There are many ways the the efficiency of your home can be compromised. Doors, windows, HVAC systems, and general construction can all affect your home’s efficiency. If you have a historic home, or even just an older home, there are many things that you should check when it comes to efficiency. Modern construction techniques create much tighter and precise joints and seams in walls, windows, doors, and flooring. In older homes all of these areas should be checked to make sure that your cooled or heated air isn’t escaping through a bunch of tiny outlets.
It's always a good idea to have your home’s efficiency checked by experts. Your local HVAC company can usually help you test your home to find out where conditioned air is escaping. They can also let you know if your windows or doors are creating hot or cold spots.
Here are some solutions to various home efficiency issues:
- Applying Solar Window Films: Solar window films from 3M have a variety of uses, but chief among them is to reflect the sun’s rays to avoid hot spots around your windows that make your AC unit work harder. It’s recommended to have experts, such as Solar Concepts Inc., apply these films to make sure that it is done correctly.
- Regular HVAC Maintenance: Getting your HVAC serviced a couple times a year can make sure that everything is running as it should year round. This can help to catch small problems before they become larger issues. Regular maintenance will make sure that your HVAC stays as efficient as possible, which will keep your energy bills lower each month.
- Make Sure Doors and Windows Seal Tightly: The cracks around windows and doors are some of the biggest culprits of lost efficiency. They can usually be sealed up with weatherstripping or in some cases a fresh line of caulk. If you can feel drafts around your doors and windows, call a professional to come seal them up for you. You’ll save money every month and your house will be more comfortable year round.
- Contractors who are willing to give estimates over the phone, without seeing the actual project scene and personally coming in to look over the area. No HVAC systems are exactly the same, and there are countless factors that come in to play when going through the HVAC process, including numerous outside factors. If a contractor is willing to give you an estimate instantly over the phone, they more than likely don't have significant experience in the industry, or just want to take your money. A true, experienced HVAC contractor will come out to your property, look at your crawl space, your attic, walk through your home, and check out all aspects before making an estimate or decision on what should be done.
- It's important that you decide upon an HVAC contractor who is not only experienced, but actually licensed as well, with the Contractors State License Board. It's vital that you check whether the company is licensed or not, so you can be sure there would be insurance in case a job is not completed properly or any issues arise with the work in the future.
- Be sure to use the internet to do your research on the company before you decide to go with the lowest bidder on the job. In many times, avoiding review sites with bad reputations such as Yelp will help you out in the long run as well.
Improve Your Respiratory Health With Better Air Quality
The majority of people spend up to 90 percent of their time in indoor spaces. From being at home and at work to traveling in a vehicle, many are exposed to poor air quality. This has the capacity to affect health owing to the significant amount of contaminants found in the homes, particularly in and on carpets. Indoor air quality is compromised by dirt and dust infiltration. Moisture can also play a role in fouling the indoors. Medical practitioners say dust is a chief culprit when it comes to human infection. Dust mites and germs are known to attach themselves to dust particles. Research has shown that the average home collects up to 40 pounds of dust annually. Dust mites feed off organic detritus, especially dead skin cells. Humans shed skin cells and they drift into the air and land on carpets and other surfaces. This provides dust mites a delicious meal, and as a result they thrive. When the level of infestation is too high, the mites cause significant irritation.Indoor Air Pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) views the problem of indoor air pollution as a major environmental issue faced by millions today. Hiring a professional carpet cleaner provides a sure-fire way to improve overall appearance and longevity of the fabrics. More importantly, the cleaning rids the carpet of pet hairs, dust and other contaminants that affect air quality. The EPA is also concerned about toxic gases, which can attach themselves to trapped pollutants. This means when pollutants are not removed from the carpet, occupants will eventually face the threat of allergies and breathing problems. Young children and immunosuppressed individuals face higher levels of risk.
An added benefit of professional carpet cleaning is the removal of odor. Pet owners are often faced with the problem of pet odors. Fortunately, a professional carpet cleaner can thoroughly sanitize the carpet leaving it smelling fresh and looking immaculate.
Preventing the growth of mold and mildew requires proper cleaning. Hiring a cleaner allows homeowners and commercial property owners to take advantage of industrial-grade carpet drying tools that eliminate moisture. This allows carpets to dry relatively faster. Eliminating moisture also helps improve air quality and prevent the sick building syndrome.
How Does Professional Carpet Cleaning Work?
Professional carpet cleaners use a wide variety of methods and equipment to remove dirt, odor, mold and contaminants from the carpet. These methods and equipment include wet shampooing, dry cleaning, buffer machines, dry foam and more. Wet shampooing is one of the methods used by carpet cleaners. It involves the use of a buffer machine, which applies the shampoo to the carpet. However, this method requires careful handling to avoid damaging the carpet fabrics with the rotary discs. The solution takes several hours to dry. Dry cleaning is also a practical way to clean carpets properly. There are various methods employed to dry clean. Some of the ways use wet cleaning but dry very quickly while others are completely dry. Drying cleaning techniques involve the use of a bonnet, dry foam or absorbent powder. Cleaners can opt to use a bonnet attached to a buffer machine. The bonnet is covered in cleaning solution that contains carbonate w ater. The attachment absorbs the dirt and is replaced once it is saturated. The use of dry foam, on the other hand, follows the same process as wet shampooing. However, this method does not involve any wet solution but rather a dry foam. This eliminates the need to wait for the carpet to dry. When using the absorbent powder approach, a professional carpet cleaner applies a solvent and lets it set on the carpet. After a short while, the professional will proceed to work the solvent into the carpet using a buffer machine.Deep Carpet Cleaning with Hot Water Extraction
Dry and wet carpet cleaning methods lack the capacity to deep clean. They can only handle quick cleaning of the top part. For a thorough clean, professionals recommend deep cleaning once every year. This provides a sure-fire way to prolong the carpet's working life. This type of cleaning can be handled using a floor wand that sprays a pressurized mix of hot water and solution. The carpet is then vacuumed.
Advances in technology have improved the way deep cleaning works. The improvements have made the method more popular, safe and effective. The approach is sometimes referred to as steam cleaning even though no actual steam is involved. Professional carpet cleaners can use a portable or truck-mounted system to clean the carpet thoroughly.
The portable version uses the customer's electricity and water. Conversely, the truck-mounted deep cleaning equipment relies on its power to handle the job. These units are capable of delivering more pressure and higher temperature. Hence, they are more effective at eliminating contaminants and leaving the carpet dry. For this reason, it is best to opt for truck-mounted carpet cleaning system.
If it’s been too long since your last oil change, schedule a visit at your local car repair shop. Your technician will be happy to change your oil and filter. You’ll be assured that your car will receive the right kind of oil. And you’ll be able to schedule your next oil change in accordance with your manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule.
Let’s face it – the industry of home improvement businesses have a ton of competition that is often hard to compete with. While a little competition actually improves your business, it will hurt when you notice the lack of clients you lose to your competition.
If this has recently happened to your home improvement business, perhaps it is time to consider adding social media and SEO strategies into your marketing campaign.
Here are five ways home improvement businesses can benefit from social media and SEO.
Gain A Focused Marketing Approach
With digital marketing, your home improvement business will gain the ability to choose their audience rather than paying more to spread to a larger crowd. Social media will allow you to hand-pick your target audience according to your business needs.
Businesses can use a variety of criteria that includes the following
- demographic data such as income, property ownership, and more
- behaviors of recent purchases within the home improvement industry
- specific interests in home improvement, updates, construction, etc.
- those searching for specific phrases and works to find a home improvement business.
Having a social media and SEO plan will provide you with the best opportunity to measure your advertising results.
Effective SEO
A website with an effective SEO will increase the visibility of your business through key search results and attract visitors who are looking for your site. This will build a quality website by focusing on search terms that matter most.
Social Media Advertisement
Social media advertisement will offer a cost-effective option that will attract the sophisticated target audience. With its advanced method of targeting capabilities, social media ads will reach potential customers and target homebuyers who are more likely to make purchases in home improvement.
Paid Search Advertisement
With the right SEO strategy, you can boost your organic online presence. Paid search advertisements offer an effective way to reach more potential customers and advertise through sponsored listings. You will only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad, which helps build quality traffic. Basically, you will have the opportunity to choose the specific keywords you plan to target and focus on the search terms that reveal when your customer is ready to buy.
Retarget
Most customers search a product, business or service online prior to making a major purchase. That may help lead your website to a final decision. Through retargeting, you will be able to follow such customers through attractive advertisements that will encourage them to visit and return to your website. This will help you prevent the loss of prospects which are in the early stage of research in home improvement planning. Through retargeting, you will become a fresh option and allow them to visit you instead of your competitor.
Conclusion
With a strong business reputation, this is vital in the home improvement industry. Having poor reviews will lead to a major downfall for businesses and the gain of potential customers. If your customers are leaving bad reviews of your business, it is important to monitor their comments and respond to their issues in a timely manner.
So, you’ve started your website with quality pages and ready to go live. You’re excited to invite everyone to see your page, only to find yourself waiting for hours with just three notes of traffic. Instead of watching your site traffic rise, you feel lucky if you even get a single hit.
Fortunately, there are some ways you can build your site network and drive in more traffic than you can image. With a mission to gain site authority, you must get your links posts on others. That is where web portals and directories come in. you can contact these sites and offer link trades and pay for advertisement. However, you must also be willing to put in the time to trade links and write descriptions.
For those who don’t know, a web directory or portal is a site that contains a large compilation of sites that is organized according to the topic niche. Most directories offer various levels of categories that stem from general topics to specified areas of content. It is up to the editor to approve of your site and ensure that it provides a high degree of credibility worth mentioning. If you plan on getting listed, be sure that your viewers will have enough information to find exactly what they are looking for the moment they click on your site.
Here are three ways submitting your link to web portals will improve site traffic.
Build SEO with Web Directories
Web sites must also provide an understanding of search engine rankings and Google. It is through the search engine that the site will count links from other sites to vote for your website. As a result, this will count the authority of your position and release in ranking results. To include your link in a web directory will also count as a vote and ultimately improve your SEO link, even without direct links.
Make Relevancy Key
While you might consider building your link network through trading with random web sites, you will end up sacrificing the quality of your network. Web surfers who are looking for specific information on various topics will use such resources that are related to the subject needed. That is why web directories and portals offer the best opportunity to build quality link networks.
Get Validated
While submitting your site to quality directories might seem like a lot of trouble, it is important to focus on getting your website validated as search engines only use validated information. All the top web directories will attract plenty of traffic through such results. This means you will also gain traffic through those web directories.
Conclusion
It is important to build your site link on quality web portals and directories as these submissions will either make our break your ranking and authority. Stick with quality directories that will benefit your site and increase traffic to your page.
Have your prepared your website for your submission? Got any answers you need help with? Comment below and let us know!
Want to get more out of your website submission? if you are new or simply looking for more information on how to submit to web portals and directories, we’re here to help you through it.
Check out these top four things you should know before you submit to a web portal.
Submit Your Site the Right Away
When you plan to submit your site, the easiest way to start out is through one-way links. Once you have begun trading links actively, you will have to provide a stable foundation for backlinks. We also recommend that you build a strong PR presence beforehand to establish reciprocal links.
Choose for Paid Portals Than Free
When you have to choose overpaid portals and free links, opt for volume over quality. Start out with getting free links as much as possible, as long as they are within your topic category. Then you will work your way towards paid directories. It is important to consider the cost-point of such directories and portals as their costs will vary according to the budget you are willing to handle.
Provide Quality Descriptions
While it is best to provide brief descriptions, you must provide a short summary that makes your site unique and stands out from the rest of the crown. Summarize your description by getting straight to the point. The main idea is to generate backlinks that won’t look like your site is filled with spam.
Website Must Be Ready to Publish
Before you attempt to submit your website, you must have the appropriate plan and quality content that is needed to publish your site for viewing. All pages must be ready to view with live links and appropriate content. Even if you only have one page, it must be running smoothly with working functions.
Have you prepared your link submission? How well did it work for you? Comment below and let us know!
Want to get your business site linked in some of the best web directories? Not only will this improve business, it will also boost to boost traffic. However, there are many things to consider before you submit your site online. Understanding these strategies will help maximize your chances of being listed on quality directories versus quantity. Here are three strategies to getting your business link posted on web portals and directories.
Provide Only Quality Content with Quantity
The main function of web portals and directories is to offer useful websites with quality content with unique information. This is important for sites, especially with affiliates as they will offer the same products with different looks. It is important to ensure that your site will provide a high volume of articles that are worth reading before you submit your site for approval.
Submit to the Appropriate Category
There’s nothing worse than submitted your site to the wrong category. You will want to ensure that your site is listed in more than a few categories but also the right ones that will get the most attention from viewers. While this is highly frowned upon, the main strategy is to submit your site to the most appropriate category with minor categories to follow. It is also important to note that not all portals and directories are the same as many will accept more than one category, while others will strictly approve of one.
Provide the Appropriate Submission Details
When submitting your website link, it is a great idea to prepare the selection of text snippets you want to provide. Be sure to keep all descriptions written with the best details and quality. That means you must ensure that the description explains exactly what you’re trying to portray.
What’s your strategy? Comment below and let us know what does and doesn’t work for you!
Most web directories are used to find referred link resources that are categorized into links. This feature makes a web directory different that a regular search engine as they include similar features. Search engines will display their list of page results by the use of keywords. On the other hand, a web directory will categorize their links based on the given site content and what they represent.
Here’s why you should know about using a web directory.
Serves As A Useful Source
Web directories serve a useful purpose within its industry as they must provide the extended route to the most common results that is given by search engines. Web directors are useful for bringing in targeted traffic and improving the site’s position. However, using the search engine optimization (SEO) will also play a strong role with the organization and the content.
Focused on Title and Descriptions
Does the site provide quality content with proper grammar and descriptions? Established web directories will search for such errors as that are made to serve quality space with brief descriptions. Such site links must be well descriptive without a promotional tone. A reputable directory will have quality editors that will check for such errors before they approve any site submitted.
Understand the Limited Capacity
Search engines have the power to index every website listed on the web. It is able to provide thousands of results within just a few keywords. Meanwhile, web directories offer limited, but powerful sources as they will give you quality links and results based on your specified topic.
It is also important to understand the online surfers don’t often look past the first three pages of results. This means that the linked sites will be meaningless and barely relate to the topic searched. That is why a quality web directory will provide only the best sites to work with and is most appropriate for the topic.
Conclusion
Web directories are used to determine how editors of the site will review the given links to ensure that they are posted in the appropriate category. With that said, it is better to stay away from directories where editors will automatically accept submissions without checking the facts and ask for a quick payment.
