Essential SEO Tips to Improve YouTube Video Rank

YouTube is considered to be the second most important search engine just after its father Google. You need to set up an excellent SEO strategy for improving the ranks of your videos in YouTube. Here are some simple SEO tips to influence your YouTube video rank.

Video Titles

Titles play a great role as the audience encounters with the title at first. Your entire content can be introduced through this one liner. So you must be choosy enough to select the right keywords so that your audience can understand the theme of your video. You can keep your title very short within 70 characters and avoid tricks. If your title does not match your content, you will face a huge drop off that can provide a negative impact on your video.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails can act as marketing banners for your videos. If you can use right thumbnails, you will definitely be successful in attracting large number of viewers. Your thumbnails should represent your video content and should never mislead. If your videos are full of animation, you must use attractive as well as colorful thumbnails to make your videos stand out of others. For choosing your thumbnails, you must choose pictures with high resolution, at least of 640*360 pixels. When your thumbnail appears to be low resolution one, viewers will have a perception that the videos are of low quality and will never click on them. As your thumbnails must look great in all sizes, you must check in various devices like desktops, laptops, Ipads, TVs etc. Utah SEO Company also suggests that foreground must stand out of the background in thumbnails of your videos.

Video Descriptions

Descriptions of videos must precisely describe the video content. It remains just below the title and can include 2 to 3 lines. Basic information must lie within the first two sentences with relevant keywords and links. You can also add transcriptions of your video scripts where you can insert relevant keywords.

Calls-To-Action

Audience can clearly perform actions if your calls to action are clear to them. You can ask your viewers to comment, share, like and subscribe your videos. Though YouTube allows a CTA button, you must include a CTA button after your video also. You can also measure your CTA performance and check whether your videos are effective or not. A/B testing method included in CTA can help in clearly understanding the lead sources and what your audience actually wants.

Engagement

You need to keep your audiences engaged as the amount of time spent on watching the video in total impacts on the ranking in YouTube. To attract excellent engagement for your videos, you must create work with excellent animation quality, crafted in an awesome manner that can truly be engaging.

Promotion with Money

Always try to invest some money to provide a little push in your promotional campaign. You can use the paid promotion services during the initial days and as soon as you can count huge numbers as your viewers, you will automatically be rewarded with high ranks.

Recent internet marketing guide by examiner.com suggests some excellent SEO tips that will improve your video ranks. Just perform and measure regularly through analytics. Either organically or through paid promotional services, you can definitely achieve higher ranks if the video content is attractive and informative to your target viewers. Your YouTube channel must provide consistent and high quality videos to boost up the ranking.

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The New Era of Digital Marketing: 4 Trends Small Businesses Can’t Ignore

The majority of your customers spend up to 3 hours online each day. Searching, posting, updating, watching and reading. They are bombarded with marketing messages, to the degree that they quickly become immune to tactics that just a short while ago were touted as the “next big thing” to revolutionize your digital marketing strategy.

As a small business you have to be smart about which trends you seize upon and which ideas you rule out as not being the best fit for your goals, audience and budget.

Here are four digital marketing trends that aren’t going away any time soon, and are absolutely essential for you to consider as you plan for the future.

Digital Marketing and Mobile Optimzation

You’d have to be an ostrich with your head stuck pretty deep in the sand to be oblivious to how much mobile phones and tablets have infiltrated our daily lives. Yet many businesses haven’t fully considered what that means for their marketing.

You don’t have to take the full leap to creating your own app, or even launch a wide scale mobile ad campaign, but you do have to think about how visitors experience your website on a mobile device.

As well as ensuring that visitors using a mobile device to access your site stay longer and can find what they are looking for, making your site mobile ready is critical for search engine optimization.

Many small businesses suffered catastrophic drops in search engine traffic after Google’s algorithm update in April, which added a website’s mobile readiness to their ranking factors. If you were lucky enough to escape “mobilegeddon”, consider it a lucky reprieve and don’t delay in making sure your website looks great on all types of mobile devices.

Content Marketing

You have probably heard the phrase: Content is King. But what exactly does that mean? And how can you make sure your content is helping your small business grow?

Today’s internet users consume content at a startling rate. Hundreds of articles, videos and blog posts flood our inbox and social media streams and the average person spends two hours a day consuming content online.

Content can be shared, bookmarked and interacted with in ways that few other marketing channels can be.

In general, try to create content which is:

Valuable. Ask yourself what your content offers the reader.
Visually appealing. Make your content more engaging with images, videos and infographics.
Crafted with SEO best practices in mind. Decide what keyword your content should target and optimize it carefully.
Easily shared. Place social sharing buttons in the content and use a catchy, descriptive title that will entice people to click through to read the content.

Cybersecurity

Headline security breaches can cost big businesses millions, but it’s not just major brands that are at risk. Over 30,000 SME websites are hacked every day. Small businesses are often more likely to suffer a data breach or website hack due to having weaker security systems in place. When we think of hacking incidents we tend to think of individuals looking to steal or expose information. However, your website can also be hijacked or injected with malicious code that serves unwanted ads, redirects visitors to other pages, locks you out of the admin area and generally wreaks havoc with your site’s stability.

Of course, theft of information is a strong motivator for hackers, and don’t fall into the trap of thinking you don’t have anything worth stealing!

If your website stores intellectual property, contracts, orders or customer information it is your responsibility to protect it.

Look into steps you can take to strengthen your defenses such as SSL certificates, two-factor log in authentication and third party monitoring/response services such as Sucuri.

An Ever-Shrinking Attention Span

It’s not just screen sizes that are shrinking- our attention span is dwindling too. While there is little you can do to combat human nature, it’s vital that your marketing efforts acknowledge and adapt to the fleeting window of opportunity you have to capture someone’s interest.

Make sure your title is catchy and interesting. Keep important information up front and centre, but include a great “hook” to encourage them to read more.

Include great visuals such as videos or infographics. Visually represented information is digested by the human brain at a much faster rate than the written word, so it is a great shortcut to getting your point across.

Make sure that your call to action, whether it is a link, a button or a form are prominent and clear.

While we are on the topic of forms, keep those short and sweet. The percentage of people who will complete it decreases with every field that you add.

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Upcoming Events from the British Irish Chamber of Commerce

Just to let you know that we’re busy at the Chamber creating great networking and advocacy events for our Members – in fact, it’s our busiest ever season and I hope we’ll see you on one or more of these occasions.

“Invited Leaders” series
On Thursday evening 5 November, we have the first in our new “Invited Leaders” series in association with Pathfinder Consultants in Management with guest speaker Howard Millar. This closed Supper series at the RDS Ballsbridge will bring great leaders from the UK and Ireland business and public affairs space together to network against the backdrop of issues of the day.

Ireland in London Week
The week of 9 November is fast becoming “Ireland in London Week” with a great line-up of events leading to an important civic conclusion. Starting on Monday with our delegation to the CBI Confederation of British Industry Conference which will, for the first time, be addressed by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, we then have ourIreland & UK Tech Sector gathering at London’s most important Innovation Centre, Level 39 at Canary Wharf, on Tuesday afternoon,10 November. We’ll be opening up the challenge of building on the success of the ICT sector on both islands (and the support of the public agencies in both territories) to deliver a worldclass Joint Tech Hub through the best collaborations and strategic planning across Policy, Skills, Science, Infrastructure and Funding. We hope you can join us for this first event in what will become an important initiative from the Chamber’s new ICT Advocacy and Action Group.

COBCOE International Chambers Forum
On the afternoon of Wednesday 11 November, we will have a delegation attending the COBCOE International Chambers Forum on Europe, bringing our Members’ views into a timely and important debate on how the best Europe can be delivered for all.

Dublin Chamber visit to London
Thursday 12 November and the morning of Friday 13 November will see us join the Dublin Chamber visit to London and a series of meetings with The Irish Times, Investec and Doyle Hotel Group. On Thursday evening we’ll be at Westminster for Tourism Ireland’s major networking event for Irish interests. Along the way, we have important engagements with Co-operation Ireland and with Ambassador Dan Mulhall and his business team at the Irish Embassy.

Irish International Business Network
On Friday 13 November, we’re supporting our friends at IIBN, the Irish International Business Network, at their Annual Conference at BAFTA in London which features a superb lineup of Ireland & UK business content.

Lord Mayor’s Show
On the evening of Friday 13 November, we’ll be at the Irish Embassy for Ambassador Mulhall’s reception in honour of the Lord Mayor’s Show and the extensive Irish delegation which, for the first time, will include the Lord Mayors of Dublin and Belfast and many more.

Finally, rounding out a great week for Irish and British business collaboration, we will honour the Lord Mayor of the City of London with a first-time presence at The Lord Mayor’s Show of the Lord Mayors of Dublin, Belfast and several other Irish communities.

Our heartiest congratulations and appreciation go to Niall Gibbons and his Ireland and UK teams at Tourism Ireland and to Peter Finnegan and Dublin City Council’s International Relations team for their huge work in bringing about such an important initiative as Ireland in London Week – it’s a fitting acknowledgement, if only a taster, of the trading relationships that power a €1 billion a week joint market and the 400,000 jobs that directly flow from it.

Keynote business gathering
Moving on, we’re planning a keynote business gathering around a visit to London by one of our leading government Ministers on Monday November 23.

Invitational Breakfast at Iveagh House
On the morning of Wednesday 2 December, we will stage a major invitational Breakfast at Iveagh House in Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green under the kind auspices of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan. At a time of unprecedented interest in British Irish affairs, we’ll have a panel of prominent thought leaders from Britain and Ireland engaged on the upcoming UK Referendum on EU Membership and Ireland’s interest in these critical proceedings. This kicks off an important new series from the British Irish Chamber as part of our commitment to facilitating high quality debate, factual information and wide engagement on issues of importance to business, investment and jobs on both islands, with the question of Brexit clearly high on that agenda for all our interests.

Meet the Buyer
On Thursday 3 December, the Chamber’s Board meets in the City of London alongside a parallel Meet the Buyer event for SME’s hosted by Grant Thornton, followed by the Chamber’s London Christmas reception hosted at Lloyd’s of London and kindly sponsored by William Fryand Robertson Low. Keep an eye out too for a special surprise Christmas Reception we may announce for Dublin very shortly…

EU Commissioner for Agriculture
On Tuesday 8 December we have a special In Camera lunch in London with EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan. Showcasing quality Irish food at Richard Corrigan’s Bentleys Restaurant, we’ll bring together food industry leaders from Britain and Ireland to consider the issues impacting the industry locally and in a European context. We’re grateful for the sponsorship of ABP Food Group and of Beauchamps Solicitors in hosting this important event.

Annual Conference and Dinner
Moving into the new year, we will have the Annual Conference and Dinner of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce on Friday 19 February at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin’s Ballsbridge. With the support once again of title sponsor Ulster Bank and Dinner sponsor Lloyd’s, and several supporting firms, we’ll be building on the widely acknowledged success of our 2015 event to deliver another memorable and influential business and social gathering.

King George V Cup Race Day
Last but not least, looking further into 2016, you’ll want to note two Save the Dates for your diary – Friday June 3 for our King George V Cup Race Day at Leopardstown and Thursday September 8 for our British Irish Chamber of Commerce President’s Annual Dinner.

So we’ve certainly got something for all our Members in the weeks and months ahead and our sectoral Policy Groups (spanning our UK Advisory Group, International Affairs, Energy, Technology, Finance & Professional Services, Life Sciences, Food & Agribusiness, SME and Culture, Arts, Sports & Tourism) will also be hosting their own special-interest fora as well. Do let us know if you’d like more information on any of our Events or to get more involved in our sectoral Policy Groups and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Post by John McGrane, www.britishirishchamber.com

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Hedging Currency Risk

Currency risk is a natural by product of trading overseas. In most cases, a company trading overseas will have to make purchases in foreign currency to pay suppliers or convert the receivable currency into Euros to pay overheads. Given the volatility in foreign exchange rates and the credit timeline most companies will have to make a call on whether they hedge the currency risk or just convert to or from Euros on the day they receive the foreign currency.

The payment timeline can vary from a couple of weeks to a couple of months – a cursory look at Euro/US Dollar graph below which shows where the currency has traded over the last 3 months, makes it clear that if you are trading overseas you are likely be exposed to considerable FX volatility

Source: Bloomberg

The Euro/ US dollar has seen a high of over 1.1600 down to a low of below 1.0900 in this period. In Euro terms, €100k could either have bought you $116k or $109k in this 3 month horizon – that’s a difference of $5k which could be the company’s profit margin.

So when Banks talk about currency hedging they usually mean using foreign exchange forward contracts to lock in today’s exchange rate for delivery on a date in the future. The date in the future can vary from 3 days forward to years in the future depending on the size and type of company but typically it’s not longer than 12 months.

Foreign Exchange Forward Contracts

One of the advantages of using foreign exchange forward contracts is that it buys certainty on the currency front. The company will know exactly how much they need to pay in their home currency or how much they will receive in their home currency when entering into a transaction. It allows them to protect their margin and removes the risk of being a hostage to volatile currency markets. What it doesn’t allow is taking advantage of any further up side in the currencies once the contract is booked.

Some firms may be willing to risk part of their FX exposure in the pursuit of a better exchange rate while others accept that the principle of protecting the bottom line is their priority. In reality, a company might not hedge 100% of their exposure but this is very much down to the risk appetite of the company in question and what their treasury policy guides.

In my experience, the one certainty when dealing with foreign currencies is volatility. As a company trading internationally the choices are around how you deal with this volatility in your business model. Do you leave currency conversion to chance and take the rate on the day or do you take a more proactive approach to managing the risk using forward hedging as a means to protect your bottom line? Expanding into new markets and taking on new suppliers overseas has many risks not just those in relation to foreign currency volatility – recognising and making a decision on how best to address those risks is half the battle.

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Sales Lessons from Rome

Sales Lessons from Rome – Recently Mrs Business Therapist and I made our long awaited trip to Rome courtesy of a long and slow collection of points with a well-known rewards company (no free advertising here!) As all our friends had told us, it was a beautiful and mind blowing experience. We undertook all the touristy and historic things but for me the highlight was the food and a particular food walking tour recommended by a friend.

The Romans as a rule were a delight to deal with and suffered my very poor North Belfast Italian with a smile on their face. However the business lessons that became apparent did not come from the Romans but the many Asians we encountered every few yards selling trips and tours of all shapes and sizes on open or closed top buses.

Lesson1: Adapt – These sales people were very obviously not in their home environment but had adapted to their new surroundings learning the languages required to provide their consumers with the solutions needed.

Lesson 2: Listen – Every sales person I encountered met me with a smile asked if I was interested then waited for my response and dealt with it accordingly. Communication is two way and an essential element of any sales process.

Lesson 3: Be positive – The sales people will probably get more ‘no thanks’ than a yes’s every day but their enthusiasm and positivity did not seem to be waining. In sales ‘no’ can be a positive answer allowing you to move on or diarise for a revisit. It will never leave you hanging.

Lesson 4: Get your timing right – We were very lucky to enjoy great weather in Rome except for one day when we were caught in a torrential downpour. All sane people sought cover but we thought we would plough on back to the apartment. The streets had emptied and even the tour sellers had the sense to hide or so I thought. Within minutes they reappeared with new products suitable for that time – umbrellas and rain coats! Timing can be everything to a successful business and is not only influenced by the markets but legislative and governmental changes. It is essential that you do not get bogged down in your business preventing you from being sensitive to systemic changes.

Words of warning – In Rome the traffic is constantly moving with everyone attempting to move quickly, bursting for that gap that has just appeared – all in an attempt to get ahead – just like business. When you look closely at all these beautiful Italian cars, large and small, you will soon notice that most, if not all, have bumps and scrapes – battle scars from this environment. As a small business when you move, adapt and grow it is most likely that you will also experience the bumps and scrapes – expect them and move on.

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger”
Friedrich Nietzsche

As always I appreciate your comments, your feedback and the sharing of any of my blogs.

The Business Therapist – making your business better – you can catch me on twitter @BizGrowth4U or LinkedIn

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Tips for Running a Business Online

If you have been operating an online business, by now you have noticed the huge potential there is to make huge sales through the internet. Understanding the markets, consumer expectations and great marketing efforts are just some of the important things to keep in mind when running a business online. You should also have a currency converter tool if you are dealing with international clients to make it easier to harmonize prices in different currencies.

Love what you do

If you do not get butterflies in the stomach when you think about how well your online business is doing, then there is a big problem. You should treat your online project like your baby, love it, nurture it and before long, you will start reaping the benefits of your hard work. When you love what you do, you will constantly think of ways to make it better and stronger.

Measure you progress

Always use whatever tools available to measure your progress. Wishful thinking is good for optimism but when it comes to running a business online, numbers do not lie. How many people do you have visiting your site in a day and how many of these are actual customers? And for those who don’t buy, what happens to them? Is there a good reason why they don’t buy? Constantly measuring and analyzing your website is the best way to keep up with consumer expectations and provide widely acceptable products and services.

Close projects that don’t work

Doing business is impossible without taking risks. Sometimes these risks end up proving more trouble than good. With online business, you often have such a short amount of time to make a great impression on internet users. If a project is not working, don’t waste anymore time, close it and move on to something better. Leaving debris floating around the internet is not good for your brand reputation. There are also hidden costs to keeping such failed projects running

Build a community

With online businesses, you need to have the backing of an online community if you want to success. You need a group of people vouching for your products or services in order to create a strong internet presence. You can build a positive reaction around your products by engaging with consumers through forums, blogs, social media sites and other interactive means online.

Check out the competitors

Being narrow minded is the worst mistake you can ever make as a businessperson. You need to be curious and constantly looking to learn more. There is no shame in opening a competitor website and even pretending to be a customer once in a while just to see the kind of service they offer. You need to know why a consumer would pick a competitor product over yours if you want to kick out the competition altogether. Do no assume you know everything. The internet is a massive well for new ideas and information and you can learn a great deal from others.

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How Can I Be In The Internet Marketing 5% Success Club?

If you believe the statistic that 95% of people who start out in internet marketing fail, I’m pretty confident in my assumption, you would like to be in the 5% group who succeeds.

Wishing and wanting to be in 5% group, won’t guaranteed your space. As there are things that you need to know and do, here’s my top nine:

1 – Know your purpose

Before you start your business, you have got to get completely clear on your purpose, your primary reason for starting an online business. If it is strong and compelling, it will act as your motivator, driver and inspiration to carry on, when the going gets tough.

2 – Come up with at least 10 other reasons to start/run your internet marketing business

Dan Kennedy once said, the reason why there aren’t more millionaires in America, is down to people not having enough reasons to do what’s necessary to become a millionaire.

If coming up with 10 other reasons, is easy for you, carry on until you can’t think of any more.

3 – Strengthen your dream

You need to ask yourself, what you can do right now and on an ongoing basis to strengthen your dream.

Here’s some ideas for you…

Affirmations

Visualization

Vision boards

Incantations

Afformations

Do what works best for you.

4 – Know where you are

In relation to starting and running an online business, where are you, mentally, physically, where are you at your skills.

5 – What do you need to do/know/have to get to where you want to be

List everything that comes to mind and plug those essential gaps.

6 – Create a plan

Most people have a belief that they have to a perfect plan before they get started. They spend days, weeks or months, trying to perfect it. Right now, a rough plan would do, more than likely you’re going to makes changes to it.

“A good plan executed today, is better than a perfect plan executed in a weeks’ time.”

General Patton.

7 – Work your plan and measure your results, adjusting your plan.

8 – Outsource

When you are ready, outsource the tasks that take up your time, especially the repetitive tasks.

9 – Continue the process. Tweak your plan until you get where you want to be.

Bonus tip

If you really want to be a success, take a leaf out of Grant Cardone’s book The 10X Rule and X10 everything. Multiply your goals, your productivity and your thoughts by a factor of 10.

If you need additional help, you can download my “The Most Important Thing You Need To Know… Before Starting an Online Business” report here http://onlinebuymobile.com/

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Mobile Marketing for your eBusiness

Are you making the most from your mobile website? Do you have a dedicated mobile marketing campaign as part of your overall digital marketing campaign?

Clearly the adoption of smartphones continues to rise globally, with smartphone owners representing two-thirds of the total population in the US alone. And these numbers are rapidly increasing in other developed countries, too. Mobile marketers need to be ready to reach these mobile customers. Business on mobile devices continues to grow rapidly. Projections for retail sales on smartphones and tablets will total $115 billion in 2015 (Forrester).

Google’s consumer barometer on the behaviour of Irish mobile consumers authenticates why you need to be on top of your game with your mobile marketing exploits. Your ebusiness needs to effectively address the shift in increasing web traffic and sales from mobile devices right now. Here are the facts of the google report that apply to your ebusiness and the future of it’s success. People are very savvy shoppers, with 23% of consumers using their smartphone when looking for information on upcoming purchases. 14% of shoppers do in-store research, 15% do a location search, which influences their buying decisions. 7% of consumers have reportedly had problems when navigating mobile site and 31% sometimes which needs to be addressed. Location based searches are proving to be a big draw for small and medium enterprises. This information is critical in formulating these businesses mobile strategies. 19% of consumers plan their purchases, 26% are specific to product needs and 7% are location searches. 34% of consumers look for local information. Businesses need to have a flawless mobile website with a quick loading time that makes for an excellent user experience to maximise on online revenue. The google gods are proactively inciting the benefits of good quality mobile sites. Your ebusiness will reap the rewards.

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5 Must-Have Features of a Small Business Phone System

Running a business – big or small – is incredibly tough, but it can be rewarding. Even more tough is getting all of your equipment in place, like a computer network, phone system or one of the many other tools you’ll need to operate.

One thing you absolutely need when it comes to making sales and generating leads is a reliable phone system. If you don’t have a way to contact potential customers or clients, or a way for them to reach you, then you won’t have much business. While email and online contact certainly work great, sometimes you just need to speak to a person directly to get things ironed out.

A modern phone system in today’s hyper-connected world involves using VOIP, or Voice Over IP, communication devices and software to talk to people via the Internet. This includes programs like Skype or Google Chat on the consumer side of things and services like Vonage, 8×8 or Jive for business.

Before making a commitment and setting up a VOIP phone system – or any system for that matter – it makes sense to understand a little bit about it first. In particular, you’ll need to know system requirements and limitations to ensure you get the most of your new service.

Know Your Equipment

Before choosing a system and having it installed or activated, do your research. This may seem pretty straightforward, but a lot of people skip over this step.

Compare prices and reliability when choosing a VOIP service provider. Ensure your Internet connection and bandwidth can handle your incoming and outgoing call loads. Know how many people will be working at a given time and how much equipment or hardware you’ll need to accommodate them.

Depending on how often you’re calling clients, you might want to skip that unlimited plan VOIP companies are offering, especially if you’re a small business with fewer needs. You never want to overpay for service.

Identify Bandwidth Limitations

Since VOIP services require an active Internet connection to work properly, you’ll need to be sure that you not only have a reliable connection in place, but also one that provides the proper bandwidth. You’ll need to figure out the amount of voice traffic that your system will be handling.

You can calculate the amount of bandwidth you’ll need yourself by taking a look at your current PBX (private branch exchange) system if you have one in place.

The reason you need to know this is because every time someone picks up a VOIP phone, it ties up a certain amount of bandwidth on your network. You’ll want to be sure there’s enough for everyone to be working at the same time. If not, you could experience call drops, shoddy connections and poor sound quality.

Establish an After-Hours System

No one works 24/7; you need some down time and so do your employees. Make absolutely sure you have an after-hours system in place that can take calls when no one is available. This could include contact information for sending an email, a voicemail system or even forwarding calls to a personal number.

If you do set up a voicemail account, be sure to offer explicit instructions for how callers can get in touch later. If that means informing them to leave their contact information and promising to call back, then do so.

A great feature to enable for a system like this is voicemail-to-email transcription, which most VOIP and business PBX systems provide. The system will automatically transcribe new voicemails that customers leave and send them to you via email or text message. No more fumbling with the voicemail system or trying to write down contact information. It’s all sent directly to you.

Activate a Call-Waiting Service

During business hours, you do not want to send potential clients or existing customers to voicemail. This could give them the wrong idea about your business.

Set up a call-waiting service so your customer is automatically connected to the first available representative. This also allows you and your staff to put contacts on hold for a period of time if you’re super busy.

Use a Hosted PBX System

A Private Branch Exchange, or PBX, system is like an operator for business phone lines. It connects and manages various extensions throughout a company. This is how automated systems direct your call to the appropriate department when you phone in.

There are two types of PBX systems available: hosted and on-site. A hosted PBX system is primarily handled by the VOIP provider and all of the equipment is in a remote location. An on-site PBX is located somewhere on the business property and requires an active team to manage it.

It’s always better to go with a hosted PBX system as opposed to an on-site one because it’s cheaper and less time-consuming. Not to mention, if you set up an on-site system, you’ll need to hire an IT team to manage it.

Don’t Throw Out Old Hardware

If you’re simply making the switch to VOIP or have old hardware lying around, then don’t toss it. There are analog-to-digital converters that allow traditional LAN phones to work with VOIP services. There are even PBX converters if you already have a PBX system in place.

Don’t waste money picking up brand-new hardware if you don’t have to.

The right phone system will help your small business run smoothly and improve your image.

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Benefits Of Exporting For A Small Business Introduction

Starting and running a profitable small business is difficult for anyone. There is more competition in the market than ever before, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to make a profit. There are a lot of companies looking at exporting as a way to increase their income and profits. However, many companies simply do not know how to get started with selling in other nations. Here are several things that companies should do to begin exporting and the benefits of exporting over the long term.

New Customers

One of the biggest benefits to exporting products is the fact that it opens up a business to new customers across the world. There are many nations in the world growing at a faster rate than the United States. This represents a huge opportunity to gain market share by opening a product line in a new country. For example, opening a business in Brazil could open up a company to hundreds of millions of new customers. In order to increase sales, many companies are starting to look at countries around the world with strong economies and growing populations. In order to take advantage of this trend, companies should start investing in exporting products overseas today.

Higher Revenue

Revenue is one of the most essential metrics that any company must report on. In many markets, companies have already saturated their target market with products and advertising. It makes more sense for businesses to look at customers across the world with little exposure to the products they sell. There is a much higher return on investment with marketing to customers who have never been exposed to products. Companies should always keep their return on investment in mind when spending money on marketing their products and services. Many businesses mistakenly believe that marketing is always money well spent. However, many times it does little to move the needle in terms of increased sales. Exporting is a great way to increase revenue in a company for a little invested capital.

Higher Profits

Another great reason to export products to other nations is that the profit margins are typically higher. The currency exchange is generally beneficial to domestic companies that sell their products internationally. Not only can this save money on taxes, but this can also result in higher overall profits for the business. Margin erosion is something that every business must fight against. By exporting products across the world, companies can take a great first step in improving margin over the long run. With this increase in profits and sales overall, companies can set themselves up in a much better financial position in the future by exporting products around the world. Many companies have found doing business in Brazil is more profitable than they imagined.

Brand Name Recognition

The brand name of a company is one of the most important and valuable assets to protect. Expanding into overseas markets increases the brand name recognition of a company across the world. This can pay great dividends down the line in several different ways. There are many studies that show companies with a strong brand name are more profitable over the long run than companies who do not have a strong brand. Investing in overseas markets is a benefit in both the long and short term for a business. Business in Brazil, or other nations, can be a financial windfall that companies profit from for many years.

Conclusion

With the competitive business environment today, it is important that small businesses do everything they can in order to gain sales and profits. There are many opportunities around the world to gain market share by exporting products. There are a lot of benefits to exporting for a small business. Not only will this increase sales and profits, but this will also increase the brand name recognition for the company. Exporting is one of the most important decisions that a company can make. Although there are some initial investments required, over the long run this can be a great way for a company to increase its profits.

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Monthly Archives: November 2015