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HTTP 500 Internal Server Error: What It Means & How to Fix It

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Troubleshooting an HTTP 500 internal server error is like solving a mystery.

You donโ€™t know what exactly happened or why it happened โ€” all you know is that somethingโ€™s wrong and you need to fix it.

To guide you through the hassle of troubleshooting the dreaded HTTP 500 internal server error, letโ€™s go over what it exactly means and its most common causes and solutions.

Here are some examples of what a 500 error page might look like in your browser:

screenshot of an http 500 internal server error message example

HTTP error 500 example: Dribble

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HTTP error 500 example: Google

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Other Common Error Codes

HTTP codes show you how your web browser and website communicate. These are some other common error codes you might see on your website:

HTTP 200

This is a standard status code for websites that are performing well.

HTTP 301

This is the code for permanent redirects. For example, say you have two site pages about widgets with duplicate information and one gets more traffic than the other. It makes sense to redirect the low-traffic page to the high-traffic page to improve SEO for your site.

HTTP 302

This code is for temporary redirects. This is for situations where you want to send users to an alternate page for a short amount of time.

HTTP 304

This code shows up when the website youโ€™re requesting hasnโ€™t seen an update since your last visit.

HTTP 403

This code comes from the server when youโ€™re trying to access a restricted URL.

HTTP 404

A 404 code tells your users that your server canโ€™t find that page they requested with their browser. 404 errors are common, and some sites use this to their advantage.

HTTP 405

This is an HTTP response status code error. It tells you that a web browser wants to access your web page and your server has rejected that specific HTTP method. This means that the browser canโ€™t access the requested web page.

HTTP 410

This is a permanent code that tells site visitors that the page theyโ€™re looking for doesnโ€™t exist.

HTTP 413

This code appears when a user tries to upload a file that exceeds the serverโ€™s file size limit.

HTTP 429

This error is a server response to stop sending requests because of overloaded resources. This code might show up if your site needs to make too many API calls to meet a request.

HTTP 503

This code tells users that the server is temporarily unable to load the page theyโ€™re looking for.

Check out this post for a comprehensive overview of error codes.

Potential Causes of a 500 Internal Server Error

A 500 internal server error is, as the name implies, a general problem with the websiteโ€™s server. More than likely, this means thereโ€™s an issue or temporary glitch with the websiteโ€™s programming.

Some potential causes of a 500 internal server error include:

Corrupted or Broken .Htaccess File

A .htaccess file is a text file with important server instructions. These instructions tell your software to enable or disable specific functions. They might help you protect passwords in a directory or restrict user access.

There are many ways to corrupt a .htaccess file. It can happen during plugin installation, file configuration, or while you are working on your server.

A Permissions Error

Permission errors come with file protection. Permissions errors might be bugs, user mistakes, or networking problems. Usually, this error means that the user isnโ€™t allowed to perform the action theyโ€™re trying.

Faulty Third-Party Plugins or Themes

To increase user features and functionality, you might add a third-party theme or plugin to your website. These plugins can be great for your site, but they can also impact site security, bugs, and performance.

These plugins and themes are often created by individuals or small groups. This can be challenging because they may need more time to address bug fixes and vulnerabilities.

Exceeding the PHP Memory Limit

PHP is a server-side scripting language embedded in HTML. PHP is for managing content, databases, session tracking, and more. Each PHP process uses memory, and your hosting account has a limit for each one of these processes.

If a website needs more than this memory limit, you may see an HTTP 500 error.

HTTP Error 500 Browser Compatibility

Most businesses design their websites for maximum browser compatibility. This means that your website is easy to access and use on any browser or operating system. But your site may work perfectly in one browser and have issues or errors in others.

Because HTTP 500 is a catch-all error, you can see this error on any browser and in any operating system.

How an HTTP 500 Error Might Appear

This error can come up on any site you try to visit on a browser. Because itโ€™s such a common error, there are many ways to communicate this code.

  • Internal server error
  • The page isnโ€™t working
  • 500 Internal Server Error
  • 500 Server Error
  • 500. Thatโ€™s an error.
  • HTTP 500.0 โ€“ Internal Server Error
  • Error 500
  • Error code: 500
  • The server returned a 500 Internal Server Error
  • Temporary Error (500)

How to Fix a 500 Internal Server Error

Unlike other server-side errors like a 502 code, a 500 internal server error is it doesnโ€™t immediately tell you what the problem is, nor does it tell you how to fix it. If the error persists for too long on your site, it could even negatively impact your SEO.

So, letโ€™s dive into some solutions so you can try to fix the issue.

If Youโ€™re Trying to Load a Page with a 500 Internal Server Error:

1. Refresh the page.

This might seem obvious, but if itโ€™s a temporary loading issue, you might find success if you refresh the page. Before trying anything else in this list, reload the page and see what happens.

2. Come back later.

Since the error is on the server side, Iโ€™m willing to bet the website owners are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue. Give it a few minutes or up to an hour or so, and then reload the URL and see if the development team has fixed the issue.

3. Delete your browserโ€™s cookies.

If clearing the browser history doesnโ€™t work, you might try deleting your browserโ€™s cookies. If the cookies are associated with the error-prone webpage, deleting the cookies might help reload the page.

4. Paste your URL into the website โ€œDown for Everyone or Just Me.โ€

Head to downforeveryoneorjustme.com and paste in the URL where youโ€™re seeing the internal server error. Youโ€™ll either be told that the website is only down for you, or that the website is down for everyone.

the homepage of downforeveryoneorjustme.com displaying the http 500 internal error status of youtube.comIf itโ€™s a problem with your server, this should help assuage any concerns that itโ€™s an issue with your own computer.

If the 500 Internal Server Error is on Your Own Website:

1. Deactivate a plugin or theme.

Newly activated software, add-ons, or third-party scripts might be conflicting with your current server configuration. To determine this, try (carefully) deactivating or uninstalling your software add-ons one at a time to identify what exactly is causing the internal server error.

If you run a WordPress website, this is easy to do with plugins. From your dashboard, choose Plugins > Installed Plugins, then deactivate the first plugin. If the error resolves, you know this plugin is part of the issue. Reactivate the first plugin, then repeat this deactivate-reactivate process one at a time for all plugins to determine which ones are causing your error.

list of active plugins on a wordpress site and a deactivate button to resolve an http 500 internal server errorYou might find that having fewer active plugins on your site helps things run more smoothly.

Alternatively, if you just upgraded your software, your current plugins or themes might not be compatible with the new upgrade. Deactivating plugins or themes one at a time until the error disappears is the best way to find the root cause of your problem.

2. Use a plugin like WP Debugging to identify the issue.

If your site is powered by WordPress and youโ€™re comfortable with WordPress debugging processes, consider installing a plugin to help you identify the issue with your server.

The debug plugin WP Debugging, for instance, helps you figure out exactly whatโ€™s wrong with your site, which will result in a speedier fix.

download page for the wp debugging plugin to help resolve the http 500 internal server error in wordpress

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3. Ensure your PHP setup is configured correctly.

If the issue is related to a PHP timeout, consider creating timeout rules or error handling in your script to resolve the issue. Hereโ€™s a full list of php.ini directivesto configure your PHP setup.

Additionally, wrong permissions on a file or folder that has a script, like a PHP or CGI script, wonโ€™t allow the script to run. Check your permissions and make sure you set them correctly on your server.

4. Check the code for your siteโ€™s .htaccess file.

Incorrect coding or improper structure with your .htaccess file could be the reason youโ€™re seeing the 500 internal error. The .htaccess file helps you manage how long resources should be stored in a browserโ€™s cache. Try editing the file if youโ€™re seeing a 500 internal server error.

To locate your .htaccess file, access your website files through a file manager like cPanel or via FTP/SFTP. The file will probably be located in your public_htmldirectory. Thereโ€™s a good chance your server will hide this file from view by default and youโ€™ll need to toggle hidden files on to see it.

a server file directory highlighting the htaccess file to resolve the http 500 internal server error

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Coding errors in .htaccess and custom scripts can also cause an HTTP 500 internal server error.

5. Ensure your new software is installed correctly.

Finally, check to see if your recently installed or upgraded software actually failed to install or upgrade. To refresh your software, check the vendorโ€™s website for instructions.

How to fix a 500 internal server error

Last Resort: Ask a Server Administrator for Help

If troubleshooting popular software problems or debugging server-side scripts doesnโ€™t fix your HTTP 500 internal server error, you should read about the most common causes for this type of issue in your serverโ€™s documentation โ€” an HTTP 500 internal server error can occur in different operating systems for a multitude of reasons.

You can also ask your service provider to access your error logs and find evidence of the root cause of your problem.

Internal server errors are irritating because theyโ€™re unhelpful โ€” itโ€™s basically the web serverโ€™s way of saying, โ€œEh, Iโ€™m not sure.โ€ Hopefully, one of the above steps will resolve the problem so you can get back to life as usual.

Editorโ€™s note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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The Ultimate Ranking: Top 11 Search Engines by Popularity

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Top 11 Search Engines

Oftentimes, marketers focus heavily on Google when vying for traffic. This makes sense considering Google is undoubtedly the most popular search engine, with over 80% of the search market share.

But that popularity makes it the most challenging search engine on which to rank highly. Youโ€™re missing critical opportunities for traffic if you neglect other search engines.

Here, weโ€™re going to explore the top 11 search engines worldwide, so you can discuss some other potential traffic sources in your next SEO meeting.

Note: To compile our list, we looked at the worldwide market share of search engines on desktop and mobile from November 2021 to November 2022.

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1. Google

top search engines: Google homepage ,Top 11 Search Engines

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With over 80% of the search market share, Google is undoubtedly the most popular search engine. Additionally, Google captures almost 95% of mobile traffic.

The large traffic potential makes Google a viable option when aiming to capture organic or paid search. The downside, of course, is almost everyone is competing for the same traffic.

Also keep in mind Googleโ€™s algorithm, like featured snippets, aims to fulfill usersโ€™ needs directly on Google, so they donโ€™t need to click any links. These features, and Googleโ€™s popularity, might make it hard for you to capture the website traffic you want.

2. Bing

top search engines: bing search page;Top 11 Search Engines
Top 11 Search Engines

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Bing, Googleโ€™s biggest contender, rakes in 15% of U.S. searches. This engine also powers Yahoo, the U.S.โ€™s third-biggest search engine.

Bingโ€™s search pages look remarkably similar to Googleโ€™s, with the same categories and a similar white background, with blue links and green URLs.

However, Bing additionally offers โ€œRewards,โ€ a program that gives you points when you search or shop on the engine. You can then redeem those points for gift cards, nonprofit donations, and more.

3. Yahoo!

Top search engines, Yahoo! Homepage ,Top 11 Search Engines
Top 11 Search Engines

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Admittedly not the sleekest search engine interface, Yahoo! still manages to capture third place in our list, with just under 3% of the worldwide market share.

Yahoo! is powered by Bing, so search results are incredibly similar between the two search engines. However, itโ€™s still an important search engine in its own right, with over 600 million total monthly users.

4. Yandex

top search engines: Yandex search home page,Top 11 Search Engines
Top 11 Search Engines

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Russian search engine Yandex has roughly 2% of the worldwide market share. However, it is the most widely used search engine in its home country, with Google holding the number two spot. If you do business globally and are looking to reach Russian customers, there are a few things to keep in mind.

For example, Yandex has many quality indicators or badges it can display alongside search results. One of the most prominent is the site quality index or SQI which indicates how useful your site is to users.

Yandex regions webmaster tools guideImage Source

Like Google, Yandex also takes into consideration whether or not a userโ€™s query has local intent and will display regional-dependent results. To account for this, youโ€™ll need to go into Yandexโ€™s webmaster tools and set a site region.

5. DuckDuckGo

top search engines: DuckDuckGo home page,Top 11 Search Engines

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If youโ€™re uneasy about targeted ads or donโ€™t want your search data stored, you might want to try DuckDuckGo, which touts itself as โ€œThe search engine that doesnโ€™t track you.โ€

DuckDuckGo doesnโ€™t track, collect, or store any information, so youโ€™re safe to search for shoes without feeling bombarded by subsequent Macyโ€™s ads. Itโ€™s worth noting there are still ads on DuckDuckGo โ€” just not personalized ones.

Additionally, DuckDuckGo has a clean interface and only one search page, making it easier to navigate than other search engines. With an average of 94,758,414 daily direct searches as of September 2022, itโ€™s slowly gaining steam in the search market.

6. Baidu

top search engines: Baidu home pageImage Source

Baidu is Chinaโ€™s largest search engine, capturing over 63% of Chinaโ€™s search market. The search engine looks similar to Google (besides being in Mandarin), with a white background, blue links, and green URLs. Like Google, Baidu aims to incorporate more rich features in the SERPs.

If you have an interest in appealing to the Asian market, Baidu is a good option to consider.

However, the search engine censors certain images and blocks pro-democracy websites. If youโ€™re comparing search results, youโ€™ll find a more comprehensive results list on Google.

7. Ask.com

Top search engines, Ask.com homepage.

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Ask.com, formerly known as Ask Jeeves, is a search engine designed to answer questions. According to Ask.com, its mission is to โ€œenable curious people to find the information they need.โ€

The interface of Ask.com is similar to Yahooโ€™s interface. However, unlike Yahoo, which is powered by Bing, Ask.com is its own standalone search engine. Ask.com sees most of its traffic from users located in the United States (51.8% of its traffic, to be exact.)

8. Naver

Top search engines, Naver homepage.

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Naver is South Koreaโ€™s second most popular search engine, claiming 28.81% of the search engine market. Naverโ€™s interface is entirely in Korean, and there is no English version of the website.

However, Naver is more than a simple search engine. Users of the website can access news content, search suggestions, and more.

Naver is a localized search engine, meaning it does not crawl and catalog the entire Internet. If youโ€™re targeting the South Korean market with your content, make sure your SEO matches the criteria of South Koreaโ€™s second most popular search engine.

9. Ecosia

Top search engines, Ecosia homepage.Top 11 Search Engines

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Ecosia is โ€œthe search engine that plants trees.โ€ For every search a user makes with Ecosia (either the webpage or its free browser extension), Ecosia will plant trees in vulnerable areas with the profit the company makes from its searches. To date, Ecosia has funded 146 million trees.

Ecosia is growing in popularity, but it is especially popular in Germany where the company is based. Worldwide, Ecosia has gained 0.11% of the search engine market share. Like Yahoo!, Ecosia is powered by Bing.

10. AOL

Top search engines, AOL homepage.Top 11 Search Engines

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AOL, formerly known as America Online, is both an online media company and a search engine. The interface of the website features a search bar and national news articles, along with local news and weather.

Most of AOLโ€™s traffic is generated from the United States, 86.38% to be exact.

11. Internet Archive

Top search engines, Internet Archive homepage.Top 11 Search Engines
Top 11 Search Engines

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Internet Archive is a different kind of search engine. As its name implies, Internet Archive is a free archive of books, movies, software, music, websites, etc.

Instead of attempting to rank in this search engine like bloggers would try to do for other search engines, users can sign up for a free account and can upload their content to the archives.

Most of Internet Archiveโ€™s audience is located in the United States. However, the search engine is gaining popularity in other countries, such as Great Britain and India.

Emerging Search Engine Trends

The top search engines may have another competitor vying for user business in the near future, as Arel=โ€noopenerโ€ target=โ€_blankโ€ hrefs has announced they areworking on a search engine of their own.

Currently in beta, Yep, is unique from other platforms as it shares 90% of its ad revenue with content creators. With this model, Yep aims to encourage more people to share their knowledge and high-quality content.

Google is also working to prioritize good content with their 2022 Helpful Content Update. HubSpotโ€™s Head of SEO Content Aja Frost says the update has huge implications for the industry.

โ€œFirst, Google is sending a strong signal that content written by humans is preferable to content by computers. (Ironic, given virtually all of the SERPs are algorithmized.)โ€

Frost also points out that this update should encourage SEOs to take a more comprehensive approach to site performance.

โ€œThis update is also reinforcing the idea that your domain is one entity, and content on one part of your website will impact the performance of another part of your website,โ€ Frost explains. โ€œWith this in mind, SEOs should be looking at their site as a whole โ€” not isolated sets of pages.โ€

Think Beyond Google

Ultimately, itโ€™s essential to consider alternative traffic opportunities besides Google when creating an SEO strategy.

By diversifying your sources, youโ€™re more likely to capture the first page on SERPs, and youโ€™re in a better position to find a truly ideal target audience.

This article was originally published in September 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Top 11 Search Engines

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11 Leadership Traits To Help You Rise to the Top

11 Leadership Traits โ€“ Great leaders make their jobs look easy, but the reality is that leadership is one of the hardest skills to master. Effective leaders empower and motivate their teams, making entire organizations more successful.

People are not just born as natural leaders โ€” you can learn, develop, and strengthen leadership skills with practice. Read on to learn about the traits you should master (and the ones you should veer away from) to be a better leader.

What are leadership traits? ย  ย  ย  ย  ย  ย 

Leadership traits are personal qualities exhibited by exemplary leaders. They are the kind of temperament, direction, and influence leaders need to foster cohesion among their teams and guide their organization to success.

These characteristics help shape how effectively you interact with peers, employees, and higher-ups. If you can consistently exhibit and live by them, youโ€™ll be able to navigate murky situations and inspire others to trust your judgment.

The best leadership traits typically revolve around sound morals, the ability to uplift those around you, and commitment to self-improvement.

What are leadership traits?

Top Leadership Traits To Master

1. Accountability

Great leaders shield their teams from blame whenever possible, taking responsibility as the captain steering the ship instead. Individual feedback can be offered to employees in one-on-one settings, but pointing fingers is unproductive and only creates negative working environments. Owning up to mistakes is humanizing and inspiring, promoting honesty in the workplace.

2. Communication

Even the best instincts, intentions, and ideas donโ€™t mean much if they canโ€™t be thoughtfully conveyed or articulated.

You need to be able to speak clearly and sincerely โ€” with accessibility and a willingness to provide further explanation as needed. Expert communication is one of the better ways to inspire and connect with the people you lead, and build trust with the higher-ups.

3. Competence

It might sound like a given, but you need to be good at your job to be a strong leader. Being effective and nimble in your position helps you, your team, and your organization succeed. Your talent and work ethic will motivate those around you and earn their respect.

4. Confidence

If youโ€™re only halfway committing to your ideas and second-guessing every call you make, the people you lead are going to take notice โ€” and theyโ€™ll be every bit as unsure as you are. You need to cultivate trust with your team if you want to be an effective leader โ€” and that starts with you trusting yourself.

5. Curiosity

The best leaders are never complacent โ€” theyโ€™re always pursuing new learning opportunities. They ask questions and actively listen to feedback. As a leader, commit to remaining open-minded and constantly refining your skills.

6. Empathy

The best leaders see their employees as people who have lives inside and outside of the office. They can put themselves in the shoes of others to understand how events could affect their team. Strong leaders communicate this empathy, having open conversations with their team and offering support and encouragement when needed.

7. Empowerment

After youโ€™ve hired talented people, empower them to do their best work. Focus on building your team up rather than tearing them down, and be generous with praise and gratitude. Provide your team with the tools they need to move forward, succeed, and accomplish their personal goals.

8. Focus

Sometimes, itโ€™s hard to concentrate on the task at hand instead of getting caught up in the details, or being distracted by shiny new projects. A good leader stays focused on the big picture and on goals and projects that move the needle for your company.

9. Passion

Passionate leaders are contagious and elevate those around them. The best leaders are invested in what they do โ€” they have a personal stake in their work and a vested interest in their teamโ€™s success. If you want your team to work to the best of its ability, you need to show youโ€™re doing exactly that.

10. Positivity

Set an example by staying driven and optimistic as much as possible. But be sure not to take positivity to a toxic extreme: Make your team a place where you strive for optimism and excitement, but allow space for voicing negative emotions.

11. Vision

The best leaders donโ€™t wing their decisions without an underlying strategy or goal. Sure, effective leaders need to make thoughtful calls on the fly โ€” but they also envision a preferred trajectory that helps inform how they conduct themselves and guide their teams.

Bad leadership traits,11 Leadership Traits

Bad Leadership Traits: What To Stay Away From

The below traits are harmful to leaders and can stall momentum and interfere with your, and your teamโ€™s, success.

1. Lack of communication

While there will always be certain pieces of information a leader needs to keep to themselves, being open and honest with oneโ€™s team is pivotal. When leaders are opaque about their intentions, it can leave employees frustrated and unmotivated.

Deliver clear feedback, expectations, and updates whenever possible and build your reputation as a transparent manager.

2. Inflexibility

Things change quickly in business, and staying rigid or tied to unsuccessful ideas can hinder the teamโ€™s ability to pivot and adapt.

Inflexibility and stubbornness go hand in hand: Leaders who are wary of change or compromise appear stubborn and headstrong, making it less likely that innovative team members will feel comfortable presenting new ideas.

3. Indecision

Leaders are often presented with a slew of choices, and their team members rely on them to make the final, correct decision for the organization.

If a leader is bogged down by indecision, the company can be left in the lurch while waiting for directives. Try to move quickly, but carefully, toward a decision โ€” sometimes, even a wrong decision is better than no decision as it at least provides a learning opportunity.

4. Arrogance

Confidence is key to effective leadership, but thereโ€™s a limit. At some point, being too hardheaded moves from inspirational to frustrating. The best leaders know how to toe that line โ€” using their faith in themselves to bring the best out of those around them.

5. Inability to accept blame

When things go wrong, weak leaders blame their teams, while strong leaders look inward and take on some of that blame themselves.

Take accountability for mistakes, and communicate that accountability to your team. This builds trust with your employees and creates an environment in which people feel secure enough to own up to their mistakes and shortcomings.

How To Develop Effective Leadership Traits

1. Get to know you

Becoming a great leader starts with taking stock of who you are, including your strengths and weaknesses. Be brutally honest, and humbly hear how others view you. The most valuable insight often comes from those around you.

There are several assessments you can take โ€” some of which include options for others to evaluate you. Here are some tried-and-true as well as unique and innovative assessments to take a look at:

2. Commit to growth

After youโ€™ve done some soul-searching, itโ€™s time to set a plan in motion โ€” but no plan is worth the paper (or pixels) itโ€™s written on without a commitment to see it through. As Yoda said, โ€œDo. Or do not. There is no try.โ€

3. Practice, stand accountable, and be generous

You (and only you) are responsible for the results of your leadership. Theres no question that you will mess up โ€” honing skills and instilling new behaviors takes time, practice, and perseverance.

Whether you succeed or stumble, be generous to those around you for their help and encouragement. If you give credit to others for your successes and shoulder the blame for your mistakes, you will find an endless supply of followers.

When youโ€™re transparent about your intentions and sincere in your actions and interactions, thereโ€™s nothing to be embarrassed, defensive, or ashamed about. If anything, your vulnerability can set a powerful example for others.

4. Donโ€™t go it alone

Leaders can isolate themselves by thinking they canโ€™t trust others to tell them the truth or that they need to always be seen as strong, perfect, and in control at all times.

You can go that route if you want to โ€” or you could enroll people you trust in your journey. For example:

  • Hire an executive coach who provides an objective perspective and works with you to develop your abilities.
  • Share your visions and plans with other executives. Combine that with a business coach to support all of you.
  • Solicit your followersโ€™ help in holding you accountable for when you deviate off course, violate other peopleโ€™s boundaries, or donโ€™t live up to your own standards.

What Is My Leadership Philosophy?

There are many schools of thought about leadership. Amazon has 26k+ titles on leadership, and a quick Google search on โ€œleadershipโ€ produces nearly 3m results.

If youโ€™re looking to develop a leadership philosophy, you have a variety of viewpoints to choose from. Common leadership styles (in addition to servant leadership) include:

  • Transactional leadership
  • Transformational leadership
  • Democratic leadership
  • Autocratic leadership
  • Bureaucratic leadership
  • Laissez-faire leadership
  • Charismatic leadership

You can read in-depth descriptions of those leadership styles here and use tools like this, this, and this to find out which one is right for you.

Only you will know which philosophy fits with your core values. What works for your colleague across town may not work for you. Dig deep inside yourself, do some research, and practice until you get the right combination.

Think of it this way: When youโ€™re creating a plan for a client, youโ€™re constantly weighing which strategies and elements will yield the greatest return. Itโ€™s different for each client, each organization, and each goal. You start one way, but invariably you wind up making tweaks and changing variables on the fly.

Leadership is no different. As you become immersed in the topic, youโ€™ll see that there are different strategies, traits, and approaches that youโ€™ll combine in whatever unique way suits your strengths and your goals.

11 Leadership Traits

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Most Profitable Businesses To Start in 2023: Nine Ideas

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Most Profitable Businesses To Start in 2023: Nine IdeasCommercial Cleaning

Personal Finance

The pandemic greatly shifted how people view hygiene and cleanliness, especially in high-traffic areas such as restaurants and offices. Launching a cleaning service taps into this demand โ€” the industry is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% from 2020 to 2027.

Earn cash for taking free paid surveys while influencing the next generation of products, services and much more.

The global commerce platform

Commercial cleaners stand to make the most profit. Workplaces must meet hygienic standards, but small businesses often canโ€™t afford a full-time janitor. A cleaning business addresses these concerns, especially if your area lacks competition. Small businesses in this space make between $70k and $100k per year, with profit margins falling between 10% and 28%.

Supplies make up the bulk of a cleanersโ€™ expenses, including power washes, vacuums, mops, and other tools, depending on your specialty. For example, your business can specialize in green cleaning โ€” which requires more eco-friendly, organic products to get started.

Financial Consulting

Financial Consulting: A hand interacts with a calculator and financial sheets.,Personal Finance

Financial consultants help individuals and organizations strategize and manage their money โ€” think of them as experienced professionals who get paid to put in their two cents.

Most financial consultants have some level of formal education, typically through a bachelorโ€™s degree in economics, business, statistics, or accounting. If you plan on working for a corporation, you will likely need a college degree. But when starting out as a freelance consultant, you have greater flexibility if you lack formal education. You only have to convince customers of your value as shown through your work, projects, or experience.

Fortunately, the industry favors freelance financial consultants, as many companies want the expertise of an individual consultant without the high cost of hiring a large firm.

Freelance financial consultants bring in an average of ~$84k per year โ€” far above the national average salary of ~$53k. Many financial consultants pay little costs, as they can work from home and keep most of the money they bring in.

STEM Education

STEM Education: A teacher stands at the front holding papers to several students.

Leverage your college degree or work experience to start a profitable tutoring business. You could teach high school students mathematics or finance, or walk a college student through an essay.

You can also turn any specialized knowledge โ€” like finance, accounting, economics, and statistics โ€” into a lucrative tutoring service.

Tutoring will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4% from 2020 to 2026, driven mainly by demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) tutors. Tutors make an average salary of ~$54k, but STEM fields generally bring in more. For example, a chemistry tutor reels in an average salary of ~$63k.

You can also create a STEM-based education company and hire other tutors, who usually get paid 20%-30% of the session fees, leaving 70%-80% to the business owner. Launching a tutoring group near large school districts or private schools could help increase your profits.

Most Profitable Online Businesses

While some businesses require in-person work, many services can be conducted virtually. Online operations enable entrepreneurs to go into business with low initial investments and startup costs.

Affiliate Beauty Blogging

Affiliate Beauty Blogging: A laptop is surrounded by different tools, such as HTML, a graph, and a gear.

Also known as affiliate marketing or writing, affiliate blogging makes money by promoting products in articles. A blogger plugs products or services in posts, then earns a commission whenever the reader clicks on a sponsored link and buys an item.

If you want to launch a profitable affiliate blog, the beauty industry could help you get started quickly. For example, you can mention different products in an article about mascara trends, and link out to online stores.

Researchers at Trends identified certain queries, such as โ€œshort french tip nailsโ€ and โ€œfrench tip acrylic nails,โ€ that have high search volumes with extremely low ranking difficulty. In other words, you could launch a blog targeting these keywords with affiliate links โ€” and they will likely rank high on search engine results pages.

Although it takes work to get started, Affise polled affiliate bloggers and found that 25+% make between $81k and $200k. By targeting keywords with high search volume and low difficulty โ€” like the ones mentioned before โ€” you can rank higher and drive revenue faster.

You can start a blog for free, but a domain and branded website will help you stand out. You may also want to spend money on SEO tools such as Ahrefs to find other keywords you can target. Learning how to identify trends will help your affiliate blog stay up to date with changes.

CBD Ecommerce

CBD Ecommerce: A shopping cart sits next to a bank.

Many entrepreneurs have tried to cash in on the rise of cannabidiol (CBD). Between 2022 and 2028, the market for CBD is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.7%, eventually reaching $56B+ in size.

Selling CBD products online is one easy way to get started. Typically, businesses will find a supplier and hawk their products on their own sites. Business owners usually have general knowledge of finances, marketing, accounting, and other core skills.

But CBD also exists in an uncertain legal landscape. As the industry grows, regulations have continued to develop โ€” including a 2018 law stating the legal amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products can contain. Entrepreneurs entering the space should brush up on laws surrounding CBD, including FDA regulations.

Despite the risks, CBD startups bring in, on average, a whopping 32% in profit margins. Shopify considers a margin of 10% as average, meaning CBD ecommerce stores have significantly higher margins than other shops.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping: Two boxes move through a supply chain.

Dropshipping is an ecommerce fulfillment method where products are sent directly from the manufacturers to the customers. As an entrepreneur, youโ€™ll create and maintain an online storefront that takes orders and responds to customer inquiries, but you donโ€™t have to maintain a warehouse of inventory.

As such, dropshipping requires little capital to start and has exploded in popularity; ~33% of online stores use this method as their fulfillment model.

From 2019 to 2025, dropshipping will have a CAGR of 28.8%. Besides low upfront costs, dropshippers often see a profit margin of 15%-20% compared to an industry average of 10%. High-ticket dropshippers, or businesses that sell expensive items, bring in margins closer to the 35%-40% range.

Dropshippers can make $100k per year or more, and choosing a high-ticket category โ€” like 3D printers โ€” can optimize your earnings.

Freelance Technical Writing

Freelance Technical Writing: A computer, and two phones sit in the middle.

Freelance writers are hired by organizations to draft content related to their products, services, or goals. In general, freelance writing has no formal education requirements. You can learn to write through free online courses, such as this oneprovided by Harvard University.

Most freelance writers start by creating articles in the field they want to write in. You could get started by using platforms like Medium, where you can house written samples. Successful freelance writers have a portfolio of work they can share with prospective clients.

Although freelance writers create content across all industries, those working in high-demand fields such as business and tech see higher earnings. For example, marketing writers make an average of $76k per year. Although these fields tend to require technical knowledge, you can leverage work experience from previous jobs.

Once you have a solid set of samples, you can start soliciting clients on platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr. While you could source clients using your own website, these platforms will match you to clients already on the lookout for writing services.

Online Business Courses

Online Business Courses: A computer sits between different graphs.

Online courses create passive income for professionals with expertise to share. Once you dedicate the time and resources to making an engaging course โ€” including videos with slides, do-it-yourself assignments, and online quizzes โ€” it can generate revenue indefinitely with minimal updates.

You can host it on platforms such as Udemy or Skillshare, which give the course large exposure without advertising costs.

The industry has also shown large increases in demand. Online learning platform Coursera saw a 338% jump in registered learners from 2016 to 2021.

While you can create courses across different topics, business, personal finance, information technology, and career development offer the highest earning potentials. Most successful course creators earn between $1k to $10k per month. Many creators work on courses part time, so you can get started without quitting your day job.

UI/UX Design

UI/UX Design: A robot's upper body looks to the left, pondering.

User interface/user experience (UI/UX) professionals design how users interact with technical products, from gadgets and websites to coffee machines and robot vacuums.

Making it easy for consumers to use complicated products plays a huge role in how buyers choose companies and purchases. The field has few subject-specific degrees; most UI/UX designers earn degrees in related areas like psychology or computer science, but it typically takes 2-4 years to learn the skills necessary.

Alternatively, many learn about UI/UX through online courses or work experience. For instance, Google offers a free UX Design Certificate that promises to give students skills needed to get hired in less than six months.

A fast growing field, UX design was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top five in-demand skills of 2020. On average, UI/UX designers bring in $89k per year, compared to the US national average salary of ~$53k. For those who want to be their own boss, freelance UX designers make ~$70 an hour, per Udacity.

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Drive Revenue in 2023 With These Six Social Media Strategies [Data + Expert Insights]

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Drive Revenue in 2023 โ€“ We swiped, scrolled, and shared our way through 2022 as social mediaโ€™s grip on the masses showed no signs of slowing down.

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And with a reported 59% of the worldโ€™s population using social media for an average of two hours and 31 minutes each day โ€” brands who want to make it big online in 2023 have their work cut out for them.

HubSpot surveyed 1.28k+ social media marketers around the world to gather data and insights on the social media strategies that will drive revenue and build brand recognition in 2023. Plus, weโ€™ve brought in social experts to make sense of the stats and share their predictions for the coming year.

Here are six strategies to drive revenue and build a loyal following:

1. Treat Social Media Platforms as Ecommerce Channelsย 

The line between social media platforms and traditional ecommerce channels gets blurrier each year, and the trend will continue into 2023, likely accelerating.

More than one in five Gen Z, millennial, and Gen X social media users bought a product directly in a social media app in the past three months, and 80% of social media marketers say consumers will buy products directly within social apps more often than on brandsโ€™ websites or third-party websites like Amazon.

This means brands will need to have robust, functional social media presences in order to attract customers and drive sales through social channels.

Driving this trend, says Kami Watson Huyse, CEO of digital marketing agency Zoetica, is the rising popularity of virtual shopping and immersive online experiences.

Drive Revenue in 2023

โ€œVirtual shopping is going to be a huge trend this year,โ€ she says, pointing to Snapchat, Google Lens, and the metaverse as platforms that are allowing shoppers to interact with products virtually before buying directly inside apps. โ€œYounger generations have come to expect there to be an experience around your brand.โ€

2. Donโ€™t Sleep on Instagramย 

HubSpotโ€™s data showed that Instagram is #1 for ROI and engagement โ€” and that it offers the highest-quality leads. Social media marketers say Instagram has the most accurate algorithm, and rate it as the top platform for brands to grow their audience in 2023.

With the introduction of Reels, Instagram now offers brands with nearly every option for reaching their customers. The app can house still photos, videos, stories, and has a shopping feature that allows users to purchase products in app.

Brands looking to take advantage of Instagramโ€™s reach should use all of its offered features, publishing posts, Reels, and stories, and they should use the app as an ecommerce platform to allow for in-app purchases, providing top-tier customer service in addition to product listings.

โ€œInstagram is awesome and always will be,โ€ says Watson Huyse. โ€œIf youโ€™re a brand trying to teach things, itโ€™s a great place to do that.โ€

3. Be Relatableย 

As far as what you should be posting on social media to attract an audience, 50% of consumers say funny content is the most memorable, followed by relatable content at 36%. And 68% of consumers say social media content being authentic and relatable is more important than it being overly polished.

โ€œThe more relatable people and the ones you can tell are genuine will be popular,โ€ says Anna Sullivan, founder and CEO of the Creative Exchange social media agency. โ€œThatโ€™s all weโ€™re focusing on for our brands in 2023 โ€” finding the right people to consistently be a person that their audience can fall in love with and relate to.โ€

Sullivan points to creators that have amassed huge followings on TikTok recently โ€” such as Elyse Myers (6.2m followers), Keith Lee (10.3m followers), and Alix Earle (4.4m). All three make videos speaking directly into the camera, like they are talking with a friend in a casual conversation, and cover broad topics like food or lifestyle.

For 2023, brands should focus on mirroring the success of those creators, introducing authentic, casual content that offers a level of relatability for viewers, whether this is through humor or conversation.

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4. Ditch the Celebritiesย 

To achieve that relatability and genuineness, it might be time to rethink the A-list celebrity campaigns.

Viewers want to feel like theyโ€™re talking to a friend rather than being sold a product, and micro-influencers can be more effective in eliciting the trust that a close relationship would.

Only 16% of influencer marketers work with accounts over 1m followers, while 80% work with small creators (who have 1k to 99.9k followers/subscribers). Working with smaller influencers is also more cost-effective, makes it easier to build long-term partnerships, and gives brands access to communities of loyal, engaged followers.

And social media users respond well to influencers they know and trust: 31% prefer to discover new products on social media through an influencer they follow, and this number only goes up for Gen Z users specifically, 43% of whom say influencer marketing is their preferred product discovery channel.

Watson Huyse says that trust on social media is more important now than ever before in the wake of rising online misinformation: โ€œAuthenticity is huge โ€” people have to know you and trust you. The only way to do that is to do the right thing over and over.โ€

5. Slide Into the DMs

As social media and ecommerce blend into one, the need to offer customer service support on social media platforms will become increasingly important to customers.

One in five Gen Z, millennial, and Gen X social media users have contracted a brand through DMs for customer service in the past three months, and 84% of social media marketers say social media will become consumerโ€™s preferred channel for customer service in 2023 (76% say their company already offers customer service via social).

โ€œYou canโ€™t really get around [offering customer service] because most brands are posting to social every single day and you can see that theyโ€™re active,โ€ says Sullivan. โ€œItโ€™s a community managerโ€™s job to respond to everything and show interest in customers.โ€

To build a loyal, engaged customer base, businesses should keep their DMs open, and be timely and thoughtful in their responses, offering the same customer service they would on their website or traditional ecommerce platform.

6. Fuel the New Search Engineย 

The way people search for information and products online is starting to look different. Rather than typing an inquiry into Google, a user might instead enter it into the TikTok search bar. The shift away from traditional search is likely, with 87% of social media marketers saying consumers will search for brands more on social than through search engines in 2023.

With 55% of social media users employing the search function on social platforms, brands should optimize their social profiles for search by using relevant keywords and hashtags in posts where possible, making an easy-to-find username, and keeping a consistent username across platforms.

As for content that will perform well with shifting search behavior, Watson Huyse says you need to understand the needs of your audience and seek to answer their questions as you would with traditional SEO content creation.

โ€œYou want to make sure youโ€™re creating content that answers questions people have, but to do it in an entertaining way,โ€ she says. โ€œIt has to capture peopleโ€™s imaginations.โ€

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