There comes a time when every business needs to take a good hard look at the way they are running things. We all know how easy it can be to put this off. We get used to how things are and how they have always been, and we tell ourselves that the hassle of switching things up is probably not worth the benefits of doing so. It can also be hard to silence the voice that says that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Over the last two years, so much of what we have been doing as business owners has boiled down to rolling with the punches. We have been forced to find solutions almost out of thin air. Faced with challenges that we never could have predicted; we knew that the only option was to keep moving forward. Right now, there are absolutely many more challenges on the horizon. We have seen that a new wave could bring a huge amount of uncertainty. We know that Brexit is going to continue hammering businesses with new and unexpected challenges. And we know that there are rising energy costs and rising tax costs coming. If you know that some of your structures or processes are weighing you down, then you do not have any time to waste. Here are just a few upgrades that every business should be making this year.

Upgrade Your Security

How we wish that this particular issue was on the decline, but the experts have predicted that we can expect to see much more in the way of cybercrime headlines in the months ahead. Cybercriminals are always going to find new and inventive ways to access business’ data and finances, and it is your responsibility to make sure that you are taking every available step to stop them. Governments may be making bold pronouncements about how they are going to crack down on ransomware and so forth but in the meantime, you need to take a good long look at your cybersecurity. If you have been relying on free software and telling your staff not to open suspicious emails, then talk to an IT company about how you can improve your security measures.

Stop Putting Up With Poor Service

We are still close enough to the start of a new year to make some resolutions and putting up with software that does not live up to your expectations is a worthwhile one to commit to. Back in March and April 2020, we were all reeling from what was happening and we were all looking for the quickest possible solution. If it worked well enough, then it was good enough for the moment and allowed us to move on to the next fire to put out.

Now, we are all looking for how we can grow, not just get through the week, and there is no excuse for not looking for better options. Take payroll software, for example. If your payroll software provider is not offering the kind of service and the kind of effective software that you expect, then you will be facing some extremely unhappy employees. We all know how important staff satisfaction and morale is right now as the Great Resignation continues, and this is the kind of housekeeping duty that cannot be overlooked. This guide to switching your payroll provider from PayCaptain outlines several of the key reasons why you should be thinking of making a change. PayCaptain’s streamlined service makes things significantly easier for both employers and employees.

Upgrade Your Website

It can be very easy to assume that our websites are working well enough. When we first put them together, we work as hard as we can to make sure that they are up to the highest possible standard. We make sure that they are easy to navigate, that they are aesthetically pleasing, and that they are loaded with content that is SEO friendly and which demonstrates our experience and expertise. However, once that process is done, we often move on to other issues and leave it be.

We all saw how many businesses were forced to rethink their entire online strategy over the last couple of years, and as a result invested a lot of money and resources into their web presence. It is also important to remember that the technology and the platforms are constantly updating, and that Google’s algorithm is always changing too. If it has been a year or two since you last gave your website an overhaul, this needs to be near the top of your to do list. Update your content to address current issues and concerns that your target audience may have. Look at your customer data to see if there is more, or less, that you should be doing in key areas. Think about how you can use AI technology to improve your customer service and give yourself a better idea of what is working.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Upgrades That Every Business Should Be Making In 2022 appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Article marketing is one of the most valuable tactics used in content marketing strategies. First of all, it allows you to improve your SEO significantly and gain more organic traffic to your website. In addition, providing online users with informative yet engaging content will help you build credibility and online visibility.

Furthermore, a multi-channel approach to article marketing enables you to drive traffic not only from search engines but also via social media, other blogs, email marketing, or paid campaigns. As a result, article marketing can be a versatile tool for ensuring your company’s growth and should be a significant factor in your communications strategy.

In this article, you will find the essential information about how this area of content marketing works, along with four proven article marketing tactics to generate more traffic to your website. Continue reading to ensure you’ll get the most out of your marketing strategy.

What Is Article Marketing?

Article marketing is a form of content marketing. It is one of the most effective strategies for attracting more visitors to your website through search engines. Article marketing is based on creating, promoting, and distributing content that is valuable to an online audience. The primary purpose of article marketing is to provide informative, engaging, and valuable content to attract users’ attention.

Different Types of Article Marketing Campaigns

There are several types of article marketing campaigns that are worth mentioning. You can use them separately or in combination, depending on your goals. Here are the most common types:

• Guest posting – this type of campaign allows you to submit articles to other blogs and websites. This, in turn, will increase your visibility and bring you new readers.
• Repurposing – with this tactic, you write one article and then publish it multiple times on various platforms (social media, email newsletters, etc.). It is advantageous when you want to target different audiences with the same content.
• Infographics – you can easily create an infographic with the help of a software program or online tool. It is a popular type of content that you can share on your social media accounts, email newsletters, and websites.
• Forums and blog comments – when you post in forums or leave comments on other blogs, you can include links to your website or products. Doing this will increase your organic traffic and boost your online visibility.
• Curation – this tactic involves sharing high-quality, relevant content that is published by others across various platforms. You can use this approach to gain more exposure, increase your credibility, and boost your SEO.

How Does Article Marketing Work?

There are several reasons why article marketing is so effective. Firstly, it is easy to set up. Secondly, it is relatively inexpensive. With this approach, you can quickly deliver great content to potential customers, which, in turn, may lead to new customers and increased sales.

To start with article marketing, you need to choose a topic. Then, create a unique piece of content around it. Next, you have to promote the article via email newsletters, social media channels, other blogs, and other platforms.

Finally, you need to establish links to the original article and the content source (your website or blog). The links should be placed at the end of the article and clearly stated in the author’s byline.

How To Use Article Marketing To Generate More Traffic to Your Website?

By using article marketing tactics, you can improve your SEO and drive more traffic to your website. Also, you can build credibility and online visibility while building a loyal customer base.

Use Keywords in Your Content

When it comes to writing articles for your website, it is essential to include keywords in each piece of content. It may not seem like an essential step at first. However, if you want to attract more traffic through search engines, you must use keywords properly.

Find Relevant Keywords for Your Content

It is vital to find the right keywords for your content to attract more visitors through search engines. Doing so will help you improve your results on search engines (such as Google).

There are several things that you can do to find the most relevant keywords for your website. For example, you can use tools such as Google Keyword Planner to determine which keywords are used most often in searches related to your business. Also, you can carry out keyword research using Google Analytics since this tool will provide you with data on keyword searches that have already led users to your site.

Use SEO Keywords in a Proper Way

Using keywords properly may be challenging if you are not used to it. Still, it is essential to write engaging content with keywords without overdoing it. If you want your content to rank higher on search engines, then you must follow these best practices:

• write about what people are searching for,
• use simple language,
• make sure that your content is easy to read,
• don’t repeat words too many times,
• use phrases instead of single words;
• make sure that the structure of your content is easy to navigate through,
• use descriptive headings,
• keep sentences short,
• highlight important points,
• use lists wherever applicable,
• add images and videos.

These elements make content more engaging and help you increase your online visibility. They also make your content more shareable.

Optimize Your Keywords on Each Page of Your Website

When it comes to optimizing your content, it is crucial to ensure that you do not overuse keywords in your content. Nevertheless, if you want your target audience to find your website and read your articles, you need to optimize your keywords on each page and in every piece of content on your website.

Create High-Quality Content

If you want to attract more visitors to your website through SEO and article marketing campaigns, you must provide truly engaging content that will help them solve their problems. In other words, creating high-quality content is essential if you want to achieve better rankings on search engines and generate more traffic from them.

Here are some tips that you can use when writing content for your website:

• write unique content;
• include keywords in your content but avoid keyword stuffing;
• create a strong title;
• use personalized meta descriptions;
• include links in your content;
• use proper headlines;
• keep it short.

Promote Your Content on Other Websites and Blogs

Promoting your content on other blogs or websites allows you to gain more exposure and reach a wider audience. Also, if you pitch your content to influencers who have large social media followings, you will generate a lot of traffic and boost your SEO.

The main goal of promoting your articles on other websites or blogs is to get more traffic to your website and build trust among potential customers. There are several ways to promote your content:

• write guest posts and submit them to popular blogs,
• share your content on social media,
• comment on other blogs,
• use other websites as backlinks,
• use forums as another way to promote your content,
• interact with influencers who have large social media followings.

Create Great Infographics

Creating infographics is one of the most effective tactics to use in your article marketing campaigns. They are used by all kinds of businesses online because they make it easy to share content across multiple platforms. Also, they can be used as social media images or presented to potential customers via email newsletters.

Nonetheless, creating infographics alone is not enough to attract more visitors to your website. You must also promote them properly to ensure that they will be shared on popular platforms and used as social media images. Here are some tips to help you create effective infographics:

• research the topic,
• create a comprehensive outline,
• add a catchy title,
• write good headlines under each image,
• add a call-to-action.

Final Word

In conclusion, article marketing is a great way to attract more traffic to your website and boost your SEO. However, you should know that in order to use this tactic to gain results, it needs to be well-thought-out. In fact, you must follow best practices when writing content, promoting it on other sites, and using keywords.

To do all of these things, you need to have a plan from the very beginning. Therefore, you should identify your audience before writing content. After that, you can create a strategy that will help you achieve your business goals and grow your audience.

As you can see, there are many things that you should take into account when writing articles for your website. However, if you follow the tips mentioned in this article, you will write engaging, informative content that will attract visitors to your website through search engines.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post 4 Proven Article Marketing Tactics to Generate More Traffic appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Most businesses are currently well into their busiest time of the year. People are in the middle of their Christmas shopping, trying to get everything sorted before the big day. Many shops have late night opening days, online stores are offering quick and free delivery, and business is thriving. But, for many stores, this is soon to come to an abrupt halt. Once Christmas is out of the way, sales can slow, and many businesses find that their quieter period stretches out until the spring.

For a big business, this can be damaging. But for a smaller firm, it can be much worse. A quiet period that stretches to a few months can be difficult to recover from. You can find yourself forgotten, struggling to reassert yourself and facing severe financial issues going forward. Here are some ways to boost your sales during your quiet period in the New Year.

Reward Loyalty

January sales aren’t quite what they used to be. Now that so many shops and online retailers make the most of a Black Friday event, the January sales have somewhat lost their Sparkle. Not as many consumers rush out to find a New Year bargain now that most stores have been in a sale of some kind since early November.

But, this can give you another opportunity. Before Christmas, we buy for other people. In January, we shop for ourselves. So, reward your loyal customers with special offers and deals, as well as a little extra attention. Make the most of the quieter times to get to know your customers and build loyal relationships.

Focus on Your Website

Online shopping is massive. From big shops like Amazon right down to small ecommerce stores and people selling on platforms like Etsy, online sales grow every year. In January, when it’s cold and wet outdoors, people would much rather shop online that brave the high-street. So, spend some time focusing on your website. Look at your amazon seo, find ways to reach a new audience and offer online-only deals.

Celebrate Another Holiday

People like to celebrate. Especially in the early months of the year when we’re all feeling a little blue. So, find something to celebrate and make a bit of a fuss. This can be anything from your anniversary to national spaghetti day. Create even a small celebratory atmosphere, and people will be drawn in.

Look at Your Marketing Strategy

January is the perfect time to look at your marketing strategy, both in the short and long term. Look at what went well last year, and try to find ways to improve upon it. Find new places to advertise your business and think hard about where you might find your target audience. You can even make the most of a quieter period to assess your Christmas performance and start making plans for next year.

Get Outdoors

If you run a brick and mortar shop, and you are struggling to get people inside, why not go out to them? Set up a table outside, or go for a walk handing out promotional materials, badges, balloons and even hot drinks to warm them up in the cold weather. Work with a local coffee shop or another local business that is struggling to help each other if you can.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Boosting Sales in a Quiet Period appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Website capability is a big deal in the modern world. It’s where the majority of today’s businesses pull their clients from, and as such, a lot of focus is steered towards it. As a business owner, you’re always going to want to be aware of how effective your company site is: whether it’s attracting users and keeping them around, whether it’s got the space for adverts and actual content in equal measure, and whether it’s designed properly with a good bandwidth and low latency to streamline the customer experience.

So if you’re not too sure how to answer any of the above queries, this is your chance to learn the ins and outs of the capability of your website.

Does it Highlight What’s on Offer?

Your website needs to have plenty of content on it, to make sure that any visitor to your site has plenty of idea about what it is you do and what you offer, but it also needs the space to allow visitors to focus on what you have to offer. You don’t want to inundate anyone who comes across you with images and colors and information they don’t need or want to see – make sure you’ve got some white space on your side.

You’re going to need a good design, one that reads left to right and becomes less heavy as it goes down, and some blank space that allows your content to speak for itself. If you’ve got a top article you want people to pay attention to, make sure it’s at the top, and has nothing around it that allows for an intentional click away!

Can it Cope with the Traffic?

If you ever do get high streams of user traffic, what do you analytics look like afterwards? Maybe you have plenty of peak times on your charts, but how long do they last for? The thing is, even when you’ve got traffic streams on your side, you need to have a similar amount of user retention. And if your site is loading too slowly, or has too many images, embedded videos, and other design elements slowing it down, people are going to click away in seconds.

So look into the best web hosting that’s available to you in your current state. You need more bandwidth, you need a faster ping, you want more storage for an article or product archive that people can peruse at their leisure – simply put, your website records the users that click on and click off again, and that doesn’t tell you whether they liked your content or not! Give customers a better base for indulging in what you have to offer, and watch your interest go up and up.

Your website needs to be capable of all kinds of things, but most of all, it needs to stand up to the weight the modern age puts on it. Make sure you use tips like these.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.
Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post What’s Your Website Capable Of? appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

When you decide to become an entrepreneur there are a whole host of risks involved. You are inevitably going to spend a lot of time and money trying to build your business from scratch. It takes a lot of dedication to turn a simple idea into a glorious empire, but it shouldn’t stop you from chasing what you really want to do. It is always going to be tricky building a business from the beginning, but as long as you are aware of the basic bricks and mortar that make a business great, you will be just fine. From your office building to your business plan you need to focus on all of the vital details from the very beginning. In the world of business you can never be too prepared, so don’t feel silly when you are constantly forward planning and looking to the future; it will totally be worth it in the end. You will only know for real how everything works once you get stuck into it. It easy to write your plans down or talk about them with your friends, but it is a whole different ball game when you actually have to put it everything into action. If you are on the fence when it comes to creating your own business, then this should be able to make your mind up. As long as you are aware of every element that needs to be covered, you will be set to take the business world by storm.

1. A Lovely Location

It may seem like you’re looking too far ahead in the future when planning where your office building is going to be, but if you want a brand new, high quality workplace you will need to start sooner rather than later. It would be so frustrating to start the process too late and then have to wait for the work to be done. Pick your location, select your building and then seek out help from HelitechOnline.com to make sure the drainage, foundations and waterproofness are all spot on. Having a completed building that is ready to move into will speed the entire process along much more smoothly.

2. Be the Boss of Your Business Plan

In order to build a successful business from scratch you need to have a secure and solid business plan in place. You need to write down your strategies from start to end, in order to turn them into a reality. Firstly, you need to assess you overall objectives for your business idea. What are you trying to sell? Who is your target audience? Why would people want to invest their money in your services? Once you have answered some of these questions you will then be able to outline more specific strategies, in order to laser focus your idea even more.

3. Laser Focus Your Idea

To put it simply, your business won’t work out if you aren’t trying to target a specific niche. You might think that you are widening your chances of success by covering a broader audience, topic or industry, but the opposite is actually true. You will find it much easier to gain the trust of your potential clients if you focus in on a very specific area. If you can learn all about that trade inside and out then you will have a thorough and in depth insight on your line of work. This will give you a better chance of succeeded in the long run.

4. Focus on Your Finances

When starting up a business you mustn’t ever neglect your finances. Money is truly the bread and butter of every start up company; you need a good chunk of it to make a somewhat successful start to your career as an entrepreneur. Make sure you set a firm budget for your initial costs. If you start to stray away from that figure you could end up in hot water, with debts and loans that you might struggle to pay back. Small business loans can be a really good route to choose, but make sure it is an affordable amount for you and reasonable enough to pay back within your first year of trading.

5. Hire Some Help

When you are assessing every angle of your business, it is important to think about how you are going to manage the workload. Keeping track of your spending, taxes and overheads might require an external accountant. Similarly, if you aren’t an expert in the realm of marketing you might just need to hire a helping hand to get your strategies off the ground. You might think you can conquer the whole world right now, but you will need we some sort of help along the way. It is worth thinking about sooner rather than later, so that you can incorporate this into your budget.

6.Tests and Trials

Before your business goes live to the world, you might need to go through some rigorous tests and trials in order to come up with the final product. Depending on your line of work this could take weeks, months or even years to perfect, so make sure you stay patient with this. If you continue to keep trying and testing different methods you will soon find the one that works well for you and your target market.

7. Website Wonders

Creating a fully functioning and high quality website is a lot easier than it sounds. You will need to go through several different avenues in order to create the best site possible. From the colour schemes to the smooth transitions between pages, you need to make sure you are producing the finest website you possibly can. Think carefully about SEO strategies and clever techniques that you can implement in order to boost your rank on search engines. If your website takes longer than three seconds to load it is likely that your potential customer is going to close their browser during this time. Keep your logos and pictures small so that they don’t disrupt the loading times too much.

8. Marketing Matters

You could have the world’s best product or service on your hands, but if nobody knows about it, who is going to invest in it? You need to get your message out there is in the boldest, brightest way possible so that your target market can be inspired to invest in your company. Choose a marketing platform to suit your audience, whether that would be Google adwords, Facebook ads or even email marketing. All of these methods could be used effectively in conjunction with each other to achieve an jaw dropping result.

9. A Social Media Storm

Social media is one of the most popular marketing strategies out there at the moment; people can make instant sales with just one or two effective posts online. In order to use social media effectively you will need to build up your followers overtime. You can do this by posting innovative content on a regular basis, as well as engaging with your followed consistently. Blogging is also an excellent way of growing your online presence; you could rank higher on search engines and drive more traffic to your website if you post content to your blog frequently.

10. Patience and Determination

Any successful entrepreneur will tell you how important patience and persistence is when it comes to growing your business. Success won’t happen overnight, so you need to make sure you are prepared for every setback along the way. Stay focused at all times and always be ready to adapt to your competitors, the ever changing industry and your target audience.

The only way you can build a successful business is by creating solid foundations from the very beginning. You need to have a well laid out plan of how you are going to progress forward with your ideas. Whether your business is going to need a huge new office blog or a fancy website; follow the guidelines that makes sense to you. There is no one size fits all to creating a successful business, but it is a proven fact that preparation will ensure you go further than the average start-up. Instead of going into an industry completely blind, you should attempt to immerse yourself into the world you want to conquer. Take advice from others with a pinch of salt and follow what you believe to be correct for your personal circumstances. As long as you maintain a positive outlook and don’t lose the drive you currently have, you will be able to make it big eventually. The best advice you will ever receive at the start of your entrepreneurial career is, ‘don’t be afraid to make mistakes.’ Errors are how an entrepreneur grows into a successful business person; you will gain more experience along the road and have more chance of succeeding. So, take these pointers on board and set off on your business venture as soon as you feel ready to conquer!

This is an article provided by our partners’ network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post The 10 Bricks and Mortar of a Solid Business: From Buildings to Business Plans appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

If you’re new to the world of business, you probably want to learn as much as you possibly can. Regardless of the business you’re looking to start, you need to make sure that it looks the part. The way your business looks is one of the key deciding factors in whether a person works with you or not. In this case, looks really do matter. So how can you make your business look the part? Read on:

Build Your Brand

Start by building your brand, even if it’s on paper. You need to know the following:

• What colors represent your business? What mood would you like to convey?
• What fonts help to give the right impression of your business?
• Who do you want to work with?
• What is your brand story and message?

When you ask yourself as many of these questions as possible, you begin to get a feel for what your business should look like both offline and online. The image should be consistent!

Build A Website

A website always points to a professional business that is serious about what they are doing. It doesn’t matter if you plan on being a mostly offline store; a website gives people information about your business that they might want before coming to visit. Try not to build it yourself – it should give a great first impression. It is your 24/7 storefront after all!

Have An Attractive Sign Made

Having an attractive sign for the outside of your business will draw people to you and make you more memorable. Ensure you don’t cut corners when it comes to this and visit a professional signage business to do it for you.

Make Sure Your Curb Appeal Is Up To Scratch

Curb appeal usually refers to how attractive a home for sale is to a potential buyer, but you want your store to be appealing on the outside to your customers, too. Curb appeal will include making sure everything is clean, that you have CCTV for your customer’s safety and security, and even looking into commercial landscaping to create a suitable outdoor area.

Introduce A Suitable Uniform

You want your staff to look the part, so make sure you pick a suitable uniform that helps to convey your brand image. Bear in mind that your staff should also look the part by smiling and offering the best customer service imaginable. This is why ongoing training is important.

Create A Clever Lay Out

The way you lay out your store can make it look professional and help you to achieve sales goals. Make sure you know and understand why customers make the choices that they do and use it to your advantage.

Focus On A Unique Window Display

A unique window display can also catch the eye of customers, so think outside the box. Make sure you keep it fresh and exciting!

Making your business look the part is an ongoing process. Make sure you’re giving the right impression!

This is an article provided by our partners’ network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Making Your Business Look The Part: What To Do appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Trying to run a business without a website is almost impossible in the modern world. This is where most of your users will come to learn about your business, along with being a great place to sell goods and make some money. With the costs of something like this, though, it can often feel out of reach. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring all of the tips and tricks you will need to get started on your own DIY ecommerce project.

Content: One of the most important parts of any website is the content which calls it home, and this is the first area you should be thinking about. All of the information on your site needs to tie together, following similar themes, and consistently using keywords which describe your business throughout. In some cases, the products you sell will come with descriptions from the manufacturers themselves, but these are best avoided, as systems like Google will be able to tell that its been copied.

Images: Likewise, product images are also critical to an ecommerce store, and you will need to start thinking about this element of the job, too. This sort of website will always have loads of images, often taking up a lot of space and making pages load slowly. There are loads of free software options out there which enable you to bulk resize and compress photos, making it very easy to solve this sort of issue before it impacts user experience. You always have to make sure that your images are named appropriately.

Payments: With all of your content and images ready to go, you will be on your way to getting started with the main build. Before the real work can start, though, you will have to do some research, as it will be time to choose your payment gateway. This sort of company makes it very easy to take card payments from customers. But, they will all offer different rates, charges, and benefits, making it a good plan to research all of the options you have available. Stripe and PayPal are two of the biggest out there, and offer very good deals on their services.

A Domain: A domain name is the URL which connects your website to the outside world. This can have a surprising impact on your ability to get your name out there, with simpler domains being much more powerful than those which are long and hard to remember. You can find this option very affordably across the web, but might need some help with it comes to installing it. In some cases, you will be able to buy your domain through the people hosting your new site, and this is usually the best approach to take.

Building The Site: Building the actual site will be one of the easier parts of this work, with all of the tools on the market which are designed to take work out of your hands. An ecommerce solution can be found for practically any business type, making the process a matter of dragging and dropping what you’d like to show on your website, instead of dealing with complex code. You will probably have to talk to support once or twice during the process. This will be worth it, though, once your website is off the ground.

Securing It: As part of the trust your customers have in you and your website, all ecommerce sites have to maintain a strong level of security. An SSL certificate, for example, is a very cheap item, but can have a huge impact on keeping your site from getting in trouble. Along with this, you can also use online security audit tools to make sure that your website doesn’t have any big vulnerabilities which you haven’t noticed. Even something as simple as having an email address in plain text can be enough to result in website-slowing spam.

SEO: Finally, as the last area to consider, SEO is critical if you want your website to be found by those on the outside. Companies like SEOptimer have excellent tools aimed at helping newbies to the world of SEO to improve their search presence. They can give you very clear advice which will have a huge impact on your site at launch. Of course, though, this can be an area worth paying for, as most people will struggle to understand the complexity of SEO.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into your next ecommerce site. Handling a project like this yourself might be hard, but it isn’t impossible, and there are loads of tools out there to help you.

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Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post The Ultimate Guide To DIY Ecommerce appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.