away free content such as ebooks in exchange for consumer information. Consider your options and define goals for each step along the way.

Host Your Blog on a Subfolder

Every business needs a blog to establish topical authority. It’s rare to receive inbound links based solely on static business pages. When launching your blog, there are three primary choices: a subfolder (www.travel.com/blog), a subdomain (blog.travel.com), and a separate domain (travelblog.com).

If possible, try to keep your blog on a subfolder. Integrating your blog has the most visitor and SEO benefits. Doing so also benefits your company by helping your brand establish authority on a topic and be more than just a provider of products or services.

Furthermore, it’s easier to promote the brand as a package on the same domain. Any visitor to your website should be able to recognize and access your blog from the same space.

Strong SEO

Incorporating SEO into your website and blog shouldn’t be difficult, and this is another area where the webmaster and marketing team should be cohesive. Webmasters should work beyond the coding and technology toward the bigger picture (the customer). Business owners and marketing teams should understand the backend steps needed to keep SEO a priority behind the scenes.

One way webmasters contribute to SEO is by making their sites easy to navigate. They can do so with logical architecture and by giving each page a theme (the content should support that theme). Once they have chosen all the keywords and phrases, they should use those keywords appropriately throughout the site.

Meta title tags should support the theme and keywords as well, and meta description tags should be informative. Webmasters should include title and meta details for each blog post and image. Lastly, sitemaps have been proven to increase SEO, so be sure to include them.

The post 5 Components That Truly Define “Topical Authority” for Webmasters in 2017 appeared first on Growmap.

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5 Components That Truly Define “Topical Authority” for Webmasters in 2017

Sponsored – Staples Back to Business Survey Finds Small Business Owners Are Ready to Rock in 2017

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Staples. All opinions are mine. They just paid me to give YOU my opinions. It’s a win!

This survey by Staples came out just as small business owners are getting back to business in 2017. In it, Staples asked small business owners a number of questions to gauge their mindset as 2017 kicks off. And that mindset is pretty positive, according to survey recipients. People plan to hire more staff. They plan to invest more in their business. And though I didn’t take the survey, I agree with the 67% of people who think that business tax reform should be the administration’s top priority this year. As a small business owner myself (there are only three of us here), I still get quite clobbered by taxes and would love the ability to continue thriving as an owner in coming years.

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Sponsored – Staples Back to Business Survey Finds Small Business Owners Are Ready to Rock in 2017

Top Challenges Facing U.S. Small Businesses in 2017 [Infographic]

WaspBarcode has published their annual State of Small Business Report for 2017. This is their third annual survey analysis of over 1,100 small business owners and executive leaders across a number of fields. See the full report with visuals at the link above.

Small businesses are more optimistic going into 2017 and expanding hiring and marketing spend. I am highlighting the above image from their research because businesses are making their plans now.

52% of small businesses plan to hire in 2017Click To Tweet

I find it interesting that hiring new employees ranked above increasing profit, employee healthcare and growing revenue. This could indicate a shortage of digital marketing experts or workers with other specialized skills. I wish we had more details about what kind of new employees they are concerned about.

See the State of Small Business Report highlights in the infographic below and extensive details in the full report. Click To Tweet

Topics covered by their research include:

• Revenue Expectations for 2017
• Strategies to Improve Revenue Growth
• Employee and Staffing Plans
• How much they invest in marketing and where they spend it
• Inventory and Asset Management

Annual WaspBarcode State of Small Business Report 2017 [Infographic]

State of Small Business Infographic Highlights:

Revenue Growth

• 69% of SMBs predict revenue growth during 2017
• 31% of SMBs predict revenue growth of 1-4%
• 26% of SMBs predict revenue growth of 5-10%
• 12% of SMBs predict revenue growth of 11% or more

Confidence in the 2017 Economy

• 42% of companies with 11-50 employees believe the economy is better now than in 2016
• 39% of companies with 51-100 employees believe this
• 47% of the largest small businesses with 101-500 employees are confident in the 2017 economy

Top Strategies to Drive Growth

40% improve customer experience and retention
36% launch new products or services
32% invest in new customer acquisition
30% expand into new markets

Who’s hiring?

52% of all SMBs plan to hire in 2017
57% plan to hire 1-5 employees
39% plan to hire 6 or more employees

IT Spending in 2016

42% of all smbs plan to increase IT spending
36% of companies with 5-10 employees plan IT spending increases
42% of businesses with 11-50 employees
54% of businesses with 51-100 employees
49% of businesses with 101-499 employees

IT Priorities

29% upgrade wireless infrastructure
33% upgrade network
33% upgrade server infrastructure
37% upgrade network security
38% replace computer hardware

Their full research is worth reviewing. You can see their post summarizing the report and review the full report here. There is no cost and you don’t have to provide any personal information.

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Top Challenges Facing U.S. Small Businesses in 2017 [Infographic]

3 Sources for Funding Your Start-Up in 2017

For passionate wantrepreneurs, the itch to launch and get started is almost too powerful an urge to resist. The reason someone leaves a stable, traditional career path and jumps into the fray of starting up usually revolves around passion. Passion is what fuels the transition from dreamer to doer.

Fortunately, dreamers are limited by capital. Why do I say “fortunately”? The constraints of capital force dreamers to keep their feet firmly planted or to suffer the consequences.

I am a firm believer that the capital raising, VC pitching, pre-launch phase of a start-up is critical to its success. Every pitch represents an opportunity to revise the plan, gain valuable feedback from potential investors, and improve efficiency.

1. Slash Your Personal Expenses

The first step in becoming an entrepreneur is preparing for the financial strains of the journey. Cash-flow is the name of the game. The more of your hard-earned savings and earnings you can keep in your pocket at the end of each month, the longer you’ll be able to stay in the fight.

Potentially, if you’re able to slash personal living expenses enough, you could completely self-fund your start-up. That’s HUGE! Outside funding is expensive, so get your personal finances in order to build business credit. Think about the value of Facebook’s stocks today. Just a 5% stake in the social media juggernaut’s early days would be worth millions today.

• Get onto a flexible, written budget that accounts for every dollar spent personally.
• Start selling anything and everything that isn’t nailed down.
• Slash monthly bills. Stream Netflix and YouTube instead of paying for cable. Sell your leased car and buy a reliable clunker. When your cellphone contract expires, pick up a prepaid SIM card.
• Cook healthy foods at home instead of eating out. And that Starbucks coffee? The best part of starting up is Folger’s in your cup!

2. Dip into the Equity of Your Home

Many impatient entrepreneurs choose to skip the process of raising outside funds or stockpiling cash. Instead, they take advantage of a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or a second mortgage. I’m personally not a big fan of this approach.

First, it eliminates the necessity to pitch to VC’s and other experienced investors. Missing out on their advice and the benefits of subjecting your plan to the rigors of the capital raising process is a huge loss. Secondly, you’re funding a speculative business with a form of financing that requires consistent, monthly payments.

Mark Cuban is fond of saying that only morons launch a business with a loan. Why? The bank doesn’t care about your business. During turbulent times, the bank will add increased stress as you’re pressured to cough up payments you can’t afford.

Trust me, turbulent times are guaranteed in any start-up. You do not want to be dealing with a silent partner that simply wants a monthly check and will do whatever it takes (including seizing your company’s assets) to satisfy the obligation on its timetable.

Sell Your Home, Instead of Borrowing Against It

If you want to access the start-up capital available in your home, sell it. Selling your home frees up your equity, without creating a bank loan.

And you can transition into life as a renter, where the cost of living is significantly more predictable and manageable. Say goodbye to handyman repairs, property taxes, and HOA dues. In terms of cash-flow, an affordable apartment beats home ownership any day of the week.

3. Start in Real Estate Investment

The path to entrepreneurship and starting up is never a linear journey. My business partner started out in real estate. His strategy was to begin to generate multiple streams of income from rental properties and use that income to launch his future business.

There’s some risk involved in this strategy, as tenants are sometimes late on their rent. There are also chunks of time where an investment property isn’t actively rented, meaning negative cash-flow. Plus, maintenance costs on rental properties are unpredictable and constant.

If you want a good laugh, check out some of the crazy excuses property managers have to deal with when the rent check comes due. Seriously, property management and being a landlord is a major time eater.

But renting out could be an effective long-term strategy for generating additional cash-flow and increasing your personal net worth. As an entrepreneur, both cash-flow and net worth should be buzzwords that get you salivating.

The absolute best strategy for starting up is to create something you can self-fund. You don’t have to launch everything right away. I like starting up in components and letting each piece of a start-up fund the next one.

But if you must take on outside funding or a loan to get going quickly, try to keep outside funding requirements to an absolute minimum. Quick cash gets expensive over the course of a successful business.

The post 3 Sources for Funding Your Start-Up in 2017 appeared first on Growmap.

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3 Sources for Funding Your Start-Up in 2017

My 3 Words for 2017

We have a huge year ahead of us! How will you and I accomplish all that we want to achieve? Let’s pick three words to guide you to success in 2017!

Choose Three Words for Your Success in 2017!

Pick any three words that you can use to guide you forward to success in the coming year. Write these words down every day. Keep them posted on your monitor. Make a phone wallpaper. Whatever is going to keep those words present? Schedule a recurring 5 minute daily appointment that simply gives you a moment to reflect on the three words you’ve chosen for greatness and success.

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My 3 Words for 2017

Dividend Report: Can Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) truly back claims of $0.10 dividends by Jan 25, 2017?

Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) is expected to pay $ 0.10 on Jan 25, 2017. The indicated annual dividend is $ 0.40. Shareholders owning the stock before Jan 9, 2017 will be eligible to receive the payout. Based on Winnebago Industries, Inc.’s current price of $ 32.50, the dividend is 0.31%. This dividend’s record date is Jan 11, 2017 and the announcement date is Dec 15, 2016. The stock decreased 0.76% or $ 0.25 on January 6, hitting $ 32.5. About 282,917 shares traded hands. Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) has risen 47.46% since June 3, 2016 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 38.99% the S&P500.

Winnebago Industries, Inc. is a manufacturer of recreation vehicles used primarily in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. The company has a market cap of $ 1.02 billion. The Firm designs, develops, makes and markets motorized and towable recreation products along with supporting services and products. It has a 18.19 P/E ratio. The Company’s other products manufactured by the Company consist of original equipment maker (OEM) parts, including extruded aluminum and other component products for other manufacturers and commercial vehicles.

Insitutional Activity: The institutional sentiment increased to 1.86 in Q3 2016. Its up 0.31, from 1.55 in 2016Q2. The ratio increased, as 14 funds sold all Winnebago Industries, Inc. shares owned while 30 reduced positions. 27 funds bought stakes while 55 increased positions. They now own 24.15 million shares or 0.66% more from 23.99 million shares in 2016Q2.
Mason Street Advisors Limited Liability Company, a Wisconsin-based fund reported 5,537 shares. Moreover, Secor Advsrs Limited Partnership has 0.14% invested in Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) for 54,945 shares. Gabelli Funds Ltd owns 60,000 shares or 0.01% of their US portfolio. Springbok Capital Ltd holds 0% or 200 shares in its portfolio. Lsv Asset holds 0.01% or 115,900 shares in its portfolio. Gsa Capital Ptnrs Llp holds 75,234 shares or 0.1% of its portfolio. Moreover, Cooke Bieler L P has 0.88% invested in Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) for 1.78 million shares. Blackrock Gp Ltd has 33,947 shares for 0% of their US portfolio. Franklin Res Incorporated last reported 0.01% of its portfolio in the stock. Moreover, Westport Resource Management Inc has 0.02% invested in Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) for 1,400 shares. Creative Planning last reported 1,140 shares in the company. Veritable Ltd Partnership, a Pennsylvania-based fund reported 8,500 shares. Teton Advisors, a New York-based fund reported 61,000 shares. Schwab Charles Investment holds 108,525 shares or 0% of its portfolio. Ubs Asset Americas reported 15,399 shares or 0% of all its holdings.

Insider Transactions: Since December 27, 2016, the stock had 2 insider buys, and 0 selling transactions for $ 132,700 net activity. 3,000 shares were bought by Fisher William C., worth $ 101,400 on Tuesday, December 27.

Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) Ratings Coverage

Out of 2 analysts covering Winnebago Industries (NYSE:WGO), 2 rate it a “Buy”, 0 “Sell”, while 0 “Hold”. This means 100% are positive. Winnebago Industries has been the topic of 3 analyst reports since August 26, 2015 according to StockzIntelligence Inc. The firm has “Outperform” rating by Robert W. Baird given on Monday, October 3. The company was downgraded on Wednesday, August 26 by Zacks. Sidoti initiated Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) on Friday, November 11 with “Buy” rating.

More notable recent Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) news were published by: Nasdaq.com which released: “Winnebago Industries, Inc. (WGO) Ex-Dividend Date Scheduled for January 09, 2017” on January 06, 2017, also Investorplace.com with their article: “Winnebago Industries, Inc. (WGO) Releases Q1 Earnings Report” published on December 21, 2016, Fool.com published: “Why Winnebago Industries, Inc. Stock Soared 24% Today” on October 03, 2016. More interesting news about Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) were released by: Fool.com and their article: “Why Winnebago Industries, Inc. Stock Gained 20% in March” published on April 07, 2016 as well as Forbes.com‘s news article titled: “Ex-Dividend Reminder: Winnebago Industries, Campbell Soup and New York Times” with publication date: January 05, 2017.

WGO Company Profile

Winnebago Industries, Inc., incorporated on February 12, 1958, is a maker of recreation vehicles (RVs) used primarily in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. The Firm designs, develops, makes and markets motorized and towable recreation products along with supporting services and products. The Company’s other products manufactured by the Company consist of original equipment maker (OEM) parts, including extruded aluminum and other component products for other manufacturers and commercial vehicles. The Firm offers products under categories, which include motorhomes, towables and other manufactured products. The Firm produces all of its motorhomes in vertically integrated manufacturing facilities in Iowa and it produces all travel trailer and fifth wheel trailers in Indiana. The Firm distributes its products primarily through independent dealers throughout the United States and Canada, who then retail the products to the end consumer.

The post Dividend Report: Can Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) truly back claims of $ 0.10 dividends by Jan 25, 2017? appeared first on Frisco Fastball.

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Dividend Report: Can Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO) truly back claims of $0.10 dividends by Jan 25, 2017?