Only One More Day to Enter Business Achievers Awards

This is (almost) the last call for the Business Achievers Awards and we want you to know that the deadline is tomorrow Midnight, Friday, September 25th.

In the last few weeks we have received several emails from people stressing about their entry; worrying about whether we received their submission or not, worrying about entering the wrong category, worrying about word count or worrying about everything else! To all we say: Just relax!

For those that have entered, don’t worry – what’s done is done. You’re in the competition and once you’re in and you present a good business, you can win!

For those that haven’t entered yet, we say: Why not? It takes 30 minutes and you have a good amount of time left. It could make a big difference to your business success. Have you seen all the benefits you can get?

For those that think they’ve entered? Yes, there are a few out there that believe the “Register your Interest” form that they filled in a few months ago will do as a full entry….. It won’t!

You have to complete a full entry! It’s here. So, don’t worry, there’s still time.. Until this Friday Midnight.

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Accepting Payments Online for Your Business

One of the easiest ways of liberating yourself from the many constraints of operating a brick and mortar business is to go on-line and establish a web store. At a click of a mouse you will have managed to get rid of a number of issues that are a source of concern for traditional businesses. No longer do you have to worry about locating a retail store located at a vantage position and think about shelling out expensive lease rentals every month. You also do not need to keep a bevy of sales assistants to man the sales counters or even a large inventory to please every whim and fancy of the walk-in customer. However, one vexing problem remains; accepting payments online from customers.

If you think that you will be able to operate profitably by insisting that customers pay only by cash on delivery or send checks in advance, you would be losing out on the custom of millions of credit card holders who are currently spending billions of dollars in online purchases. To the uninformed, accepting payments on-line might seem to be a very complicated affair, but in fact it can be extremely simple and open the floodgate of sales for you with just a few easy steps.

The Typical Credit Card Customer

There are perhaps just three basic types of customers that shop on-line and pay on-line. The first is the average guy who prefers shopping with his mouse on an online platform to jostling with the crowds and queuing up at the counters and then lugging his purchases back home. The second type of customer is the one that keeps on browsing websites, falls in love with an item that she was never planning to buy and purchases it on an impulse with her credit card. The third type, now rapidly increasing in numbers due to globalization, is the international customer who would like to shop for articles of his fancy from suppliers, irrespective of the country they may be located in. Credit card purchases in international currencies are now as simple and seamless as transacting in domestic currency so that acts as a strong incentive to such transactions. As an on-line business owner you would lose out on all these customers were you not to accept credit card payments.

How to Accept Plastic Money

Basically there are two ways of taking advantage of the prevailing cheap credit card processing rates and accepting payments on-line. The first is through a merchant account set up by a credit card acceptance service provider. You need to approach a payment processor operating merchant accounts and get on board by entering into an agreement with them. The agreement specifies the various rules and regulations governing card acceptance, and the details of the various fees that will be charged for setting up the account, maintaining the account and on a per transaction basis.

Using your merchant ID, you can accept or decline credit card transactions on your website; the process is fully automated with electronic linkages for card verification established by the payment processor. Online business owners also have the option of using payment gateways to accept credit card payments online. Payment gateways are independent third-party merchants that provide the service to you for transaction and other fees.

Deciding On the Best Method of Credit Card Acceptance

Each of the methods of on-line credit card acceptance has its own benefits and drawbacks so it is really up to the on-line business owner to decide for himself. Generally speaking, it can be somewhat more expensive to set up a merchant account than to tie up with a payment gateway. However, over an extended period of time, the total cost of using the payment gateway can be higher. For website owners experimenting with online payments for the first time, it can be worthwhile to engage a payment gateway. After satisfying themselves that business is booming due to on-line payment acceptance, they can go in for a more permanent merchant account arrangement.

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5 Necessary Skills for Every Entrepreneur

Successful entrepreneurship requires a certain mindset, collection of personality attributes, and a battery of skills. Each CEO and entrepreneur may have a slightly different way of doing things, but the essential elements of success remain the same. The following includes 5 Necessary Skills for Every Entrepreneur. These skills are necessary to achieve, persevere, and dominate in the world of business as an entrepreneur.

Necessary Skills for Every Entrepreneur: 1. Leadership

Not everyone has the ability to lead. Leadership qualities are more than just ordering subordinates about. A true leader inspires people to want to well for the company. This is not necessarily accomplished by ruling with an iron fist, but neither is it suggested that an up-and-coming entrepreneur take a relaxed attitude toward management.

Leadership encompasses many skills that required decisiveness, finesse, and sound decision-making. A leader needs to be willing and able to delegate tasks to employees, have a clear, workable plan fully formed before implementation, understand the financial expectations of the business, and build an effective staff by hiring applicants that will be assets to the business. An entrepreneur who can work with their staff is more likely to succeed than one that simply dictates orders without being in touch with what is actually taking place within the company.

2. Motivation

Without drive success will never occur. Slacking off and procrastination will get a person nowhere in the world of business and enterprise. Someone who starts at the bottom and works their way up by being a team player, taking initiative, and possessing a willingness to both learn and volunteer for tasks that are unpopular can create a reputation with important people who will remember the work put into achieving success.

A career or business that is stagnant or stuck in a rut will likely fail. Entrepreneurs who actively seek out new business, solutions to problems, and make the tough decisions quickly and decisively will reach their goals in a timelier manner than their lackadaisical counterparts will. It may take time to become a successful entrepreneur, but patience and perseverance will win out in the end, and last far longer. Expecting an overnight success will last just as long, and the flash-in-the-pan entrepreneur will burn out as quickly as they sparked to life.

3. Communication

Communication is essential for an entrepreneur is two major areas: within a business and outside in the business world. Effective entrepreneurs understand that communicating clearly and effectively with staff can mean the success or failure of a business. The ability to explain what is needed, and the specifics of a business plan are paramount to effective leadership. Staff should not need to have tasks explained in minute detail, but should have a good grasp on the style and focus of the business beforehand. This can only be done if management communicates these expectations from the beginning.

Networking throughout a specific area of the business world to further contacts and business relationships can only aid in the success of an entrepreneurship. Reliable contacts among people with influence can only benefit the budding entrepreneur, and possibly increasing future patronage.

4. Innovation

Some old-fashioned entrepreneurs have difficulty in keeping up with the times, refusing to modernize or adapt to changes in how and what business is conducted. This stubbornness can lead to the death of a business. A successful entrepreneur keeps abreast of new trends and technologies to keep a business updated, well maintained, and accessible to new clientele from younger generations.

In order to achieve this goal, an entrepreneur needs to be willing to accept and implement innovativeness to the business. Sticking with outdated methods and technology may be cheaper in the short term, but it will eventually lead to higher costs and loss of revenue. Embracing change in deference to accommodate the ultimate end goal of the company may help an entrepreneur realize that goal that much sooner.

5. Accepting and learning from failure

Every successful business person has a story about a failure on the way to success. Failure should never be viewed as the end of a business venture or a dream. Failure is an opportunity to learn from mistakes, and should be motivation to start again. Yes, failure can definitely hurt, and taking a hit in business can make building again more difficult, but simply giving up is never an option for a true entrepreneur.

If a business venture is struggling, it is sometimes better to cut the losses rather than trying to breathe life back into something that is never going to work. A successful entrepreneur learns to recognize the signs that something just won’t pan out. Acceptance that failure cannot always be avoided is a hard-won skill, but essential for understanding what makes a business succeed, and what will cause a business to fail.

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5 Tips to Make Web Designing Smooth and Hassle Free

Websites cater to varied needs, that of businesses they represent, users who find them after online searches, potential and existing customers, employees, and many others who stumble upon them unknowingly.

Great websites are built around a target audience and a market niche. There is no ambiguity about a strong website. It is easy for the visitor to understand what the site is about and find what he is looking for. This is one of the hallmarks of a successful website.

Ease of use, simplicity and clean layout, though they sound simple, are not easy to achieve. As soon as you create the framework, design the layout, and keep adding the absolutely necessary components, the simple design becomes complex in no time. And to make something that is complex appear beautiful, simple and uncluttered, you need to employ the best designing tactics.

Here are a few web designing tips to help you design a beautiful and useful website, without headaches and heartburns.

Web Designing: Be Organized and Structured

Organization and structure are of vital importance when designing a website.

Organization will help a user navigate his way easily without getting confused. A cleanly-organized site will follow web designing conventions that a user will be familiar with.

Hierarchy will help a user spot the main and important sections, and navigate to relevant content. Readability becomes even more important when we consider that a majority of Internet users just scan a website to determine whether it is useful to them or not.

A smart web design will break up content into bold headlines and small chunks of content that are informative and concise.

Quality websites use contrast between text and background color to improve readability. A dark background with dull color text will only drive away visitors or give them a headache.

Web Designing: Pick Correct Color Scheme

Websites need to be visually appealing and a great color scheme will help with that.

When designing websites for companies, many designers choose to stick to the color scheme of the brand logo. It helps in maintaining brand identity and appeal, and makes it easy to build and execute brand promotion campaigns.

If there is no existing color scheme to build on, browse the Web and study sites that catch your fancy. Appealing sites have great color combinations that gel well, spark chemistry and speak to one another.

Avoid garish color combinations and colors that blend into each other.

Choose a limited set of colors for the general UI, text and backgrounds. It is best if you maintain uniformity and consistency with the color scheme used in the user interface. Look up quality sites like Facebook, Google or Airbnb and you will see that there is continuity or predictability across the UI. But graphics, illustrations, videos and photographs are not bound by any color restrictions, and you can let your creative juices flow.

Web Designing: Devote Time for Planning

Most designers work in agencies where there are too many deadlines and time schedules to adhere to. It may become impossible to spend more time than absolutely necessary on planning.

Great designers say that they put in plenty of work hours into planning the basic essentials of a website. This is necessary to design a clutter-free and simple user experience.

The core content or the very essential message that a website needs to convey should be uncovered and written down for reference. Everything else you do should do justice to this core idea and help communicate it well and in the most appealing manner to the user.

Also, map out user flow in the beginning and plan the website to maximize it. If a designer keeps user flow in mind, it will be far easier to focus on the right points and design the project effectively.

Web Designing: Ensure the Client Is on the Same Page as You

Web designers either passionately agree or strongly disagree on this point. We at web designing Utah agree on this point.

Many a time, clients are clueless about how web design differs from web development, and give wrong inputs and have misplaced expectations.

It is not necessary that you involve your client in every step of designing a website, but ensure that he/she is happy with your core concept or idea, and green lights the prototype.

In web designing, time is money and you cannot spend a lot of it educating your client. You must collaborate with your client and understand what the business and marketing requirements are. There is no doubt that he/she understands the business the best and can help you get to know the target audience better.

Mood boards help you convey your visual thoughts in the best possible manner to the client. They help convey the intended look and feel of a website to a client, and help in planning the designing process better. Crafting mood boards also help you put down what you have in mind and assess whether your visual thinking is in line with the business’ needs.

Designers vouch by the fact that mood boards help win pitches and get quick sign-offs.

Build the style or mood around a main/central image. The central image is also the core theme or the mood of the website, and it should be supported by smaller supporting images, illustrations or graphics. If clients are not able to understand the meaning of an image or why it is there, you need to replace it with something more meaningful and achieve a character and style that is in sync with the business.

Web Designing: Be Friends with Web Developers

Your job does not end after you furnish the style sheets to the web development team. Ensure that you collaborate and communicate, and see to it that your designs are developed, implemented and supported properly.

Many a time, developers will have valuable inputs to provide on designing. So if possible, check with them in the initial stages and validate your vision and ideas. This will also help in better implementation.

Clean codes, a fabulous user interface and good backend programming are necessary for a fast-loading and user-friendly website. And it is the web developer who is usually responsible for these. So, be passionate about your design and team up with the developer for the best execution.

Conclusion

There are several things that go into building a mind-blowing website, and creative vision and innovative designing ability are just a couple of them. Ensure that you follow all aspects of designing and development, and collaborate and communicate with your team and all stakeholders effectively to get the best results.

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5 Innovative Social Media Tips to Grow Your E-Commerce Business

A report by Hubspot shows 365% growth of social media use in the past 7 years. Not only this is an astonishing figure, but also shows the vast number of customers that online businesses can attract. In another report, it showed that more than 70% people on social media prefer to make purchases online. This shows how the world is transitioning from a physical platform (real stores) to a digital platform for shopping and this is mainly due to the increased online presence on social media. But as innovative the social media platform is, business owners must also think of innovative ideas to attract more and more buyers and eventually turn their businesses into brands. Here are a few tips to attract the customer’s attention on social media and help grow your e-commerce business.

1. Grow Your E-Commerce Business with User Generated Content

The best way to engage your customers or clients is by encouraging user generated content. It provides a platform to your customers to showcase their creativity but also helps you promote your brand. So ensure that your e commerce platforms are equipped with social media tools that promote customer engagement. You can also look for the best e commerce platforms on websites like FinestShops and others. Guest post by select customers, photography contests and any campaigns that feature your customers not only increases their interest but will also ensure their loyalty. Maintaining goodwill is one of the most prime aspects of a business and promoting the customers is a great way of establishing yourself as a brand.

2. Inspirational Quotes

Promoting your products through an inspirational quote can be really effective if served in the right manner. In a recent study it was found that inspirational quotes by famous personalities get a 19% boost in shares on various social media platforms like twitter and Facebook. Any quote that is funny, motivational or educational is increasingly shared by social media users creating a great area for marketing. One of the great examples of this is the Never Settle Campaign by clothing brand Ugmonk that was coupled with an inspirational Quote from Steve Jobs. This not only allowed people to share their product on social media but also worked on an inspirational level rather than a promotional one.

3. Video Campaign about Upcoming Products

We all know that watching a video is more engaging than reading and hence it is also important to include a video campaign to promote your business. We are pretty familiar with video ads through the popular modes of entertainment like radio and television. As the world has moved on to the digital platform through the internet, the need for audio visual content still remains. A sneak preview video of your upcoming products not only creates more curiosity in the customers but also keeps them engaged about the product launch. Nevertheless, this should be served in an innovative manner and should not appear as a direct advertisement.

4. A Little Self Promotion Doesn’t Hurt

While the internet world hates people who brag, adding a bit of humor and cheekiness can work wonders. Showing some personality while making a self promoting statement helps the customers identify your business as an entity and not just a company. Try to have fun when trying to tell people why your brand is the best, instead of taking a more direct or serious approach.

5. Using Trending Content to Your Advantage

Using the current events to your advantage might be considered as a cheap trick for most businesses. But when done ethically, an ad campaign bundled with trending content can work wonders for your online business. Coupling your products with a trending hashtag on twitter can significantly improve your viewership. It not only promotes your products but also helps you engage in different conversations that were started by other brands or celebrities.

Not only social media emerged as a boon to the people across the world but has also opened several opportunities of business and created a whole new market. Hence, the owners of the online business must always think ‘outside the box’ to attract and engage more and more customers. The above tips can be implemented for most business that operate online and can certainly attract more customers and media attention.

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North and South building relationships through the Irishbizparty conference

It’s time to get your tickets folks!

Irish Biz Party

The online phenomenon that is Irish Biz Party have chosen Fermanagh as the destination for their fifth national business conference, which takes place in the Killyhevlin Hotel, Enniskillen, on Wednesday 14th October.

Samantha Kelly

Founded by Bank of Ireland Start up Hero award winner and Tweeting Goddess, Samantha Kelly, Irish Biz Party is an online community of businesses who advise, guide and promote each other. Irish businesses come together every Wednesday night on Twitter, using the hashtag #IrishBizParty and through collective cross promotion and discussion, help each other to reach millions of potential customers in just 2 hours. As well as the weekly Twitter network, Irish Biz Party also have an official membership package, and a very active private Facebook Group where over 3,000 Irish businesses seek and share advice and guidance, support and promote each other. Samantha believes the success of the conferences to date is down to the organic and natural progression to meeting offline and in person. It is also a great way for new businesses to get involved in the Irish Biz Party community, and can really give them a strong launch pad to grow their business nationwide.

Dublin, Kerry and Wexford

Dublin, Kerry and Wexford have played host to the tribe of businesses, with hugely successful events. Samantha Kelly says, “The decision was taken to bring the full weight of the Irish Biz Party movement to the north of Ireland. We know that business owners have the same struggles all over the country, and the north west is an area that we felt could greatly benefit from the event, the support, advice, learning and networking opportunities. “We considered a number of places to host the event, but it was down to the work of local businesswoman, Aine Bermingham, and the support of the local business community, Fermanagh Omagh District Council, and Fermanagh Enterprise, that we chose Fermanagh. There’s a thriving business community here, and we want to offer as much support as we can. “We’re very excited about bringing the conference here, and I’ve been thrilled by the response both locally and nationally.

Fermanagh

Fermanagh businesses are embracing this opportunity, and there are businesses from all over Ireland booking tickets, so there’s a fantastic buzz about it already. I’d encourage any business looking for help and support, or a chance to learn and network with fellow business owners, to join us at the event.” Keynote Speakers on the day will come from across Ireland, the UK and even Europe to share a plethora of expertise, including social media experts, business leaders and pricing experts.

IEDR

The headline sponsor on the day is IEDR. Donal O’Nuallain of IEDR says: “We’re delighted to be the headline sponsors of the Irish Biz Party conference. It provides a great opportunity for Irish businesses to share knowledge, learnings and network with each other with the goal of growing their business above and beyond what the Irish Biz Party team have already achieved and facilitated to date. .ie domains provide an identifiably Irish online presence for businesses so our involvement with the Irish Biz Party is really strong as it allows us to engage with Irish SMEs in a productive and positive environment,”

Local Fermanagh businesses

Local Fermanagh businesses are also getting involved, with the list of sponsors including Inn Stock Services, Monaghan Bros., and Corrigan and Co. Fermanagh and Omagh District Council are also a sponsor of the event, and are actively encouraging local businesses to get involved. “It’s important to us that these events are accessible for small businesses, as that’s what Irish Biz Party is all about, so we keep the ticket prices low, and we couldn’t do that without the generosity of our sponsors, which we are very grateful for.” said Samantha Kelly.

Book now

Tickets for the full day including lunch are priced at only £50.00 and can be booked online via irishbizparty.ie. Book here

Keep the party going by sharing…Thanks everyone! See you there!

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Global Conditions for a Rate Hike are Still Not Alright Said Fed

Last week, all eyes and ears were on the US Federal Reserve’s Chair Janet Yellen as markets braced themselves for the first interest rate hike in almost a decade. In a rate decision that was broadly seen by economists as something of a ‘coin toss’, the Fed’s policy-setting committee chose to keep rates on hold at almost 0%. This means that the Fed has yet to increase interest rates from their record lows of 2009.

It is clear that the US central bank is becoming increasingly concerned about global economic and financial market risks – and it is not alone.

Last week, the Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, acknowledged that risks to the health of the global economy have intensified as China’s economy faltered. Nevertheless, Mark Carney still expects the case for beginning interest rate hikes to come into sharper focus at the turn of the year.

The Case for Raising UK Rates

The Governor’s view, however, is not shared by his Chief Economist and MPC colleague, Andy Haldane. Rarely does a speech in Portadown catch the attention of financial markets, but Haldane’s did on Friday when he addressed an audience of local business people. He said that “the case for raising UK rates in the current environment is, for me, some way from being made”. Indeed, according to Haldane, given the downside risks to growth, there is every chance that the next interest rate move could be a cut instead of an increase.

Outside the roller-coaster ride in equity markets last month, there has been a steady stream of evidence signalling that a global economic slowdown is in train. The vast majority of manufacturing PMIs around the world indicated weaker growth in August relative to July. Furthermore, 11 manufacturing PMIs (including those of China, Russia, Brazil, France and Canada) signalled contraction in August.

Over the last month it was revealed that Canada had joined Russia and Brazil in recession between April and June. Meanwhile the US economy’s trade with the Rest of the World contracted in the first seven months of the year. This is not surprising when you consider that global trade is now growing at its slowest rate since 2009.

So how is Northern Ireland faring?

Clearly, Northern Ireland cannot insulate itself from global economic developments. Whilst trade with China is relatively small, it is the wider global economic slowdown that is more concerning. Northern Ireland firms, particularly our manufacturing businesses, are exposed to markets that are very reliant on China. For instance, Northern Ireland companies that supply equipment to the quarrying sector benefited from the commodity boom that was driven by China.

Last week’s Northern Ireland manufacturing output figures showed that overall, the sector was performing better than the UK as a whole. Despite a quarterly decline of over 2%, output was up 1.6% on the same quarter a year ago. The equivalent growth rate for the UK manufacturing sector was just 0.6%.

The quarterly decline in Q2 was due to an unusually large increase in Q1, stemming from the Transport Equipment sector (which includes aerospace). This sub-sector posted a quarterly rise in output of almost 14% in Q2. Given the outsized gain in manufacturing output in Q1 (+3.8% q/q) a decline in Q2 was inevitable. What is important is that the underlying trend, stripping out Q1, showed strong growth (+1.6%) between Q4 2014 and Q2 2015.

Manufacturing output has increased by 20% since it troughed in 2009. Output in Q2 is just 3% below the levels that prevailed at the peak before the last global downturn. However, some sectors are experiencing much higher levels of output now than before the last global downturn. In particular, Transport Equipment (which includes Wrightbus and Bombardier) output recently hit a record high, with output more than doubling relative to its trough in 2009. In Q2, output was one-third above its pre-downturn peak seven years ago. The Chemicals & Pharmaceutical Products sector (which includes Randox, Norbrook and Almac) has posted declines in output in recent quarters. However, output is still 27% above the levels that prevailed even years ago.

Lower Levels of Output

There are only two sectors within Northern Ireland’s manufacturing sector that are experiencing lower levels of output in Q2 2015 than during the trough of the global economic downturn.

These are the Food, Drink & Tobacco (FDT) sector and Wood & Paper Products. According to last week’s figures, FDT output amongst NI firms was 18% lower in Q2 2015 than six years ago. Conditions for this sector are much less favourable today than six years ago. The Euro / Sterling exchange rate for one has moved from 91.5p in Q3 2009 to 72.3p today. The collapse in milk prices, alongside Russian sanctions on EU food imports, has also hit the dairy sector.

Looking ahead, the second half of 2015 is likely to see more subdued manufacturing activity amongst Northern Ireland firms. The Ulster Bank PMI indicated a notable slowdown in manufacturing output and new orders growth in August. Over the next two weeks, financial markets will be closely watching the manufacturing PMIs for September, which are expected to show a further slowdown in activity. Northern Ireland is expected to follow the same trend.

Overall, mounting pessimism concerning global growth is drawing more and more comparisons with 2009. From a Northern Ireland-perspective, the economy was more insulated to a global downturn six years ago than it is now. Public expenditure growth and a deferral of austerity shielded Northern Ireland more than elsewhere. Back then the economy enjoyed political stability with the economy set as the number one priority. Comparisons between then and now couldn’t be starker on all of these fronts. Furthermore, households and corporates benefited from the Bank of England slashing interest rates to 0.5%. Linked to this exporters benefited from the sharp depreciation in sterling. This time around, however, Northern Ireland faces more headwinds than tailwinds. Northern Ireland would love to be in China’s position of being able to slash interest rates and unleash a fiscal stimulus. However, the UK played these cards already in 2009.

Post by Richard Ramsey, Chief Economist, Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank Group Communications. Article appears in today’s Irish news Business Insight.

This article is also available on www.ulstereconomix.com

Recent posts include:
NI heading for recession? Podcast with Richard Ramsey and John Simpson
Unemployment falling but NI is still working less
Are we sustaining the unsustainable with welfare spend?

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3 Ways To Increase Your Marketing Reach

Many business owners associate additional costs with increasing their brand’s marketing reach. But with the right tools and know-how, a business can increase the impact of their marketing efforts with minimal to no cost. Here are 3 ways a business can extend their marketing reach to targeted audiences across the globe. Let’s look at some ways you can expand and increase your marketing reach.

Categorize Your Audience & Their Respective Behaviors

It can be almost impossible for a business to convey the right message to the right people at the right time. If not entirely impossible, the process tends to be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Nonetheless, it should be your marketing goal. You’ve probably already launched a few marketing strategies, from organic searches to Pay-Per-Click, on search engines or social networking sites. These are all tested and proven strategies in the realm of marketing. But to generate good returns on investment, you cannot execute such strategies so blindly and hastily.

A solid grasp of the fundamentals of your targeted audience is necessary. Age, gender, ethnic background, and any other demographic information you can recover from your audience will play an important part in keeping your marketing approach fresh and relevant. Having a more thorough insight of their activity and behavior also allows you to make more reliable forecasts for your business as well as a more effective follow-through.

Determine The Right Channels

Different marketing channels are accessible for a business. But this doesn’t mean you should dive into every possible channel in the hopes of maximizing reach to your target audience. If you do participate in every available marketing channel, you end up with more monthly costs and more pipelines to manage. Instead of being a jack-of-all-trades, research and focus on 2 or 3 marketing channels that suit your type of business.

Social media is perhaps one of the best marketing strategies to date and is a vital component for every business who wants to compete online. However, not all social media platforms are cut out for your particular business type, model, and target audience. Do the necessary work and research to identify the right platforms to best reach your market. Have a strategic approach when dispensing content on these platforms instead of hastily spamming articles and blog posts. Doing so may affect your brand’s integrity and professionalism.

Work On Your Content

In an attempt to reach the most customers quicker than their competitors, many businesses neglect content quality thus failing to convey the right message to their consumers. Quality marketing content may be trickier or more expensive to acquire, but over time you’ll be able to recover upfront expenses through reduced customer acquisition cost and higher customer retention rate.

So how do you beautify your marketing content? One way is to incorporate subtitling into your marketing videos. Customers have grown more accustomed to subtitling options due to recent advances in entertainment, such as Netflix. Prolonged exposure to films and TV shows that have subtitles in them have trained consumers subconsciously to simply read what the characters on their screen are saying rather than pay close attention. Having subtitles encourages web viewers to keep the video running since they can understand it better.

There are several good reasons why subtitles are the strongest add-on for video marketing. One reason is that having subtitles make your video more visible to web viewers. YouTube and Vimeo captions are itemized by Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. Furthermore, subtitled videos in a native language have a higher chance of getting shared between friends and family members.

If you have sufficient marketing budget, you can implement both voice-over and subtitled video formats to reach a broader audience. Giving users the flexibility to choose how they view your content gives them a more personal experience and makes it more accessible to web users around the world.

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SEO Tips – If You Build It They Will Come

So you’ve got the new shiny website that you have spent an age designing and developing to get just right. You’re finally happy with your website and it has gone live. Well done, you’ve got this far, but your work in getting search engine optimization for your website has just begun. Good SEO, content and social media are crucial to you getting your desired results. Read on for some invaluable SEO tips…

Good content needs to be planned and continued throughout the website’s life. The website design and development is just the start, the future of the website needs to be mapped out, according to the whole point of the website, why the website was created in the first place and how you are going to get results.

Have clear objections

What are your objectives for your website? Do you need to drive sales, create awareness, influence or educate?

SEO – Get the Google love

First things first, you need to get found by google, set up google webmaster tools and google analytics. Verify your website with Google, add your google sitemap to the root folder and to google webmaster tools. As your website gains traffic you will be able to analyse what your website is getting found for and how you can improve upon this.

Promote, promote, promote

You need to promote your website with a mixture of SEO, content and social media. With the right mix and a lot of hard work and perseverance you will get your site ranked by google. Your aim is to get ranked close to these and hopefully above these with good SEO, content and social media so that you will get found by your customer base. To be successful in this you need to have a sound technical infrastructure for good SEO.

Google webmaster tools have some great checklists and blogs on SEO that you should really immerse yourself in. You also need to provide fresh, new content consistently and always. Good quality content related to your website is what you really need to work on, this takes a lot of time and is pretty relentless. Just think your website is new on the digital scene, competing for google love with a plethora of already well established brands. How to even start to compete with them might be mind boggling. With the right mix of SEO, content and social media and sheer hard work you will get there eventually!

Blog

You need to have a dedicated blog as an intrinsic part of your website. You need to have regular blog posts related to what your website specialises in. You need to understand your customer base, who are you targeting and what for and with the right blog content you will succeed in getting these to your site and get results. Blogging once you get started has a way of gaining momentum as you write your first couple you will then organically come up with content for more blogs.

How to best equip yourself for blogging, become a voracious reader of everything related to your specialist subject, do the research, check out the competition, what are they providing content on, and what are their target audience interested in reading more on. Be ahead of the game in new trends and developments and blog regularly on these, providing unique content that informs and gets results and you will have your target audiences attention and keep them coming back for more. It’s not nuclear science but once you do get content right you will reap the benefits.

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4 reasons to enter the Business Achievers Awards (or any other)

Why do we in Smallbusinesscan think you should apply for the Business Achievers Awards (BAA)? Or any award for that matter. We think it could be a big deal for you and your business.

You still have time to apply and receive the many benefits! You have until Friday 25 September

1. It will help you raise money

Winning a category in BAA or other prestigious competitions is a very strong validation for the winners when it comes to grants or finance applications. All the state agencies, bankers, investors and other money men are part of the eco system of these competitions and they keep an eye on what’s going on. You get a chance to impress them with your application and meet them at lots of different events.

2. It will help you win customers

The BAA and other competitions are a great opportunity to get free publicity. Can you imagine the opportunities if you win a region or a category? Just think of the collateral for your website alone and the validation it gives customers and partners. We know of companies that have won BIG contracts on the back of being part of the business achievers.

3. It will help you strategise

It’s taking about 25 minutes to fill in the online form. That form will help you think about your business and its strategy. It’s designed to help you elucidate your business model. Forget about the judges, it will help give you a clear sense of where your business is and where it’s going.

4. It will help energize the company and all its stakeholders

The Business Achievers, as far as we can see, is one of the few prestigious all island competitions that seems to be embracing all SMEs; that’s acknowledging and acclaiming SME achievement. It is definitely the oldest all Ireland business competition. As business owners we all deserve a little bit of time in the sun, as do the families that support us and the colleagues that are in the trenches with us.

The form will take 20-30 minutes max. It’s worth the time spent!

Submissions are closing on Friday, September 25th, so find that 25 minutes and go here and express what your business is all about.

Need Help?

If you want feedback before you send your submission, book a chat here.

The post 4 reasons to enter the Business Achievers Awards (or any other) appeared first on Small Business Can.

Monthly Archives: September 2015