Payroll Services Ease the Process of Small Businesses

Small, emerging businesses are too busy developing core strategies and managing workflow and client relations that they often make a hash of many important aspects which demand their attention. One such aspect is payroll.

Payroll is one of the fundamental parts of an organization. A number of small businesses that are in their infancy overlook the significance of setting up a proper payroll department, proclaiming that their clients are more important for them. This approach often causes delays in salary distribution.

Because of that, most of their reliable resources step back. Now the question that arises here is, would you be able to meet your clients’ needs if your dependable people leave you? What would be you response to your client whose project is halted in the middle of nowhere?

Not even large organizations want to lose their hardworking people. A small business cannot really afford this loss. To keep your best employees with you, you need to ensure that their salaries are distributed on time.

Key Responsibilities of Payroll Department

  • Timekeeping
  • Recordkeeping
  • Processing paychecks on time
  • Accounting
  • Work with HR Department hand in hand

Handling all these responsibilities, your payroll department or partner makes an effort to build and maintain a positive image of your newly-established business in the market.

Not every small business has funds required for instituting an in-house payroll department. If you are an emergent enterprise and this seems like your case, maybe you can hire a small business payroll service. These service providers can expertly handle your organization’s accounting, financial affairs, employee management, and salary distribution.

Outsourcing payroll processing for small businesses is in their interest. Here’s how:-

Convenience: The load of attendance, timekeeping, preparing checks, and transferring salary into your employees’ bank account is on your payroll partner.

Rightfulness: Accuracy in salary calculation and during transactions affects when you take charge of salary distribution by yourself while performing other core activities for your business. A professional payroll partner can alleviate the chances of all such blunders and blemishes.

Compliance: It is pretty common for an entrepreneur like you to be unaware of payroll- and salary-related compliances mandated by the state and federal governments. If your service provider is the best small business payroll company in your area, then you can be sure that your business adheres to the rules and regulations.

To sum up, some of the other advantages that you get with a dependable payroll service provider are: tax expertise, accountability, and financial auditing for your business.

Small Business Thrive In Roorkee In 2018

The city of Roorkee is known for its various unique qualities like Marine Drive, Aqua Duct, Can’t. Area, IIT, etc. but one of the things often overlooked is its trading base. Small business can thrive in Roorkee in 2018 in fields like mobile and mobile accessories, automobiles, education, various factories, transport, etc.

Ideas for Small Business Thrive In Roorkee In 2018

 Stationary Supplies

These stay in-demand for whole of the year, making sales a no concern. Whether it’s children for study purposes or employees for office purposes the demand remains constant. This business success in Roorkee in 2018 is pretty, much a guarantee.

 Jewellery

Even though here the sales are mostly women-based, now-a-days, men too are coming up, showing more interest in accessorizing themselves. Since India is cultural yet a fashionable place jewellery small business thrive in Roorkee in 2018 show some long term promise.

 Fast Food Restaurants

Everyone loves a Mc Donalds or a Dominos or a Pizza Hut but what they forget while starting up that even these fast food juggernauts started small. One up one restaurant and then more branches as you build up a base. Remember Rome was not built in a day.

Menus don’t need to be exuberant, start small and simple. Good food and exceptional customer services remain a key factor here irrespective of the menu. Will your restaurant be the next big small business thrive in Roorkee in 2018?

 Wooden Furniture Making

If you have skill, put it to use! This kind of venture can earn you high amounts of profit if you have the right skills. Good relations with nearby people and customers just might be your trump card required here.

 Paintings

Again if you are skilled, painting is another venture worth taking up. Gifted artistic talent is always paid well.

Starting A Venture

1. Choose an industry

Key to small business thrive in Roorkee in 2018 is- choose an industry according to your skills and area of expertise and then work your way up to become the next Ambani or Birla.

2. Research

Research is always a key factor in failure and success. It’s the step to take once you know the industry you want your small business thrive in Roorkee in 2018 in. Make sure you have what is required and don’t rush in.

3. Make a Business Plan

Failing to plan is planning to fail! Irrespective of your field of work, a plan is always a necessity. Without a good business plan no small business thrive in Roorkee in 2018 is possible. Due to tough competition in today’s world, good planning is a must.

4. Join Professional Networks

Isolation helps none. Partner up with professional networks for mutual benefit and reach new heights for small business thrive in Roorkee in 2018.

5. Creating a Website

Internet is the newest craze of the century, use it for your benefit. A website will let more people find out about your business and boost your sale, helping you reach new horizons.

Smart Small Business Tips

Owning a small business demands a great deal of time and attention to details. These details can make the difference between making a profit and suffering a loss, particularly in difficult economic times. To keep your business in top form, spend the time attending to those areas that can cause falling sales and rising costs. This attention will go a long way toward making your business a financial success.

Monitor Expenses Frequently

Each day can have a number of surprises that can mean unexpected costs and loss of productive time. It can be critical for small business owners to periodically monitor these unscheduled expenses to see how they affect the bottom line. A monthly review of expenses is not too frequent to ensure that you are making the adjustments needed to continue to make a profit. Without this monitoring habit, you can quickly find yourself in a hole without being aware of it until the expenses have taken a large chunk out of your profit margin.

Keep Up With Technology

Technological changes occur so frequently, it’s often difficult to keep up with current developments. Faster computers, cloud sourcing and mobile technology can ultimately save you money and make your team more productive. Educate yourself about new technologies by reading about these products online or in technology magazines. See if any of them could help your business reach more customers, monitor financial transactions better or help your workers produce more in less time.

Target Your Advertising Efficiently

Advertising can be a huge percentage of your monthly budget, so make sure you are getting your name in front of the right target audience. Before allotting your advertising budget quarterly, research the various options that are available in your local area. New publications and flyers are always being produced. Determine how well past advertising efforts have worked and consider changing to a different medium. Consider using local radio or TV for advertising your products or services. Ensure that your website is getting regular traffic. If not, consider marketing packages offered by your website host.

Use Social Media For Marketing

Set up a Twitter or Facebook account and post to it regularly, describing your product or services. Offer helpful hints or information that people can use in their daily lives. Invite comments and questions to keep your business in the forefront of lively and interesting online conversations. Link your accounts to other related information that can be helpful to online readers.

Offer First-Time Customer Discounts

To attract new customers, offer a first-time customer discount to introduce these new people to your business. Give them the royal treatment and they will use word-of-mouth to bring other customers to you.

Start A Rewards Program

If your business is one that relies on repeat business to build revenue, consider adding a rewards program. A rewards program needn’t be complex and time consuming. A simple punch-out card that offers a “get one free” after a certain amount of purchases can keep customers returning to you, time after time. A rewards program can also be simply the ability to bundle a number of items at a reduced price. Look for ways to save your customers money while encouraging them to return to your business in the future.

[Digital Marketing Tips] Kick-Start Your Small Business

Raising a small business in such a competitive digital world can really be challenging. Most of the time small business owners lavish their time worrying about digital marketing campaigns and many risk-based investments. But with good digital marketing strategies, you can make your small business to run very fluently and at very affordable prices.

We have witnessed many business owners using digital marketing strategies an impressive growth. So, if you are the small business owner and eager to make some profit?

Check out the following digital marketing tips for small business:

1: Start with the Amazing Website

As we all know the first impression lasts longer. So first thing to keep in mind is building and optimizing your business website. With a clean design, your site should showcase your products and services precisely. Don’t forget the basics including business information, objectives and your location.

2: Claim your Business

If your business requirement is to targets local customers, then claim your business on local search directories I.e Google My Business and Bing places for business, Yelp.These listings will help your local business to stand up in a crowd.

3: Organic SEO

Typically small business owners have small budgets in terms of investing in online marketing; so it is crucial to utilize organic SEO to help a website rank well on search engines results. A quality content, right keyword research, and meta tags can help your organic SEO to go in aright way.

4: Social Media Presence

To establish your small business, you need to have a good social life for your business. Firstly, having a professional and genuine business profile delivers quality and trust for your brand. With right social media strategies you can take full advantage of internet presence. In your digital marketing campaign, you should provide valuable content to your target audience, so they will be much more likely to pay close attention to your business.

5: Email Marketing

Email marketing, the most cost-effective and efficient marketing tools for small business owners. Every buyer nowadays and no matter what their age, just about everyone checks their email. You should create a monthly email newsletter or send out regular marketing messages with special offers, news, and discounts.

6: Explore Advertising

Organic search engine optimization and social media posts undoubtedly will take your business so far. But to stand out from all the marketplace competition, amp up the volume with pay-per-click online ads and ads on social media channels. You just need to do deep research while choosing keywords and while targeting your audience.

By implementing digital marketing tips correctly, you can surely make your business successfully in this digital world.

Small Business Marketing Plan – Increase Your Business Profit Without Breaking Your Marketing Budget

Most small business owners fail when it comes to their small business marketing plans. They’ve got excellent technical skills in their line of work, but that just doesn’t translate to having effective marketing skills.

As a result, profitability of many small businesses has been declining over the years. Ever increasing competition is making it more challenging in many ways. For those businesses that aren’t losing money, most are not producing the profit they could be if they knew how to market themselves properly.

These business owners usually just copy what they see other businesses doing, or they follow the advice of some media sales person. The problem is they copy the wrong types of businesses, and the media sales people typically only know as much about effective marketing as the business owner does.

Without the right kind of marketing system in place, the success of any business is by pure chance. To help remedy this situation, below are seven things a small business can do to increase profits while spending less on marketing.

1. Use the power of free stuff

Everyone likes getting free stuff and you can use that to your advantage. If your business lends itself to giving away free samples of your product, do that. It helps get people hooked on it. Business profits have boomed on this marketing model.

As Chris Anderson author of the book titled, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” says, “You can make make money giving things away.”  In his book he talks about how businesses are giving away products and services they used to charge for, and in return, a percentage of their customers are buying something else. As a result, they are making more money than ever.

When you give something away, you often activate a universal law called the “Law of Reciprocity.” It says that when people get something free, they feel obligated to do something for you. Obviously it doesn’t work every time, but it does work enough of the time.

But there is another way to give away free stuff that can greatly benefit your business. When you do it right you get something very valuable in return: customer contact info…which leads us to the next tip.

2. Start capturing customer contact info and use it

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not tapping their current customer base. They let customers visit their business (online or offline) all day long without ever trying to capture their contact info so they can continue to market products or services to them.

You likely know how expensive it can be to get a new customer. But you can market to your current customers for little or no cost. Capturing and using customer contact info can mean the difference between a profitable business and one that barely gets by.

Your business has more customer value in it than a customer can possibly digest in a short visit so if you aren’t continually marketing to your customers, you are throwing money away!

You can make customer contact capture easier simply by using the power of free from tip number one. Simply start a monthly drawing to give away something free and print some registration slips visitors can fill out. Also have people register online on your website.

Tell customers they only have to register once for all drawings and you will contact them monthly via email to let them know who won. Of course you will always include an offer for a product or service!

What do you give away? Anything with a perceived value makes a great free item. Free items do not have to be expensive. Buy something on sale at WalMart or at eBay and offer it. You can also offer free informational reports that help people solve their problems. People are always looking for ways to solve problems they are having.

Of course, once you capture this information you have to do something with it. If you’re too busy to take on any more work, then the next tip will help you out.

3. Use automated tools to keep in touch with customers

Once you have a customer list, I recommend you send a minimum of 25 “messages” a year to it. A message could be an email, direct mail piece, fax, or phone call.

If you don’t use an automated tool to do the work for you, you’ll likely be too busy to get the job done. When you automate, your messages go out regardless of how busy you get (the more messages that go out, the busier you’ll get).

One tool you can use is an email autoresponder, which is a web-based system that sends out emails when someone signs up. It sends out emails at intervals you set up. You can also set it up to send an email on a specific day, such as a holiday.

The great thing about an autoresponder tool is that you enter your messages in the autoresponder one time, then it automatically sends emails to your list. You can also broadcast messages any time you want.

Using this tool, keeping in touch with your customers is easy and it will help keep the competition from creeping in and stealing your customers because they’ve forgotten about you and the services you provide.

4. Stop marketing like you’re a big business.

Marketing a small business like it’s a big business is something almost every small business owner does. They just copy the marketing they see being done at large companies with big brands. This kind of marketing is called “brand identity,” “brand building,” or “image” marketing.

This is a HUGE waste of advertising money for a small business. You simply don’t have the resources you need to support a successful branding campaign.

Brand advertising typically has no “call to action,” (they don’t ask you to do anything). They just give you features of the product or service, or they entertain you without asking you to do anything.

Brand advertising is usually benefit free. The viewer has to determine if there is a benefit to them. It may contain a list of features and the user will have to assign their own benefit to each feature. It is usually focused on the product or provider of the product instead if the customer.

A successful marketing campaign for a small business is created around direct response marketing techniques.

5. Use old fashioned direct response techniques in new ways

The kind of marketing plan that works for a small business is direct response marketing. It doesn’t require a huge marketing budget to use effectively. It can be used for all types of products and services.

And the good news is that you don’t even have to hire an advertising agency to do it since it doesn’t require creativity. All you have to do is learn the basic structure of direct response marketing and you can easily increase the sales your business makes.

Direct response sales copy always asks the reader or viewer to take some sort of action i.e. “Call in the next 5 minutes, and we’ll include a free set of Ginzu steak knives!”.

It may ask for the sale directly if a full “sales presentation” was done (one-step advertising), or it may ask them to request more information (two-step advertising). It will at a minimum, ask the reader to take some form of “traceable” action so you know if it is working or not.

There should always be a headline for written advertisements! Never put your company logo at the top of a direct response advertisement. That’s brand advertising.

Whenever you create an advertisement in any form always look at them from the customer point of view. Look it and ask “Who gives a crap?” about everything in it. Do you think the customer cares about your logo. No! They care about what you can do for them. Put in benefits and not features. Let the customer know what’s in it for them. A successful direct response ad for a small business includes several things:

  • An offer to buy something
  • Sufficient information for the consumer to make a decision to act now (or directions on how to get more info)
  • An explicit “call to action” sooner rather than later
  • A clear way to respond such as a telephone number or web page
  • A means of tracking the response.

Direct response advertising is not just used for mail campaigns. You use it in all forms of media: print, web, mail, and broadcast. Take a look at all the advertising you are currently doing no matter where it is and start making the change now.

6. Use the Internet to advertise for free

Even though websites as we know them have existed since around the early 90s, only 49%* of small businesses currently have a website *9/08, Barlow Research. It’s surprising how many businesses do not understand how powerful this marketing tool is. If you don’t have a website, get one because there is no better source of free advertising!

The Internet has hundreds of “Web 2.0” websites where you post “content” for free. The content can be text, videos, or audios you create and it can lead people to your business. Plus, it helps establish you as an expert in your field.

EzineArticles.com is one such place you can post content. There was no charge to post this article. All I had to do is write it, post it, and then you found it.

You can put links in the “author resource” section, to drive traffic to a page on your website. The articles you post in EzineArticles can rank extremely well in Google search results with a little help from you.

You also want to get your business listed in places like Google Local if you do local business. Once again this is absolutely free.

Once you learn how to do use the Internet for promotion you’ll have a head start on the future of advertising and you get customers for free!

7. Outsource routine marketing tasks so you can work on the growing your business

One of the biggest problems small business owners have is that they get so consumed by working IN their business, they don’t have time to work ON their business. So no growth can occur.

When it comes to marketing yourself on the Internet, there are ways to use “virtual assistants” to do most of the work for you. A virtual assistant is someone you hire on a full or part-time basis who does the work for you.

But a virtual assistant is not a direct employee so you don’t provide benefits or have the normal hassles of an employee. They are usually located somewhere in the world that has low-cost wages so they are very affordable. That’s the beauty of the Internet and the communication it provides.

Virtual assistants aren’t just confined to small business marketing plan tasks though. They can do almost anything for you: reservations, schedule appointments, answer phones, customer service, send flowers, buy a present for your spouse, find someone to fix your car, website development, accounting, software development, writing, graphics, or anything you need.

There are lots of resources on the Internet that can help you find a virtual assistant.

Create Your Small Business Marketing Plan Now!

Use these seven marketing tips to start building your small business marketing plan right now. If you procrastinate, your busy life will get in the way of business growth. Even if you only take a little of the advice you’ve been given, you’ll find it can have a big impact on the profitability of your business.

Corporate Governance and Small Businesses

Let’s start with some review of what types of companies primarily drive the US economy.   We know that there are about 16,000 publicly traded companies represented on the NASDAQ, NYSE and the AMEX.  The key economic driver in the US is the 27 million small businesses.  The Small Business Administration 2008 Presidential Report on The Small Business Economy clearly communicated “the economy generated 1.1 million net new jobs in 2007. In the first quarter of 2007, 74 percent of the net new jobs were in small firms with fewer than 500 employees and 22 percent were in firms with fewer than 20 employees.”   Yet, the gross amount of attention in the media and the federal bureaucracy is around what is happening in the Markets.  This is understandable with the volumes of dollars transitioning in this public environment. The economic recovery program is not addressing the core of the economy, small businesses.   More than ever the public market environment is being questioned about corporate governance.  The new legislation being considered for public companies has sections that may very well trickle down and require the small businesses to adhere to similar if not exact rules on Corporate Governance.

A simple definition of Corporate Governance for the small business:  

Corporate governance simply refers to the set of internal policies, rules, and procedures that a company follows on a regular basis to ensure that it operates in a fair, equitable, and appropriate manner for the benefit of the company, its management and its shareholders. A corporation usually has a board of directors and a senior “C” level management team.   Most small businesses do not have these organizational entities clearly defined and functional.  For private companies that are registered as a corporation and have investors, the various states require these entities to have a governing board.  Yet many small businesses incorporate for tax issues and do not necessarily pay attention to the concepts of corporate governance. 

How does Corporate Governance apply to small businesses?  

All businesses should look at their organizational structure and continually assess what will allow the company to perform in an optimal way.  The simplest way to implement this is to have an advisory board.  The advisory board is non-paid individuals that have business or industry specific backgrounds that can contribute ideas or mentor management.  In more formal and traditional cases a small corporation has a board of directors comprised of the founders, a spouse, an employee and maybe – just maybe an outside director.  The focal point of corporate governance within small businesses is that all businesses need to set company strategic goals, provide the leadership to put them into effect, supervise the management of the business, and if the company has stockholders, report to the stockholders on their stewardship.  For those small businesses that do not have the hierarchical structure in place to implement formal corporate governance plans, it is recommended that regular self assessment of the company will be the starting place for accountability, to enhance performance, grow the company and be a greater contributing force in the economy.  At the end of the day, if you follow some set of policies and procedures and are reporting your stewardship of the company to someone even if it is your dog, then you have accountability that is key to corporate governance practices.

Will the government impose its will and definition of Corporate Governance from the public markets into the small business environment?

This imposition of government from the public market companies to privately held companies is making its way through the halls of congress.  One idea being tagged onto present legislation is to extend Sarbanes-Oxley down to privately held companies.  Anyone that knows anything about SOX is aware of the high cost to implement the documentation processes and the reporting.   Pushing this down to the small business environment would be cost prohibitive and stunt economic growth.  The general politics of mandated corporate governance is to wait and see how new legislation will affect the small businesses driving the US economy.

As a final note, every company, no matter what size it is, will see the positive effects of implementing the principles of corporate governance.  The facts remain that there are 27 million plus small businesses in the US who are the job creators and the drivers of the economy.  The greatness of US business is that it performs the best when individuals come together in a free market environment to meet the needs of the economy and society.  In the end, best practices of corporate governance can be freely implemented to benefit the company or corporate governance can be instituted by the government, which can cost more in resources, planning and profit.  Take the time to assess how your small business views corporate governance and how this will enhance your growth in the market place.

Ways to Improve Employee Motivation for Small Businesses Without Spending Money

Vacation Pay is three weeks for employees who have worked for the same employer for five years.

In Ontario, there are certain employment guidelines regarding vacation leave that provides rights to employees for time off with pay. Though there are some job categories that are exempt, most employers must abide by the Employment Standards Act (ESA) when it comes to providing time off with pay.

It’s important to note that vacation time off and pay is different than holiday pay and entitlement.

Starting January 1, 2018, vacation time and pay places employees into two groups based on the number of years an employee has worked with the same employer. Here are the key differences in the minimum vacation time and pay:

  1. Employees who have worked less than five years earn two weeks of vacation time after each 12-month vacation entitlement year, calculated by four percent of their gross wages (excluding any vacation pay) earned in the 12-month vacation entitlement year or stub period (if any).
  2. Employees who have worked five years or more earn three weeks of vacation time, calculated by six percent of their gross wages earned in the 12-month entitlement year or stub period (if any).

As an employer, you can provide more rights and benefits to your employees other than the ESA set minimum standards. However, it cannot be less than the amounts listed above.

10 Vacation Pay Facts for Ontario Business Owners

Here are ten things to be aware of, in addition to the minimum standards for vacation leave:

  1. A vacation entitlement year is a recurring 12-month period which can be counted starting from the employee’s hire date or alternatively, throughout the calendar year. If it’s the latter, you must allocate a pro-rated sum of vacation time for the duration in-between the start dates of your employee and your calendar year; this is called a “stub period”.
  2. You are not required to provide vacation time if an employee does not finish a full vacation entitlement year or stub period. However, employees do earn vacation pay as they earn their wages.
  3. Vacation time is accumulated during a leave of absence, such as Parental or Maternity Leave since there is no break in the employment relationship.
  4. Your employees must take vacation within ten months after completing a vacation entitlement year or stub period.
  5. As an employer, you also have the right to schedule vacation and ensure that your employees take the time off before the end of that ten-month period.
  6. Employers must schedule their vacation time in blocks: two or three-week blocks, or in one-week blocks of two or three, according to the years of service. For shorter periods off (i.e. one day), your employee may request to do so, and the agreement can be made in writing or electronically.
  7. For most cases, earned vacation pay must be given in a lump sum before your employee takes the vacation. However, there are several exceptions to this.
  8. Your employee may not use all or some of their vacation time; however, as an employer, you are still obligated to provide them with their earned vacation pay. In this case, you will need an electronic or written consent along with an approval from the Director of Employment Standards.
  9. In cases of employment termination, you must provide your employee their earned vacation pay. This is required within seven days of the termination or on the next payday.
  10. If your employee asks for a record of their vacation pay (in writing), you must provide the statement within a week of the request or by the next payday.

If you are still wondering about how to calculate vacation pay, or have any questions such as, what to do about vacation leave for seasonal employees, it’s always a good idea to get help from an HR Expert.

Small Business Ideas for Entrepreneurs

Introduction

Many people envision the day they start their own business. They know with hard work they will achieve success. That is the easy part. The hard part is coming up with the best idea of what industry it will be in. There are so many potential fields to choose from. Yet somehow, when it comes to deciding on one, their mind goes blank. Here are some potentially successful business ideas for you to ponder.

An Electronics Installation Business

There are a lot of folks who do not know how to install and/or set up the new electronic item they just bought. Either that or they do know how but lack the time to do it themselves. That is where this kind of business can come in handy. You hire skilled installation specialists to go out and perform these services for customers. Everybody wins with this one.

Software Teaching Business

What you would be doing in this case is hiring people who have a vast knowledge of different software programs. Then you connect them with customers whom they can teach to use the programs. This can be done locally on an in-person basis or over the Internet on a remote basis. The more programs one person can teach, the better. You should also seek people with a lot of patience. The prospective students will likely have lots of questions.

Create a Writing Business

Here is another industry that is full of potential customers. For a variety or reasons, scores of individuals are not able to do their own writing. It could be lack of skills, or lack of time, or whatever. Maybe they need a quick article on a specific topic, or a resume or a simple business letter. You can recruit experienced freelance writers to be a remote staff for your business. Then you are ready to seek clients. There is such a huge need for this these days, you are sure to succeed.

Personal Care Associates

What are they? They are individuals who can either care for children, care for special needs patients, or care for elderly patients. Of course, for this type of business, you ought to require that the candidates be properly trained and, at least, certified. Possessing a license is even better. With that said, there are plenty of qualified persons who are not currently employed. There are also oodles of people who need personal care. If you had a business in any of these industries, you could match them up. One more thing to be sure of is that they have the proper personality to assist patients on a regular basis. Someone with a short temper, or who is not a “people person,” would not be a good choice.

Begin a Yard Care Business

It goes without saying that there are already many landscaping businesses out there. That is not what we are talking about here. Full-service landscaping companies can be expensive. You would fill a big need by finding local workers who can mow lawns, take care of plants, rake leaves, shovel snow, etc. Your clients would be residents who cannot afford a large landscaping firm.

Wrap-Up Thoughts

For everybody’s sake, anybody you hire for any of these types of businesses should have an extensive background check done on them with a printable report available. Once that is taken care of, you can hire them and send them out to work.

People, these are merely a few ideas. If you give it plenty of thought, you are bound to think of something your community needs. Remember, the worst idea is the one you have never given a shot. Good luck!

3 Key Benefits Of Having A Website For Your Small Business

There are quite a few benefits why small business owners need a professional website built for them. In the majority of cases, investing in an effective website is going to bring in more customers, more traffic, and more business than if you continue to ignore the Internet as a marketing tool.

Benefit 1 – Your Website Enhances Your Social Media

Some small business owners are reluctant to get a professional website built for their business because they have already got social media accounts created. Just because they are posting on social media or have some details on their profiles, they think that is sufficient online marketing to get customers coming through their doors.

If you’re on social media, but you do not have a website as well, then you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to convert more visitors into customers.

Let us firstly accept that a website should not replace what you’re doing on social media, but they should complement each other. If you already have a following on social media, then you should be taking complete advantage of that. Send them to your website where they can find out more about your product and service offerings, and also being able to contact you directly.

Benefit 2 – You Don’t Need To Manage The Process

A major reason why some small business owners object to getting a professional website created for their business is because they don’t want to take the time to manage the website. If you’re holding off for the same reason, then you should realize that once your website is set-up, it pretty much runs itself.

You don’t need to actively manage or maintain your website, unless you want to post content regularly. But even then, it’s much simpler to do than you might think. There is no need to know any programming language, or be some kind of tech wizard to run your website. In many cases, if you want to update anything, it’s just a matter of “drag and drop”, and your website will have the correct “look and feel” as per your requirements.

Benefit 3 – You Don’t Need To Do It All Yourself

Another common objection small business owners have about getting a website built, is that they do not want to hire a professional to do it. Instead, they want to try and do it themselves. This could possibly be fine if you already have a website that is producing great results for you, and you just need to tweak a few things here and there.

But if you want a professional website built for your business that is actually designed to attract online visitors, and then convert those visitors into customers, then you undoubtedly need to hire a professional. There’s no point wasting your time on something that might not even do what it’s supposed to do. Just hire a professional, and get the job done right, first time.

Conclusion

Your professional website and any form of internet marketing is certainly not going to replace anything you’re currently doing. It is also not going to significantly add to the amount of work you’re doing now. Once you have a consistent flow of leads coming into your business from your website, it will be like your own sales person, working around the clock to promote your business. You will obviously be able to reap the benefits of digital marketing for many years to come.

So if you’re interested in getting a professional, effective website built for your business, then take that leap of faith. If not, your online marketing competitors will get all the sales, and prosper at your expense.

Discover the Benefits of Video Marketing To Small Business

Types of video marketing

Here are some of the most used types of video marketing:

  • Brand films – These videos are used to provide information about what a brand does and why people should use its products or services. You can use these kinds of videos to create or increase business awareness.
  • Product videos – You can use these videos to introduce particular products to customers. Some of the information you need to include in such a video is how the products look, how they function, and their benefits.
  • Educational videos – You use such videos to give customers more information regarding your products.
  • Testimonials – Video testimonials are more effective than written testimonials, and you can use them for marketing your business.
  • FAQ videos – You can use such videos to address questions that consumers commonly ask.
  • Instruction videos – You can use these videos to instruct customers on how to use or assemble the items they buy from you.

Video marketing offers several benefits for a small business. Here are some of them:

Enhances brand awareness

Unlike written content, videos are more attractive and engaging. That’s why many people prefer watching videos. Video marketing will help you to connect with people and inform them more about your brand. Therefore, your brand awareness can greatly increase if you use the appropriate marketing strategy and video content.

Increases online presence

It is hard for most businesses to survive without an online presence. Video marketing can help you to increase your online presence by making your content more engaging and easy to consume. Viewers will be more encouraged to visit a website or click a subscription link. After liking what they see, they will continue marketing your business by clicking the share button.

Builds trust

Marketing is largely based on trust and the creation of a business relationship. But how can you create trust? Video marketing will help you do. Using videos, you can create a sense of personal approach,, which will give customers more confidence than a written advert. Customers can also get to trust you more after watching the videos.

Videos are more appealing to mobile users.

Unlike in the past, the number of people using mobile devices has greatly increased. Watching videos is easier than reading content. Therefore, if you create videos, the chances that people will get your message are high. With a large number of people viewing your video, you can rest assured of increased sales.

It is an easy method of explaining.

If you were to write, you may end up using a lot of time and energy to give explanation. Video can help you to give clear explanation within a short time. You can use video to combine simplicity, nostalgia, and entertainment. You can also use animation to explain hard concepts. This way, customers will get to know what you are selling easily.

In general, video marketing is a strategy that will help you to improve your online presence, create and promote brand awareness, build engagement and trust, and increase your sales. It is also cheap and easy to produce. If you do not know to go about it, you can use the services of a professional. You can also use the available free video editing software to edit your videos.

https://parklandsvideoadvertising.com/

Freelance Web Designer | Web Design | WordPress | Hong Kong