Category: business coach

3 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Converting

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Building a great website is the first step toward success in the world of online retail. You need a slick website that is going to attract plenty of customers, but even if you manage that, you aren’t guaranteed success just yet. Getting people to come to the website is the first challenge but that’s only half the story. You also need to convince them to buy something while they’re there. This is the most common problem that new online businesses have. They’re getting plenty of visitors but they aren’t converting them into customers. In some cases, it might just be that your product isn’t good enough or you haven’t priced it properly. A bit of market research will tell you if that’s the case. If you’ve had a good response to the product and people think that it’s priced fairly, but you still aren’t making any sales, you could be making one of these other mistakes on your website.

Slow Loading Times

How long are you willing to wait for a website to load before you give up and look elsewhere? I bet it’s no more than a couple of seconds and most people would agree with you. That’s why a slow loading website is going to kill any potential sales immediately. There are quite a few different reasons for a slow loading website but usually, it’s to do with the hosting service that you’re using. Different websites have different needs which is why you should be using a hosting service that’s specifically aimed at businesses. Look at these business hosting packages and see which one works best for you. As well as loading times, you also need to find a service that offers good support, preferably with a live chat option. That way, if there is a problem with the site, you can get it sorted and get things up and running again quickly before you lose too many potential sales.

Not Using An Email List

Most people don’t buy the first time they go to your site. They’ll have a browse through your products and then go away and think about it for a while before coming back. The problem is, people often forget all about it and never come back to make a purchase, so you just need to give them a little reminder. Getting people to sign up to an email list and then sending them good marketing emails to encourage them to come back is one of the best ways to increase your online sales.

Annoying Checkout Process

A bad checkout page on a website is like the online equivalent of a huge queue in a store. A lot of people are going to change their minds and not bother. If they have to fill out loads of information and go through multiple pages, you’re just giving them more time to decide that they don’t want to make a purchase after all. That’s why you’ve got to make it as easy as possible for them.

Make these 3 simple changes to your site and you should see a big increase in sales in no time.

Daysleeper Or Night Owl…Can You Run A 24/7 Business From Home?

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When you are running a business from the comfort of your home office, the temptation can be to put 110% into your business 110% of the time. And while the demand for 24/7 services is very much part and parcel of the world we live in, is it realistic for you to take on this mammoth task when it’s just you?

How Can You Cope?

The fact is if you are running a business where you have contact with customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week and you fully intend to embody this approach, it’s impossible for you to keep up this pretense. While at the very beginning, you can feel stretched to your limits, once the business gains traction, you can begin to outsource certain tasks to freelancers. This is a very precarious path, especially if you are looking to make the most of talent across the world to communicate your multicultural approach to customer service. Because you may be lacking in finances, you have to make the most of the talent you can afford, such as via freelancer websites. While this approach can be effective, you need to be aware, especially when communicating yourself, that the language barrier doesn’t cause issues not just in relation to the people who hire, but the customers also. To make things a bit smoother, you may want to utilize a translation service. Many organizations, such as Lighthouse Translations, can work with you to communicate your tone of voice that doesn’t make it seem like your work has been fed into google translate! Although this can be a very tempting option in which to cut corners, you are going to, very likely, come across as amateurish.

Why Organization Is The Key

It is a very difficult thing to get right, because you are, in essence, spreading yourself over so many different time zones. If you are at the point where it’s just you, you have to have your processes as tightly wound as possible. Make the most of calendar programs, but also, when it comes to the marketing, there are so many social media tools that could help to keep your business advertising ticking over. Hootsuite is one of the most common examples. Rest assured, if you don’t have everything nailed down with spikes, you won’t keep on top of everything.

You Have To Set A Limit

And if you are making the most of freelancers, and outsourcing certain processes to make life easier for you, but you still find you are struggling with the weight of the work, it’s time to set a limit, for the benefit of your frame of mind. It’s unhealthy to answer emails at 3 in the morning, no matter how much time you think you’ll save yourself in the day. By setting yourself a strict working regime you can get that work-life balance down.

Make no bones about it, a 24/7 business requires a 24/7 mindset. And it’s impossible for you to think that you can do it all by yourself. No matter how little you have in the way of finances, you still need to make the most of the right talent, so your business can spread itself across different time zones.

Could You Achieve More At Work?

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If you want to get ahead, or if you are just keen to enjoy your work day more, then you will probably find that you are keen to try and achieve more at work during the working day. The truth is that everyone wants to do this, and yet it can seem so difficult to actually be able to get it right so many people struggle to achieve as much as they would like at work, for whatever reason, and when this happens it only leads to further disappointment and dismay. In this post, we are going to discuss some of the best ways in which you need to try and achieve more in your work, no matter what you might currently be doing or doing wrong. As long as you take care of the following, you’ll get more done and find yourself in a much better position on the whole.

Set Goals

Something that is always going to help anyone is the process of actively setting goals and then meeting them. When you have goals aligned, it means that you are much more likely to know where you are headed, and it is that sense of direction which often drives people on most of all. Therefore, if you don’t currently have any goals in order, you will want to make sure that you think of some. They should be time-based, clearly defined when you know they are going to be completed, and you should be able to ensure that they are something you can achieve while still being challenging. Make sure of this, and you will find it really helps you to get much more done every day without fail.

Improve Operations

It’s not just about you, however – it’s also about the culture around you, and if the working culture around you is not set up as best as possible then this is going to affect your own productivity levels. If you are in a position to try and change things within your company, then you should absolutely consider doing something to try and improve the general operational stance that the business takes. It might be that you feel it is time for that six sigma green belt to come into play. Or maybe you are hoping for processes to be streamlined so that everyone can get more done. In either case, make sure to make your voice heard and think about getting it changed as soon as you can.

Avoid Distractions

It can often be hard to make sure that you are completely avoiding distractions, but you will need to try and focus on it as best as you can if you are to get more done, so it’s worth looking into. There are a huge number of types of distractions which can crop up in any workplace. And the beast high is to note them and when they arise so that you can more easily do away with them. If you approach it in this way, you will find that you create more time in which you can get much more done – and it won’t take that long to do this at all.

Making Your Business Into Something More

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Growth is the continuous objective for any business. You can’t stand still in such a competitive industry. If you want to succeed then constant reinvention is necessary. That doesn’t mean you need to let go of everything, of course; customers expect some sort of consistency in terms of your branding and the products you release. However, you do still need to find new ways to stay ahead of the competition. You need to find new gaps in the market so that you can continue to climb the ranks in your industry. If you want to make your business into something more then here are a few ideas.

Be more efficient.

Take a look at your workplace. You might have hired some professional people, but it’s not enough for them to be highly skilled at what they do. Every competing business in your industry can most likely say the same thing about their workforce. How are you going to stand out? Well, you have to push your employees to be more productive and efficient than the competition. You need to incentivize your workers to achieve more. Show them that you’ll recognize their efforts if they go the extra mile.

For example, an early finish to the work day or a bonus at the end of the week could really give your members of staff a reason to improve their work ethic. They’ll be much more productive and efficient if they know that they’ll be praised and rewarded for doing so. You could also help their productivity levels by looking into a virtual assistant to free up some of their time. You should check out the cheapest 1300 numbers provider for help in that regard. If your employees don’t have to worry about administrative work then it’ll really help your business’ overall efficiency and productivity levels.

Invest.

A capital investment strategy might be a scary thing, but your business’ failure to grow would be scarier. You might be hesitant to eat into your profit margins and start spending that money, but the cliché is true: you have to spend money to make money. You need to invest in bigger premises, more workers, and better resources if you want your business to grow into something more. As mentioned in the introduction, you can’t stand still if you want to make it in the business world. Start making a plan for a portion of your profits on a monthly basis. Take a look at areas of the business that could use improvement. You could even look at ways to save money (e.g. reducing paper usage and energy consumption) so as to have more available money to invest. You just have to make sure that you manage margin erosion; if you’re spending money in the wrong places then you need to fix that. In turn, you’ll have more available money for investments that will expand your company.

Impress clients.

Finally, the best way to make your business into something more is to leave a lasting impression on clients. You’re trying to build your brand reputation, at the end of the day, so you need to make an impact on people. Rather than simply delivering a high-quality of product or service to a customer, think of ways to really surprise them. An email thanking them for choosing your business is a good place to start. You could go one step further by giving them a discount code so that they return to your business again. Show clients that you value them, and they’ll value your business, in return.

How To Increase Your Manufacturing Profit Margins

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If you’re in the manufacturing game, then you’ll already be aware that it’s an expensive business to be in. The profit margins aren’t quite as high as you’d like them to be, and it can feel like you’re putting in a lot of effort for not that much reward. But maybe it doesn’t have to be this way. Like in every other business, it’s possible to increase your profit margins in a number of ways, and once these have all been combined, you might find that they’ve made a noticeable difference to your bottom line. Below, we take a look at a few handy changes you can make to boost your operations and ultimately earn more money.

Work Out an Efficient Routine

You can get caught into a way of doing things, which sticks just because you’re used to it. However, it’s good practice to ask yourself whether you’re working this way because it’s the best, most effective way of working…or you’re doing it because this is how its always been done. Take a look at your operations, or, if you don’t feel too informed about what you should be looking for, gave an outside expert do it. You might be making a simple mistake and not even know it!

And Update Your Equipment

Your equipment is key to your success. If you’re using old machines which take twice as long to do things as the newer machines, then it doesn’t take a rocket science to see that this isn’t good for business! Keep your equipment well-serviced, and then, when it’s obvious they’re beginning to break down, replace them altogether. Also, have a think about the useful equipment that you don’t currently possess. Things like cost-effective roller conveyor systems can make the whole factory process much smoother and save a lot of time, for example. If you have the best equipment, you’ll find it easier to work efficiently. Simple!

Work With Your Employees

You’re just pulling the strings. It’s the workers on the shop floor who are doing the work. So work with them, first by making sure that they have all the training and support they need to do their job well. Second, by asking for feedback. What do they think slows down their work? What do they need to work at their best? Ultimately, if your employees can work well, then your company will benefit.

Negotiate With Suppliers

You’re not going to be working alone at your factory. You’ll have supplies and partners that you work with. But are you getting the best deal possible from them? It’s not always wise to stay loyal to companies you work with! Don’t be afraid to walk away if you’re not getting the best deal from them!

Crunch Them Numbers

And finally, go over those numbers, again and again. It’s nearly always possible to save money without compromising the quality of your work or the happiness of your workers. Have an eagle eye, and make small savings wherever you can.

The Real Reasons Why Your Social Media Marketing Isn’t Working

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In the early days of social media, it was supposed to be a new dawn for online marketers. You could attract an audience of people interested in your industry and business – and could do so without spending a dime.

However, as we all know, the social media of today is not the same as the one we were introduced yesterday. And if you are struggling to make any headway, there are probably a few common mistakes you are making.

In this guide, we’re going to go through a few of the things you might be doing that are causing you problems, and offer simple tips that you need to start employing with social media to get yourself back on track. Read on to find out more…

No strategy

It’s amazing how many businesses think that posting randomly about irrelevant things will work in any way, shape or form. It’s vital that you have a strategy in place if you want any success. Establish what you want – is it to attract more sales, or to build a community? Then, create goals for how you might achieve that, and keep those goals in mind when you plan out a strategy. Use analytics to track your success and improve your failures – there is a science to this, so don’t expect to achieve your goals if you are firing off posts at will.

Expecting a free audience

The beauty of social media in the early days was that you could build an audience for free. Now, however, it is just like any other advertising platform in that you need actually to pay money to achieve any kind of success. Research suggests that fewer than 1 percent of your audience will see your unpaid posts, so learning how to use Facebook and Twitter ads is essential.

Failing to take advantage

What matters most to your business? Likes, shares, or cold hard cash? So many companies get sucked into the social media popularity contests, even though it delivers very much at all in the way of returns. Your best bet is to learn all about Clickfunnels and other funnel programs to set up your ads correctly, attract the right kind of people, and turn those likes and shares into visitors to your website, where you can make actual sales. It’s a lot of money to leave on the table, so ensure you have your priorities straight.

The ego trip

Are you boring your customers to death with constant posts about you and your business? We hate to break it to you but other than your mom and a few close friends, nobody cares. Instead, use Pareto’s 80:20 rule with posting. Only a fifth of your posts should be promotional in any way. The rest? Make them entertaining, educational, and helpful. Feel free to highlight the accomplishments of people in your business and industry, too.

OK, so there you have it. These common issues are visible everywhere on social media, and it shouldn’t take too much to start making a difference, stand out from the crowd, and start getting better results.  

Improve Oversight and Transparency for Your Business

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Being able to oversee what goes on in your company is essential if you want to be an effective business person. It’s important that you know what’s going on at all times, and that you aren’t kept in the dark. You don’t want to have sections of your business where you’re not sure what’s been going on lately. You should be on top of all the numbers, the productivity levels and other information that it’s crucial for you to know. Of course, there are some insignificant things that are unlikely to matter to the big boss. However, overall, greater transparency and better oversight are better for your business.

Get Better Understanding of Important Regulations

If you want to improve the way that you oversee your business, you should make sure that you understand any important regulations. Having to comply with regulations can be annoying for a business owner, but most can still recognize that it often benefits them. For example, regulations related to safety will protect their employees and by extension protect them from any legal trouble. By making sure that you understand any regulations you have to follow, you can be sure that you’re implementing them correctly and monitoring everything well too.

Use the Right Software

There’s almost no situation where finding the right software won’t help you improve your business. If you want to increase oversight and transparency for your company, there are plenty of tools that could help you out. You can find software that helps you manage your finances better or monitor risk management. You can improve IT too, with software designed to help you easily monitor your entire network. You can automatically map out your network and keep an eye on what’s up and what’s down, enabling your IT staff to fix problems faster. Before implementing new software, make sure you look at the pros and cons of introducing a new tool.

Institute Regular Checks and Reviews

Putting rules and regulations in place is essential for your business, but it’s pointless if you don’t check that they’re being followed. Even when everyone is trying their best to get their job done correctly, there can still be mistakes. That’s why it’s important to carry out regular checks and reviews of things like your finances. Mistakes can occur at any time, and people are better at spotting other people’s mistakes than they are at noticing their own. Make sure that you regularly review different departments to check results and monitor improvements.

Encourage Openness

Encouraging people at your company to be open with sharing their thoughts and opinions can make everything more transparent and give you better oversight. Your employees should feel like they’re able to raise an issue that they’re concerned about or offer an idea on how they think things should be done better. You might even extend this to your customers, building a community that helps to give you a better idea of how your business is viewed by the public.

Increase oversight and transparency in your business by being as involved as possible. Encourage others to do their part too.

How To Make Sure Your Marketing Emails Don’t End Up in The Spam Folder

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Email marketing is known as being one of the most essential ways to communicate with customers today, in fact having a professional email address and automated backend email system is one of the most effective ways to make your home business appear more professional.
Yet, despite your best efforts, it can be notoriously difficult to get through to customers using email marketing, as often commercial emails end up in their spam folder due to ever sophisticated spam filters being put in place by all email providers.
With the application of a few simple yet effective business strategies you are able to find legitimate and ethical ways to mitigate the risk of your emails ending up in a spam filter, for example, email validation can vastly increase the amount of emails that make it through to the intended recipient and don’t get caught in spam filters.
In this article we’re going to look at four ways to do just that.
1. Avoid Purchased Lists
Purchase lists, as you might already know, are when people buy a list of target leads for a ludicrously small amount of money that is testament to the low value these lists provide.  For instance, you will often see adverts for these on social media, or perhaps, spammers will email you via your website email – which they get from looking into your domain ownership details.
Essentially, you want to avoid purchase lists at all costs as they will be full of email addresses which either do no exist or they will be sent to people who will immediately unsubscribe; demonstrating to the email provider that you are sending unsolicited emails that will put you on a blacklist.
2. Use A Reliable ESP
Email Service Providers (ESP) tend to use the sender’s IP address to evaluate their reputation in terms of trustworthiness, akin to that of a credit score.
3. Consider Your “From” Field
You need to avoid using email addresses that seem suspicious, for instance noreply@domain.com and opt for more trustworthy email addresses that feature words like contact@ and support@ or even newsletter@ rather than noreply, or much worse would be a combination of random letters and numbers.
The name will asser the fact it’s a trustworthy and legitimate account that is sending the emails.  Yahoo! Mail seem to pay particular attention to who has sent the email, and as many consumers use these addresses, it’s imperative you send your email from an email address that sounds credible rather than suspicious.
4. Stay In Touch!
Of course, you don’t want to bombard people with regular emails, to the point they start unsubscribing, but sending emails every couple of months, for instance, can be just as detrimental as sending daily emails.
The reason behind this is that your subscribers might fail to recognize who you are and therefore delete your message – thus it’s better to maintain a steady flow of regular emails to your subscribers rather than sending out emails that are few and far between.

Are You Getting In The Way Of Your Own Business Growth?

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There’s a solid argument for keeping your small business small. It makes the day to day operation of your enterprise more manageable, it affords you greater oversight over quality control, it invariably allows you to provide a more intimate level of customer service and enables you to spend more time doing what you love and what you’re great at. In today’s fast paced and ever changing business landscape, however, the ambitious entrepreneur may well have growth on their mind. After all, a small business means small profits, small profits mean small wages and small wages mean stunted entrepreneurial progression. But if you have your sights set on growth there may be one significant obstacle getting in the way of it…

You!

As passionate as you may be, as much as you may care deeply about your every employee and every customer, and as dedicated, determined and resourceful as you are, it’s entirely possible for a well meaning entrepreneur to impede their own business’ growth. As yourself some of these searching questions to see if you’re really the one getting in the way of your business’ growth…

Are you trying to run before you can walk?

Does your reach exceed your grasp? Are you trying to grow your business without the proper infrastructure? Are you investing a surge of effort, time and capital into marketing to draw in new customers when you can barely keep up with the ones that you have? If you don’t keep a close eye on your resource allocation and cash flow management your business may end up tripping over its own feet. In order to facilitate sustainable growth you have to be able to walk before you can run.

Is it your way or the highway?

Your passion, determination, single mindedness and drive are all part of what makes you a great entrepreneur… But even you have your limits. While your business is, and should be, an extension of you, built around the values and ideals that matter to you, when it’s either your way or the highway, you run the risk of stagnation. You recruited your employees for their skills, intelligence and savvy and in some cases they may be better placed than you to identify areas for change and improvement within your enterprise. If you don’t give them an open forum in which to air their ideas, they will feel less empowered and your business may suffer.

Do you eschew outsourced assistance?

When you have established a way of operating that works for you, it can lead you to become resistant to outside perspectives, but this may also be detrimental to your business. Moreover, it can cause you to divert a great deal of capital, time effort and resources into functions that may be better fulfilled elsewhere. Historically, outsourcing to providers of Managed IT Services, HR service providers and marketing agencies has been beneficial to small businesses. It has allowed them to find custom solutions that are entirely scalable to their growth ensuring that there is no waste in capital or resources. 

Finally… Do you get skittish when it comes to capital investments?

It’s only natural for entrepreneurs to keep a close eye on their bottom line and when they have expansion in mind, it’s understandable that they might be wary of margin erosion. However, this cannot make them resistant to capital investments like new equipment, software and even premises. It may take a while for them to start paying for themselves but if you give them time they will prove a vital part of your operation’s growth.

How To Make Your Work From Home Business More Professional

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Running a business from home is a luxury that many are taking to because of the convenience of the job. Being able to work your own hours and at your own pace is something that many people long for, especially if you have other commitments in your life like young children or elderly parents to care for. The only problem with running a business from home is that you can struggle to come across as a legitimate and professional business. However, there are some great ways to make sure that this is no longer a problem. Check it out:

Create a kick ass website

One thing that all great and successful businesses have in common is a website that shows how professional they really are. Invest in a web design company that can create the perfect look for your website. Remember to make it so that your website is easy to navigate around. Having a website that’s too complicated will turn potential customers away and straight towards your nearest competitor. Making sure that your contact details are easily found is also essential so that your interested clients can quickly and easily get in touch if they want your services. Don’t forget to include a price list so people know what they are letting themselves in for!

Have a logo designed

A mistake that many people who run their business from home make is not having a logo for their business made. Having a logo defines your business and imprints your name into people’s minds. Come up with a clean and simple logo design for your business so that you can begin showing it off on social media, your website, and also any paper documents that you send out to clients. Remember to make sure that the colours match the theme of your website, or vice versa with your website matching the colours of your logo.

Invest in a virtual office

One of the biggest problems of running a business from home is having to put your address out there for everyone to see. For obvious reasons, this can lead to trouble further down the line. It also doesn’t look very professional. Rather than giving yourself the hassle of having a disgruntled customer turning up at your door, invest in a virtual office. This will give you a permanent business address for your post and phone calls, and all will be forwarded to your home address. Privacy for you and your home, and professionalism for your business!

Have business cards made

Finally, it’s likely that you will have events to attend at some point during your business life. Whether it’s a networking event or you’re trying to promote your business, having business cards handy to give out will help you grow your business no end. They also add a sense of professionalism and trust; meaning more clients for your business!

Apply these tips to your home business and see the difference it makes becoming more professional!