Blog Category: business

What level of investment is required for serious 2nd time entrepreneurs who understand that you need to invest in web technology?

03 October 2012

Technology has helped businesses reach the far corners of the world at the press of a few buttons. It has opened up global markets for every company that has a website and with consumers now having access to the Internet from even the smallest of devices this means that investment in web technology is of paramount importance to companies who wish to expand even further in the future.

Web technology is the way forward and businesses today cannot afford to not invest in the latest software that is available to them. It enables them to control how their businesses are perceived by global consumers. It is not enough to just sit back on one’s laurels and expect a website to work for you, no matter how smart it looks. There are tools available today which enhance how you analyse the data that is gathered through the latest software. The advantage is that you can integrate the software into an existing IT system.

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What's the Difference Between Hosted Exchange and POP3?

01 October 2012

This is a question asked frequently by small companies who are struggling to find an efficient way to share data and manage their increasing volumes of communications. Essentially the difference is having your email all stored on a central server and distributed from there, or being individually received by each mailbox from external sources.

An important distinction should be made: POP3 (and IMAP) is an email protocol that handles how emails are sent and received. Exchange (for the purposes of this article we will be referring to Microsoft Exchange) is a server platform that allows mail processing using any protocol.

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Blogging for Business: Is this important?

03 September 2012

Long before social media took the world by storm, blogging was all the rage. Setting up a blog and sharing your thoughts with the world was such a trend that it only took a few months before advertising played a huge role in the way people handled their blogging. It became a legitimate business opportunity, and still is.

Does your business really need a blog to succeed? Well, your success isn’t contingent upon having a blog, but there are many benefits you can experience by taking the time to create one.

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Real online business is about delivering true value, not regurgitated valueless spam

20 June 2012

When developing your website and your overall business presence online, there are really only two main pathways you can travel. The first, and the most obvious, is the path most taken. This is the path full off of those little back alleys and dirt roads where everything is sloppy and bumpy. The dust is constantly spiraling through the air because everyone’s rushing down it, thinking they’ll get to their destination quicker. The second path, the clean, smooth, longer way around, is the path of professionalism. In short, the latter path is the path you travel to set up a real business.

Take a break from this article for 30 seconds and go Google a weight-loss product. Look for the top 5 results of products from non-national brands. You will find in the top 5 results at least 2 different products that are exactly the same, and you will find at least 3 websites that are so poorly constructed, using language that is so overused, that you would be surprised how they could even sell.

Well, don’t worry. If you do that search again in another month, you will find different results. Their money will run out and their business will fizzle out. Garbage naturally settles to the bottom. This is exactly why you need to recognize a real online business and avoid using the same old drivel to attempt to sell your brand and your products.

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Do you have a digital strategy that works?

11 May 2012

Most of what you’re going to find in business deals directly with strategizing. This is really a phase of business that never ends. You will strategize during the conceptual phase of your business. You will again strategize when launching your business. You strategize to traffic, to leverage your business, to get more leads and customers. You strategize for the long-term success of your brand. In fact, there is not one single aspect of your business that doesn’t correlate directly to some strategy. To that end, you need to make sure you have the proper strategies in place, like a digital strategy.

A digital strategy is imperative for any online business. What is a digital strategy? In the context of the Internet in 2012—the social context of networking—a digital strategy is ultimately an approach that will guide your business from conception to launch and thereafter, harnessing the power of the Internet and enabling you to operate a fluent, successful business via this medium.

Now, for the big question: Do you have a working digital strategy? If you’re planning on launching an online business, then it’s obvious that you do have a digital strategy, even if you call it by another name. But whether or not it’s a working strategy is another thing entirely. Let’s look at some key tips to implement to ensure that your digital strategy is successful.

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A few stories to illustrate the power of blogging

27 February 2012

We all know that blogging to promote your business is a good idea, but you’ve also probably had an experience with putting tons of energy into a blog and then seeing the traffic languishing at 40 visitors a day. This article isn’t about making a success of a blog that exists for its own sake - a monetized entertainment or informational blog that is designed to be its own source of income.

This is about a few examples of how using a blog can save your business, be it web-based or brick-and-mortar.

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Strategic Planning - A Small Business Necessity

31 October 2011

Everything you do in business is going to require some level of planning. From first putting together your initial business plans to targeting customers in hopes of making your first sale, the process is all about planning and following through. For small businesses in particular, strategic planning is an incredibly important aspect that should never be overlooked.

Strategic planning is more than a mere plan, to put it lightly. Entailing a business's overall strategy, defining its purpose, exploring its direction, and allocating resources in order to follow the strategy, strategic planning can become a step-by-step guide to help get a small business off the ground and transform it into a competitive player in any market.

Why is strategic planning so important for a small business? A lot of it has to do with the fact that small businesses are usually opened and controlled by average people with little business experience, looking to follow their dreams. For this reason, formulating a thorough strategy beforehand can pay off in a major way.

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How to create a successful survey for your business

13 May 2011

If you need to know more about customer feedback, learn more about your target audience or PR coverage, the best way of doing this is to conduct a survey. Sounds easy enough but it can be a struggle to get started.

There are companies who specialise in this field and they will take all the strain out of doing it oneself. They are experts, they know how to word a survey in order to get the desired results.

Should the budget not stretch to employing one such company then it is up to the individual to get a survey up and running. To do this well there has to be a clear objective in sight. Staying focused will mean that the results will be useful. Every bit of information has to put across to the person filling out the survey in a clear and interesting way with as little technical jargon as possible.

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Give Customers What They Want

26 January 2011

Every business from plumbers to shoe shops and accountants to undertakers has at the core of their business the need to give customer satisfaction.

To be able to give customers what they want we must first understand what the customer thinks is important. This can be quality of products, quality of service or simply price. The key to finding out what you're potential and existing customers want is through customer data, past purchases, age groups, method of enquiry and many other factors.

Obtaining data regarding potential customers and existing customers have some similarities including customer and market analysis. Analysing the customer data you have already through sales records will provide valuable information of your most popular product or service and areas in need of improvement allowing you to implement marketing strategies to new and existing customers.

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Thinking in Abundance is Vital to Long Term Growth

19 November 2010

If you're a regular person with regular feelings and emotions, you're probably confused when you read about all the different ways of thinking out there as they relate to business and your day-to-day life in general. There's assertive thinking, positive visualization, and even something called abundance thinking. How can your brain process all these patterns?

The idea in these quasi-systems is to develop a way of thinking that helps to guide you through decisions. Essentially, you're looking to change your psyche and to act automatically using these many tools. However, that's a hard thing to do. Its not a great idea to partition your brain, and its quite possible that it could be impossible to do so anyway.

Luckily, abundance thinking isn't like a program in its nature and, if you're serious about wanting to achieve long-term growth in your business, thinking in abundance even if you don't realize you're doing so is probably the only way its going to happen.

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The Importance of Developing a Successful Mindset

17 November 2010

How you feel about your role in the business world and the type of business you operate in general has as much to do with your success as the type of product you sell and the type of advertising you do. Think about it: if you don't believe you can achieve success, then every effort you put forth is going to be lackluster.

This is why such a big deal is made about developing a successful mindset before you attempt to tackle anything in the business world. Can you achieve success without believing you can? Well, this isn't an easily quantifiable thing, but common perception says no because there have never been any successful people who've held themselves or their businesses in low esteem.

Needless to say, developing the proverbial successful mindset is one of the most important goals you should set in business and for your life in general. That can do attitude can help you through many tough spots in business and also propel you to success by eliminating the negative feelings of certain decisions.

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How is the VAT Increase Planned for Jan 2011 Going to Affect Your New Business?

05 November 2010

"Tough luck," is basically what Chancellor George Osborne said when the new Value Added Tax (VAT) increase was announced. Come January 4, 2001, the VAT will reach 20% and undoubtedly change the way people do business, even if its only forcing people to pay more attention to their expenses.

The implications for start-up businesses might be a little harsher, however. Its important in any case to examine what this increase means to business and, more importantly, customers.

First up with the possible implications of this increase, lets take a look at how customers might behave due to the new 20% measure going into effect.

Realistically, a 20% increase means that products once costing 117.50 will now cost 120. So, its not that much of a rise when you put it in terms like that. Even still, there's always the possibility that businesses are trending their prices up by a few percentage points to cover their expenses, and that could lead to an even higher increase.

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Whatever Happened to Amway?

22 October 2010

It wasn't long ago that Amway was one of the bigger names around, with nearly everyone at least knowing of the company's name even if they didn't know exactly what they were about. Well, if you haven't heard the name in a while, that's probably due to the fact Amway now goes primarily by Quixtar one of three sister companies launched under Alticor.

Amway is the largest direct-selling company in the world by far. The reason for their immense popularity in this generation is that they use network marketing to sell a wide range of products, including: health and beauty, home care, electronics, jewelry, water/air purifiers, insurance, dietary supplements, and much more.

Forbes ranks Amway as one of the worlds largest and most successful companies. They pull in around 8.2 billion USD annually, setting Amway leaps and bounds above other similar network-marketing companies.

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A Review of the Book The E-Myth, by Michael Gerber

22 October 2010

A lot of people in the online business world constantly seek out advice from experts about how to proceed and what to watch out for. When a reputable expert writes a book about Internet business, you better believe that it sells a lot of copies and turns a lot of heads.

One such book is The E-Myth, written by renowned business consulting guru Michael Gerber. What Michael does in his book isn't very different in terms of his approach. Gerber lends his observations and expert advice in an easy-to-read format that helps to guide readers in the business world

What sets his book apart is the actual tone and the cold, hard truth that most of what people think to be a business is really just a job. This distinction is shocking to some individuals who've worked hard to create a business but find they have to keep working at it. Thus, their business isn't a business at all, but really a job they've created.

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