CenturyLink Business: Your technology Partner

See the perks of CenturyLink Business Internet and how it can benefit your small business.

In today’s digital age, technology fuels productivity. CenturyLink fiber internet for business can give your office the boost it needs to stand out against competitors. Upon sign-up, you’ll gain access to unlimited data, simultaneous upload and download speeds, and 24/7 business customer support — backed by a 99.99% reliable network!

As your technology partners, CenturyLink for business keeps your business moving forward with flexible, scalable technology. Our reliable business solutions let you focus on closing deals and supporting your employees. From ultra-fast Up to 940 Mbps speed internet and increased bandwidth to resources such as our internet speed test – we are committed to your success. 

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What Impacts Internet Speed?

Learn how to increase the speed of your small business internet.

Let’s face it, conducting business with slow internet speeds is no fun. Your internet speed should be able to keep up with your business needs and provide a reliable connection.

At CenturyLink Business, we understand that getting to the root of slow internet can be challenging. That’s why we’ve made a list of the top 4 factors that affect your internet speeds. Before we dive in, let’s discuss internet speed requirements.

What is the recommended business internet speed?

The internet speed your business needs depends largely on the size of your business.

Typically, a business needs at least 25 Mbps of download speed and 3 Mbps of upload speed to complete daily tasks such as having virtual meetings, sending reports, and sharing files. Depending on your business size, you may need a faster connection. Compared to residential internet speeds, which usually range from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps, business internet speeds range from 5 Mbps to 1 Gig.

We recommend taking a business internet speed test to see whether your internet plan is sufficient.

These factors contribute to slow internet speeds

Router placement

Where you place your Wi-Fi router matters. Physical interruptions such as walls, decor items, and desks can get in the way of your Wi-Fi signal, leading to slower internet speeds. Place your router in a prime location clear from possible obstructions. 

Expert tip: The farther you are from your router, the more your internet speed is impacted. If possible, decrease the distance between your device and your Wi-Fi router to help.

Outdated or slow devices

In addition to moving your router, take inventory of the web-enabled devices used in your office space. Using outdated and slow devices greatly impacts the speed of your internet.

Computers use network adapters to connect to the internet. If your business tech is outdated, those adapters will be incapable of processing today’s Wi-Fi speeds. That’s why it’s important to update your devices every few years, especially when upgrading your internet plan.

Expert tip: Check the manuals of each of your devices to better understand their specific speed capabilities. 

Limited bandwidth

Whenever a device connects to your network that device uses bandwidth. The more bandwidth being used means slower internet speeds.

This can lead to interruptions when completing daily tasks, hosting video calls, or sending emails.

Expert tip: Determine your bandwidth needs and turn off or disconnect devices that aren’t currently in use to increase available bandwidth.

Need to update software

Another reason your business internet may be operating at slower speeds is that it’s time to update the software on your devices.

With many programs pushing out frequent updates, we understand that this can be challenging, but it’s an important step to take. Regularly updating your software also strengthens your internet security and protects you from cyber attacks.

Expert tip: Dedicate a department or person to do routine updates on your devices to minimize internet issues.

How CenturyLink Business can help

If you are looking for a remedy to solve your slow business internet speeds, our team at CenturyLink Business is here to help. Visit our business customer support page to see how we can best assist your business.

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Your state pined for these holiday gift brands all year

We analyzed numbers from Amazon, SemRush, and Google to give you a data-backed shortcut to choosing the best holiday gifts. Who’s hard to shop for now?

Struggling to shop for that one person this holiday season? We have some Christmas present ideas for you—backed by data from one of the most-used retail platforms in the world.

The Amazon Most Wished For list offers a fantastic starting point, whether you shop online or ultimately buy your holiday gifts in person. For a quicker glance at the trends, browse our map and findings on what brands have been popular this year.

May these crowdsourced Amazon Christmas gifts and search trends bring you happier, easier holidays. Cheers!

Most searched retail brands by state

Interesting findings

  • From the 2021 holiday gift season to the first rumblings of the 2022 season, American shoppers showed more interest in beauty, personal care, and home & kitchen than any other categories.
  • Ring was one of the most searched brands since the holiday season last year, with 12 states searching Ring doorbells more than any other brand.
    • The Ring Video Doorbell, frequently the #1 wished-for item in Amazon’s tools & home improvement category, has a rating of 4.7/5 based on 130,452 reviews.
    • According to a report by Strategy Analytics, Ring sold almost as many video doorbells in 2021 as SkyBell, Nest, Vivint, and ADT combined.
    • Along with home security products, Ring offers a companion app and alarm monitoring services that run between $3.99 and $20 monthly.
  • Amazon was the second most searched brand since the 2021 holidays, with 7 states searching it most. Amazon introduced its first in-house brands, Amazon Basics and Pinzon, in 2009.
  • Nintendo and the South Korean skincare line Laneige tied for third place, gaining the most searches in 6 states each.
    • Nintendo Switch games and consoles frequently dominate the top 5 and top 10 positions in Amazon’s Most Wished For video games category.
    • According to a report by Statista, Nintendo sold over 109.5 million Switch units worldwide by July 2022—23% of them in Japan alone.
    • The Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask went viral last year on TikTok, with the hashtag #laneigelipmask gaining over 76 million views.
  • Sol de Janeiro, a luxury body care company founded in Brazil, tied with Gerber for the most searches in 5 states each.
    • Like its trendy peer Laneige, Sol de Janeiro went viral on TikTok for its Brazilian Bum Bum Cream, with the hashtag #bumbumcream gaining over 67 million views.
    • Gerber launched Gerber Childrenswear in 1989. The label’s first item was a onesie.
  • GE was searched most in 4 states. Shoppers can’t seem to get enough of the brand’s countertop pebbled ice machine—TikTokers alone viewed the hashtag #icemakermachine over 65.9 million times.
  • Stanley cups were hugely popular in Utah over the last 12 months. The Adventure Quencher Travel Tumbler has inundated TikTok, where the hashtag #stanleytumbler gained over 30 million views.

Methodology

To identify the most searched brands since the 2021 holidays, we first compiled a list of the 5 top-ranking products per category on Amazon Most Wished For as of November 11, 2022. We then used (1) SemRush to rank each brand by total search volume in the last 12 months and (2) Google Trends to compare how the top 12 brands performed by state during the same period. We gathered this data in November 2022.

About

Business.CenturyLink.com is an authorized sales agent of CenturyLink. For media inquiries, contact media@business.centurylink.com.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, may require additional research by the end user, and is provided "as is" without any warranty or condition of any kind, either express or implied. All third-party company and product or service names referenced in this article are for identification purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with CenturyLink.

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The Most Googled Dream Jobs in America

Looking for your dream job? You're not alone. Check out the most-searched-for dream jobs across America, brought to you by Business.CenturyLink.com.

Over a quarter of Americans plan to leave their job after the pandemic, resulting in a phenomenon known as “The Great Resignation.” Employees want new jobs with more flexibility, remote work options, and occupations better-aligned with their values. As the employment landscape shifts, Google is rife with questions from people hoping to move on to their dream career.

With that in mind, the team at Business.CenturyLink.com took to the internet to find out what jobs Americans are dreaming about. We first scanned the responses on a wide range of online forums to get a general understanding of the landscape. We then used Google Trends to dig into the top 55 jobs from our list and narrowed down their search volume by state over the last year. Finally, we ranked the jobs that had the most Google searches in each state to determine the top dream job in each state and the top 10 dream jobs talked about on social media nationwide.

Additional Dream Job Data

  • Social Media Influencer, Model, Entrepreneur, Bartender, and Streamer ranked high in many states across the country, despite not being the top jobs in any state.
  • Superhero popped up as a dream job in the forums we reviewed—talk about dreaming big!
  • Teacher is a top dream job across America and was the #1 dream job in Idaho. Unfortunately, the statewide average salary for teachers in Idaho is also on a downward trend.
  • Marylanders hope to become singers for a living, which is no surprise since Maryland has given the world legends like Billie Holiday, Logic, and Frank Zappa.
  • Nebraskans are ambitious with their career goals—the most googled job role is President, following right in Nebraska native Gerald Ford’s footsteps.

The Top 10 Dream Jobs Across America, According to Social Media

With more opportunities than ever to jump into your dream role, check out the most sought after jobs across the country, regardless of state of residence. The Business.CenturyLink.com team used Brandwatch, a social listening and analytics tool, to find the top 10 dream jobs in America. For the purposes of the dream jobs project, we collected geotagged Twitter data from the past 5 years (June 2016 – June 2021) that mentioned “dream job” or “dream career” keywords as well as a specific job title.

  1. Writer
  2. Teacher
  3. Director
  4. Engineer
  5. Nurse
  6. Artist
  7. Professor
  8. Recruiter
  9. Doctor
  10. Sales Professional

All 50 States Most Googled Dream Job


Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinios

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Lawyer

Stay at Home Parent

Video Game Developer

Police Officer

Pilot

Comedian

Psychologist

Farmer

Musician

Veterinarian

Firefighter

Teacher

Mechanic

Veterinarian

Doctor

Astronaut

Military Personnel

Nurse

Police Officer

Singer

Architect

Politician

Video Game Developer

Teacher

Baseball Player

Zoologist

President

Actor

Stay at Home Parent

Artist

Writer

Engineer

Director

IT Specialist

Veteranarian

Pilot

Comedian

Photographer

Engineer

Actor

Teacher

Scientist

Military Personnel

Teacher

Archaeologist

Lawyer

Comedian

Farmer

Police Officer

Zoologist

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The 10 Most Misunderstood Jobs, According to Data

What does an Influencer really do? The team at Business.CenturyLink.com discovered the top ten most misunderstood jobs in America.

“You Get Paid to…What?” The 10 Most Misunderstood Jobs, According to Data

Everyone has that friend. You know, the one whose job no one can put their finger on. You might try to learn more about their job title, day-to-day schedule, or even what they eat during lunch breaks, but it’s as if some jobs are shrouded in mystery.

Well, we got tired of wondering. The team at Business.CenturyLink.com scoured the internet, deep-dived forum posts, and crunched the data to discover the 10 most misunderstood jobs in the United States.

We collected enough information to illustrate some of America’s most misunderstood jobs. The info we collected includes job descriptions, average salary, position openings, and a few examples of these professionals in action.

So, what does that mysterious friend actually do to make money? Let’s find out.

Methodology

The team at Business.CenturyLink.com reviewed information on job market sites such as LinkedIn, Business Insider, Digital Marketing Institute, Glassdoor, and Reddit to find jobs that either did not exist or were less common between 5 and 15 years ago.

From there, the team separated the data for trends and overlaps, searching for the most frequently mentioned job titles. Finally, the team studied the search volume of each job using the SEO tool Ahrefs, specifically inputting “What does [job] do?” to discover which of the frequently mentioned jobs were questioned the most.

Noteworthy Data Trends

  • The position with the most job openings—at a total of 425,106 on Indeed—was Virtual Assistant. This position also had the lowest annual salary.
  • The highest paying job was as a Data Scientist with a median salary of $113,309.
  • An Actuary had the fewest job openings with only 1,013 in the country, according to Indeed.
  • A Freelancer was the only job that Indeed offered the option to input “remote” as their location. If you’re wondering, the answer is yes—not even “Virtual Assistant” had that option!

Breaking Down the Top 10 Misunderstood Jobs: Definitions and Examples

#1 – Actuary

Description: An Actuary is a professional risk assessor for an organization or individual. Actuaries research locations, people, and projects to estimate the potential risk associated with these variables. The overall goal is to give their client a better understanding of the chance of financial loss involved with an investment or action.

Example: If an investor wants to fund the construction of a new mall in the middle of the desert, the investor might be wise to hire an Actuary to estimate the risk of the mall’s unique location.

Average Monthly Searches – 11,000

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 1,103

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $97,776

#2 – Influencer

Description: An Influencer is a person or organization who uses a platform—usually social media—to market a product or service on the basis of their name or reputation alone.

Example: Think of the “celebrity endorsement.” If you’ve ever seen a commercial or billboard featuring a celebrity, that celebrity is functioning as an Influencer.

Average Monthly Searches – 6,300

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 11,288

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $83,683

#3 – Data Scientist

Description: A Data Scientist studies ways that data can be gathered efficiently and effectively. Data Scientists often share their work with other statistical analysts.

Example: A Data Scientist may work with a psychologist to develop more representative sampling methods. If a psychologist is studying bearded individuals, but all of the sampled volunteers are clean-shaven, the psychologist might need a Data Scientist’s help.

Average Monthly Searches – 4,200

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 14,903

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $113,309

#4 – Freelancer

Description: A Freelancer is a generic term for someone who is self-employed.

Example: A journalist may be a Freelancer, meaning they do not work for a news outlet but instead sell their work to news buyers on their own accord.

Average Monthly Searches – 3,900

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 86,126

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – NA

#5 – Virtual Assistant

Description: A Virtual Assistant is a remote worker—usually someone who is a freelancer or self-employed—who helps others perform various professional tasks. A Virtual Assistant may help run administrative tasks, manage a business’s housekeeping, or provide creative input.

Example: A novelist might employ a Virtual Assistant to help manage their emails, calls, and documents so they can better focus on their next hit romance novel.

Average Monthly Searches – 3,700

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 425,106

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $26,350

#6 – Software Engineer

Description: A Software Engineer, sometimes called a Software Developer or a Coder, uses computer technology to create virtual programs and systems called “software.”

Example: From popular games like Fortnite to virtual editions of chess, Software Engineers are the gurus who breathe life into video games.

Average Monthly Searches – 3,600

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 115,388

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $92,046

#7 – Engineer

Description: Engineers design, test, and create materials, tools, gadgets, and structures to fulfill various functions in society. There are many disciplines and areas of study within engineering, so one type of engineer can be incredibly different from another.

Example: Road-safe bridges are designed, tested, and overseen by engineers (whew, thankfully).

Average Monthly Searches – 3,400

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 93,182

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $72,323

#8 – Data Analyst

Description: A Data Analyst “crunches” data. A Data Analyst looks at large groups of numbers, uses statistical methods to make sense of those numbers, and recommends ways the data can be used to form conclusions and opinions for a variety of industries.

Example: Any time you read or hear a stat, maybe on a billboard or in a politician’s campaign speech, that statistic came from the hard work of a Data Analyst.

Average Monthly Searches – 3,300

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 21,892

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $62,453

#9 – Project Manager

Description: From start to finish, a Project Manager is in charge of exactly what you’d expect: seeing a project through to completion. Project Managers often work with teams, overseeing the planning, execution, and follow-up of the team’s work on a given project. Project Managers work in a variety of fields and industries.

Example: Ever been inside a building? You may have witnessed the efforts of a Project Manager. It’s common for architecture firms to hire Project Managers to oversee the creation of a new building or structure.

Average Monthly Searches – 2,900

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 61,766

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $66,137

#10 – Social Media Manager

Description: A Social Media Manager is in charge of a company’s social media accounts and online platforms. While personal social media accounts are often used for connecting with friends and family, a Social Media Manager’s goal is to market their company’s service or product using those social platforms.

Example: If you ever see a Facebook post or Instagram photo advertising a product, that post was most likely the brainchild of a Social Media Manager.

Average Monthly Searches – 1,700

# of Job Openings (Indeed) – 29,567

Median Salary (Glassdoor) – $50,473

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