Startup Business Plan

   If you want to start up your own business, there are a few things that are needed to ensure success and to get people to take your venture seriously. One of the most important things that should be done at the very beginning of your trek into entrepreneurship is to write a solid business plan.

   If you’re only just starting out in business, you’re probably much too busy to think about the long-term future.

   But part of building your business now is planning for when you want to call it a day. Every owner-managed business needs an exit and succession plan to pave the way for a smooth transfer of ownership so that one day you can reap the benefits of your hard work and investment while the enterprise you’ve established continues into the future.

   A startup business plan is a document that outlines your new business’s goals and objectives and indicates how they are to be achieved. This plan is invaluable when it comes to attracting prospective partners and financial aid for your new business. A business plan can also be used to track the new business’s performance and compare it with your original goals.

   While business plans can be formatted in a variety of ways to suit your particular business and personality, there are twelve basic components that should be included in a solid business plan. They include:

1. Objectives.

What size business will you be starting? How much money do you want to make and over what period of time? All of these questions should be answered in the initial planning phase and should be realistic.

2. Competition.

Many small businesses fail because there was not a market for their new product or service. Make sure this does not happen to you. Find out which needs are not being met by current providers, and target your business to fill those needs.

3. Cost.

Estimate the cost of assets needed for your business by pricing the necessary equipment and materials needed in the day to day operation of the business. The best way to do this is to contact individual suppliers and do a little comparison shopping. Then, compile a list that can be easily referred to as you complete the rest of your plan.

4. Personnel Requirements.

How many people will you employ? What types of qualifications will they possess? Having a solid idea of what you will require now, may prevent personnel problems in the future.

5. Pro forma income statement.

A pro forma income statement is an estimate of future sales and expenses. The information contained should be in line with the business objectives. If the numbers do not quite add up, you may need to cut expenses, raise revenues or change your objectives. If the numbers still do not look encouraging, a different type of business opportunity may be better suited to your needs.

6. Legal form.

Will your business be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or a corporation? Research each and find the one that’s best for you.

7. Capital.

This can be the most time-consuming part of starting a business. While there are loans and grants available, most funds used to start up new businesses are provided by the business owner. If you do not have enough capital to start your business now, do not get discouraged. Keep saving while you look for other ways to raise the needed cash.

8. Pick your location.

Location, location, location is the key to success. Place your small business in areas of high traffic.

9. Bookkeeping.

Whether you are going to hire an accountant or keep the books yourself, now is the time to implement your bookkeeping system.

10. Advertising.

How will people learn about your new business? Which types of advertising will attract the most people to your door: internet or TV? Should you buy back links for your new blog or not? Remember, these are quite possibly the most important dollars that you will spend. Use them wisely.

11. Permits.

Make sure that you have all of the necessary permits and licenses to operate your new business. These permits may include vendor licenses, sales tax numbers or professional licenses. Each city, county, and state is different. Check with the local chamber of commerce to see what is required in your area.

12. Open your business!

After the doors to your business are opened, continually match your business’s performance with its objectives. If there are any discrepancies, changes may need to be made in order to align the two.

As you can see, not all of these steps can be completed at the same time. Start writing your plan by including information about how you hope to achieve each step, and follow up by revising your plan as each goal is realized.

The most important thing to remember is that a business plan is not a rigid set of marked accomplishments, but an outlined path to where you would like to end up. Your plan may take many twists and turns along the way.

Top Productivity Tools for Small Business

Here are the top tools for productivity for small business! Understand their working so that you can easily use them in the best way possible!

Slack

Now, this is one of the most important tools for small businesses; slack is a tool that has made team communications and messaging very much easy. You must know that slack is a messaging and communication tool that helps coworkers hook up with each other in the professional work environment. From the day it was introduced, this tool has been loved by its users because it has removed the very formal medium of an email form the small business environment. It has revolutionized the medium of collaboration between colleagues.

The different feature of slack includes real-time chats, cross communications, and notifications in time! it is said to be not only the best team application tool but is also one of the best tools for getting immediate responses and notifications in a healthy work environment!

Slack has hidden capabilities too, and these include advanced message searching, simple commands and personal assistance. You can also integrate slack with other applications related to your small business that are mostly project management tools.

Google Applications

Well, we all know about Google applications and how they have made our lives easy. The most Google applications include the famous names Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Task manager, Google Sheets, Google docs, hangouts, and google slides.

  1. You can easily use these tools if you are using Google Chrome or Google as your search engine, you can easily add their extensions on your browser. You must know about the simple use of Google tools, and for that, you must read the list below!
  2. Gmail is an email application for the sending and receiving of professional emails. It is one of the most user-friendly email tools you can find on the web.
  3. The Google calendar is the tool that is used worldwide to add reminders and keep track of your monthly and annual routine. From your office to your vacations you can plan anything on the tool.
  4. The Google task manager is as the name tells us is used for management of tasks of your daily basis. The Google task manager will simply help you manage your tasks and add reminders to your tasks.
  5. Google spreadsheet and docs; these tools are the best online services you can use for entering data and writing articles. We will not talk about the major details of the tools today, but you must know that these tools have the best user-friendly experience!
  6. Hangout is yet another messaging application associated with Google. Although the app is not commonly used in office premises but is surely one of the best messaging tools, you can find!

Podio

Now Podio is yet another platform that is very useful for small businesses. It is a platform which will help you plan meetups discuss your tasks with your team members and also will help you in the integration of tasks, files and your calendar. You can add and share your monthly team report with your colleagues, you can also add your sales report, you can plan on a vote out, and you can also share useful information and plans for your team.

The Podio platform is one of the most important tools for checking of activities and keeping track of the daily work, and you can also compare your performance with that of your competition, you can keep track and share deals with your colleagues, the tool will also show you memories of the past. You can add multiple more applications to use with Podio!

Plagiarism Checker

A plagiarism checker is yet another important tool for small businesses, especially for small content businesses. A small content business must have a free website plagiarism checker which it can use to check plagiarism in the content before submission simply. A content business these days cannot be run without the best and the most reliable plagiarism checker.

There are many plagiarism software tools, but you must choose the best reliable plagiarism checker for yourself. Plagiarism can land you in expulsion and degrading if not taken care of properly. The plagiarism checker with percentage feature is a tool that is very useful, especially while publishing academic content on your website! You can choose between searchenginereports.net the top free plagiarism checker, or the top rated plagiarism software for this service.

Expense Management Software

An expense management software is essential for small businesses to gain complete control and insight into their business or operating expenses. The software lets employees easily submit and track their receipts from applications they use every day like G-Suite, Slack, Outlook, etc. Meanwhile, Finance teams easily view all such expenses from across the company in one unified dashboard. It also provides them with information such as department/project-wise spending, frequent policy violators, and frequently used airline or hotel chains, which ensures they’re in the know of all kinds of spending. 

While there are multiple expense management systems out there in the market, here are some significant features that you should look for in a spend management system: automated compliance, efficient expense reporting and approvals, seamless receipt imaging, integrations with a corporate credit card, insight into spend trends and other financial data, and multi-level approval workflows to name a few.

Air Table

This is yet another tool that is more popular because of being an alternative to the conventional spreadsheets by Microsoft. You can easily organize your work and database with the help of this tool. This tool gives you the complete flexibility to enter and edit your data plus it has many rich and exciting features that you won’t find in any spreadsheet tool.

The air table will also help you customize colorful charts and give you other options to create a bigger picture and visualization of your data. The tool also gives you a feature for adding a map to store your geographical addresses and related data. You can also use the calendar and the gallery feature of the app.

The backlink checkers are a really important part of the content business and especially the one which is in its initial stages. Backlinks are the tools which are the best for attracting traffic to your website. The purpose of a backlink to simply point the search engine’s attention towards the content on your website. This is added on the basis of freshness, relevancy to the content and unique ideas.

There are many backlink checkers and generator tools on the web, but we would suggest you use the best one and you can simply find the best tools by search engine reports and small SEO tools as we have mentioned earlier that these tools are the best ones available on the web. The main purpose of the checker is to check the quality of the backlink. If the link is in bad shape, then it can affect website health, and in cases like these, it is important to edit or remove them.

To-Do-List Tool

The to-do list tool is the best tool you can find to manage your daily routine especially when you’re in a small business you need cheap and reliable services, and you can use the To-Do-List tool to make sure that your daily routine is well intact. You can add your daily and your monthly goals on your to-do list. The tool will simply give you reminders and set the applications for your use.

You can simply add bullets, images, other important information in the tool for your help and assistance.

Image to Text Converter

The image to text converter is one of the best tools for the small business fraternity, especially the one who is working on the translation of content and other important content management strategies. You must know that the purpose of using an image to text converter is to translate text from an image with more efficiency and reliability plus it will take not more than a few seconds to do the job for yourself.

If you compare the working of the tool with that of a person, then you will understand the time and the cost it will save you. This tool is the best if you want to increase the productivity of your office and decrease the expenses.

Should You Continue Windows 7 After End Of Life?

During the beginning of the new decade, particularly on the 14th January 2020, Microsoft will retire Windows 7. This means that several security updates will inevitably stop as well. For the majority of individual users and enterprises that will still be using this top rated operating system, security issues will certainly be a factor.

As much as the end of Windows 7 doesn’t come with much welcome, especially from its current users, the trends were quite obvious.  Since the rolling out of the new Windows 10 operating system, not many updated features were introduced to the Windows 7 operating system.  Thus, it was a good idea during this time for many users to switch and transition onto the newly introduced Window 10.

However, this was not the case as Windows 7 operating system remains to be a popular option among using.  As of October 2019, a little bit over a quarter of the 1.5 billion Windows device users still relied on Windows 7 according to the Netmarketshare. With these high numbers of the Windows devices still operating under Windows 7, it begs the question of the safety of the users after the discontinuing of Windows 7.

The Impending Security Threat

After the ending of Windows 7, the number one threat to may users will be unavoidable threats from malware attacks as the devices will be unprotected. Though it is possible to remove malware using tutorials at VirusPup why not stay safe in the first place. The reality of an abandoned operating system with no updates gives many hackers and malware programs a field day to explore different routes and ways to attack the vulnerable devices.

In fact, hackers do love to work with non-existent interruptions that come with an abandoned operating system. A good example of how lethal such security threats can be showcased through the 2017 eternal blue Windows vulnerability was leaked by a hacker group, shadow brokers.

This led to a ransomware attack onto more than 200,000 unpatched Windows devices from unrelated users. During this time, Microsoft issued an emergency patch to all of its users with unpatched systems to prevent the spread of ransomware. However, the damage had already been done. Furthermore, security threats are not isolated.

In 2003, another security flaw in the Windows XP and Server 2003 operating systems left the operating systems susceptible to malware attacks, even to users that had no contact with hackers. During this time, Microsoft did issue a patch for all retired operating systems as well.


The Safety Net

The safety of your windows 7 will not be entirely at risk after retirement after all. At an extra cost, you can still pay for the safety and security of your operating system. As a business, it is costly and virtually useless for Microsoft to maintain all its operating systems at once. This is because, along with the constant updating and maintenance of the system, comes costs paid to engineers that spend the time to do the maintenance.

Thus, it only makes sense to retire older versions of operating systems. However, special arrangements have been developed by Microsoft to maintain older versions of operating systems that are popular amongst its users. During the2015 to 2017 Window 7’s extended support period, Microsoft offered updates for the security of the system.

Additionally, Microsoft also noted that transition in January 2020 after the retiring of windows 7 will not be as smooth for enterprises and large organizations. Thus, to ensure that users still using the operating system post-January 14, Microsoft introduced the Extended Security Update Program that will hold validity till January 2013.

During this period, users are given enough time to make the transition. With this program, enterprise and organization users will pay an annual $50 fee per device during the first year, $100 annual fee in the second and $200 fee in the third year. However, for users that have actively subscribed to windows 10, Microsoft offers a cost-cutting solution by offering the extended security update program free for a whole year.

IoT Windows 7 Devices

In addition to your desktops PCs and laptops, many other devices are commonly known as the Internet of Things devices also use a stripped down version of Windows 7, which is designed to run on devices with limited resources and functionality.  These devices include ATMs, point of sale terminals and medical devices.

The stripped down version of Windows 7 however, doesn’t shield these devices from the risks of security threats. IoT devices are posed with a risk of ransomware attacks and botnet viruses from hackers.  Botnet viruses normally invade the devices and deny the services offered by the device. This is because these smaller devices are normally the epi-center of operations and functions.

Thus, ransomware attackers are normally successfully paid by the owners. The stripped down Windows 7 offers a viable solution to these devices as their limited resource and function prove to be somewhat difficult to accommodate newer operating systems.

Additionally, even if one chooses to use an update system, it means that they need to invest in a newer device which can be too costly. Thus, to keep providing security for such devices at a cost-cutting solution, Microsoft will continue to support the Windows 7 Embedded Standard 7 service pack until October 2020 for some versions and through 2021 for others.

The Transition

It’s safe to say that even though the ending date has confirmed to be January 2020, the chances are that Microsoft will offer yet another critical patch after the deadline. This is because of the myriad of users who will be virtually abandoned without the patches. However, even with this prospect of Microsoft’s safe the day yet again, it is wider and safer for many organizations and enterprises to do the switch and transition now.

As much as it is costly for large organizations and enterprises, it is much easier for single users to do a switch to Windows 10. Thus, other than keeping yourself at risk, why not make a small investment for a newer operating system. Plus, even if you choose to opt for the extended security system, the cost still stands to be almost the same r even more.

Examples of Highly Effective Niche Marketing Strategies

There is a huge list of different marketing strategies to increase business profits. Despite this, one of the most popular is a niche or focused strategy. It has its disadvantages and advantages, however, small, medium and large businesses use it to increase their profits.

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Niche strategies are appropriate:

  • in the presence of a sufficiently large segment that ensures the required profitability and growth prospects;
  • if there is no interest in the segment on the part of industry leaders, which reduces the likelihood of competition with them;
  • if there is a sufficient number of segments in the industry to select the most attractive of them, corresponding to the potential of the organization;
  • if the entity wishing to service the segment has the appropriate experience and resources.

Even a small organization, using a niche strategy, can achieve a competitive advantage if its products are attractive to the segment and it has a successful competitive position. Software development companies can help improve your companies sales and reputation.

The disadvantages of niche strategies include:

  • The likelihood of the entity being pushed out of a narrow target segment by competitors (by offering a product that better meets customer needs or by obtaining resources that exceed the company’s resources);
  • The likelihood of erasing differences in customer needs between the target segment and the rest of the market, which will open the way for competitors;
  • The likelihood that the segment will be highly attractive to a large number of competitors, which may significantly reduce its profitability.

Examples of companies that have chosen various niche strategies

eBay (electronic auctions); Porsche (sports cars); Cannondale (elite models of mountain bikes); Horizon, Comair and Atlantic Southeast (passenger airlines with low traffic at a range of 50-250 miles); Jiffy Lube International (refueling and lubrication of cars, minor repairs); Enterprise Rent-a-Car (rent of cars instead of repaired); Bandog (restoration of tires; the company actively offers the services on hundreds of parking places of trucks); Motel 6 and Ritz-Carlton.

Niche strategies in the hotel business MOTEL 6 and RITZ CARLTON compete in different segments of the hotel services market. MOTEL 6’s focused strategy is focused on low costs, while RITZ-CARLTON has focused on differentiation.

MOTEL 6 is focused on the poor travelers who need a room for one night. MOTEL 6 offers them clean, comfortable rooms without any excesses. In order to reduce costs, the company chooses inexpensive sites for the construction of buildings near highways with heavy traffic; builds hotels without bars and restaurants (but sometimes with swimming pools); uses standard designs, cheap materials; in the rooms only the most necessary furniture.

All this reduces the cost of both construction and maintenance. Since there are no bars, restaurants and additional services in the hotels, the company manages only the registration staff, technical services, and cleaners. In order to attract travelers who need a modest but comfortable accommodation, the company uses radio advertising, which involves well-known radio commentators. Advertising highlights the advantages of MOTEL 6 cleanliness, comfort, quiet atmosphere, low prices.

The RITZ CARLTON is aimed at travelers and customers who are willing to pay for excellent service and personalized service. RITZ CARLTON hotels are distinguished by their excellent location and magnificent room views, architectural style with national flavor, great restaurants, fine cuisine, luxurious lobbies, swimming pools, gyms, technical perfection of rooms, various hotel services, large and well-trained staff.

Both companies focus on fairly narrow market segments. The competitive advantage of MOTEL 6 is its low cost and limited range of services for unpretentious travelers. The advantage of RITZ CARLTON is in a wide range of services for sophisticated customers. Both strategies are successful, albeit different. This is explained by the heterogeneity of the hotel services market, which has different segments with different needs and financial capabilities of consumers.

A niche low-cost strategy is widely used in business. Manufacturers reduce marketing, distribution and advertising costs by moving to direct sales in retail stores and store chains, delivering standard branded products at discounted prices. The combination of cost advantage and narrow market niche service gives good results if the company finds ways to reduce costs and limits the target audience to a particular market segment.

At the other end of the market spectrum are such companies as Chanel, Rolls-Royce, Haagen-Dazs, and W.L.Gore, which have created niche differentiation strategies focused on elite market segments that require first-class products and services. In any market, there are segments where customers are willing to pay more for additional product features, allowing companies to implement focused differentiation strategies that serve an elite customer base.

Another example of a successful niche differentiation strategy is the elite chain of Trader Joe’s 150 outlets, a combination of a delicatessen store and a food wholesale base. Trader Joe’s customers buy expensive exotic products along with a standard set of common groceries, so the store’s stock contains exquisite products such as salmon sandwiches and jasmine fried rice, and at the same time standard products that can be found in any supermarket. Trader Joe’s difference from its peers is not only the combination of exotic and conventional products and competitively low food prices, but also the opportunity to turn a regular grocery shopping trip into an exciting, entertaining experience.

Blue Mountain Agent has a strategy of differentiation in the production of greeting cards and differs from its competitors – Hallmark and American Greetings – not only by the distinctive design and content of its cards but also by the presence of electronic greeting cards.

Conclusion

While selecting a particular niche as the primary focus of attention makes it much easier to find and attract clients, it is essential that there are enough clients in that niche to make it an advantage. An animal shop, targeting a wide range of pet owners, will have far more potential customers than a shop specializing in pet ferrets or poodles only. These niches may be too small for the local market.

Veterinarians specializing in the treatment of cats or horses stand out against the background of general practice veterinarians and can position themselves as experts in this niche. This will already be an advantage of niche marketing – people often prefer to deal with narrow specialists who focus on one narrow niche.

Applying a niche strategy always gives good results, especially in startups, the clearer the distancing and dissimilarity to competitors for a certain category of clients, the greater the chance that the project will “take off”. If you’re a startup, fast business loans can help you a lot. Most entrepreneurs experience a sudden need for extra cash at some point during their careers, especially startups.

What Managing a Business Looks Like in 2020

Technology has slowly assimilated itself as an integral part of running a business over the past decade or so. There are many things that have changed when it comes to running and managing a business thanks to technology, and some aspects are better than others.

Wherever you are personally with technology, there’s no denying that it is a big part of a business these days. If you’re struggling to get yours off the ground and wondering what technology you should be using, we’ve got some answers. Let’s take a look at what managing a business looks like in 2020 when it comes to choosing your essential tech supplies.

1.     Anti-Virus Software

There’s a good chance that you’ll have all of your business information stored on a computer, or multiple computers. Most people who are running a business these days have made everything digital, which is great for efficiency and productivity.

However, there is always the risk of exposing your business data to things like computer viruses. This is why it’s vital that you protect it from this risk through anti-virus software. This is one of the first lines of defense when it comes to your data, and it’s a pretty important one.

2.     Credit Card Processing System

We no longer live in a world where cash is king. Most people these days choose to use their credit cards over cash. This means that you need to make sure that you have a robust, reliable credit card processing system that enables people to purchase your product online.

Not only is this important to protect things on your end, but customers need to know that their credit card information is safe from hackers when they enter it.

3.     Employee Monitoring Software

If you’ve got a mid-sized business or even a large company, you may find it hard at times to keep track of each employee and what their specific job requirements are. While managers can help with this, you also need a way to keep track of their online activity, as well.

This is where employee monitoring software comes in. This is a great way to make sure they stay on task, to increase overall productivity. If everything is digital now in your company, your employees will be spending a lot of time online – and the more you know about how they spend their time, the better you’ll be able to run your business as a whole.

4.     Online Data Storage

Remember when we talked about the all-important business data you have stored on computers? Not only is it at risk of computer viruses, but there’s also the risk of losing it completely if you haven’t backed your company computers up.

Luckily, there are many different ways to store your data online these days. This is a great place to archive all of your business information, without it taking up extra space on those computers. This means that if anything goes wrong with your software system or those computers break down, you won’t lose any vital information.

As you can see, there is a lot to running a business in 2020 – more than you may have thought. With everything online these days, it’s no surprise that there are many different types of software and technological advances that we think are worth implementing with your business model. This is what managing a business looks like these days, and there are many benefits to it.

Benefits of Having Mobile App for your Logistics Company

Nowadays, companies that are choosing technology are the ones benefiting from the last-mile transportation. How would you feel to see your company ship products more quickly and better than ever before? The last mile is your answer to new technology and transformation that quickens the delivery process.

To effectively compete with big brands like Amazon, Walmart, and others, your company needs to adopt transportation and logistics mobile apps. With that, you will start to see processes become more secure and seamless. But how many can understand the effectiveness of application use in the last mile, and in what ways it can benefit their consumers in service delivery? According to Richard Alden, if current strategies are reviewed and improved, things will better for cities, and transportation will never look messy again.

What is the last mile? It is the final stage of any shipping process. Some define it in terms of actual distance from one place to another, but for better understanding, it involves shipping something from a local hub to the consumer’s house. Let’s see how last-mile can benefit your company through the use of Apps.

Features to Include in Your Transportation and Logistic Apps

Today, technology, no doubt, controls the world and for your company to thrive, you must keep up with it and make good use of technology to create innovative solutions. It becomes handy when faced with too many options available at your fingertips.

A well-informed transport and logistics manager will make sure to have mobile apps with features that help to minimize problems on the road, delivery times, and costs.

Offline Support

Having no internet connectivity today is not imaginable. However, your company must be prepared to overcome the absence of internet connectivity. After all, the logistics business mostly happens on the road, right?

If your app does not support offline productivity, that’s useless in some locations. Last-mile problems could be the most important aspect of the entire process as they directly impact the end-user plus the business. But if the offline support is in place, that can be instrumental to employees to enter data as and when they need in the logistics app, with internet or without it.

Vehicle & Driver Tracking

Having this feature can help you to optimize the cargo for each of your drivers. For example, in case you receive an order for a new pickup of products, you will be able to assign the task to the driver near to the location of the cargo. The driver can be on his way to pick up or deliver up a shipment and must not have reached the maximum load capacity.

So, what do you do? You can assign the task using the admin panel, and the driver will be able to receive a push notification with instructions for them to pick up the new cargo. The driver will need to accept the task and proceed to the shipment location, viewable on the map in the transport and logistics app.

Throughout the process, you can view the location of the cargo and the driver in real-time on the map using your smartphone.

Benefits of Apps for Logistics Management

  • They help manage your fleet
  • They alert you about the traffic situation
  • They make asset tracking easy

Why is Last-Mile Important?

Probably you may not be aware of the importance of the improvements. But the core plan is to winning consumers over in a competitive global economy. All things changed when Amazon started offering its customers a speedy and cheap delivery. Right now, everyone operating an Amazon Prime account can get their products within two days with no additional cost.

Today, the customer would shy away from the website, promising to ship them products over five business days. Of course, they would go to the likes of Amazon, for they are not ready to wait forever to receive their purchase. And many companies find themselves in this predicament of not being able to offer consumers faster shipping.

What customers are looking at is a company that can provide them with a speedy delivery service.

Why is Last-Mile Difficult?

From the consumer’s end, they do not understand why last-mile transportation is challenging. They only hit the order button and wait for the product to find them within a few days possible, and that’s it to them. From the company’s perspective, the most prominent effect is the Amazon effect as customers today are used to receiving products that they order with Amazon within two business days, which is not easy for many companies to match that speedy delivery.

The delivery process has sometimes posed challenges in serving customers. For instance,  reaching rural homes that are far apart may be a challenge to getting consumer’s products speedily. Also, in urban areas, you’ll find it so clogged with traffic and slows the whole process.

Lastly, no matter how speedy you want to get products to reach your consumers, sometimes they are not at home to sign for important packages.

Conclusion

Improving the final mile is not easy, and companies must find a balance between affordable shipping and fast shipping that satisfies all parties. Many consider last-mile transportation as costly, but with a smart approach in place, even same-day logistics is possible and the future every company should plan to implement.

But the most effective way to see your company soar in last-mile transportation is by developing transportation and logistics mobile apps for both Android and iOS. Not only will that help enhance doing business in your company today, but your customers will appreciate your up-to-date with the app that responds to their needs.

How Content Marketing Can Save Brick-and-Mortar Business

In today’s digital reliant age, there are still a high number of physical retailers who resist transitioning into e-commerce. Retailers are hesitant to venture online as they worry about whether they can survive the threat of online transactions. Additionally, they also fear the dying status of brick-and-mortar retail trading, as online purchasing has become significant.

However, it is essential to know that the two can work together, which can result in gaining a greater focus on the experience of the consumer. One example is the existence of content marketing. But, does content marketing work? Can it improve revenue? To know more about the advantages of content marketing to your brick-and-mortar business and basic principles of content marketing, keep on reading.

Going Digital is Not a Threat, It’s an Opportunity

The fear of witnessing the death of brick-and-mortar business can be a devastating case. Although some people considered the growth of online shopping as a threat, it actually showcases as an opportunity for brick-and-mortar retailers. At the same time, it can also promote commitment, increase sales, and loyalty, both offline and online.

Moreover, retailers must exert an effort to provide an excellent approach to customer service, and that involves engaging and connecting customers in the most timely and pertinent ways. Custom crystal awards is an example of a store that benefits higher from a online presence rather than an in-person store front because of its niche product. Establishing a place in the digital aspect can help retailers in enhancing their skills as well as improving the consumer’s shopping experiences.

Boosts In-store Traffic and Sales

Utilizing content marketing strategy for your business is meant to build conversions from your shoppers and traffic to your store.  There are different types of areas on how to manage your online marketing, including:

  • crafting article blogs with the help of various kinds of writing app
  • review sites
  • landing pages
  • social media sites
  • product pages and more

Although content marketing is a little complicated than traditional marketing avenues, the best part of it is that it has a more significant effect on your bottom line. On a side note, it is also a vital platform for retailers to strengthen the relationship between potential and existing clients. Giving useful information that is significant to the audience can generate a greater impact on those who are reading your content.

Know Your Ideal Audience

One of the most fundamental parts of applying a strategic plan in any online retail business is knowing your audience. Knowing what they do, who they are, and the reason why they would want to know more about you is essential.

Hence, to be able to do that, market research must be done. Market research can assist in identifying the weaknesses in your competitor’s approach, which then helps in utilizing potential customers. In turn, you are more likely to conduct new strategies and think creatively.

While doing that, your content marketing will begin to solidify. Content marketing, on the other hand, can save your brick-and-mortar business because of the reason that customers will browse the Internet and start their search online. That said, having enough knowledge about your competition will be imperative to the success of your business.

You Won’t Go Out of Business

Content marketing plays a significant role in your brick-and-mortar business. The platform urges you to generate all of your content with the same goals in mind. The goal is to make your user experience, message, products, and services consistent across all variant content, which will, in turn, establish credibility with your readers.

Takeaway

The presence of content creation is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing.  Aiming to be the best marketer in the industry needs a tremendous amount of effort. Your brick-and-mortar business requires techniques that are reputable and enduring. Content marketing will bring those beneficial impacts.

5 Ways to Improve Your Business Writing Skills

If you thought that writing in high school was tough, then you haven’t tried business writing. Decent business writing skills are extremely important if you want to portray a professional image. 

Although you might think that proper writing skills, in general, is not that important anymore, then you have to think again. If the writing that you put out there is sub-par, then your business is reflected in the same light. If you can’t even pay attention to basic grammar and spelling, how are you going to perform the more complex tasks? 

If you know that your business writing skills are lacking, then you need to step up your game and improve if you want your business to succeed.

Do The Basics Right

One of the most important aspects of writing is to be clear and concise. The moment you begin to fluff or leave your reader wondering what the main point of your message is, then you already lost them. 

If you are not that skilled in business writing and need some guidance, ask a service to write my essay online to get a couple of examples to get the hang of things. The expert writers there can also help you with research papers, business PPT’s and more.

The one thing that you always need to make sure of is to make your first sentence a topical sentence and have the rest of your paragraphs support your opening sentence. Once you have said what you wanted to, then you need to tie everything together in a conclusion. 

Proofread Your Work

It doesn’t matter how good a writer you might think you are; you need to have your material proofread before it gets sent to your target audience. Even professional authors have their writing examined by a professional. 

Don’t even think for one second that you will be able to pick up on all the mistakes that you made if you try and proofread your own writing. 

If you want to improve your writing skills, then someone has to point out your mistakes. You are entirely subjective to your own writing because your mind overrides that which you have written with what you intended to have written. This means that you read over your mistakes and miss even the most obvious of errors.

Include a Call to Action

Depending on the business that you run, a call to action is one way to engage your audience and make sure that more people respond. If your message was clear and you were able to excite your reader with your words, then you need to feed off that excitement and allow your reader to respond on the spot. 

Using a call to action can also enable you to improve website content if you ask your audience to comment, which could provide valuable info on where you might still be lacking. 

A call to action is especially important because people will forget about what you said much easier because they are constantly bombarded with an extra reading from other websites.

Use The Available Tools

If your business is still growing and you don’t have all the money in the world to pay for proofreading, then you need to use the tools that are at your disposal. 

One of the easiest methods on how to improve writing skills is to use one of these tools and see where you make your mistakes in real-time. There is no need to wait on a proofreader to give you the go-ahead if you can do it yourself with the help of an online tool. 

Know Your Register

Business writing is very specific, seeing that it has its own jargon. Doing a short business writing course will allow you to see what is acceptable and what not. Depending on your audience, your writing should always be professional and clear of any form of slang or emojis. 

The moment you use slang and other emoticons, you come across as immature and unprofessional. Then again, you should know your audience and the language that they will relate to. 

Conclusion

It seems as if the digital world has put a pin into proper spelling and grammar. People don’t see the value in professional writing anymore and in the end, they deliver work that is not impressive. 

If your business writing improves, then your business will stand out from the rest of the other businesses. There are many other things that you can do to improve your writing, but if you start with these tips, you are well on your way to a better business.       

Learn Some Important Tips to Increase Your Instagram Followers

To help get better results from your Instagram marketing tactics, you need to take steps to improve the number of followers you have. There are quite a few hacks to try and here are a few things to get you started on the right foot.

Pick a Dedicated Hashtag and Promote It

It is important to create a dedicated hashtag for your company, but it is of paramount importance to take serious steps to cross-promote it. You should integrate it into your social media profiles as well as your website. It should also be part of your emails.

You need to have it in your profile, which is a must, but you should also consider using it offline. For instance, have it printed on all your receipts as well as on signage in your shop. Promoting it at relevant events will also make it known to your targeted audience. The idea is to promote your hashtag as much as you can and in whatever way you can.

Use Your Creative Side

Finding the right hashtags will really go a long way towards winning you more Instagram followers, so it makes sense to get creative with Instagram caption ideas. Using one-word hashtags is good, but it is better to look beyond that whenever you can. Ideally, you should mix things up a little and try ways to tell your story. Try to be outrageous, ironic, and funny. Experiment a little but try not to be boring.

Be Part of Popular Conversations

To get more followers, you need to be active online, and one way is to be part of massively popular conversations. You can try topically relevant hashtags to find popular conversations and then join them. Understand that it is a good idea to use hashtags that look more like long-tail keywords, but you’re going to get more exposure and reach a larger audience by using universally trending hashtags.

Exploit Instagram DMs

The Instagram message section is the ideal opportunity for those who would like to bond with their followers and turn them into their advocates! That is, by engaging with your followers and fosting a strong relationship through messages, you can find your truest fans! However, if you find it difficult to send messages one by one, you need to use a service that enables you to mass DM on IG. This way, you can sit back and relax as the tool takes care of it for you.

Use Your Bio URL Sensibly

You should not waste any space you have available on your Instagram account, and your bio URL is valuable real estate to use for promotional purposes. Ideally, you should regular change the bio URL and ensure that it doesn’t always point to your website homepage. A good idea is to change it twice a week to ensure you direct valuable traffic to your most popular content.

 Run an Effective Instagram Giveaway

 Have you ever heard of the magic of Instagram giveaways?! Hosting an IG giveaway or contest will indeed help you reach your target audience and get more organic followers and likes. Yet to capitalize on the immense power of a giveaway, you need to make sure you have the right Instagram giveaway picker at your fingertips. With access to such a tool, you get to automate the process and select the winners without lifting a finger! 

Make Your Captions More Descriptive

You have to understand the importance of using the right words to convey your message and sell yourself right. Pictures are important but you also need words to touch your audience’s emotional side. You have to learn how to use images along with words to tell your story in a more convincing and engaging manner. You don’t need to be perfect in the first few attempts, but be sure to incorporate it into your strategy to help get better returns.

Conclusion

By taking these steps, you will notice a steady increase in the number of people following your page. If you need quick results, you may want to consider buying Instagram followers online.

But, be sure to work with an authentic and professional service provider, and that is what you can see at Social Media Daily. Give it a shot today!

Creating a WordPress Website: Using Plugins to Increase Performance

Whether you want a website for personal or business purposes, WordPress is a great option. Using WordPress themes and plugins, even a novice can set up a stylish, high-performance website.

Before starting with WordPress, you need to choose a web host.

Finding the Right Hosting Provider

Before setting up a ​WordPress website​, select a hosting provider. You must find a reputable company that offers a feature-rich plan within your budget. Before you check out potential hosting providers, think about what you need from hosting and make a list. It’ll make it easier to compare similar plans.

If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, here are a few essential features to consider:

  • ​A free domain name
  • An SSL certificate
  • Adequate data storage
  • One of the popular control panels
  • WordPress as a quick, or one-click, install

When you have your list, consult one or two popular web hosting review sites and see who they recommend. Below is a list of popular web hosts who have easy WordPress installation:

  • Cloudways
  • ​Bluehost
  • GoDaddy
  • ​HostGator
  • SiteGround
  • ​Hostinger

Check out web host websites before making a final decision. You don’t want any hidden surprises. It’s often difficult and costly getting out of a contract. Once you have hosting, it’s time to create your WordPress website. Begin by choosing a theme.

Selecting Your Ideal Website

Creating a website with WordPress is simple. Most of the tasks required are click-and-drag. There are thousands of website themes available from within WordPress (in the repository).

Many are free or low-cost. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself or want a unique design, you may want to ​consider hiring a website designer​ to help build your website.

Whatever your requirements, there are themes for every situation. Your website has to look good, but there are other considerations. Ask yourself:

  • Is your theme regularly updated?
  • Will it work on mobile devices?
  • Is the template optimized for speed?

If you struggle to find a suitable theme in the repository, check out some websites that specialize in WordPress themes. Or you can hire somebody to create one (or design it yourself, if you have the skills). Below are some websites that offer WordPress themes:

  • elegantthemes.com
  • ​​themeforest.net
  • templatemonster.com
  • ​athemes.com

After choosing a WordPress theme, it’s time to install it and set it up. WordPress makes this painless, even for someone unfamiliar with website development. Following this, it’s time to optimize your website. You can do this with some WordPress plugins.

Use Plugins to Enhance Your Website

Plugins enhance your WordPress website and add functionality. If you want to add a feature to your site, there will be a plugin. The easiest way to find and install a plugin is from the WordPress back-end (called the Dashboard). You will see a Plugin section, and that has a plugin search. Once you find what you want, it’s a simple matter of clicking the install button.

If you can’t find the right plugin in WordPress, you can find free and paid plugins on third-party websites, but these may need manual installation. Only select reputable plugins. WordPress should inform you if a plugin is affecting how your site performs. If you notice an issue and receive no warnings, disable one plugin at a time and see if you can diagnose the problem.

Ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. This enhances search traffic and user experience.

Here are a few plugins you may find interesting.

  • Contact Form 7 or WP Forms – Add forms to a web page
  • UpdraftPlus – perform WordPress back-ups
  • WooCommerce – set up an ecommerce store
  • Constant Contact and OptinMonster – help with email marketing
  • Spectra, Beaver Builder or Divi Plugin – add additional drag-and-drop functions to web design
  • MemberPress – create online communities and membership sites
  • Shared Counts – a social media plugin
  • WPML – make your site multilingual
  • ImageInject – adds free license images (from Flickr) to your content

Now let’s discuss the specifics of how to optimize WordPress with plugins.

Speed Up Your Website

Simple issues can hamper the page ​load speed of a website​, such as image sizes or large data uploads. Search engines and visitors prefer websites that load without delay. There are on-site optimizations you can do, but why not use a handy plugin tailored to speed up your website?

Plugins to help with site speed:

  • WP Smush – compress images
  • WP Super Cache, WP Rocket, W3 Cache – improve page load speed

Search Engine Performance

If no one can find your website, it negates all the work you’ve done on design and performance. Search engines need to index your site and crawl its pages. A robots.txt file helps them to do so. WordPress creates one during install, but you can improve on that using a plugin.

  • ​Better Robots.txt or Virtual Robots.txt – give better control and help optimize a robots.txt file.

You can improve how search engines crawl your site by using a plugin to create an XML sitemap.

  • Google XML Sitemaps

When they crawl your website, search engines assess factors that will affect its placement on a search engine results page (SERP). You want your WordPress site to be high on page one. You can help by ensuring your ​website has good SEO​(search engine optimization). Save yourself time and effort and use a plugin.

SEO plugins:

  • ​YoastSEO
  • PrePost SEO

Improve the Links

Links are an integral part of the online experience. Search engines and visitors use them to navigate to and through a website. You can improve how your website performs by monitoring your external and internal links.

  • ​Only link to relevant websites.
  • ​Your internal linking has to be logical and thorough.
  • ​Check your links work. Do they go where they point?
  • ​If you move a page, set up a redirect for the old URL.

These two plugins help to optimize link architecture.

  • ​Pretty Links Pro
  • SEO Internal Links

Tighten Up Security

Websites get hacked. WordPress sites are no exception. You have anti-virus on your home computer, so why not add one to your website? A web host will have security on their end, so should you. Add some additional defense with a plugin:

  • WordFence Security
  • ​Securi

If you’re using WordPress as a blog and have not disabled comments, you could get spam.

There are plugins to stop your comments from being abused.

  • Akismet Anti-Spam

Analyze Website Performance

When upgrading the speed and performance of a website, you must make sure the optimizations and enhancements are working. You can perform manual checks, such as opening your website from a search engine or clicking through its pages. An in-depth analysis of website performance is preferable, and for this, you need one of the analytic plugins.

  • ​Google Analytics Dashboard for WP
  • ​MonsterInsights

Don’t Underestimate Content

We shouldn’t ignore the impact of content when discussing website performance. You can check and improve content, as with any other part of a website. Content is of immense importance to web users and search engines, and affects website reputation, popularity, and search rank

You can optimize the images and links within content, but how about actual written material? There are plugins to help improve the quality of textual content (in terms of readability and engagement). For example, the Word Stat plugin highlights:

  • Content that is too difficult for readers to understand
  • Posts that are too short
  • ​Too many keywords in a post
  • ​The 20 most used keywords on the website
  • ​Word count of different content

Keep Everything Up-To-Date

For your website to run smoothly and in sync with web browsers and devices, it’s crucial to use the latest version of WordPress and its plugins. Install updates, when available, to help your WordPress remain bug-free. If you find that a plugin becomes unsupported, stops working or develops issues after a WordPress update, search for an update. If none is available, remove the offending plugin and look for a substitute.

Don’t Go Overboard

Plugin fever is real. You go crazy and install every plugin you come across. Please show some restraint. Some plugins are more resource-hungry than others, and ​too many can slow your website to a crawl or cause unexpected glitches​. First, install plugins that enhance website performance. Then add others one at a time. If there are no issues, install your next plugin

Give Your Website a Plugin Boost

Taking the time to choose the right web host and WordPress theme gives you a running start on developing a high-performance website. Smart plugin selection will help your WordPress sprint to the finish line. There are many great plugins available to help you build your perfect site. Do the research, then experiment, and analyze. Try to have fun!

How To Make Creative Content Marketing Strategy for Your Small Business

When it comes to content marketing for small business, it’s usually defined as a practice of generating and posting well-written, well-researched and interesting content in a consistent fashion to form a following which will eventually lead to gaining new customers.

This type of marketing can be categorized as a very close colleague of conventional marketing and with a well thought out strategy, they can be combined to complement each other and in turn be able to amass your following that will result in increased awareness and sales.

Benefits of Content Marketing For Small Business

It is proven to be extremely beneficial and all small businesses out there should aim to develop a good strategy regarding this type of marketing for their business because through it, you are able to achieve a lot without spending too much money.

Some of the things you’ll get by implementing a good content marketing strategy are:

  • Increase your following by educating your readers and create a brand that readers can relate to
  • Rise above your competition who aren’t taking advantage of it
  • Get loyal customers who trust your name and brand
  • Continuously gain increasing amounts of traffic to your site where you offer your services
  • Gain more exposure to conventional and social media

How to Make a Creative Content Marketing Strategy?

1. Set your goals

Obviously we all should strive to make great content for our content marketing strategy, but that’s not all there is to it, especially when small businesses are involved. Just making the content, in most cases, wouldn’t be enough because you’ll have to know exactly what you need in order to get to the goals you set for yourself. Determining your goals is just as important as the quality of the content and your goals should be as follows:
Define the purpose of the creative content
Conceive a well-thought-out execution plan
Make sure there’s a plan B just to be safe

Once you have these three important parts figured out you can proceed on to getting a thesis writing service that will deliver some great custom creative content for your site if you don’t have the time to make it on your own. Thesis writers online are very skilled and very familiar with content marketing, so it’ll be a very simple way to get the creative content you need.

2. Figure out the needs of your readers/followers

Being able to produce specific content that your followers would engage with is the key to making your strategy work. Not even the best thesis writer can help you if you can’t determine the type of content your target audience is looking for and would most likely engage with.

Once you determine what your followers love to read and what they don’t enjoy so much, you can get your custom thesis writing experts on the job to tailor their content to your needs.

An additional way of getting more followers is by utilizing the power of dynamic content which you can adjust based on specific conditions that you can easily set up without any coding knowledge. When a user enters a site they will be shown specific content based on their likes, and location, so this way you will not gain more followers but also keep them engaged by using dynamic content on your website.

3. Make creative content for all of your goals

The content you’re making for your site shouldn’t be one dimensional, which means you should post various content that would have a different goal to achieve. Some of the goals you should want to achieve are:
Increase your brand awareness – this will help people get to know you and your business, they will notice that you exist on the market and it’ll peak their interest
Show your prowess in the field – this will show your audience and followers that you’re well educated in the field and it will make your much more trustworthy.
Encourage your customers to refer you to others – this is easily achieved by including a promotional code whenever you finish a business deal with a customer which can be a gift certificate that he can give to a friend or maybe some discount voucher he can get for the next time he uses your services if he refers a friend to your page.

4. Publish share-worthy content

Social media has grown a lot in the past few years and people are constantly hungry for content that would educate or entertain them in some way, so you should definitely aim to publish share-worthy content on your site to get the most out of your accounts on social media. Make sure it’s something that they can learn from or some entertaining facts that they would enjoy reading about because those are the crucial things that make people want to share a post with their friends and family.

5. Collect data and evaluate

So, what is content marketing for small business? It isn’t something that you should take lightly and just take shots in the dark, not trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. You’ll get the most out of it if you’re constantly monitoring how your readers react and how the content you’re sharing is performing so you can determine what you’re doing well and what you should change to get better results. It’s also very wise and recommended that you calculate your moves instead of just posting content blindly and hoping it will work.

Increase Your Website Conversion with 5 Simple Tricks

Living a modern world and especially running a business in the 21st century is without a single shred of doubt a tall order to face. All the modern companies are fighting for customers with the vigor that even the most desperate of warriors would have been jealous of. There is no wonder in the fact that having a popular website is one of the key elements for being successful in modern business. The principle at work here is pretty simple: the more visitors you have on your website, the more exposed your brand is, and the more exposed your brand is, the more customers you have. This article will tell you about five simple tricks that you can use in order to increase your website’s conversion rates.

Keep Your Content Original

Let us start discussing this topic from the end, and let’s talk about content as the world of the Internet is a truly tricky domain. Imagine a potential customer entering your website in the hope to find the information that he or she was craving to track down for months. They see a promising SEO title and click on the link. If your website has a credible interface, you can stay assured that an average user will not go to a free plagiarism checker in order to check your content for plagiarism. Nonetheless, imagine that your visitors have been searching for some information for their academic project or a business report. Supplying them with plagiarized information would only mean one consequence for you: they will never return and will tell others not to do so. Hence, one can get the plagiarism checker free from PapersOwl and sleep tight knowing that your customers will be satisfied. Of course, website conversion, first of all, depends on whether the users will be eager to even enter your website. However, making them want to return is also a powerful strategy for growing bulk of loyal users.

State Your Benefits

Whenever a user opens his or her browser and types whatever they need in the search engine, your website has five seconds at best to attract their attention. Therefore, the website headline must feature all the keywords that the visitors might potentially look for when entering a browser. For example, imagine a user typing “Metallica new album”. In this case, you need to render your website headline in a way that will tell your users that they can actually listen to it or find a direct link to in on your website. They do not need to read the news about it being released because the very fact that they search it online should already make it clear to you that they do already know about it. Remember, the percentage of your visitors is directly dependent on the likelihood of them returning to your website. Having them adding your address to the bookmarks is the highest point of success.

Here comes one more simple trick related to boasting your benefits off. If your website, for example, has a plagiarism checker that you want millions of users from all around the world to use in their daily academic and writing activities, double check that you do not expect them to type their search requests correctly. For example, foreign students who study ESL can easily type plagiarism checkers, and your website must be the one to let them check plagiarism. Checking a paper for plagiarism is a practical action that your users need to have done, so refrain from correcting their grammar and stylistics.

Privacy, Only Privacy, and Nothing but Privacy

It goes without saying that modern people are extremely concerned about their privacy, and their position is purely justifiable. Living in the world of elements conversion, where every click made on the Internet can submit bulk of your personal data to a private company, is a matter that most people take with the utmost precaution. Hence, whenever somebody enters your website, make sure that you supply the users with a privacy statement whenever they have to fill in an opt-in that will pop up in front of their eyes.

Consumers Reviews Are Important

Remember me telling you that you have five seconds to make people enter your website? Well, the situation is almost the same with making them stay on it. Hence, why won’t you include your best customers’ reviews somewhere in a sidebar of your website? Modern people are quite prone to believing in what the others have to say. Also, it would be great if the customers’ reviews would pop up in the search engine’s sidebar as well. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most effective strategies for making people entering your website.

Keep It Simple

Of course, surfing the net is much more pleasant when you jump from a website with a beautiful design to a website with splendid design. Nonetheless, namely, simple elements are exactly what makes your website great. Visual navigation through a website must be not a challenge but a walk in a park for your users. Hence, if you have already managed to lure them to enter your website, do everything you can to make them come back.

Concluding Thoughts

Regardless of what information or services your website offers to the users of the Internet, there are five simple rules that you have to follow in order to maintain it successfully. First of all, keep your content original for the customers to hold in high regard. Secondly, make sure that your benefits are visible in a glimpse of an eye. Thirdly, mind customers’ privacy and show them that you care about it. Moving on, it would be great for people to see what others have to say about your website. Finally, do not turn your visitor’s experience into an escape quest; keep it simple and let people enjoy the time they spend on your online platform.

5 Reasons to Hire a Professional Copywriter for Your Small Business

Words have huge power in the world of business. Both what you say and how you say it matter so you must make sure that your web copy is always well-written, engaging, and informative. Grammar mistakes, typos, and unclear messages will quickly repel your visitors. They will think that you don’t care about the quality of your content so the reputation of your small business will be damaged.

In contrast, if you imagine a beautiful website with high-quality content, the effect will be the opposite. Clear and interesting copy will attract visitors and turn them into customers. High-quality copy will increase your credibility so we recommend that you put some effort into it. However, small business owners have to deal with too many tasks at once: sales, marketing, business development, etc. The more your business grows, the more overwhelming the workload. It’s impossible for one person to work on everything, so if you want to have good copy on your website, you certainly should hire a professional copywriter. There are hundreds of websites where you can hire a copywriter for your business and sites like LegitWritingServices can help you choose the best one.

1. You Can Have More Time.

Creating engaging content takes a lot of time, and this is the main reason why you should hire a professional. Small business owners are always overwhelmed with work so it becomes really difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. If you delegate copywriting to an expert, you will have more time for work associated with decision-making. There is work that no one else can do, and hiring a professional will help you focus on it. Besides, you’ll be able to take a break and drink a cup of coffee.

2. Grammar Does Matter.

If you’re not a brilliant writer and your grammar isn’t perfect, it’s not a problem unless you need to write your copy. On the one hand, your copy must be consistent, engaging, and interesting. On the other hand, it must be spotless in terms of grammar because otherwise, it will damage your credibility and your audience will have a negative impression of your brand. In addition, you should make your copy perfect for Google.

Hiring a professional copywriter is a great solution because copywriters have strong writing skills and they know all the ins and outs of English grammar. You won’t need to puzzle over the various nuances of punctuation, trying to figure out whether you need to put commas here and there or not.

3. Copywriters Can Create Content in Different Formats.

You should also adjust your copy to different formats and create different types of content, including web content, blog posts, social media ads, emails, etc. Professional copywriters know what different kinds of content look like so they won’t have any problems providing you with copy for all the necessary channels. They can even write scripts for your videos or help create infographics.

Not only should you care about different formats, but you should also make sure that your copy is consistent. A copywriter can write a blog post and break it down into smaller pieces for social media or newsletters, repurposing your content and speaking to a wider audience. This way, your audience will be able to choose how they want to consume your content.

4. Copywriters Can Increase Your Organic Traffic.

Getting organic traffic is better than paying for ads. Of course, ads are important for businesses of any kind, but organic traffic can bring you legitimate customers, help you keep them, and lead to quick sales. Professional copywriters can increase your organic traffic by creating engaging content for your website and social media. Increased organic traffic will boost your revenue, and you will certainly appreciate your new customers. However, don’t forget to build good relationships with them so that they will want to come back!

5. You Can Build a Strong Online Presence.

Online presence is necessary if you want your small business to succeed. When looking for various products or services, many people don’t go to a specific website but simply google what they need so you must make sure that they will find you. In turn, your Google rankings depend on your content and your ability to optimize it.

Some people think that they will SEO-optimize their content by simply using as many keywords as possible but it’s a big mistake. In fact, you can even get penalized for it. Therefore, you should hire a professional copywriter who is familiar with all the features of SEO optimization and can optimize your content properly.

Wrapping Up

Small business owners often wear too many hats, trying to deal with all the business tasks all alone by themselves. However, such an approach will only make you feel exhausted, especially when it comes to creating copy for your website or social media. A professional copywriter will make sure that your copy is well-written, engaging, and consistent. Hiring a copywriter is a great investment because you will get effective content that actually works, attracting new customers and improving your search rankings.

Four Ways to Improve Security on Your Android

There’s no escape from the fact that cyber crime has encapsulated the entire world. With a professional software and multiple conning techniques, criminals can easily hack your phone at any time.To enhance your Android’s security, regularly update your router’s settings to block unauthorized access. This can be easily done by configuring your router through the admin panel, accessible via 192.168.l78.1. Regular adjustments ensure that your device connects only to secure networks.

If you have a lot of personal data stored in apps, you must go the extra mile to enhance the security of your phone. In this article, we will guide you through four ways through which you can improve your phone’s safety.

1. Set a Strong Password

You will be shocked to know that close friends and relatives are often the first people who hound your phone all the time. This means if you set a password that is inclusive of your first name or date of birth, your phone might get hacked by a close person in your absence. This is the main reason why you need a very strong and discreet password for your phone. Strong passwords that have multiple letters and signs are very difficult to open. Never share your password with a friend or anyone you trust the most. You never know about the change in somebody’s intention.

2. Install a Phone Tracking App

In case you lose your phone, you need to have something that can help you in tracking it as soon as possible. There are multiple apps that allow one to track the location of his/her phone in real-time. All you need to do is install a phone tracking app such as mspy in your phone and connect it with the same app in your laptop. This way, when somebody might steal your phone, you will be able to track the location and catch the criminal. Many people are confused whether mspy free trial version myth or reality? However it is a concrete app that has served thousands of people in the last decade.

3. Encrypt Your Phone

Phone encryption is imperative in today’s time when hackers can easily gain access to your data despite a strong password on it. Encryption is a process that converts the phone data into a format that doesn’t allow any unauthorized individual to access sensitive data without a phone key. This is very important if an unauthorized person gains access to your phone and tries to chuck out important information from inside. Luckily, some androids have a built-in encryption feature, however, many of them don’t have it. Therefore it is crucial to encrypt your phone as soon as you read this blog.

4. Revisit Your App’s Security Section

Have you ever noticed why the photo editing app requested you to allow access to the contacts list? Do you find it weird when a gaming application requests access to the pictures and other media? You’re asking yourself the right questions. Keep in mind; you are always in charge of navigating movements of such applications in your phone. Whenever you install an app, never allow it complete access on your phone. If you have the latest version of Android, go to settings, visit Apps section and then select any app you want. Click on the permission button and undo all permissions you are skeptical about.

So these were a few tips you need to consider if you want to enhance the security of your mobile phones. In today’s day and age, people conduct business transactions on their phones that is why it is important to take necessary measures to magnify the security wall.

Importance of WhatsApp Business in Retail Marketing

WhatsApp is a free messaging service. The “WhatsApp for Business” has been their first shot towards monetizing it, and it has provided the business holders with a great way to improve their brand status. 

Let’s get you some facts-

  • WhatsApp has 1.2 billion users out of which 70% use it daily
  • It is the second most used messaging app.
  • It provides bulk SMS service.
  • Daily 100 million voice calls and 175 million regular WhatsApp status

For retail marketing, you need to offer your services to the right customers at the right place. If you look at the above statistics, then it is a no brainer where you will find a vast customer base. Let’s give you some more benefits of WhatsApp business now.

Update Your Service or Product Status

WhatsApp is a convenient way to take your updates of services to existing customers. The conventional updating platforms do not guarantee that your customers will go over the message. But almost every user checks their WhatsApp messages daily. So there is no fear of missing. One such example is the service from BookMyShow. They were one of the very first users of WhatsApp business in India. They send booked tickets to the customers via WhatsApp.

For Sending the Reminders

 Does your business involve any recurring policy updates or recurring payment needs? If yes, then you can use the WhatsApp business to your benefit. You can send your customers reminder messages regarding the upcoming policy updates. You can also remind them of the payment due date via WhatsApp and be sure that they do not forget it. Your customers will also appreciate this service as they need the businesses to give rich customer experience.

To Give Customer Support

If you have unhappy customers, then it is terrible for the business. But do you know what is worse? It is not having a platform to address the issues of the customers at all! The WhatsApp business allows a streamlined conversation between the customer and the retailer. It makes the task of both parties pretty easy. The customers can explain their queries and the customer service can analyze and give suitable solutions quickly. The customers love the facilities where the issues are addressed in real-time. That is something that the standard customer service lacks.

Promote Your Product

 You also have the option to promote your range of products via WhatsApp business. WhatsApp supports different media forms such as photos, videos, audios, etc. that makes it a multichannel marketing platform. You can leverage this opportunity to create engaging demos of your product to attract customers. Such all in one opportunity is not present in other marketing platforms such as SMS. It is a significant advantage of WhatsApp in the SMS vs WhatsApp business debate.

To Get Reviews

 WhatsApp is a convenient way to get reviews and ratings on your services. It does not require the customer to download an app or go to a web page to rate you. This very fact will help you to get more reviews from valuable customers.

In a nutshell, the WhatsApp business will help you to reach and keep more customers by providing convenient two-way communication. If you are worried about the technicalities involved and need some assistance, then Textlocal will be able to help you out. It is a trusted service provider who will make it even easier to reach your potential customers.

Top 5 Useful Features for Your Social Media App

According to Statista, as of the third quarter of 2019, there were 2.47 million Android apps on Google play. Elsewhere, the Apple App store had over 1.8 million applications for iOS. 

In the light of these statistics, it is evident that there are tons of applications for users to choose from, meaning fierce competition for app developers across the planet. Therefore, to cut through the noise and attract as many users as possible, any application available on the market should offer an array of useful features. These provisions will make it a better option among others, thus boosting use, user loyalty, and engagement.  

List of 5 Essential Features for Any Social Media App

What features can you include in your social media app to ensure optimal use and best performance? Here is a round-up of the must-have characteristics for any well-performing application.

Authorization

Whenever a new user downloads and installs an app, it is essential to create an account. It can either be by using email or social media account. The latter is an ideal option if the person you want to sign up is important. It is also an excellent way to go since it is a less time-consuming approach. That being said, your authorization process will heavily depend on how you feel about linking a social media platform to your business/ individual application. 

There are several benefits to implementing social media authorization. One is that it helps businesses acquire users’ networks, thus assisting the brands in avoiding the creation of in-app user networks from scratch. Moreover, this form of authorization enables a business to acquire essential details from users such as email addresses, profile photographs, likes, and so forth. 

Customizable User Profile

Brands that allow their users to personalize their profiles establish better connections. Some of the ways that businesses can facilitate this are by enabling users to write their brief biographies, upload images, etc. 

Allowing users to customize their profiles comes with its advantage. See, by giving a specific user a name and a corresponding profile image, other members of the community will view the brand as more credible. In turn, this will make the brand approachable, thereby increasing the use of its associated applications. 

An excellent example of an application where this plays out is Yelp. By availing images and biographies of its users, this business-reviewing application gives more credibility to any feedback provided on the platform. 

With that cleared out, it is essential to appreciate that customization options should not be limited to the profile. Instead, your users should be in a position to edit other aspects of their accounts, for instance, add/ edit their community, add/ unfriend people, etc. If you want an application with this capability, be sure to hire a reputable developer to create a social network app for you. This way, you can give your app’s users more freedom to tweak their account settings to match their preferences.

“Follow” or “Friend” Functions

An excellent social media application should allow its users to connect. For this reason, you have to provide a feature that enables users to befriend and follow others. Contrary to what you might think, this capability is useful to applications even if they are not meant for socializing. 

Music applications such as SoundCloud and Spotify enable their users to befriend and follow others. In turn, this allows them to share tracks as well as know what tunes their connections are enjoying. 

When your social media application users can make friends and follow each other, they will become more attached to it. As such, they will want to keep using your app over and over. Moreover, by facilitating connections on your application, you get to understand your users better by examining the people they interact with and how they are familiar with each other. After that, you can incorporate a “suggest” functionality that allows your users to make more friends or followers based on their existing networks. 

News Feed

With a newsfeed, you will keep all of your users engaged. See, given that a majority of social media application users want to always be in the know, they will not mind an opportunity to access any content shared by their friends or followers. 

In line with that, if you have an application that helps users with exercise or dieting, you can integrate a news feed feature. It will enable your users to share their milestones, make relevant inquiries, and offer suitable recommendations. By doing this, you will make using your app more of a fun activity than simply watching weight. 

Push Notifications

Some applications perform way better when compared to others since they have features that bring the users back when being closed. These features are what we refer to as push notifications. By integrating them into your social media application, you can reach out to your audience more frequently and also increase retention. 

With this option, you can send notifications to users whenever there are new deals, sales, and so forth. This way, you will prompt your users to open your application. You can also send push notifications when a follower or friend responds to what a user did on the application. Consequently, this will make them either comment or like the response. 

Another thing you can do with push notifications is to remind your users to share your application with their friends or family. This way, you can help your business grow organically. 

Final Words

For success in social media application development, there is a need to pay attention to the features that keep users engaged. You have to conduct exhaustive research to identify the functionalities that most people like across various applications. In this case, it is particularly important to focus on your niche to avoid creating apps that do not appeal to your target demographic. 

To sum it up, the features covered in this article will go a long way in helping you develop the ideal social media application. It is understandable since most of the best-performing applications on the market today have these characteristics in common. So, the next time you want to create an app, or in case you already have one, you should consider integrating these features.