Quick SEO techniques your company can implement on its own to
yield better results in organic search

SEO Tip #1: Optimize for Local SearchCreate a “Google My Business” page (for free) with your address, phone number, hours of operation, and company information listed on it. If you previously had a Google Places business account, it has already been automatically upgraded to Google My Business. This allows your company to control what Google shows users in search results and makes finding the location of your company in Google Maps easier. You are also able to respond to customer reviews, post photos, and gain insight into how people searched for your business through Google.
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SEO Tip #2: Create Keyword-Rich Blog Posts
Search algorithms are designed to imitate how humans interact with search engines in order to find what they are looking for online. By regularly posting new content to the company website, Google bots will crawl and index it more often.
Since fresh content ranks higher in search engines and higher-ranking pages get more views, it is a smart idea to start utilizing your website’s blog by publishing relevant industry information your consumers expect to find.

SEO Tip #3: Interlinking Pages & Authoritative Back links
Internal linking is used to provide viewers with easy navigation and encourage them to explore further into your website. For example you might want to learn more about Teck Capital 
 
Backlinks are also powerful in terms of SEO as it improves the credibility of your site.  Not to say that ranking first in Google will always be the result, but getting other valuable sources to link to your company’s website will be beneficial to its rankings.

SEO Tip #4: Social Media Ranking Factors
Social media profiles are among some of the top results when searching for a specific brand or company name. Each account matters to Google, and people searching for your products or services want the option to get to know more about your brand. Be sure that the contact information is up-to-date and that you are consistently distributing fresh content to each social outlet. Also be sure to include hashtags in posts because they can be used to find content related to specific topics. This strategy ultimately increases the amount of times your business pages are returned in various search results.

​SEO Tip #5: Image Optimization
An alt tag is used so those who are visually impaired know what the image is for. Including alt tags on images is another easy way for you to potentially boost your site’s ranking position. Photos with alt tags are more likely to show up in image-based search engines, like Google Images, and a good source for receiving more organic traffic to your website.

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WHAT IS SR&ED
SR&ED (Scientific Research & Experimental Development) is the government’s largest technology-based funding program in Canada and one of the leaders worldwide. Unfortunately, many companies get dazed with the scientific term “SR” and miss on the experimental part “ED” where the latter encompasses more than 95% of the SR&ED claims. The most common myth associated with the program is that applying companies need to have a formal lab setting with white coat scientists, need to have a patent application in process, or that simply applying for incentives might trigger other government related audits. All of these points are simply not true.  

So, what’s Experimental Development? In government language it’s the “systematic investigations carried out to overcome a technological obstacle in the field of science or technology by means of experiments or analysis…etc.”  In layman’s term, it’s what the industry generally calls “trial & error”. Unfortunately, not all businesses that could be conducting qualifying “Trial & Error” activities in Canada apply for such incentives thus losing a significant leading advantage in their field. In other words, your competition is probably applying and collecting such incentives while you are still debating whether you should explore such funding venue or not. Here are the 7 most important facts that you need to know about the SR&ED program. 

1. The SR&ED program is part of the income tax act and is designed to help Canadian companies maintain a global competitive edge where it’s becoming more and more evident that we can’t compete with overseas cheaper labour rates. Such incentives will help ease the cost on companies of developing new products or processes. 
2. SR&ED activities for small and medium-sized businesses are usually part of your day-to-day business activities, meaning that SR&ED could be carried out on the production floor during your trial & error.  
3. The general rule is that all businesses permanent established in Canada can claim a non-refundable Federal tax credit equal to 15% of eligible SR&ED expenditures. However, for qualified CCPC (Canadian Controlled Private Corp), the credit can be as high as 35% refundable from the Feds only. 
4. In addition to the federal tax incentives, most provinces have their own SR&ED tax incentives that businesses can take advantage of. Depending on the province, a provincial incentive up to 15% in the form refund or tax credit is added on top of the 35% Federal refund. With that said, a company spending $100,000 in new development could get more than $40,000 refund “Government Math!”. 
5. A company can apply for SR&ED tax incentives within 18 months from the end of the tax year in which the SR&ED expenditures were incurred. Meaning companies can still claim SR&ED expenses incurred in their last fiscal year. 
6. The CRA service standard to review and administer the SR&ED program for current files “SR&ED claims submitted with company’s tax return” is 120 days. Meaning you could get your refund within a week to 4 months of your submission. On amended tax returns, 240 days is CRA service standard. 
7. Yes, companies can utilize the credit or the refund to offset any outstanding tax account such as payroll taxes, HST and income tax. You can also opt to carry over and use when needed. 

   Teck Capital not only finances SR&ED claims but we also we work with consultants that have  
   long standing records of successful SR&ED claims. 

 

After 15 months, 300 hours and 100 charts, here is what researchers discovered about creating billion-dollar startups.

Ali Tamaseb, a founder turned venture capitalist at Data Collective VC, recently spent 300 hours gathering data on billion-dollar startups. He generated 100 charts exploring their history and outlined dozens of valuable insights--all in a quest to learn what billion-dollar startups look like at inception. 
Tamaseb gathered data on 65 key factors from all 195 unicorn startups based in the U.S. His work included all startups since 2005 that have publicly reached a valuation of more than $1 billion. The least surprising finding is that almost 60 percent of billion-dollar startups were created by serial entrepreneurs. In fact, he found that 70 percent of billion-dollar founders were "super-founders," or founders with at least one previous exit of more than $50 million.
For the full article please visit;

https://www.inc.com/sean-wise/this-study-of-195-billion-dollar-companies-found-6-counterintuitive-truths-about-building-a-unicorn.html
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