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Alt Attribute & Search engine optimization

SEO Optimization images is becoming increasingly more essential in SEO (Seo optimization) for websites. The ALT attribute is really a critical step that is often overlooked. This is often a lost opportunity for better rankings.

In Google's webmaster guidelines, they advise using alternative text for that images in your site:

Images:. Make use of the alt attribute to provide descriptive text. Additionally, we recommend using a human-readable caption and descriptive text round the image.

Why would they ask us to do that? The answer is simple, really; search engines like google have a similar problem as blind users. They can't see the images.

Many webmasters and inexperienced or unethical SEOs abuse using this attribute, trying to stuff it with keywords, looking to achieve a particular keyword density, which isn't as relevant for rankings now since it once was.

On the contrary, high keyword density can, on some search engines, trigger spam filters, which may result in a penalty for your site's ranking. Even without such a penalty, your site's rankings will not benefit from this tactic.
This method also puts persons who use screen readers in a greater disadvantage. Screen readers are software-based tools that actually read aloud the items in what's shown on the screen. In browsing the web, the alt features of images are read aloud as well.

Imagine hearing a paragraph of text which is followed by repetitions of numerous keywords. The page would be far from accessible, and, to put it mildly, will be found quite annoying.
What is an Alt attribute?

An ALT attribute should not be used like a description or perhaps a label for an image, though lots of people utilize it for the reason that fashion. Although it might seem natural to assume that alternate text is really a label or a description, it is not!

What used within an image's alt attribute should be its text equivalent and convey exactly the same information or serve exactly the same purpose that the image would.

The thing would be to supply the same functional information that the visual user would see. The alt attribute text should be the "stand in" when the look itself is not available. Think about this question: Should you replace the look using the text, would most users get the same basic information, and would it generate the same response?
A few examples:

 

Some SEO Optimization Tips

If a search button is really a magnifying glass or binoculars its alt text should be 'search' or 'find' not 'magnifying glass' or 'binoculars'.

If an image is supposed to convey the literal contents of the image, then a description is suitable.

If it's meant to convey data, then that data is what is appropriate.

If it is meant to convey the use of a function, then your function itself is what should be used.

Some Alt Attribute Guidelines:

Always add alt attributes to images. Alt is mandatory for accessibility and for valid XHTML.

For images that play merely a decorative role within the page, make use of an empty alt (i.e. alt="") or a CSS background image so that reading browsers do not bother users by uttering things like "spacer image".

Remember that it is the function from the image we are trying to convey. For instance; any button images shouldn't include the word "button" within the alt text. They ought to emphasize the action performed by the button.

Alt text ought to be based on context. The same image in a different context may require drastically different alt text.

Try to flow alt text with the rest from the text because that is how it is going to be read with adaptive technologies like screen readers. Someone listening to your page should hardly remember that a graphic image can there be.
Please remember that utilizing an alt attribute for each image is needed to satisfy the minimum WAI requirements, which are used since the benchmark for accessibility laws in UK and the remainder of Europe. They are also required to meet "Section 508" accessibility requirements in the US.

It is important to categorize non-text content into three levels:

Eye-Candy
Mood-Setting
Content and Function

I. Eye-Candy

Eye-Candy are stuff that serve no purpose other than to create a site visually appealing/attractive and (oftentimes) satisfy the marketing departments. There is no content value (though there may be value to a sighted user).

Never alt-ify eye-candy unless there's something there that will boost the usability from the site for someone utilizing a non-visual user agent. Use a null alt attribute or background images in CSS for eye-candy.

II. Mood-Setting

This is the middle layer of graphics which may serve to set the atmosphere or set the stage as it were. These graphics are not direct content and may not be considered essential, but they are important in they help frame what is going on.

Attempt to alt-ify the 2nd group as makes sense and it is relevant. There might be times when doing so might be annoying or detrimental to other users. Then try to avoid it.

For example; Alt text that is just like adjacent text is unnecessary, as well as an irritant to screen reader users. I recommend alt="" or background CSS images in such cases. But sometimes, it's important to get this content inside for all users.

Usually this will depend on context. The same image inside a different context may require drastically different alt text. Obviously, content ought to always be fully available. The way you use this case is really a judgment call.

III. Content and Function

This is when the image may be the actual content. Always alt-ify content and functional images. Title and long description attributes may also be in order.
The reason many authors can't figure out why their alt text isn't working is that they don't know why the pictures are there. You have to determined exactly what function a picture serves. Think about what it is about the image that's vital that you the page's intended audience.

Every graphic has a reason behind standing on that page: since it either improves the theme/ mood/ atmosphere or it is critical to what are the page is attempting to describe. Knowing what the look is for makes alt text simpler to write. And exercise writing them definitely helps.
A method to check the usefulness of alternative text is to imagine reading the page on the phone to someone. An amount you say when encountering a specific image to create the page understandable to the listener?

Besides the alt attribute you've got a couple more tools available for images.
First, in degree of descriptiveness title is in between alt and longdesc. It adds useful information and can add flavor. The title attribute is optionally rendered by the user agent. Remember they are invisible and not shown as a "tooltip" when focus is received via the keyboard. (So much for device independence). So use the title attribute just for advisory information.
Second, the longdesc attribute points to the Link to a full description of the image. When the information found in a picture is important towards the meaning of the page (i.e. some important content will be lost if the image was removed), a longer description compared to "alt" attribute can reasonably display should be used. It can offer rich, expressive documentation of a visual image.

It ought to be used when alt and title are insufficient to embody the visual qualities of an image. As Clark [1] states, "A longdesc is a long description of the image...The goal is by using any period of description necessary to impart the facts from the graphic.

It wouldn't be remiss to hope that the long description conjures an image - the image - within the mind's eye, an analogy that holds true even for that totally blind."

Although the alt attribute is mandatory for web accessibility and for valid (X)HTML, not all images need alternative text, long descriptions, or titles.

Oftentimes, you are best just going with your gut instinct -- if it's not essential to incorporate it, and if you don't have a strong urge to do it, don't add that longdesc.

However, if it's necessary for the entire page to work, then you have to add the alt text (or title or longdesc).

What's necessary and what's not depends a great deal on the function of your image and its context about the page.

Exactly the same image may need alt text (or title or longdesc) in a single spot, but not in another. If the image provides absolutely no content or functional information alt="" or background CSS images might be appropriate to use. However, if the image provides content or adds functional information an alt would be required and perhaps even a long description would be in order. In many cases this kind of thing is a judgement call.

Image Seo optimization Tips

Listed below are key steps in optimizing images:

Select a logical file name that reinforces the keywords. You can use hyphens within the file name to isolate the keyword, but avoid to exceeding two hyphens. Stay away from underscores as a word separator, such as "brilliant-diamonds.jpg";

Label the file extension. For example, if the image search engine sees a ".jpg" (JPEG) file extension, it's going to assume the file is really a photo, and when it sees a ".gif" (GIF) file extension, it's going to assume that it is a graphic;

Make sure that the written text at the image that's relevant to that image.
Again, do not lose a great opportunity to help your site with your images in search engines. Use these steps to rank better on all the engines and drive more traffic for your site TODAY.

Website Optimization

OwnLocal is a Y-Combinator bred startup that helps local newspapers survive on the Internet. OwnLocal swoops into small towns sprinkled across America’s less tech savvy plains and puts on quite a clever show. In no way are they grifters; but with their guaranteed promises of success, small town publishers don’t stand a chance.

Lloyd W. Armbrust, II, OwnLocal’s Founder and CEO, puts its technology in the hands of local publications, newspapers or television stations, so that they can then sell successful modern digital strategies like owning a website, blogging, SEO optimization, design, group deals and more to local businesses. In other words, OwnLocal acts like a web development department for local newspapers providing them with simple, sellable products including a white label daily deal product and a white label Yelp-like product.

“In rural America, small businesses would rather the Internet didn’t exist, but it does. We sell a package through their local newspapers that creates a website for them, writes relevant blog posts for them and pushes out media to Twitter and Facebook. So, we manage all of that for them but we do it through their newspaper.”

-Lloyd W. Armbrust

OwnLocal trains local media employees and shows them how to put on a “Web a la carte” presentation for small businesses even though the local businesses may have never heard of Groupon, Yelp or LivingSocial. To date, OwnLocal has powered more than 1,000 small businesses and over 100 publications.

OwnLocal also sells its product, “AdForge” as “the best print-to-digital ad conversion software in the world.” AdForge is designed to take print ads and put them on the web, on mobile and on tablets. AdForge easily converts print ads into clickable, shareable, printable, mappable and sendable digital ads.

Say you’re a lawyer or a plumber, OwnLocal will create websites optimized for search engines and deal with social media elements like blogging, tweeting and Facebooking, saving these small service businesses a lot of time and effort. Businesses can choose from a variety of different websites from simple splash pages to editable, manageable sites. OwnLocal then taps into its network of college students and stay at home moms to write the company’s blog posts. But again, all of this is through the local newspaper.

Today, OwnLocal announces its “Arcade” partnership with HeyZap, another YC startup, to bring more than 50,000 social and casual games to newspapers and local media. Rather than just having a few puzzle games like crosswords and Sudoku, newspapers will have access to games that reflect what their audiences have come to expect from social networks and social game sites. Initial launch partners include A.H. Belo Corp.‘s The Press-Enterprise and Impre Media, the largest Spanish language newspaper group in America as well as 25 other newspapers. OwnLocal expects that newspapers will see financial benefits, increased time-on-site and more return visits.

In York, Nebraska– a town with a population of 10,000– OwnLocal made The York News Times $140,000 last year. OwnLocal takes 30% and the newspaper gets the remaining 70% of revenues from its tech products sold. $100,000-300,000 is an easy number to make for local papers, says Armbrust.  OwnLocal doesn’t work with media outlets that have circulations less than 1,000. And its sophisticated system tell them exactly how much money they can make just from circulation numbers. Guaranteed revenue reports based on circulation for dying newspapers? Maybe dreams do come true.

“The community newspaper I worked at was purchased and sold to Gatehouse Media. I started thinking, what can we do? Is there a situation where you can make this product that’s all-encompassing that could make these newspapers money? I felt for these guys. Print is declining.”

–Lloyd Armbrust

Armbrust has worked in the newspaper industry for 11 years, including two years working on OwnLocal. His Co-Founder Jason Novack is the hardcore hacker in the pair. Armbrust says their main competitor, ReachLocal charges 5 times as much as OwnLocal because they utilize a network of 1,000 local sales reps.

To date, OwnLocal has received just under a million seed funding from Y Combinator, Baseline Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures, Paul Buchheit, Joshua Schachter and Alex Moore.

Search engine marketers and usability engineers want to understand why we go to websites and what we do after we arrive at a search results page. They ask questions like:

• Are we satisfied with where we landed?


• Did the engine provide accurate results listings?


• Was our click choice a positive one?


• Did we stay on the site or leave?


• If we left, what search result better matched what we wanted to find?


• Was it the search results or did we have a bad experience with the web page we landed on?

Both search engines and human factors related fields study our intent.

Author Matt Bailey points to the depth of the importance of intent in his new book, Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day.

“Search engines are integrating more multimedia and allowing deeper access to documents and media earlier in the search process. They are attempting to determine the intent of the searcher and deliver results accordingly.”

What is our intent? Why do we visit the Internet? Why do we use search sites such as Google and Youtube?

In a 2009 ComScore study (comScore, 2009), they found that “Nearly one out of every ten minutes a person spends online around the world is spent on a Google site.” This includes the search engine itself, Youtube, which they own, Google books, email, Google reader and more.

Clearly, marketers want to be sure their clients’ websites perform well in Google’s web properties. Not doing so can wreck the success of a business.

Search Behavior = People Who Search

Shortly after search engines and information sites appeared on the Internet, case studies zeroed in to understand why, who, where, when, where and how humans use them. Hot on the trail, too, were analysts interested in learning about site traffic, popularity, rank and how to make money from it.

Many of you were guinea pigs during the 1990’s when web page backgrounds were gray with black text, and animation, 3D images, scrolling text boxes, rotating banners and blinking images were all part of a typical user interface.

As fun as all those things were to create (I loved animating images), web designers had to buckle to user preferences.

Search engines learned what we really come to the Internet for. Perhaps search engine sites are not suitable for certain subject types when it comes to information searches. In order to improve search engine design and SEO marketing efforts, we try to understand user intent and goals for searching.

It’s been well established at this point that search engines are used by us to find information. What kinds of information are most popular?

A recent study from Australia on who uses search engines found that half of search engine queries were looking for a particular website, while the other 50% were split between ecommerce and popular culture searches.

The study also pointed to what is referred to as “leisure searches”. The findings present the idea of search sites not only for information gathering or shortcuts to web sites, but they’re also sources for leisure, with one in six of all searches estimated as being leisure searches.

The Australian study offered some surprising details for anyone wondering what we’re searching for, by subject. Adult site searches fell into the middle, with ecommerce being second, edged under a tad by popular culture topics. Health, weather, contemporary affairs and government are the least popular searches.

The study stood out from others because it included and factored in the lifestyle of their participants. This is different than user testing labs or Eye tracking tests. To their surprise, lifestyle choices had no measurable impact on the type of search queries. In fact, new questions were raised on user –searcher behavior.

For example, do Internet users tend to go to particular trusted web sites for information on healthcare, computing and contemporary affairs, rather than use search engines? Does the distribution of the most ranked subjects searched for represent user interests or the suitability of search engines for looking up certain types of topics?

Another study (Broder, 2002) narrows search engine user behavior as informational, navigational, transactional and leisure. Half the searches in the study were navigational and one-third, transactional. Half of all searchers know where they want to go.

What Does This Mean To Search Marketers?

The most obvious is that it’s time to accept usability studies into marketing strategy. And, user experience professionals can no longer devalue the role of search marketers. Both camps provide essential skills and expertise needed for web site projects.

A lot of what’s happening on the Internet is relationship building. The global community wants this so badly they invented social networking sites and social marketing to drive interest and generate revenue from these new site sources.

Emotional web design is no accident. We’re emotional beings. Empathy makes us connect with others.

“In life and business, focus on creating win-win situations. Look beyond the immediate sale in order to connect with customers as people.” – Steve Harper, The Ripple Effect.

Despite our developing mental models and creating user personas, we remain on the edge of understanding who uses our stuff. Wouldn’t it be grand if stakeholders got out of their offices and actually interacted with the people who use their websites?

I’ve often wished I could video people who multi-task at home, with one hand on a laundry basket, an ear to the cell phone and a hand reaching for the laptop nearby. What does that busy person search for and how? Can we make their experience less stressful?

Division between marketing and user experience will dissolve as both approaches discover they need each others’ data to do a better job for their clients.

There’s no question that a passion for usability and search engine marketing leads to their fascinating cousins, like information architecture, findability, captology, analytics and neurology. There’s also no question that money can be made by optimizing for and advertising in search engines.

Studying user behavior is a win-win for search engine technology, search marketing and website usability and human factors.

Cited Resources:

Broder 2002; A Taxonomy of Web Search (PDF)

Waller, Vivienne 2010; Not Just Information: Who Searches for What on the Search Engine Google?

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Just Behave

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Bench Craft Company on the topic

Charlie Sheen’s use of technology and web 2.0 has earned him big dollars and a ‘winning’ formula for his own personal brand.

The Two And A Half Men star has greatly benefited from his own ability to embrace the internet, exploring all the marketing tools available to him. From breaking a twitter record, to hosting his own internet show on Ustream, the actor has done what few in Hollywood have ever achieved. Parody videos created by fans and websites dedicated to his one-liners are giving the actor non-stop free promotion and this in turn has created an audience of marketers for Charlie Sheen.

His infamous ABC interview gave birth to many of the viral video spoofs we have seen of his ‘radical’ behavior, which in turn, has fueled his twitter fan growth, and other media interview requests. With so many people discussing and sharing his antics, his own brand of controversy has been implanted onto the web, and has helped him sell tickets for his tour dates.

On top of that, Sheen’s regular updates with his fans on twitter provide a direct relationship and route to market. Sure that sounds a little cold, but he does have a following he can reach out to about his products.

Looking at what he did this week, Sheen took the next step in his own web fueled marketing campaign by making a self-parody video. This clever twist gave yet another viral hit to his name, as bloggers and social media re-posted and discussed how outrageous it was to see him spoof himself.

With many dates left on Charlie Sheen’s tour, the actor has a non-stop ‘Bi-Winning’ 24/7 marketing campaign, and other celebrities in the entertainment industry should learn from his online success.

Charlie Sheen’s use of technology and web 2.0 has earned him big dollars and a ‘winning’ formula for his own personal brand.

The Two And A Half Men star has greatly benefited from his own ability to embrace the internet, exploring all the marketing tools available to him. From breaking a twitter record, to hosting his own internet show on Ustream, the actor has done what few in Hollywood have ever achieved. Parody videos created by fans and websites dedicated to his one-liners are giving the actor non-stop free promotion and this in turn has created an audience of marketers for Charlie Sheen.

His infamous ABC interview gave birth to many of the viral video spoofs we have seen of his ‘radical’ behavior, which in turn, has fueled his twitter fan growth, and other media interview requests. With so many people discussing and sharing his antics, his own brand of controversy has been implanted onto the web, and has helped him sell tickets for his tour dates.

On top of that, Sheen’s regular updates with his fans on twitter provide a direct relationship and route to market. Sure that sounds a little cold, but he does have a following he can reach out to about his products.

Looking at what he did this week, Sheen took the next step in his own web fueled marketing campaign by making a self-parody video. This clever twist gave yet another viral hit to his name, as bloggers and social media re-posted and discussed how outrageous it was to see him spoof himself.

With many dates left on Charlie Sheen’s tour, the actor has a non-stop ‘Bi-Winning’ 24/7 marketing campaign, and other celebrities in the entertainment industry should learn from his online success.

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in an interview this week that he would consider returning to an active role at the company he helped start if asked.



During an interview in England this week, Wozniak said, "I'd consider it, yeah," when asked whether he would play a more active role if asked, Reuters reports.



Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer in 1976. Wozniak left his full-time role with the company in 1987, but remains an employee and shareholder of Apple.



Since leaving Apple, Wozniak has been involved in a wide range of entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors. He currently serves as Chief Scientist for storage company Fusion-io.



Meanwhile, Jobs is currently taking an indefinite leave of absence to focus on his health, though he remains CEO of Apple and continues to be involved in strategic decisions.



Wozniak, who has widely been acknowledged as the technical genius behind Apple's early success, believes that he has a lot to offer the company he helped start, which went on to become the world's second-largest company in terms of market value.



"There's just an awful lot I know about Apple products and competing products that has some relevance, some meaning. They're my own feelings, though," Wozniak said during the interview.



When asked his opinion on Apple today, Wozniak praised the company for its track record with recent products. "Unbelievable," he said, "The products, one after another, quality and hits."



Even so, Wozniak admitted that he'd prefer Apple's devices to be more open, so he can "get in there and add [his] own touches." Last December, Wozniak revealed that he had purchased a DIY kit for the iPhone 4 and "modded" the device into the as-yet-unreleased white version.



"My thinking is that Apple could be more open and not lose sales," said Wozniak, while adding, "I'm sure they're making the right decisions for the right reasons for Apple."



Wozniak has been committed to openness since the beginning. In December, Wozniak told reporters that he didn't design the original Apple I to make a lot of money and had given the designs away for free after his former employer HP showed no interest in the computer.

As rumors of a later-than-usual iPhone launch for 2011 persist, a new report reveals that the notoriously secretive Apple is being even more careful than usual when dealing with overseas suppliers.



"Apple is keeping its iPhone 5 cards extra close to the vest on this launch to avoid a falloff in iPhone 4 demand ahead of a refresh, especially given the February launch of the CDMA iPhone 4 with Verizon," Analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities said in a note to investors on Friday. He believes that the iPhone 5 could still launch in June or July, as previous models have.



White noted that various rumors have pointed toward a launch later than June this year for the fifth-generation iPhone. One report from March alleged that Apple has not even begun ordering components for the anticipated "iPhone 5," and the device is slated to arrive in the company's 2012 fiscal year, which begins in late September.



And a third report alleged that Apple is working on a major revamp of iOS, its mobile operating system, for version 5.0. New features like cloud-based storage of music, photos and video are rumored to arrive in the update this fall, likely alongside new iPhone hardware.



But despite all of those reports, White isn't yet convinced that the iPhone 5 will be introduced later than its typical June or July timeframe.



"Although we do not have a smoking gun that definitively rules out a delayed autumn unveiling or one that supports a launch this summer, there is a pattern of activity in motion with the supply chain that makes us question a delayed launch," he said.



White also cited sources who indicated that iPad sales could reach up to 40 million units in calendar year 2011. And supply chain sources also indicated that disruption from the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan will actually end up benefitting Apple, as suppliers will "rush to support Apple at the expense of competitors."



The analyst already revealed earlier this week that Apple has been offering upfront cash payments to component suppliers in order to secure components in the wake of the disaster in Japan. Apple has apparently also been using a "three cover guarantee," referring to capacity, stock and price, to block out competitors and prevent them from building ample supply of devices.

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The PPIC study Kolko co-authored sheds light on why historically California’s economy has grown on pace with the national economy even though it usually ranks low in surveys of states whose laws are favorable to business.

While the research suggests many factors that determine long-term economic growth lie beyond the reach of policy makers, Kolko cautioned that policy could still someday trump warm, sunny days on the Pacific coast.

“If California loses its ability to incubate and encourage fast growing industries to be here, that would be unfortunate” in the long term, she said.

Kolko identified two policies in particular, a simpler tax structure rather than a lower tax rate, and a lower share of government expenditure on welfare and transfer payments, as means of hastening economic expansion.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Over the years, entrepreneurs and corporate executives have devised any number of clever ways for getting rich off the working poor, but you'd have to look long and hard to find one more diabolically inventive than the RAL. Say you have a $2,000 tax refund due and you don't want to wait a week or two for the IRS to deposit that money in your bank account. Your tax preparer would be delighted to act as the middleman for a very short-term bank loan—the RAL. You get your check that day or the next, minus various fees and interest charges, and in return sign your pending refund over to the bank. Within 15 days, the IRS wires your refund straight to the lender. It's a safe bet for the banks, but that hasn't stopped them from charging astronomical interest rates. Until this tax year, the IRS was even kind enough to let lenders know when potential borrowers were likely to have their refund garnished because they owed back taxes, say, or were behind on child support.

Hewitt didn't invent the refund anticipation loan. That distinction belongs to Ross Longfield, who dreamed up the idea in 1987 and took it to H&R Block CEO Thomas Bloch. "I'm explaining it," Longfield recalls, "but Tom is sitting there going, 'I don't know; I don't know if people are going to want to do that.'"

Tax-prep shops are as common as fast-food joints in many low-income neighborhoods—there are at least half a dozen on one three-block stretch of South Broadway in Yonkers, N.Y., where these photographs were taken. A few offer reasonably priced accounting, while others charge hundreds of dollars for 20 minutes of work. But Longfield knew. He worked for Beneficial Corp., a subprime lender specializing in small, high-interest loans for customers who needed to finance a new refrigerator or dining-room set. His instincts told him the RAL would be a big hit—as did the polling and focus groups he organized. "Everything we did suggested people would love it—love it to death," he says.

He also knew Beneficial would make a killing if he could convince tax preparers—in exchange for a cut of the proceeds—to peddle this new breed of loan on his employer's behalf. Ultimately, Longfield persuaded H&R Block to sign up. But no one was as smitten as John Hewitt—who understood that people earning $15,000 or $20,000 or $25,000 a year live in a perpetual state of financial turmoil. Hewitt began opening outposts in the inner cities, Rust Belt towns, depressed rural areas—anywhere the misery index was high. "That was the low-hanging fruit," he says. "Going into lower-income areas and delivering refunds quicker was where the opportunity was."

Customers wanting a RAL paid Jackson Hewitt a $24 application fee, a $25 processing fee, and a $2 electronic-filing fee, plus 4 percent of the loan amount. On a $2,000 refund, that meant $131 in charges—equivalent to an annual interest rate of about 170 percent—not to mention the few hundred bucks you might spend for tax preparation. "Essentially, they're charging people triple-digit interest rates to borrow their own money," says Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

In 1988, the first year he began offering the loans, Hewitt owned 49 stores in three states. Five years later, he had 878 stores in 37 states. And five years after that, when Cendant Corp.—the conglomerate that owned Avis, Century 21, and Days Inn—bought Jackson Hewitt for $483 million, his earliest backers received a $2 million payout on every $5,000 they'd invested. Today, with 6,000 offices scattered across the country, Jackson Hewitt is more ubiquitous than KFC, and has about as many imitators.

 

THERE WOULD BE NO refund anticipation loans, of course, without tax refunds. And by extension there would be no RALs without the Earned Income Tax Credit, the federal anti-poverty initiative that served as the mother's milk nourishing the instant-refund boom. Welfare reform was the catalyst for the EITC, which was aimed at putting extra cash in the pockets of low-income parents who worked. What motive does a single mother have to get a job, conservative thinkers asked, if there was scant difference between her monthly take-home pay and a welfare check? It was Richard Nixon who first floated the idea that led to the Earned Income Tax Credit; Ronald Reagan dubbed it "the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress." In 2007, the US Treasury paid out $49 billion to 25 million taxpayers.

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Roofing Contractors Vancouver - 5 Inquiries to Think about

Roofing Vancouver - Faq's

1. Repair or Replace?

There's no opinion as an expert opinion. Most contractors will provide you with a free estimate. Get a list of a couple trusted contractors and contact them well in advance of when you wish to obtain your roof fixed to help you compare costs and opinions.

2. Beauty versus Practicality?

Discuss this with your spouse or partner. (The children could care less...at least the children.) The fact is, nobody wants an ugly roof the same as nobody wants to be viewed with bed hair. If you've got a great quality roof and you just have to do the repair, it's worthwhile to pay the cost of the original shingle instead of doing patchwork. A roof replacement doesn't happen frequently (hopefully!) and thus make a choice that best suits you and your family well or it'll stand out just like a sore thumb everyday you decide to go home.

3. Should I replace the roof so I can sell the house for more?

Consider this cautiously before making a choice. Depending on the roofing material you select, a new roof lasts between twenty, fifty, to one-hundred years! This means you need to check the year of the roof that's currently over your head first. Are you at year 18 of a 20-year warranted roof or year 30 of a 50-year warranted roof? Obviously, the quality is what makes the roof last longer, but if you're not likely to remain in your current home for the rest of your lifetime, the larger expense may not be worth neglect the. Although a new roof can enhance the worth of your value, the rise might not be enough to pay for your investment and that's definitely going to hurt your wallet.

4. Is it a good idea for me to repair the rooftop myself?

Sure it's. Before you need to do, consult an expert first. You can perform it yourself, but you shouldn't be a complete ‘lone ranger.' Depending on the extent of your repair, you might or may not change your mind. Either way, it helps to obtain a professional eye on the problem first and perhaps even a free quote so you can do the math later and find out if it's truly worth your time, sweat, and money to be mister or miss fix-it.

5. Just when was a great time to get the roof replaced?

Weather can cause delays from days to weeks. Most people prepare yourself to have their roof replaced in the summer when they have a friend will be home throughout the day for a solid two weeks. Once you have this era in your mind, create a call to some trusted contractor months ahead of time to get a quote. Some companies get booked up fast and chances are, they're the most reputable. Preparing in advance of the summer also gives you time for you to discuss with more and compare costs...especially if you need to possess the roof done by a particular date.

 

The very best Roofing Company In Vancouver!

Is there a leak inside your home's roof? Perhaps you have lost shingles or tiles inside a storm? Have overhanging branches caused damage? Is your roof more than Two decades old and showing wear and tear? Are your gutters overwhelmed and draining poorly?

When the answer to these questions is "Yes" it is time to call the very best roofing company Vancouver - Crown Roofing & Drainage.

For more than a century Crown Roofing continues to be the roofer of choice among our Vancouver neighbors. We offer complete roofing services, from emergency repairs and roof restoration, to complete roof replacement. All while using finest quality materials, installed with precision and the highest level of customer service.

YOUR Vancouver ROOF DESERVES NO LESS!

The rooftop of your Vancouver house is the first line of defence against wind, rain, snow, ice along with other weather elements. Make sure it is up to the task. Among Vancouver Roofing companies, only Crown Roofing has the depth of experience and successful history to ensure your roofing system will be properly designed and installed.

NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS.

One reason Crown Roofing continues to be the most successful roofing contractor in Vancouver is our resolve for our neighbors. We treat your home as though it were our own and we were building a roof to safeguard our own family. That's what neighbors do, and you will count on Crown Roofing being here to aid you and also back our work. After all, we've been repairing and replacing roofs in Vancouver since 1902!

GET A FREE INSPECTION AND EVALUATION Of the Vancouver ROOF.

Go to the Roofers Vancouver for a FREE inspection and evaluation of your roof. Make sure you get the best roof for the Vancouver home, at the best value. We build roofs to last!

 

Tacoma Roofing company: Help your house be Beautiful

Very few people view the worth of a solid roof, your knowledgeable Tacoma Roofing contractor does. From first hand experience, they'll be able to tell you the reason why you need a strong, secure, and leak-free roof on your home.

The local Tacoma Roofing company is knowledgeable how important a financial investment your property is for you, especially as it is a lasting one. Your home might have been damaged slowly over the years and you have to take steps to minimize this damage. For a number of people, keeping their property beautiful is also a matter of pride. There are those too who'd like to turn their property right into a cost effective and efficient living place. Your roof is a valuable part of your house and plays a role in each of the aspects mentioned above. For this reason, you should employ the expertise of qualified a Tacoma Roofing company.

Types of Roofs installed by a Tacoma Roofer

One of the more common types of roofs are asphalt shingles, steel or metal sheeting, fiberglass, slate and terra cotta tiles.

Each kind of roof invites distinct problems, but they can all be easily taken care of by a trusted Tacoma Roofing contractor. It's imperative that you nip roof problems within the bud before they become too costly or dangerous. You can schedule a scheduled appointment using the Tacoma Roofing company to consider a glance at your roof to determine if there are any issues or potential problems with it. If you will find, they might be able to let you know how to deal with them.

A Tacoma Roofer Helps you to Build Strong Homes

The exteriors of any house, primarily the rooftop and gutters, face the onslaught of bitter and varying climate conditions, day after day. Painting, repairing, and cleaning gutters may be necessary. In some cases you may have to replace them completely. Usually, whenever your gutters show signs and symptoms of trouble, your roof must also be inspected for problems. Whatever issues there may be, an experienced Tacoma Roofing company can examine them in detail and suggest the remedy.

In case your gutters tend to clog too often, or you will find leaks along the walls of your house, it might imply that there's debris piled-up on the roof. Loose branches, piles of leaves, and other light objects that are swept on your roof during a storm can all contribute towards damaging your roof, which damages can be lasting. A knowledgeable Tacoma Roofing contractor will explain that birds, mice, along with other types of rodents often build nest within the debris that collects on the roof. While these nests may look rather innocent, they're great at collecting moisture, which can lead to loose shingles, mold, and indoor leaks in your house. Additionally, it may also cause vermin infestation. Following a storm, your Tacoma Roofer will suggest that you inspect your roof for any signs of debris or damage.

Reverse Damages with the Help of a Tacoma Roofing company

However top quality the roof might be, it will eventually wear down with time. You will find shingles which are referred to as "25 year" or "30 year" shingles, but those numbers are just related to warranty produced by the makers. They hardly ever last that long. Realistically speaking, "25 year" shingles won't last a lot more than fifteen to twenty years. Within an area that is prone to storms, shingles or the entire roof may need to get replaced every ten years. Having a Tacoma Roofer, the price is going to be less than what you think.

If there you lose any shingles, or there is some damage to them, a Tacoma Roofing company can assist you to. Damaged shingles can lead to indoor leaks, as the substrate of the roof becomes subjected to the elements. Shingles which are loose or broken can slip off and pose a possible hazard to people standing below. Missing shingles produce a gap that allows rain, wind, ice, and debris to develop underneath the adjoining shingles, which results in a "domino effect" that affects other shingles and they become loose or broken. A thorough investigation is going to be produced by your local Tacoma Roofing contractor, should you call them track of your suspicions of loose or missing shingles.

Your Tacoma Roofing company will be in a position to tell you what the smartest choice is for your homes roof. In case your roof is not inside a good condition, it is advised that you have it replaced completely. The Tacoma Roofing contractor may take you thru the different roofing options available to you that will fit your requirements and your budget.

Tacoma Roofer: Enhancing your Home's Efficiency

Your roof shelters you from storms, sleet, and hail. By giving adequate ventilation, your homes roof protects your home from overheating, and by holding in the heat, it keeps your home warm. That's why you need to prepare your roof from indoors as well as outdoors for just about any kind of weather emergency. A professional Tacoma Roofing company can offer assist in this case.

First of all, inspect your homes roof thoroughly for just about any and all sorts of kind of damage, prior to the beginning of the new season. The gutters should be clear, debris should not be piled on or trapped under shingles, tthere shouldn't be homes of squirrels or birds within the eaves or attic, and the roof should be structurally sound. For that last part, you will need the help of the local Tacoma Roofer. It can be quite dangerous to climb to the roof of your house. This is when the contractor from Tacoma Roofer comes in. He'll read the strength and security of the roof and shingles, and do a general inspection of the entire roof structure, to make certain that it's in proper working order. They will be able to point to issues that you need to keep an eye on and problems you might not have spotted.

You will need all of the assist you to can get from the Tacoma Roofing company. You are able to help your roof by installing a gutter guard or leaf cover to help prevent debris from forming inside your gutters. The extra weight of debris prevents the gutters from draining and can even tear them down. Check the fasteners in your gutters and when they are loose, tighten them. Do something to alter worn screws and brackets. For those who have a chimney in your home, inspect the bricks and mortar signs and symptoms of wear. A reliable mason could be recommended by your Tacoma Roofing contractor, if there are any repairs to become done.

Tacoma Roofing contractor: Someone You Can Count On
In the event that you know or suspect that there's a problem, your Tacoma Roofing company should be contacted. They are able to use their knowledge and expertise to obtain your home back in ace condition by simply focusing on the roof. Your roof deserves attention. So call them today, to enable them to conclude caring for your roof.

 

What is Difference Between Commercial Roofing Companies From Residential Roofing Companies

If you are considering getting a roofing company to re roof your house or building then you may be wondering what the differences are between residential roofing companies and commercial roofing companies. To begin with, the one big difference is usually that times a commercial roofing company might have signed a contract with and be obligated to a roofing union in in a position to work on union commercial jobs.

If this sounds like the case then their labor costs will prohibit them from working on non union residential jobs. Beyond that, if your commercial roofing company hasn't signed a contract with a union they may be outfitted simply for commercial jobs which of course means their workers and equipment might not be in line with smaller residential jobs.

Residential roofing contractors in general often run smaller companies and hence, tend to be more in a position to bid competitively on residential jobs, which tend to be small compared to comercial jobs. Actually, quite often residential roofing contractors will run one man operations, where the contractor that you simply speak with may be the one that actually does the work on the building.

Also, liability insurance for commercial roofing is more expensive and a larger bond is needed for any commercial roofing work which will make it not economical for any commercial roofing contractor to complete residential roofing jobs.

Still an additional factor is that commercial jobs can run on tighter time frame for any quantity of reasons, requiring an industrial contractor to employ a larger crew or crews which again makes smaller jobs not as profitable for them.

 

Difference Between Commercial Roofing and Residential Roofing

Did you know that the rooftop of a building has a huge impact on the whole structure itself? Damage caused to roofs because of natural or other disasters causes a considerable lack of property everywhere. The kind of materials used to construct the roof which should be sturdy and long lasting, the manner in which the roof has been installed and even its timely maintenance are very crucial. There are two kinds of roofs that are used on all the buildings that we see around us: commercial and residential. Although it may seem that commercial roofing is performed only for businesses or offices and residential roofing is performed for apartments and houses, the truth is the differences are much more complex than that.

Residential roofing is generally completed just by one hired contractor but commercial roofing usually takes an entire team to accomplish the task. This is because an industrial roof is commonly larger in terms of square feet than the usual residential roof.
Commercial roofs need to be made carefully keeping the character and reason for your building in your mind. For example, when there is a restaurant in the building then external components like ventilation systems, smoke stacks and pipes is going to be required. Residential roofs tend not to have such components other than a chimney or two at most.
Commercial roofs is commonly flat in design to support further changes at a later period, whereas most residential roofs have peaks along with other architectural features like roof gardens.
Commercial roofing is a lot more expensive than residential roofing because of the special tools, materials and safety equipment that are needed onsite. Often the patching or maintenance work is done in segments unlike for a residential roof where the repair or replacement work can be completed in a short time. This really is another reason why the equipment used for residential roofs is usually smaller and less costly too.
Commercial roof installations take a extended period to accomplish in comparison to residential roof installations and are usually constructed in large sections. In this phase however, you should make sure that there are no leakages, cracks or any other visible wear and tear signs as it can certainly cause considerable harm to the whole building.
You should install the right roof for any building based on its purpose. Ensure that you hire a construction company that uses top notch materials and has the best equipment for the job or your investment risk turning to be a huge loss later.