15 SEO Tips For Beginners - 15 Way To Search Engine Optimization

SEO Tips for Beginners.

 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about optimizing your blog to rank high in the Search Engine Results and thus increase overall visibility. Apart from unique contents and site design, it’s one of the most important aspects of blogging.Basically, what you are trying to achieve here is to figure out On What ‘Keywords’ you want the visitors to find your site and how to optimize the said ‘keywords’ to rank high & relevant in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).Simply put, everything begins with what you have carefully chosen as “Your Keyword“. An example of mine are Blogging Tips for Beginners and Blog for Beginners which currently ranks #2 and #1 respectively.

If you are new to blogging concept and SEO in particular, I’ll like to share with you 15 SEO Tips to help improve your site’s ranking in the Search Engine Results, all without the usual jargon.


1. Keywords in <title> tag

One of the most important factor to rank high in your chosen keyword is to have it – your keyword – inside the <title> tag. The <title> tag is what appear in the clickable link on the search engine results page. In what I have came to learn is that what appears in the beginning is more important than what comes next.
To give you an idea, let’s take a look at 2 of my chosen keywords – Blog for Beginners & Blogging Tips for Beginners, as the former appears first follows by the latter, naturally Blog for Beginners appears higher than Blogging Tips for Beginners. However, this may not always be the case as other factors such the competitiveness of the keywords are equally important. What I’m trying to say is that you always put your Primary Keyword first.
Now if you are on WordPress, I’d recommend use of an indispensable Platinum SEO plugin to help you optimize your <title> without messing up your theme code.

2. SEO-Friendly URL

By default, WordPress set the permalink structure as www.domain.com/?p=12 which is a big NO NO for Search Engines Optimization (SEO). It doesn’t actually gives any indication to the robot what the url is all about.
In what I have came to learn, the optimal URL structure, according to Matt Cutt with his SEO tips, would be to use only the post title as part of the URL and don’t include the post date in your URL. Not only it is human-readable, more importantly it gives the maximum SEO benefits. How to Optimize Your URL For Search Engines.

3. Proper Use of Keywords in (<H1>, <H2>, <H3>)

Don’t expect the search engine to figure out which are the headlines – it won’t. Instead, use your keywords in the <H1>, <H2>, and <H3> tags to provide clues to the search engine. A good buddy of mine, PB has revealed The Best SEO Tricks Ever that shows you how to optimize your keywords within those headlines.

4. Keywords in Image <alt> tag

Indeed images speak a thousand words but Search Engine Spiders don’t read images, they only read the <alt> tag which is the textual description of the image. Hence, it is important to always provide a meaningful description of an image with your keyword within the <alt> tag. Why you should care with the image ALT attribute.

5. Anchor Text of Inbound & Outbound Links

What is Anchor Text? It’s the word within a hyperlink. Here’s an example, About Yan Susanto, in which “About Yan Susanto” is the anchor text. Not only it gives your readers an idea of about the content of the page you’re linking to, more importantly it tells search engines what the page is about. Used it wisely, it will boost your rankings in search engines, especially in Google. As a rule of thumbs, avoid using “click here” for an anchor text. (See the outbound links on #2 and #3)

6. Origin of Inbound Links

Besides the anchor text, it is your duty to ensure that the sites that link to you is not from bad neighbourhoods. The theory is that it’s better to have one inbound link from a reputable site (generally speaking, sites with greater Google PR are considered reputable) than to have one hundreds links from untrusted sites. Simply said, who links to you does matter.
It’s also important to note that inbound links from sites of similar niche has far more credibility in the eyes of Search Engine than that of unrelated ones. Where Do You Get The Best Quality Inbound Links?

7. The Power of Internal Linking

One important element of SEO that is often overlooked is Internal Linking which, in layman term, means the process of linking to other pages of your site within your archives. I can’t think of a better way to reactivate and rejuvenate the old and buried posts in your archive than to link them internally in your recent post.
You shouldn’t underestimate the power of internal linking in the distribution of your Page Rank – if any, to your internal pages and in helping to improve your search engine results. Link building is never enough without proper internal linking.

8. Links from Directories

I’m not a fan of free directories as IMO having tons of links from PR0 directories is useless and it can even be regarded as link spamming, but being listed in DMOZ Directory, Yahoo Directory and similar directories will certainly boost for your overall ranking. However, it is almost impossible to get into DMOZ without much of a credibility – and some says ‘certain form of connection from biased editors’. Still it’s one of those things that is worth your while.

9. <Description> metatag

Though metatags are becoming less and less important, there are two metatags that still matter in SEO, these are the <description> and <keywords> metatags. Both are still important from a human and search engine perspective. <Description> metatag is what you use to describe your site. In fact, this description is what the visitors see when your site appears on the search results. How to Create The Perfect Meta Description For Google (& Searchers)

10. <Keywords> metatag

While you are it, fill your <Keywords> tag with relevant keywords. Relevancy here means that every word within <Keywords> metatag must somehow appears somewhere within the body text. If not, it can be penalized for irrelevance and considered bad for your ranking. What’s The Best Keyword Meta Tags Formula?

11. Use of Robots.txt for Duplicate Content

Basically the purpose of creating a robots.txt file is to improve site indexation by telling search engine crawler to only index your content pages and to ignore other pages (i.e. monthly archives, categories folders or your admin files) that you do not want them to appear on the search index because it may lead to duplicate content issue.
If you are using WordPress, Syed Balkhi wrote a must-read Robots.txt Guide for WordPress – Avoid Duplicate Content.

12. Use of Sitemap

While Robots.txt instructs search engines which parts of your site to exclude from indexing, a Sitemap tells search engines where you’d like them to go. From a search engine perspective, sitemap is useful for better and faster indexing while a plain HTML sitemap with the use of plugin provides ease of navigation for your visitors.
As such, it is not uncommon to have 2 sitemaps of which one is created for human – your visitors and the other for search engine robots.

   1. For Search Engines – You can create a Google Sitemap online and add your Sitemap to your Google Webmaster account or if you are on WordPress, install Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator which will generate XML-Sitemap supported by most of the search engines.
   2. For Your Visitors – Clean Archives Reloaded generate a list of your posts sorted by months for better navigation. To see an example, have a look at my archives page.

13. Site Accessibility

Another fundamental yet often neglected factor that might affect your site ranking is the issue of accessibility. Often your site may be unaccessible due to broken links and wrong use of robots.txt that may cause your pages not indexed by Search Engines.
The solution: Broken Link Checker for WordPress will check and detect both internal and outbound links that don’t work and notifies you on the Dashboard of any broken links.

14. Keywords in First Paragraph

Put simply, search engines scan and expect that your first paragraph will contain the important keywords for the article. Make sure your keywords appear in the first paragraph of your content. If you do notice, in the first paragraph of this article, I place two primary keywords, SEO and blogging as part of my keyword optimization.

15. Keywords in Footer

Well, the first impression and the last impression usually makes the most remembered impression. A simple SEO trick of placing a link to your main page with your keyword as an anchor text could have a positive result in your search engine ranking.

Final Say
SEO is never intended to be a one-time effort. No success can be achieved overnight. It takes a lot of patience, commitment and the know-hows to succeed. All the above tips when applied may not push you into #1 but it will surely bring you one step closer to #1.
The key to SEO success is persuading search engines that your site is relevant in any search query. There are no hard and fast rules to SEO, it all boils down to the right mixture of quality content and quality inbound and outbound links with proper keywords optimization.
Good luck with your SEO. If you have any opinions or feedbacks, send them my way. I’m all ears.

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SEO more effective than PPC and Social Media

Provocative statement that applies, however, when one examines the number of leads generated. This has now done someone and the result on an infographic perpetuated. And since it is clear that SEO is still the main source on the Internet for new contacts and potential clients. More than 80% of all users around the world use every day search engines, and more than 50% of small and medium-sized enterprises falter their budget for SEO on. In the B2B even say almost 60% of all companies that SEO is your best source when it comes to making new contact and new business. B2C is still 41%. But what makes these figures so interesting?

SEO lives

Despite all the gloomy predictions in recent years, SEO is dead who ignored under any circumstances SEO in their marketing mix, has a problem. PPC and Social Media are currently namely not yet in a position to SEO to reach the water.

At least when it comes to generating leads, this is the primary message of the infographic. The figures confirm this: as SEO is both in the B2B and the issue of B2C for most new contacts responsible.

PPC and social media followed at No. 2 and 3 in comparison with PPC SEO cuts even better. This is partly because good SEO rankings are generally a long time. The traffic of a PPC campaign dried up when the ads will not appear.

Apples to oranges comparison?

The infographic is well prepared and clearly shows that SEO is a must for any modern strategy if one has taken up the cause to conduct meaningful and sustainable online marketing. And the comparison between SEO and PPC may sound more reasonable, this is not quite so easy to see in social media.

Social media follows in many areas completely different rules than is the case with SEO. Is it the subject of search engine optimization is to give an active seekers the opportunity to find the right information from their own initiative, it is turning to social media more likely to experience the world that you have to reinvent build permanent.

Social media has the "disadvantage" that you have people, for example, in social networks, actively respond and provoke to action, so there are certain reactions. This may be more traffic on your website, but need not be.

At SEO direct traffic to the website is always the goal. Especially because of this distinction between the two disciplines should in my view, always keep the marketing mix in the eye and so ensure that you extract of both worlds for the best.

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Importance of an Alt Tag for Images

What is an Alt Tag?

An alt tag should be used for all of the images on your site. It essentially acts as the title for each of the images on your site. It is like a keyword rich caption for each image that the search
engines can crawl and index.
The alt tag is text that is added to the html portion of the site. Its main function is to be read by the search engines and not necessarily your customers.

Why is an Alt Tag Important?

Using an alt tag is very important to the way your site and the images on your site are ranked by the search engines. This will help increase traffic to your site and drive more qualified customers that are interested in your services or products.
Normally images on your site have a filename such as 10230001.jpeg. This file name means absolutely nothing to the search engines. It does not even describe what the picture is about.
Let’s say the picture on your site is of a man riding a mountain bike because you sell bicycles. The alt tag can then say “man riding a mountain bike.” This description now tells the search
engines what the picture is about and that it is relevant to your site. This helps to rank your images and your site better with the search engines.
Also there may be instances when your customers may not see the images on your site. Be it they have turned off that functionality on their side or a technical glitch on your site. The customer
will still be able to read the alt tag.

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Best Time for Your Company to Send Emails

Best Time for Your Company to Send Emails

One of the most asked questions by email marketers is when should emails be sent out to customers? Is the best time in the morning, midday, evening, weekdays or weekends?

Well to be frank, there is no one cookie cutter answer that will magically bring you more customers. Each company, service and product offered have different customers that behave in their own unique way.

Also, the action you want your customers to take when they read your emails will affect the outcome of your email campaigns.

Perhaps you want the customer to visit your store on certain days to receive a discount on their purchase. You could get a low response because customers were busy and could not make it to the store. Maybe the email campaign would have been a success if the customer could have shopped at your online store.

Running a contest could get impressive responses even if you send it out late in the day on a weekend, or it could fall flat because it has been said that no one reads emails on the weekend.

So what do statistics say? Could they better answer your question?

Statistics

There are statistics that analytical companies will boast are correct. Some say weekdays between 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., while others day it should be weekdays from 8 -10 p.m. because that is when customers are at their computers.

Another statistics says to stay away from weekends because no one is reading their emails, while other say that is the perfect time to target shoppers.

Statistics have also stated that you will get the best response if your email is opened within the first hour of being sent.

The True Answer

The best answer to the question is to figure out what works for your target audience. You will have to try AB testing again and again to discover the pattern that works.

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Choosing an Email Color Scheme

Choosing an Email Color Scheme

Choosing an email color scheme is vital so your email campaign will look professional and cohesive in combination with your site and marketing materials.

Consistency in your emails helps your customer to know that (1) they have received an email from your company and (2) when they click to your site that they have landed on the correct site.

You will need to choose about seven colors or hues to incorporate into your email template. You will need colors for the:

Header
Footer
Text
Links
Background
Sidebar
If you already have a logo and website built, then choose your email colors from there. This will ensure that your brand has a consistent look and feel throughout.

Pick a color palette that is geared towards your target audience to facilitate drawing them into your brand, services and products.

For example, if you are selling relaxation candles, you will want serene, peaceful colors like a light green or off white. Bright, extravagant colors would only distract from the concept of your brand.

When choosing your color scheme, make sure you have a variety of contrasting colors. Your message will look bland or get lost if the colors are too light, too dark or too similar.

Choosing a background color and text color is very important. You want to ensure that the text is easy to read and the colors are easy on the eyes.

Keep in mind the sizes of the text on your site. If the font gets too small, your background color might bleed into the word and make it difficult to read.

Also, your background color should not be overpowering since it is the most prominent color to be used on the site.

Make sure that the color you choose for your links is not used elsewhere. This provides consistency and your links will stand out easily.

If you are having trouble deciding on a color scheme, one of your talented team members can assist you, so contact us today.

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6 Best SEO practices for using rel=canonical

The rel=canonical is an important part of your website structure when it comes to SEO. A couple of days ago, we shared some common mistakes people often make with rel=canonical attributes, knowing little that the consequences could be more than they bargained for. Anyhow, we discussed the mistakes before. Today, we are going to some best practices you should always try to follow when canonicalizing your pages.




The rel=canonical attribute is a way of letting search engines know that there is a canonical, or alternate version of the current page available somewhere else. The current page might have the same data as the original source, but organized differently (sorted, summarized, formatted etc). This reduces the risk of your site getting penalized for duplicate content. And search engines like it too, because it's one less page they have to crawl and index.

To help you make the best out of your rel=canonicals, here are some best SEO practices you should keep in mind.


6 SEO practices for using rel=canonical


Don't canonicalize unless the duplication is large - Do not add rel=canonical unless there's a large portion of duplicated content. Similar topics with closely matching, but not exactly matching content do not qualify. A good litmus test would be looking at the pages from the perspective of someone who doesn't know that language. If someone without knowledge of that language can tell if the two pages have same content, then you probably should canonicalize them.

Only use one rel=canonical per page. You can't point to multiple source pages. Rel=canonicals that come after the first one are ignored.

Decide which URL you want to show - You can make either of the pages appear in search results. But make sure you make the correct association, and not add a rel=canonical on the original page.

Make sure that the target to your canonical doesn't lead to a 404 page.

The original page must not contain a "noindex" tag.

Include in the head - Make sure you place the rel=canonical in the <head> section of your site. If it comes in the body, it will simply be ignored.

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Choosing a Color Scheme for Your Site

Choosing a Color Scheme for Your Site

Choosing a color scheme for your site can really enhance your brand and logo. Yes it can become overwhelming but in the end it is a much needed task to undertake.

Make sure you choose a color range that has a variety of hues so all your marketing materials will match. For example, you will want your colors to be on your site, email templates, print materials and press kits.

When picking the colors, you can make the decision yourself or seek out the help of a seasoned online marketing professional. Either way, below are some tips to keep in mind when deciding on a color palette.

Online Tools

You can always go the old fashioned route and head to the local paint store to grab color swatches. Or, you can use online tools to help you find a range of color tones that are flattering to one another.

Kuler Palette by Adobe – This tool is easy to use and allows you to mix and match colors your self or select from a pre-made color schemes.

Psychology of Color – Some people believe color invokes certain emotions from people. If this is important to your business, then you will want select the right shade of colors using a psychology color chart.

Colour Lovers – This site can help you find the colors that are trending this season or for this year.

Color Combo – A site that allows you to compare pre-selected color swatches side by side or you can mix and match to find your own combination.

Design Seed – Choose and compare from a variety of pre-selected color swatches to find the right combination.

Pantone – Another helpful site that gives you the latest in trending color combinations.

Look Around You

Use your natural surroundings for inspiration. Take the time to look around as you drive to work or stand in line for coffee.

Photographs – Look at one of your favorite photographs and choose colors from there.

Favorite Color – Choose your favorite color and use different hues.

Color Wheel – Look at a color wheel and choose colors that are adjacent to each other or colors that are directly across from one another.

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Which Comes First: Content or Design ?

Which Comes First: Content or Design?

Do you know which comes first when building a new site – content or design? This is like asking which came first – the chicken or the egg? Ask a web designer and the answer will be design.
Then ask a content writer and the response will be content.

So what’s the correct answer – NEITHER. Let’s hear each side of the argument then I’ll explain why neither design nor content comes first when you want to build a new site.

Design First

It’s a little hard to design an entire site when you haven’t the slightest idea as to what the message of the site and brand is going to be. You could design and entire site leaving large areas
of space for content only to find out that the client has a small straight to the point message that will now be lost in a sea of white space.

As a designer, you might insert images and graphics which will most likely lack content to describe what they are and how they are important to the customer.

You might build out 10 pages only to find out there is enough content to fill 25 pages. So without content, a design can only reach half its potential.

Content First

A writer can sit down and hash out 15 pages worth of straight text, no problem. Yet, there is a problem because the designer will most likely NOT develop a page where a writer can just plop in a ton of content. The look of the site will most likely call for the content to be broken up so it is easier for the customer to read in small chunks.

The writer will not know which pages have been designed so there will be some pages that will lack content. Also if images or graphics were added to the site, the writer will not know to write
descriptions or captions.

And The Correct Answer Is…

The right answer is structure. The designer and content writer need to first work together to figure out the structure of the site by making a sitemap.

A sitemap lays out the foundation of the site and defines the navigation. From there each person can define which pages need to be made and how much content each will have.

An easy example is architecture. You can just decide to construct a building all willy nilly. First, you have to have an architecture draw out a plan to know the dimensions and sizes of the interior and exterior of the building. A sitemap does exactly that for a website.

The best sites exist because the content writer and the designer worked hand-in-hand from conception to completion.

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How To Be Smart ?

Much of our media looks down on smart people. They like to produce stories on beautiful and famous people with problems. Sometimes it almost seems to be unpopular to be smart. Such an attitude will not fare you well in the real world. Cultivating your intelligence is one of the most important things you can do to ensure your happiness and financial success in life.

Steps;

Set Goals

Set goals once a week. Do the important things first. This helps because you might need to do an important project and you decide to go and play soccer instead. And the night before the project is due you are rushing around and may not even finish before it is due . Your teacher will be able to tell two things, you've rushed it and you haven't put any effort into it.

Be organized. Begin each day by planning. Get a notebook or small digital planner to write down your daily homework assignments and write down the due dates for tests and papers. Get a weekly planner with your class schedule and plan your activities. Get a monthly calendar to write down birthdays and big events. Write down what classes you have, when to do homework and what your homework is, dates, when you are hanging out with friends, etc. all in your planner.

Aim to educate yourself. Keep in mind an education isn't the junk you are forced to do in school for diplomas and degrees; it's an understanding of the world around you. People who are naturally curious for some reason begin to stop asking questions the moment they hit school. The truly brilliant mind however, always questions their world and tries to make sense of it. That is the secret to "genius". Do not let the relentless orders and busywork of school called an "education" fool you. Schools are one potential resource if you enjoy the environment but by no means are they necessary for brilliance and by no means are they the best way. Try teaching yourself. You can even learn from your life experiences, sometimes called "unschooling".

Expand Your Horizons

1. Be open-minded and willing to learn new things. Just because you're great at one thing doesn't mean you have to stick to it! Try drawing or painting, writing, learning an instrument or dancing!
   
   
2. Cultivate an interest in subjects like current events, interesting facts, funny and inspiring quotations, good books and movies, scientific studies and interesting inventions. Educational television is a great way to learn. Check out PBS or History channel. People who have something to talk about other than their own internal problems and worries appear far more interesting and intelligent.
   If you can read much faster than you can speak, it is much more efficient to read a book, or better yet a non-linear electronic document like a wiki than to watch a show for all but the most intellectually demanding or video-dependent learning. Commercial television is particularly bad because its ultimate purpose is to do just enough to keep you at the TV and its ads, not satisfy you so you can do something else
    
3. Work on your vocabulary. Read good books, try to use a few definitions from the dictionary each day, or subscribe to a "word-of-the-day" service on-line. You can also take the vocabulary tests in Readers Digest or buy a book on increasing your working vocabulary. Read the dictionary one letter at a time. This will take you at least a year but you will grow intellectually.  
4. Read good books. They will make you both appear and be smarter. Reading really is fun and your mind will grow. Keep your reading diverse by reading books of all genres including non-fiction. Make sure the books are interesting to you. As you read more you will soon learn that, just like movies, some books are better than others. If you forgot what you read read it again and remember analyzing is a key for memorizing. You don't need to memorize, just analyze and if you can't read it again. Keep searching out the ones you think are good. If not sure what to read... ask a teacher or go to the library. Get a library card.
   
   
   

5. Exercise your mind.
   
   • Learn how to solve the Rubik's cube. It is easier than it appears if you learn tricks in visualizing the cube's geometry. Also do word and math puzzles Don't do Sudoku, it is too hard if you're not very smart.
     
     
     
   • Learn how to do mental sums or speed math. There are all sorts of tricks for doing complicated math in your head that will amaze others. Plus it can potentially increase working memory.
     
     
6. Try learning a new language: You can say something smart that you found out in Spanish, French, etc. and look it up or learn it. Practice it for five minutes and see if you can say it really fast and pronounce it right. Apart from being useful, it may bring you into contact with new people and ideas. You may feel less of a stranger when you visit a place and you know some of the language. Also, at some point you will realise that there are some phrases or concepts in other languages that have no direct translation in English! This can be a challenging and fun exercise for the mind. (Note, try to be patient and positive when studying a language as it may take time to reach the level you desire.)
   
   
7. Visit new places as much as you can. If possible, try to visit other countries too. Visiting cities in your country or in a different one, gives you a open mind and teaches you about the world we live in. You will be able to understand other cultures (how people live in a different place, how they behave with each other, how they live and so on). You will also be able to understand that the planet earth is huge and there are so much to see and do. You will be fascinated on how there are so many different people and culture in the world. That will make you smart and interesting.
   
   
   

Developing People Skills

1. Simplify. Talking about things that no one else can understand does not make you smart. Genius is the ability to translate the complex into the simple. Practice explaining concepts to others. See just how simple and clear you can make your explanations. If someone doesn't understand you, it is not their fault for being ignorant, it is your fault for being inarticulate.
   

    
2. Learn to listen carefully to others' opinions about controversial things, or things they know about and you do not. You do not have to agree with them but remember everybody has something to teach you. If a person holds an opposing opinion they most likely have logical reasons for doing so. Asking questions may allow you to re-evaluate your own beliefs, or point out the flaws in theirs. Keep an open mind. The more intelligent you are the more questions you will ask of your friends, teachers and parents.
   
   
3. Make connections. Burying information somewhere deep in your brain is not useful; you have to be able to access it in real-world situations. Think of real-world situations in which a piece of information will make sense. Then share it with us, and link it in, and watch it grow!.
   
   
4. Be nice to people. Care about the well being of others. Sometimes people don't realize if another person is hurting or sad. Look at their faces and in their eyes when you talk to them. There will always be bullies. They may call you names: a nerd, a freak, a geek, or use a racial slur, but in this case they really will only be jealous and petty. Being nice to all people is also a sign of maturity, class and intelligence. Keep it up and people will notice.
   
   
   
    

Tips

• There is more than one type of smart. There's book smart, street smart, and so many others out there. No one is technically "stupid" or "dumb" it is just that everyone is smarter at something than someone else!
• If someone asks you a question that you don't know the answer to, be honest and tell them you do not know. Find out what the answer is from someone.
• Try to self-learn things. Not everything you learn has to be taught to you by another individual.
• Pay attention to your feelings, and the feelings of others. To learn about others, first learn about yourself, then come to the realization we are all the same. Then you will have an easier time understanding others.
• Meditate. This will open your mind to think about things, develop concepts, and ease stress.
• Know the difference between being smart and knowledgeable. If you are smart, mentally, your mind works very well and is sharp. For an example, you have a great memory or you learn quickly. If you are knowledgeable, you are well-educated, and you know a lot. Are you both or just one?
  
  

Warnings

• Don't become a know-it-all, do-it-all, or argumentative. It is obnoxious! It is better to be subtle, not obvious.
• Do not depend too much on others, it is better if you do your job by yourself. It will enlarge your knowledge and improve your intelligence.
• Know your limits, take a break every now and then to reassess yourself and manner of completely achieving your primary goal.
• Don't just go online, research one fact, and wow people with it. Pick one topic to learn about instead.
• Don't let intelligence completely consume your life, remember that you have to enjoy life to the point of enjoying it as much as learning.
• Try very hard to enjoy working with others on projects. It says a lot about you if you are successful. Other people have valuable ideas too. Listen to what others have to say.

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10 Smartphone Apps That Can Make Your Life Better

At its best, technology makes your life easier, more productive, or more fun. Here’s a look at 10 of the best smartphone apps on offer right now, according to Business Insider’s Nicholas Carlson.

Seamless

It used to be that ordering takeout was a pain. Unless you kept a paper menu on your fridge, you had to look up the restaurant online to see its menu. Then you had to call it up and place your order. This meant talking to someone on the phone, which is the worst, especially if the person on the other end doesn’t speak great English.
Now: I get out of the subway. I open up Seamless. I use my thumb to order to dinner from any of the two dozen nearby restaurants in 2 minutes. It shows up at my door 30 minutes later. My wallet stays in my back pocket the whole time. Magic.

Evernote

I use Evernote to remember everything from what kind of Oysters I like to eat, gifts ideas for my wife’s birthday next October, what kind of golf clubs I like to use from 100/75/50 yards out, and notes from my last meeting with a source.
All of it is searchable and organized into clearly labeled notebooks.
Evernote also has other neat tricks.
You can take a picture of a hand-written note, and the words on the page will become searchable later.
It’s aware of your calendar. If you have a meeting on your calendar, it will automatically label notes you take during that meeting “Notes from meeting with Henry.”
Just awesome.

Clear

Clear is a to-do list app. It’s very simple.  I use it to list out the stories I should write or assign. I use it to remind myself of things I need to do at some point during the afternoon that day. I use it to list out the unhealthy food I’m going to allow myself to eat each month.

Uber

In New York, where I live, cabs are everywhere and always available – except when its raining.
Suddenly there are none. It used to mean that I was them doomed to take the subway or a bus from wherever I was.
That’s when I pull out my iPhone and use my thumb to summon a taxi. Then, a driver shows up and takes me where I need to go and I never have to take my wallet out.

Fantastical

I used to have the truly awful, horrible habit of sometimes forgetting that I was supposed to be somewhere.
Then I got Fantastical, a calendar app.
Fantastical has a nice UI, but what’s really great about it is how easy it is to schedule something with it.
You type into it “meet with Jay at 4p on tues” and it knows exactly what you mean, and creates the exact right even, with a standard alert you’ve set up in your preferences.
By making it so easy and quick to input events, I’m inputting a lot more of them – and forgetting zero. Which is exactly how many a respectable adult should forget.

Block Fortress

I sit on the subway for an hour plus every day. If I don’t have a good book to read, TV show to watch, or iPhone game to play, that hour can be painful.
I’ve played a bunch of great iPhone games – Pirates, Civilization, and FieldRunners 2 stand out in my memory – but none have been as great as Block Fortress.
Block Fortress is a turn-based tower defense game that turns into a first-person shooter. Every turn, you set up your defenses for an onslaught of foes. Then you press a button and drop down into the fortress you just built and start fighting.
Playing it, the time flies.

Podcasts

Everyone hates on Apple’s default Podcast app. I like it. I walk 30 minutes plus a day, and I use it all the time, and am not desperate to try replacements.

CardMunch

Business cards seem kind of antiquated in an age of Google, email signatures, and LinkedIn.
But CardMunch makes it useful to get them.
When someone hands me a business card, I open up CardMunch. In the app, I take a photo of the card. It’s then uploaded to the cloud, and someone somewhere writes inputs what’s on the card. Next time I open CardMunch, I have that person’s contact in a digital address book, and we’re connected on LinkedIn.

PayPal

Splitting a check, joining an office betting pool, or putting money into a fantasy sports pot is easy thanks to PayPal’s app. I just open it up, type in the email address for the person I want to send money to, and pay.

Merrill Lynch

My bank, Merrill Lynch, doesn’t have any local branches. So des positing checks used to be a real pain; I had to mail them in!
Now, thanks to an app update after Merrill was acquired by Bank of America, I can just take a photo of a check and it gets deposited. SWEET.

At its best, technology makes your life easier, more productive, or more fun. Here’s a look at 10 of the best smartphone apps on offer right now, according to Business Insider’s Nicholas Carlson.

Seamless

It used to be that ordering takeout was a pain. Unless you kept a paper menu on your fridge, you had to look up the restaurant online to see its menu. Then you had to call it up and place your order. This meant talking to someone on the phone, which is the worst, especially if the person on the other end doesn’t speak great English.
Now: I get out of the subway. I open up Seamless. I use my thumb to order to dinner from any of the two dozen nearby restaurants in 2 minutes. It shows up at my door 30 minutes later. My wallet stays in my back pocket the whole time. Magic.

Evernote

I use Evernote to remember everything from what kind of Oysters I like to eat, gifts ideas for my wife’s birthday next October, what kind of golf clubs I like to use from 100/75/50 yards out, and notes from my last meeting with a source.
All of it is searchable and organized into clearly labeled notebooks.
Evernote also has other neat tricks.
You can take a picture of a hand-written note, and the words on the page will become searchable later.
It’s aware of your calendar. If you have a meeting on your calendar, it will automatically label notes you take during that meeting “Notes from meeting with Henry.”
Just awesome.

Clear

Clear is a to-do list app. It’s very simple.  I use it to list out the stories I should write or assign. I use it to remind myself of things I need to do at some point during the afternoon that day. I use it to list out the unhealthy food I’m going to allow myself to eat each month.

Uber

cabs are everywhere and always available – except when its raining.
Suddenly there are none. It used to mean that I was them doomed to take the subway or a bus from wherever I was.
That’s when I pull out my iPhone and use my thumb to summon a taxi. Then, a driver shows up and takes me where I need to go and I never have to take my wallet out.

Fantastical

I used to have the truly awful, horrible habit of sometimes forgetting that I was supposed to be somewhere.
Then I got Fantastical, a calendar app.
Fantastical has a nice UI, but what’s really great about it is how easy it is to schedule something with it.
You type into it “meet with Jay at 4p on tues” and it knows exactly what you mean, and creates the exact right even, with a standard alert you’ve set up in your preferences.
By making it so easy and quick to input events, I’m inputting a lot more of them – and forgetting zero. Which is exactly how many a respectable adult should forget.

Block Fortress

I sit on the subway for an hour plus every day. If I don’t have a good book to read, TV show to watch, or iPhone game to play, that hour can be painful.
I’ve played a bunch of great iPhone games – Pirates, Civilization, and FieldRunners 2 stand out in my memory – but none have been as great as Block Fortress.
Block Fortress is a turn-based tower defense game that turns into a first-person shooter. Every turn, you set up your defenses for an onslaught of foes. Then you press a button and drop down into the fortress you just built and start fighting.
Playing it, the time flies.

Podcasts

Everyone hates on Apple’s default Podcast app. I like it. I walk 30 minutes plus a day, and I use it all the time, and am not desperate to try replacements.

CardMunch

Business cards seem kind of antiquated in an age of Google, email signatures, and LinkedIn.
But CardMunch makes it useful to get them.
When someone hands me a business card, I open up CardMunch. In the app, I take a photo of the card. It’s then uploaded to the cloud, and someone somewhere writes inputs what’s on the card. Next time I open CardMunch, I have that person’s contact in a digital address book, and we’re connected on LinkedIn.

PayPal

Splitting a check, joining an office betting pool, or putting money into a fantasy sports pot is easy thanks to PayPal’s app. I just open it up, type in the email address for the person I want to send money to, and pay.

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