However, it has become more challenging for borrowers to improve credit in recent years due to tighter lending standards. One of the most common questions that people have these days include, “It is possible to get a loan when you have a poor credit rating?” and “Can I improve my credit score?” Read on to learn more about how to improve credit and secure better loan terms.

What Does Poor Credit Rating Imply?

Poor credit rating implies that you have had or are currently having difficulties meeting your credit obligations. This could be due to late payments, defaulting on loans, bankruptcy, or other financial events. This can create challenges when it comes to accessing a loan from traditional lenders.

Unfortunately, this can lead to higher interest rates and less favourable loan terms, as well as fewer loan options. In general, the lower your credit score, the more difficult it becomes to get financing and secure better terms.

How Can I Improve My Credit Score?

Fortunately, there are steps that can be taken to improve your credit score. These steps include the following:

Check Your Credit Reports

Checking your credit reports regularly is a crucial habit to build as part of a good financial strategy. Keeping track of your credit score not only helps you to understand where you stand in terms of potential financing, but it also helps protect your financial identity. If there are any inaccurate information on your credit report, it could lead to declined loan applications and even issues like identity theft.

Therefore, being aware of what creditors can see and taking regular steps to review can help ensure that your finances and personal information are secure. Make sure to periodically examine the three major bureaus for any discrepancies or negative changes that might be affecting your credit score. Doing this can give you control over crucial financial decisions and ultimately help improve your credit standing.

Make Payments on Time

Making payments on time is essential to keeping a good credit score. All loan agreements, credit cards, and other credit arrangements require you to make payments by an agreed-upon due date. If payment is not made by the due date, it can have serious consequences for your financial health. Late payments are reported by lenders to credit bureaus which damage your overall score, causing interest rates to go up or prevent you from obtaining new lines of credit.

Taking the proper steps to stay on top of due dates helps keep your financial reputation in good standing while also helping create positive spending habits going forward. It’s important to note that even if you’re able to make up a missed payment – and any associated fees – it will take some months before late payments stop appearing in your credit reports and scores, so as a rule of thumb, always aim to make all scheduled payments on time.

Pay Off Outstanding Debts

In addition to making payments on time, paying off outstanding debts can help improve your credit score. The amount you owe is a major factor that influences your credit scores. The less debt you have, the more likely lenders are to approve loan applications and/or offer better terms.

If possible, try and pay off any outstanding balances as soon as possible. Reducing your total amount owed is a great way to improve your credit score and will help you secure better loan terms in the future.

Keep Credit Card Balances Low

When it comes to managing credit cards, it’s important to keep balances low relative to their credit limits. This practice – also known as “credit utilization” – is closely monitored by lenders and influences your credit score.

The lower the ratio between your balance and limit, the more favourable it will be for your credit score. Therefore, if you do have a few cards that are regularly used for purchases, look to keep their balances low relative to their limits to maintain good credit standing.

Don’t Close Unused Credit Cards

It may seem like a good idea to close unused credit cards, but this can actually harm your credit score. Closing an account lowers the total amount of available credit, which can increase your overall utilization rate and negatively affect your score.

Therefore, it is best practice to keep all accounts active and in use, even if only for small charges, from time to time. This will help maintain a healthy credit utilization ratio and give you access to more lines of credit if needed.

Bottom Line

Having and maintaining a good credit score is essential for accessing affordable loans, mortgages, and other forms of financing. By keeping these tips in mind, you can ensure that your finances are always in order, putting you in the best position possible to acquire new lines of credit.

The post How To Improve Credit To Increase Loan Options and Secure Better Terms? appeared first on Rafi Chowdhury.

In this post, let’s look at eight of the best ones that email marketers can use. So, if you’re looking to get more email marketing work done in less time, read on!

Top 8 Email Productivity Tools

Employing email marketing tools can practically make it easier for you to run your campaign. This is especially true with software that automate certain repetitive processes, or reduce the work required for certain tasks. In that regard, here are our top picks:

1. ContactOut

Looking to enrich your list with accurate, triple-verified email addresses fast? ContactOut is a great option. With ContactOut, you can find email addresses for nearly anyone. All you need is the person’s name and a little bit of information about them, and ContactOut will do the rest. In addition to email addresses, ContactOut can also provide you with contact information for social media accounts and phone numbers. 

2. Boomerang

Boomerang helps you better manage your inbox. It can be used to schedule email messages that you have to send at a later time or to remind you to follow up on important messages. Boomerang also makes it easy to track whether your email messages have been opened and can even remind you if a message hasn’t been responded to after a certain amount of time. Best of all, it’s free! Now, if you are looking to improve the way you manage your email inbox, give Boomerang a try.

3. Grammarly

Grammarly is a great tool for improving your email productivity. It helps you to create better emails faster by identifying grammar mistakes and providing feedback on how to correct them. This can save you time and hassle when drafting emails and ensure that your messages are clear and error-free. Grammarly is available as a browser extension or a desktop application, making it easy to use with any email program.

4. Superhuman

Superhuman is email productivity software that promises to help users “work like a superhuman.” The software includes features such as email tracking, snoozing, and templates that are designed to help users manage their inboxes more efficiently. In addition, Superhuman offers a number of integrations with other productivity tools, such as Google Calendar and Trello. While the software is not free, it does have a free trial so that users can try it out before investing their money in a subscription. Overall, Superhuman is an email tool that could be helpful for users who are looking for ways to boost their productivity.

5. Docusign

Docusign allows you to create, send, and manage email marketing campaigns quickly and easily. You can create beautiful email newsletters, surveys, and other marketing materials with Docusign’s drag-and-drop interface, and you can track the success of your campaigns with real-time reporting. Plus, Docusign integrates with a variety of other online tools, so you can manage all your marketing efforts in one place.

6. Quip

Formerly known as Salesforce Anywhere, Quip is a collaborative document-creation app that can also be used by email marketing teams. It improves team productivity by allowing team members to easily share and comment on documents in real-time. This helps all team members quickly create, proofread, and approve email content. In addition, Quip’s chat feature allows team members to communicate easily with each other about email campaign ideas and strategies.

7. IFTTT

An acronym that means “IF This, Then That,” IFTTT is a productivity tool that lets you create custom sequences based on your leads’ responses, so you can improve the efficiency of your marketing efforts. By creating custom sequences in this manner, you can streamline your marketing efforts and save time and energy. Additionally, IFTTT can help you to better track your leads’ behavior and preferences, which can give you a competitive edge in the market.

8. Canva

Canva is a user-friendly design tool that makes it easy for email marketers to create beautiful, professional-looking visuals. With pre-made templates and easy drag-and-drop tools, Canva makes it simple to create stunning visuals that can grab attention and help to communicate your message more effectively. By making it easy to create high-quality visuals, Canva can help email marketers to become more productive and effective in their work.

Unlocking your productivity

If you wish to take your email marketing efforts up a notch, consider giving productivity tools a try. You may be surprised at how much easier and more efficient your work becomes – not to mention the extra time you have to focus on crafting better content and campaigns. Have you tried any productivity tools that have made a big impact on your email marketing? Let us know in the comments!

The post 8 productivity apps for email marketers appeared first on Rafi Chowdhury.

Companies are scrambling to find the best employees in a tightening labor market, which makes it a perfect time to upgrade from your current spot into a position with better benefits or perhaps the option to continue working from home.

LinkedIn is easily one of the best places to be noticed by recruiters who are scouring the professional social media site for potential new hires.

And, of course, if you apply for a position, you want to be sure the company sees exactly what they are looking for when they visit your profile as part of their screening process.

Working in today’s professional market requires a multi-facet approach. You need to be sure your skills and abilities are top notch and up to date, of course. But you must also create a brand centered on your own skill set and abilities through LinkedIn and other social media markets.

Note: We hired Uttoran Sen for creating this Expert Roundup Post – if you wish to host such expert roundups in your blog, let us know.

LinkedIn is unique among the many other social media platforms. Unlike Facebook or even Twitter, LinkedIn is designed for networking rather than friendship or more general connection and sharing. Your network through LinkedIn is part of your professional package, and it’s also one that is easily monitored and examined by potential employers or employees.

After all, it’s not just the recruiters who are on LinkedIn doing research. If you’re looking for a job, your would-be employers are keeping an eye on your profile. If you’re posting job positions, you can expect your would-be employees to check out your profile as a guide to what they might expect at your company.

Employees and employers are there, but so are marketers and others building a professional online presence through the most professional social media site online.

Whatever your goal through LinkedIn, you want your profile to stand out. We checked in with the experts on the best ways to make that happen.

Note: All tweetables are connected with the GuestCrew stats page from where one can easily do a one-click tweet. Does not require login or registration – just click on the share button and share it on Twitter or Linkedin.

1. Jonathan Aufray – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

There are hundreds of millions of LinkedIn users so you want your profile to stand out from the crowd. Instead of writing about your job position, I suggest you tell people directly what you do in your headline. For instance, you could tell the problem you solve.Let me give you an example: instead of saying that you’re a “SEO Specialist”, you could say something along the lines of “I help business owners drive qualified and targeted traffic to their websites. This way, when people find your profile or you outreach to someone, they will know right away what you’re doing.

2. Matt Janaway – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Understanding your audience is vital for profile creation

Before you even start writing your Linkedin profile, you need to understand what your target audience will be looking for. Are you looking for clients? Are you wanting to build your personal brand? Looking for a job? Answering these questions is important for the next steps. You need to show how your skills and expertise can make a difference. This is where your personal brand comes in. Your brand is the promise that you make to your audience. It is your value proposition in a nutshell.

Your job title and summary are the first things that people will see when people visit your profile. This means that it is critical that the one you use is catchy enough to pique the interest of potential employers. A good job title should contain keywords related to your field. The same rule applies to the summary section. Aside from this, your job title and summary should also contain the kind of environment you would like to work in and mention your desired compensation and location.

If you have any academic or professional qualifications under your belt, you should showcase them. You can even add the certificates you have obtained to your profile. You can also mention your other skills here. These might include foreign languages, computer software programmes that you are proficient in. If your work experience doesn’t have enough oomph to make it to the top of the list, you can link to your portfolio in this section.

3. James McAllister – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Highlight what makes you unique.

In today’s day and age, job hunters are competing with more people than ever. At the same time, technology has allowed many companies to make more money with a smaller workforce.
Therefore, in order to stand out, you should put what makes you unique and exceptionally valuable front-and-center – something that can actually catch a recruiter’s attention within an endless sea of applicants.

Across any industry, it’s those people that are rare, unique and exceptional that end up commanding salaries well beyond the typical market range.

Those with talent, skills or expertise that can’t be found anywhere else will never have a problem standing out to recruiters, even in today’s global job market.

On LinkedIn, sell the job first, then worry about qualifications after that.

LinkedIn is different than your typical jobs posting website. LinkedIn covers the world, which means you have to address geography up front. You have too options. You can hire locally, or you can hire around the world (remotely). If you don’t specify clearly up front, people will make their own (often incorrect) assumptions.

The second thing about LinkedIn is that people on the platform are more digitally savvy than elsewhere. The gap used to be huge, but now it’s much smaller. Still, many LinkedIn users have been networking on the platform for years, something that does not happen on a typical job advertising website. The tech that’s available to them in your job posting is therefore more important to emphasize than elsewhere. The opportunity to connect with others online could also be a selling point.

The third thing is that LinkedIn is the perfect place to poach the best of the best – the people who are employed and happy and don’t know that they want to change jobs. Many of them are there just to network. In other words, focus on the benefits to the potential hire first, then get into the required qualifications. In the real world, the only ways to poach the best employees are through one-on-one connections or cold-calling. On LinkedIn, it’s all part of the networking.

Finally, being active in niche groups helps. If you hire medical administrators from time to time, get active in medical administrator groups. When it’s time to hire, let the group know.

5. Uttoran Sen – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

The main purpose of a linkedin profile is to secure a new job, display your professional achievements and build a better career. Just like any other social network, Linkedin too has a profile section which is usualy the first thing your potential employers will look at.

Once you have done the basics, that is adding a professional profile image, a catchy header image that sends the right message and filling up the rest of the profile with relevant information – it is time to start doing the heavy lifting.

There are over 800 Million users in Linkedin, which means whatever your niche, topics or expertise is, you will be able to find relevant connections. Just send connection requests and sooner or later you will start building a following on Linkedin. This is where you need to be helpful to others. If you comment on other people’s achievements, new job positions, pulse blog posts, profile status updates, give out testimonials and endorsements – eventually people will start returning the favor.

In time with all the hard work you will build yourself a digital asset in the form of a strong Linkedin profile.

6. Erik Emanuelli – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Take advance of the LinkedIn keywords feature

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating your LinkedIn
profile if you want it to stand out and be effective.

First, make sure your profile is complete and up-to-date. Include a
professional photo, your current position and employer, and a list of
your skills and experiences.

Second, take advantage of the keywords feature to ensure that your
profile is easily found by recruiters and potential employers. Use
keywords that relate to your industry and skill set.

Finally, consider adding a link to your personal website or blog to
your profile, as this can give employers a more complete picture of
who you are and what you have to offer.

7. Rafi Chowdhury – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Ask for and give recommendations

Anyone you work with who is satisfied with your work, ask them to write you a recommendation and do the same for them. Lots of potential employers do look at those and it can make your profile stand out from others when you have endless amounts of recommendations bragging about you.

8. Raelyn Tan – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Treat the job profiles you write like a sales letter to the reader.

It may be easy to fall into the trap of listing accomplishment after accomplishment on your job profile and turning the profile into a boring lump of words. The result? It’s a turn-off to the reader.

Instead, write your job profile like how you would write a sales letter! Always start your job profile off with a hook to catch the attention of the viewer. Don’t jump straight into listing things.

Then, write out bullet points and imagine yourself as the “product”. Don’t just state your accomplishments, also talk about WHY they matter.

Lastly, keep paragraphs short and catchy, and cut out superfluous words, just like in a sales letter.

9. Janice Wald – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

When crafting your job profile on Linked In, It’s vital that you use keywords. That way, the LinkedIn algorithm pushes out your profile to people they know are interested in that content.

Do not leave any stone unturned. In other words, answer every question in detail. The more you write, the more keywords you use and the quicker your job profile comes to the attention of interested parties.
Also, you need to have a professional appearance in your photo. Use business casual attire. For instance, wear a blazer. This way, a potential employer can see how you’d dress to work. Dress to impress on the job and in your profile picture.

When done, reread your profile from the perspective of a potential employer. Have impartial friends and relatives do the same. Ask if they would hire you. Ask yourself if you would hire you. Follow these strategies to find a job on LinkedIn.

10. Poulomi Basu – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Medium | Pinterest

A really good LinkedIn job profile goes beyond just being about an employee or professional. It gives insights about who you are, how you think, what you believe in, what your values are, and how to you want to contribute value.

One of the first things to ensure when you create a profile is to make it as complete as possible. Write a clear summary, get recommendations, add your interests and activities.
That being out of the way, get active. Post your thoughts and musings, ask for people’s thoughts on your posts or create polls, share and comment on other people’s content.
When you do all of this, a prospective employer who checks out your profile will get to know how you think, what you believe in, and how you connect to others. That is what creates your personal brand and makes you different from other applicants who apply for the same jobs as you.

11. Michael Dinich – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

A LinkedIn headline should be attention-grabbing.

A LinkedIn profile has several essential components that can help a person stand out to potential employers. With headlines visible under your name, this sentence must be concise but eye-catching.

Always edit your profile headline to reflect not just the role you are searching for but also your expertise. Although you only have 120 characters to work with, you should mention any skills you specialize in and an accomplishment or how you can benefit a company.

For example, suppose you are a sales representative. In that case, you can indicate the industry you are targeting and how much money you have generated in sales in your career or a previous role. Always include accomplishments with measurable targets that highlight your performance, such as reaching sales goals, receiving positive customer service feedback, leading new programs or initiatives, etc.

A LinkedIn profile is now as valuable as a well-written resume and cover letter and demands equal attention. Don’t forget to proofread it several times, so it’s free of typos and grammatical errors.

12. Nikola Roza – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

Do everything

To make the best LinkedIn profile, you need to do everything you can to stand out. Why? Because that’s what most people are not doing.

Most people quickly set up their profile by listing their name, their title, and a professional photo of them.
That’s a great start. But you need to keep going much further than that.

Add a professional work-centric background image. Write a professional bio highlighting your achievements, education, and training you had. Connect with your peers in the same industry. List out your credentials. Have a link to your blog, online portfolio, or some other online property you own.
Fight to get endorsements, even if they’re from your friends on LinkedIn. Engage with others on LinkedIn, post valuable content on LinkedIn Pulse…
There are a ton of things you can do to really have a professional LinkedIn profile, and you don’t have to do everything to achieve success, but the more you do, the better off you’ll be.

13. Kent Lewis – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Create a compelling Headline

With sales and marketing as my primary responsibility at Anvil, it is my role to network and generate awareness for our brand. After years of testing various platforms, I’ve found LinkedIn is the best platform for brand-building (personally and professionally). For starters, LinkedIn the least tapped in terms of leveraging influencers. Having been a power-users for many years, I’ve become a bit of an expert on the platform and see this as a big opportunity for 2019 and beyond. Secondly, the platform is ideal for business-to-business marketing. There is no other platform that can target prospective customers (or partners) with ads, based on employer, job title, location and other key factors. One of the secrets to effective content marketing on LinkedIn is to use ad targeting to share high quality content as “sponsored content” which is more affordable and generally higher-performing than traditional display ads. Last week, LinkedIn announced interest-based targeting for it’s ad platform which will make it even more powerful going into 2019. Lastly, the platform is ideal for generating awareness and credentials via thought leadership to build your network (posting updates and writing articles on LinkedIn Pulse). Most recently, I’ve been leveraging 1st degree connections for outbound sales efforts, generating meaningful results after just a few months of outreach.

14. Adam Garcia – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Be your authentic self

If you want to attract people through your Linkedin profile, whether that be employees or possible employers, you want to first come off authentically.

Those who seem too stuffy, overload their profiles with accomplishments, and past positions, and post little on their feeds that show off their true value in their industry don’t say too much to those viewing it.

Think of who you would want to work with. Somebody who seems knowledgable and interested in their job or industry, or someone who comes off very matter-of-fact and, well, a bit dull.

Work profiles don’t have to be boring to be professional! Show off that glowing personality of yours!

15. Manidipa Bhaumik – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Your LinkedIn profile is a powerful tool that can help you land your dream job. Here are some tips on how to make the most of it:

1. Start with a strong, clear headline: This is your chance to grab employers’ attention and give them an idea of your professional background.
2. Use keywords throughout your profile: By including relevant keywords, you’ll make it easier for employers to find you and learn more about your skills and experience.
3. Tell your story: In your summary and experience sections, share your unique story and highlight your skills and accomplishments.
4. Use a professional photo: Make sure to include a professional photo in your LinkedIn profile. This will give employers a great first impression of you, and help you stand out from other candidates.
5. Keep your profile up-to-date: Keep your LinkedIn profile updated so that potential employers can see your latest skills and experience. It’s important to keep your profile up-to-date with your current skills so that people searching for you can easily know that you’re the right fit for their project.

16. Ekta Swarnkar – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

A LinkedIn profile should be well optimized. Enough to show up first in the search results for your name

LinkedIn is the best tool for service providers to find opportunities, build connections, and grow a personal brand. It’s my second most important tool to get leads and convert clients for my copywriting services.

And I think I’m able to do that because my Linkedin profile is well optimized. My profile shows up in Google search just below my website. Both of them work to add credibility to my work.

So here are some of the places you should optimize well on your LinkedIn profile:

Headline – Your headline should clearly tell what you do but in a bit of an engaging way. For example, my LinkedIn headline is “Freelance B2B Copywriter | Content Writer for SaaS & Marketing brands | Helping brands nurture their target audience.” It’s a bit long but it explains what I do.

Professional Photo – Your profile photo makes the first impression. Add a professional photo with a smiling face and eyes. In the background, you can create a LinkedIn banner on Canva for free to define your services.

About – The about section is to tell your story, not your life history. Use the place to talk about your recent work experiences and projects. Infuse your personality but keep it professional. Nobody on LinkedIn wants to know what you named your dog!

Connections – I’ve seen people sending connection requests to everyone on the “People you may know” section. Don’t do it! It’s not a great first impression. Instead, you should build genuine connections. Start with people you know.

But if there’s someone you admire and want to build a connection with, start engaging with their content. Follow them, like their posts, add comments, share their content, etc. Once they know you, they’re more likely to accept your request.

Go check out a few great profiles in your industry and see how they’re optimized. Take inspiration and work on your profile.

17. Christiana Acha – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook

LinkedIn is unarguably one of the best platforms for job seekers, industry experts, professionals in business, and likes.

However, in order to get noticed on LinkedIn, especially as a job seeker, you need to create a good profile that can draw the attention of the kind of people you are seeking to attract.

The first secret is ensuring that you have an eye-catching professional photo and a good background photo.

Secondly, list all your relevant skills, roles and certifications, and explain in detail everything you do, and how it can be of benefit to the organisation you are looking to attract.

Finally, Make sure to attach relevant files, like pictures, videos or links that show your experience. It could be a link to your website or videos or pictures of projects you have successfully worked on in the past.

18. Jake Jorgovan – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

Make your Linkedin headline focused on the problem you solve.

Don’t fill your Linkedin headline with a bunch of details about you. Explain the problem you solve for the people trying to hire you. Instead of saying “Customer Service Specialist” say “Helping companies deliver amazing customer experiences”. Your employer doesn’t care about you as much as they care about the problem they are hiring you to solve.

19. Shounak Gupte – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

A strong LinkedIn profile can be your key to landing your dream job. Here are our tips for creating a LinkedIn profile that will get you noticed by recruiters.

Your LinkedIn profile is much more than just an online resume. It’s an opportunity to show off your professional brand and network with other professionals in your field.

When crafting your LinkedIn profile, keep the following in mind:

1. Use a professional photo. Recruiters are more likely to take you seriously if you have a professional headshot as your profile photo.
2. Write a compelling headline. Your headline should be catchy and accurately reflect what you do professionally.
3. Highlight your skills and experience. In the “Experience” section of your profile, be sure to include key skills and accomplishments that will demonstrate your value to potential employers.
4. Make sure your profile is up-to-date and complete. Don’t forget to include a personal description, education history and relevant work experience.
5. Ask your connections for recommendations. If you have any mutual connections on LinkedIn, ask them to write a recommendation for you.
6. Finally, take some time to customize your profile for each job you apply to. Include keywords from the job description in your summary and experience sections. This will help you stand out to recruiters who are searching for candidates with specific skills and experience.

20. Umesh Singh – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook

LinkedIn is a great place for job seekers. It’s free, it has millions of users and you can easily find jobs that interest you. But how do you make sure your LinkedIn profile stands out?

How do you get noticed by recruiters?

And what should you include in your profile so that it will help you land the right job?
Here are some simple ways to improve your chances of getting hired.

1) Write an engaging headline
Your headline is one of the first things people see when they look at your profile. Make sure it grabs their attention and gets them interested enough to read further. You have 160 characters to work with here (the same as Twitter), so don’t be afraid to use all of them!

2) Include a summary
Your summary is another way to grab someone’s attention. This is where you tell potential employers who you are and why you would be a good fit for their company. Use bullet points to highlight your skills and experience.

3) Add a photo
A picture says a thousand words, and this holds true for social media profiles too. A professional headshot or image from your portfolio will go a long way towards making your profile stand out.

4) Tell us about yourself
This might seem like common sense but many jobseekers forget to mention their education and career history. If you want to set yourself apart from other candidates, write down every single job you’ve had since graduating.

5) Don’t forget to add links
You need to link to your website, blog, and any relevant social media accounts. Recruiters often check these before contacting you, so make sure you’re ready to answer questions about your work.

6) Update your profile regularly
Make sure you keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date. Every time you change something on your profile, such as adding new information or updating your skills, you’re giving recruiters a reason to come back and take a second look.

7) Get recommendations
If you know anyone who works at the companies you’d like to apply to, ask them if they could recommend you. They may even offer to write you a recommendation letter – which means you won’t have to spend money on a service like Letterbox.

8) Join groups
Groups allow you to connect with other professionals in your industry. Joining groups related to your field will let you stay updated with news and trends in your industry.

9) Follow companies
Companies love to follow other companies. So if you spot a recruiter from a company you’d like to use, send them a message asking if they’d like to follow you.

21. Sergio Sigler – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

Make your profile stand out with YOUR unique story.

LinkedIn is a competitive network with millions of resumes. So if you want to increase your chances of standing out, should tell your story rather than just create another “normal profile.”

Good stories engage people and provide your resume with something different and unique that can set you apart.

Your summary section is where you have your chance to tell your own story. This is your most personal piece of content marketing, and it’s well worth the effort.

22. Semil Shah – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

LinkedIn is a great way to build your professional brand. Your Linkedin Profile will show what exactly you are, your interest, your thoughts, and what you stand for.

Thus, creating a good Linkedin Job Profile is very much important, as you are representing yourself.

Some of the tips, that I would like to suggest to create an interesting and professional profile, are keeping a good profile picture, and writing a good summary about yourself.

Keep updated about your work experience, and add catchy headlines, and skills. Sharing your thoughts will also help you in keeping engaged with the public.

23. Jacob Cass – Website | Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Make use of contrasting yet cohesive colors.

A lot of our decisions are based on visuals, so if your profile looks attractive or professionally done it has a positive impact on your brand.

Using images with contrasting colors that are cohesive helps you stand out. To do this, it’s smart to have neutrals paired with stark colors.

Enhancing your job profile on Linkedin depends a great deal on your brand.

Making sure you highlight your portfolio and experiences with clients and brands is a great start. However, visuals are what pull people in.

Final Thoughts:

Your Facebook profile shows your network who you are casually. Your LinkedIn profile, however, is designed to show your connections who are professionally. Your LinkedIn profile showcases your skills and abilities. It notes your impressive performance at your previous places of employment.

Your profile shows how well you are connected to others in your industry. You can showcase your awards and certifications. You can even showcase your best writing and content through portfolios, links, and posts of your own.

LinkedIn is a social media platform in so many ways, but it is also more. It’s a marketplace designed to bring employees, clients, and employers together for transactional purposes. When you set up your LinkedIn profile, you’re telling the world who you are in the professional world and what they can expect if they connect and work with you.

Your LinkedIn profile is essentially your professional brand. Unlike a company, you don’t have a marketing division to do the work for you. It’s all on you. You are responsible for your brand online, and you can be certain that your colleagues, your connections, and your potential employers are paying close attention to how you present yourself.

The post Experts on How to Craft the best LinkedIn Job Profile appeared first on Rafi Chowdhury.

It’s hard to gauge just how vital your credit score is, for it affects your life in financial aspects. As society becomes increasingly reliant on credit scores to assess loan applicants, a bad score would restrict you from obtaining even the essentials such as a house. 

But how exactly does your credit score affect your life, especially your likelihood of being accepted for a loan? Will a terrible credit score instantly disqualify you for a loan? 

To help you realize its importance, here are eight ways your credit score can affect your loan credentials:

Mortgage and Living Space

Mortgage lenders and landlords will always secure their money first before granting property for anyone’s living. If they think you are a bad payer, your application may result in higher rates or get rejected entirely! Thus, your credit score affects access to a good living space.

You may check out bad credit loans to help you secure a home, whatever your financial standing is. Remember that a terrible score does not immediately result in homelessness, so keep your head up and fix your poor credit while searching for available loans.

Utility Services

Utilities include necessary resources such as clean water, electricity, gas, internet, and phone service. They are vital for day-to-day human functioning. Unfortunately, a bad credit score could restrict even your access to these basic needs. 

If they deem that you may not pay them back, utility providers are liable to impose security deposits. As with all other businesses, it’s a way to guarantee their money. To you, it would mean more expenses. It could even add to the hassle of improving your credit for future loans.

If you’re having trouble paying your utilities, you can consider borrowing money such as loans for bad credit by CreditNinja.com. Moreover, your credit score can improve just simply by paying your bills on time. So, if you’re in dire need of money, you can always consider this option. 

Employment

Yes, employers run credit checks as part of the recruitment process. While they do not have direct access to your credit score, they can still run background checks on your credit history to see if you are financially responsible.

If you have a history of debt and poor credit, prospective employers may look the other way. To them, you spell trouble even as far as embezzlement. Especially in financial or accounting roles – who would want to hire people who cannot handle money?

Insurance

Yet another bad news for folks with poor credit—securing affordable insurance. For car insurance, rates could increase up to 76% based on credit. The more you produce an impression of a bad payer, the more your rates will increase!

Indeed, credentials and financial profile are pivotal. To illustrate, you can reduce your premiums up to 20% for home insurance with just a good credit score. It could become the culprit or saving grace in the success of acquiring life-saving insurance.

Minimal Loan Amount

Naturally, loan providers will not just throw money away with no heed. They have to review possible profits and losses for each insured individual. Companies may label you as a high-risk customer if you have a history of debt reflected in your credit report.

And what comes after is determining the amount of money you can borrow. Because you are a risky investment, lenders may give you just the minimal loan amount. It means fewer losses for them (in the event of repayment failure) but more limited terms for you.

Higher Interest Rates

When loan providers believe that they are lending money to people who cannot repay them responsibly, they will have to enforce protection and secure their investment. A way to do so is to increase interest rates for the loan.

Risk-based pricing allows lenders to charge varying interest rates based on the risk customers pose. People with good credit scores will avail of better terms and lesser interest rates, while those with bad scores settle with the opposite. Indeed, credit score equals trustworthiness!

Declined Applications

If things are no longer up for negotiation, your loan application may go straight to the trash can. Worst-case scenarios could lead to an entirely declined application, if not sky-high interest rates and minimal loan amount.

But always remember that there are still several loans out there for you. Rejection may be a redirection to better loans with superior terms and rates regardless of credit. So don’t be discouraged looking for more loan provisions because of a declined application.

Bad Payer, Bad Impression

In the end, it’s all about putting on the right impression. Good payers will receive the best offers, while bad payers get the short end of the stick. The former is a low-risk, profitable investment, while the latter may be a risky expenditure. 

Ultimately, you have reasons for a bad credit score: bankruptcy, debt, or losing a job. But they do not need to define your overall financial history. While impressions are important, they do not last. You have all the time to improve your credit score!

Final Thoughts

As long as you maintain balance and avoid the trap of huge debts, your credit score will never disappoint. Now that you know how it affects your loan credentials, it’s time to move and remedy poor credit to secure life opportunities and financial freedom throughout your life.

The post 8 Ways Your Credit Score Can Affect Your Loan Credentials appeared first on Rafi Chowdhury.

In this article, we’ll discuss the advantages of freight forwarding, and despite those, we’ll discuss the challenges of freight forwarding.

Advantages of Freight Forwarding

Focusing on Your Business

To be a business, you must undertake a lot of functions. When you outsource your freight forwarding to a third party, you can devote all of your attention to your business while we handle the logistics. We will govern everything else. When you work with a reputable freight forwarder, your freight will be handled with excellent care and attention, which benefits you even more.

Taking Care of Your Customers

When your business handles the shipment of products for customers, handling these shipments reflects how you operate your business. When you outsource your freight forwarding to a company with years of experience, you can trust your shipments will meet your customer’s standards and be handled with the utmost care.

Getting More for Less

When you outsource your freight forwarding to a third party, you will be able to get more for less as a business owner. You will be able to manage the cost of your freights in this manner, increasing your profit margins. You will also be able to focus more on your own business, increasing your ability to earn more money.

A Better Overall Experience

The experience of your business reflects on you, the owner of the business. When you outsource your freight forwarding, you are outsourcing your business’s expertise. When you use a company with years of experience, you will be able to get more for less and deliver a better overall experience to your customers.

A Smoother Business Process

Freight forwarding is a complicated business that requires many services to successfully and efficiently get products from one place to another. Freight Forwarders offer services that your business may not have the time or ability to handle. You will be able to optimize your business processes when you outsource your freight forwarding to a company that can handle these processes for you.

The Challenges of Freight Forwarding

Despite its many advantages, freight forwarding has its own set of challenges. As if freight forwarding wasn’t already complicated enough, several challenges are common for all businesses in this industry. These challenges affect your business, but they affect your customers as well. Here are some of the most typical challenges facing companies in this freight forwarding industry:

International Regulations

Even if you are shipping between domestic destinations, there are many regulations that your business is subject to. These regulations include everything from customs, monetary restrictions, and food regulations. When you ship internationally, there are even more regulations to deal with. If you are not familiar with all the regulations, it may not be easy to meet your customers’ needs.

Digital Paperwork

Freight forwarding has been around for a long time. The first record of a freight forwarder dates back to ancient Egypt. This means that a lot of the paperwork and contracts are still being done on paper and may be difficult to transfer to digital formats. Additionally, this paperwork is essential and cannot be lost, meaning that it must be appropriately archived. This is an ongoing challenge for businesses and a unique challenge for freight forwarding businesses.

Lost or Damaged Products

One of the most dissatisfying challenges faced by freight forwarders is losing or damaging products. Due to the lack of oversight in the industry, the rates of lost or damaged goods are staggeringly high. The damaged goods may not be able to be used or sold, causing revenue loss to businesses.

Inability to Track Products

When a product is shipped, there are many ways that the customers can track the shipment. Technological developments have made this tracking process quite simple, but different shipments are tracked differently. If your shipping company cannot properly track your shipment, you will not be able to tell when and where the shipment will arrive. This can lead to your customer’s inability to receive their order and can also lead to you losing revenue.

Long Transit Times

The time it takes for the shipments to reach their destination is called the transit time. A long transit time can lead to problems, including late arrival, damaged products, and lost products. Not only that, but if your business has a long transit time, it will be more expensive to ship your products. This can be a significant disadvantage to your business.

How to Face These Challenges?

To overcome freight forwarding challenges, you must be resourceful and determined.

Use the Right Technology

Technology is fundamental in the freight forwarding industry. In fact, without computers and other emerging technologies, the industry would not be able to function. It only makes sense that the most successful companies are the ones that are the most up-to-date when it comes to technology.

Manage Your Materials Properly

Part of managing your materials is making sure that you are using the correct materials. If you use the wrong materials, it can lead to loss of revenue, revenue loss, and even environmental harm. Make sure you are using the standard materials when you ship your products.

Know All the Regulations

Knowing all the regulations that apply to your industry is very important. If you do not know all the rules, you will have difficulty shipping your products. This can lead to a lot of problems for your business, from delays to the loss of revenue. Make sure you are well known for all the regulations in your industry.

Choose the Right Shipping Route and Route Time

Choosing the correct shipping route is another important task. Shipping routes can vary in price and transit time. You need to know if you are getting the best deal or if you will be overpaying for your products. Additionally, you need to see the transit time so that you will be able to tell if something happens.

Minimize Your Transit Time

The transit time for your products is another area where you can save money. Shipping products for a long time can lead to a higher price and potentially damage your products. Make sure you minimize your transit time so that you can get your products to your customers as quickly as possible.

Want to Know How to Get Around This Complicated Stuff?

Choose The Right Freight Forwarder

Freight Forwarders are the ones who are responsible for the logistics of your products. If you have trouble controlling the freight forwarding aspect of your business, then you need to find a Freight Forwarder that will be able to meet your business needs. There are many Freight Forwarders out there that are more than capable of handling your business logistics.

Image Source: PIXABAY

Alt-Text: Many Containers In The Ports

How to Choose the Right Freight Forwarder?

As you can see, choosing the right Freight Forwarder is not an easy task. There are many Freight Forwarding companies out there, and it would be complicated for one Freight Forwarding company to meet all your needs. Therefore, you need to choose your Freight Forwarder wisely and make sure that you are choosing one that can meet your needs. Here are some important things to check for when choosing a Freight Forwarder:

1. Technology

There is only one way to go when it comes to technology and Freight Forwarding. You need to be using the latest technology in your industry. The Freight Forwarder that you choose should have the latest technology and be able to use the newest technology in Freight Forwarding.

2. Qualifications

The qualifications of your Freight Forwarder are also very important. You need to know that you are choosing a company with the capabilities to meet all your Freight Forwarding needs. Zggship for instance is a freight forwarder company in China that qualifies and is capable of handling your goods to arrive safe and secure on time.

3. Reputation

The reputation of your Freight Forwarder should be very important to you. If you have a freight forwarder with a bad reputation in the industry, it can negatively affect your business. You need to make sure that you choose a freight forwarder with a good reputation.

4. Service

Your Freight Forwarder’s service is another important thing to keep your eye on. A good Freight Forwarder can provide you with quick service and will be able to provide you with an excellent overall experience. Please choose a good Freight Forwarder that has good service. For example, FBABEE a 3PL freight forwarder in China provides fast and efficient services to all its customers.

5. Specialization

When it comes to Freight Forwarding, choosing a Freight Forwarder specializing in your field is another important thing to keep in mind. If you have a specialized Freight Forwarder, it is more likely that you will be able to get the best experience and meet all your needs.

6. Conditions

You should also make sure that you are choosing a Freight Forwarder that will be able to meet all of your conditions. If you have any special requirements, you need to ensure that your Freight Forwarder can meet those conditions.

7. Costs

Ensuring that the Freight Forwarder you choose is cost-effective is also very important. Please select a Freight Forwarder that will be able to meet all your needs without charging you more than you can afford. Making sure that you are cost-effective is one of the most important things to consider when choosing a Freight Forwarder.

Looking for the right Freight Forwarder for your company is an essential part of your business. If you are having trouble controlling your Freight Forwarding, you should try out a Freight Forwarder. Freight Forwarding is one of the most important parts of your business, and without the right Freight Forwarding company, your business can

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it—a quick overview of the many challenges associated with freight forwarding and how to overcome them. But don’t worry – it’s not all doom and gloom! There are plenty of advantages to freight forwarding which we outlined for you earlier in this post.

 And if all that seems like too much hard work, don’t forget that you can always choose the right freight forwarder to take care of all the complicated stuff for you. Just make sure you do your research first so that you find a company that knows what they’re doing and will be able to help your business grow. We hope this article has been helpful – now it’s over to you! Comments?

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Ecommerce SEO is all about driving traffic to your store; it doesn’t matter if you have the best products or not. If people ain’t clicking the business is going to fail.

To help you out, I’ve listed four essential SEO steps to build yourself a dependable store:

Step 01 – Audit Your Site

The most common mistake any eCommerce startup makes is jumping straight to link building. Most of the time the problems are a lot closer to home than you think. 

It’s like building your house on sand; eventually, it’s going to sink!

Before you do anything your need to make sure there are no on-site problems, the most common being:

• Technical issues
• No content/Duplicate content
• Hard to Crawl

To find out what’s up, you’ll need to run an audit on your eCommerce site. For this, you have many tools you can use, such as SEMrush and Ahrefs. 

But today we’re going to talk about Screaming Frog:

It’s the most competent tool to use for an audit, and the best part is, it’s free to use for up to 500 URLs. After that, you’ll need to pay a yearly license of £149.

Auditing your site with Screaming Frog couldn’t be easier, just follow these quick and easy steps:

1. Enter your eCommerce’s main URL into the search bar and press Crawl 
2. Once the Crawl has completed, you can export the data
3. To make the information easier to read filter the data with HTML only 
4. You’ll then be shown the dashboard, from here you should save the work FILE>SAVE

From the dashboard, you’ll be able to find solutions to all the problems with your eCommerce site. Go to the filter and search for any duplicate content on the website. 

If you find any fix it, Google will only index one of the pages, which means you could be losing organic search traffic.

Step 02 – Keyword Research

Google has many ranking factors, but keywords are still to this day one of the biggest. It’s something you have to keep in mind if you want your site to succeed. 

Finding the right keywords will help you drive traffic to your site, and this is the key to success for any online shop. In this section, I’m going to show you what makes the perfect keyword and what mistakes you should avoid:

Intent Of The Keyword

One of the biggest mistakes I see is when the store owner picks a keyword-based solely on how much traffic it brings. The ultimate goal for selecting the right keyword is to attract qualified traffic. 

In other words, it’s a keyword that can drive customers from the right stage of a sales funnel. The lower stage of the funnel has the people ready to spend money, but there are fewer of them, others aim at the top and work them down the sales funnel.

Relevance To Your Store

To attract the right people to your eCommerce store, the keyword needs to be relevant to the intent. This helps to increase the conversion rate of the page. Think about it, what’s the point of using a keyword that doesn’t match the product?

To find out if the keyword is relevant to your store search for it in Google and check out the top 10 results. If those pages match yours, you’ll know the keyword is relevant to your store.

Overall Competition

The key to success is finding a keyword that you realistically compete with. This means finding a keyword with a difficulty that matches your page authority. Think about it; a new store is unlikely to compete with any of the big names (Amazon).

Volume Of Search

You need to consider how many people search for the keyword you’re thinking about. If people don’t search for the term, what’s the point of using it? What accounts as high traffic for one niche might not be the same for others.

You’ll need to compare each keyword in that niche to find out what’s classed as a high traffic keyword. Remember it’s vital that you consider the previous three steps. Picking a keyword solely based on traffic can be a huge mistake.

How To Find Keywords Using Ahrefs

Researching suitable keywords is simple using Ahrefs, just follow these steps to find out if you can rank for your keyword:

1. Perform a search for your keyword in Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
2. Check the keyword difficulty; Ask yourself, does my page authority match the difficulty?
3. Look at the page ranking for that keyword, do they have a similar authority?

Following these steps and asking the right questions is the key to succeeding in your keyword research. 

Step 03 – On Page SEO

Just like your everyday websites, on-page SEO is the key to building the right foundations for your eCommerce stores. 

The thing is:

Ecommerce SEO has its own challenges.

Below I’m going to show you everything you need to get you on-page SEO work on point:

Links, Links, Links

Internal links are a potent SEO technique, yet they remain the most underused tactics. It helps Google crawl around your site, which it loves. But more importantly, you can choose your own anchor text which helps boost your keywords.

Optimized Images 

When people are looking for specific products, they tend to use Google Images, so it pays to use correct image optimization. This means changing file names and Alt tags to include LSI keywords.

Page Titles

The most crucial factor here is to have the keyword as close to the start of the title as possible. This helps Google quickly identify what the page is about. You’ll also need to make people want to click on it.

Meta

The meta description is used to give customers an honest review of what the page is about. It’s also a great place to add some additional keywords. You need to make sure the text is engaging, so people want to click on it.

Step 04 – Link Building

This is the last step you need to take to push your eCommerce store to the top of the rankings. The aim is to gain as many high-quality/relevant links to your store as you can. 

By doing this, you can increase your store’s rankings, which results in more profits for you. There are several ways you can build links, but today we are going to focus on two:

Guest Posting

It’s one of the most commonly used techniques to score links to your page. And doing it is easy, it’s just not as cheap as it used to be. 

It’s used to help you build an authentic relationship between bloggers and your store.

Guest posting can be split into five easy steps:

1. Search for opportunities using Google search
2. Make sure the page is relevant 
3. Pitch to the blog
4. Write engaging content with a link to your page 
5. Get the post published

Finding your guest posting opportunities takes a quick Google search; this could be by using search terms such as:

“Keyword” + Guest blogger

“Keyword” + Write for us

“Keyword” + Add guest post

Copy and paste all the results into an Excel sheet, don’t worry about the relevance just yet you can qualify them later. 

Once you have a complete list, it’s time to analyse each site, to do this, you need to be thinking about a few things:

• Niche relevance
• Domain authority
• Number of referring links
• Trust flow

From there it’s a case of outreaching to each one of the sites you deem worthy. This can take some time to complete, so I recommend using tools like Ninja Outreach or Pitchbox to complete the task.

If you don’t get a reply from your first pitch, don’t give up.

A lot of blog owners are receiving a high quantity of emails; yours may have been missed. Make sure you follow up after 6-7 days. If they still don’t answer, try one more time before moving on.

Most site owners will be looking for something in return for the post.

Like I said guest posting isn’t cheap, and depending on the DA (Domain Authority) they could cost £0-120+ per post. 

Analysis Your Competitors

I’ve saved the best till last; competitor analysis allows you to quickly rank your pages by replicating what the people at the top are doing. You’ll need to use Google to find the top 10 pages that are ranking for your keyword.

From there use Ahrefs to find out what backlinks they use for that page. Find all the high domain sites that are linking to it and ask yourself “what did they do to get the link.” This will give you a great idea of where to start.

Round-Up

Building an eCommerce shop is a very viable option for a second hustle in this day and age. But it does take some planning. Just remember there are four stages to building a sustainable store:

1. Audit your site
2. Research your keyword
3. Clean up your on-page SEO
4. Link build

With these four easy steps, you can build your way to success quickly and efficiently.   

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