8 Steps to Increase Revenue for Your Small Business

As a small business in a vast market, you’re bound to have a lot of competition. Not only are you bumping up against the giants in your industry, but you’re also competing with other small businesses.

If you want to keep your business running, increasing revenue is the obvious path. But that is not always as easy as it sounds. And, as a small business owner, it gets even more challenging to plan how to grow your business when you spend most of your time managing every single detail.

We understand your struggles as a hardworking businessperson. To help you, we’ve gathered eight ways to increase your revenue as a small business. 

A Guide to Increasing Your Revenue in 2021

1. Nail down your business goals

Make your business goals specific and have a particular time frame when you want to achieve them. They should be specific and clear to understand for you and your employees. The clearer the business goals, the better and easier it is to orient your company where to go and where to grow. 

Aside from being specific and putting a timeline, it would help if you had achievable, sensible, and practical goals. You must take into account all the elements that will have an impact on your business. You need to look ahead and prepare for the obstacles that will happen in the future and study the resources that you may need. 

If you’re struggling to develop specific business goals, remember the SMART method:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable 

R – Realistic 

T – Time-bound

2. Prioritize customer service

It has been said that as a small business, you have a lot of huge competitors. The advantage you have against them is that you can provide your customers with the attention they want because you have a smaller customer base. You can offer them the attention that will make them stick with you forever. To do that, you need exceptional customer service.

If you give customers excellent customer service, it helps them feel more satisfied with your products, and it will be easy for you to transform new customers into loyal ones. It is the biggest factor in growing your business. You need to commit and invest in it, for example, by training your staff really well in handling customers. Keep in mind that satisfied and happy customers can give you free word-of-mouth marketing. 

3. Identify your niche market

The importance of identifying your market niche is as important as choosing your business name. These two should coincide and make sense together. Your business niche is your specific and functional area in the industry that you are part of. Once you have identified it, it is easier for you to differentiate your business from your competitors and win your target audience.

Moreover, finding your niche as a small business owner is super helpful in creating a steady flow of revenue. If you have a solid market niche, it will help you have a firmer grip on your current customers. 

In one industry, there can be various market niches. If you feel confused about what your is, think of the most specific product or service that is unique in the market. It could be something that offers affordability, convenience, excellent quality, and many more. 

4. Explore e-commerce

E-commerce has completely transformed the business world and the way consumers purchase goods and services. If you’re a small business that has yet to venture into the online world, know that e-commerce can instantly transform your business and increase revenue. So what are the benefits when it comes to e-commerce? 

The best one is how you can reach new customers, which means you can sell more products. With only your physical store, your revenue will be limited and only to people close by who prefer to shop in person. But by putting your shop online, you can reach out to people near and far. 

However, when you jump into the e-commerce platform, it is like inserting yourself into a big crowd, so you still need to have your unique way of telling the target market that you exist. 

5. Form the best team 

Your small business may not need a lot of people, but it surely needs the best people. Building your team should be one of your priorities. You need to make time to shape your employee into the winning team. You need to see their full potential and get them to be involved in everything you do.

One of the best ways is to get to know each of your employees and see their strengths as individuals. You’ll have a deep understanding of them, and you’ll be able to recognize their capabilities and how they can help your business. They may have different personalities and come from different walks of life, but it is all about having one goal, even with diversity.

Also, do not forget to define their roles. Each of them needs to understand their job. Let them know that you value them, invest in them and share the development of your business regularly. Always keep the conversation lines open for your employees but still keep everything professional. 

6. Prompt repeat business

Gaining new customers is undoubtedly one of your goals as a small business owner. One of the marketing mistakes of small businesses is focusing on acquiring new customers and neglecting the existing customers. You can have time to get new leads, but you should never forget your loyal customers. 

The question is, how can you encourage a repeat customer? You need to present them with something special. You can go and invest with a reward card scheme; for example, every time they visit or buy a certain amount of product and service, they get points as a reward. The points are then accumulated and then redeemed for a free service or product.

7. Listen to your market base 

Listening to your market will help you to be flexible as a small business entity. Even if you are focused on being excellent in what you currently do, you have to be open to new ideas and learn more about trends in the industry. 

One important thing to learn is the process of “social listening.” This way, you can give your small business the chance to analyze, interact with your market base, and track social media trends.

You could also have audience surveys if you have time. You will be able to know which part of your business can still be improved. 

8. Attract customers with discount vouchers and coupons

Discount coupons and vouchers are sure to provide you a boost in business sales. You may be required to invest money. Just remember that you need to spend money in the world of business so you can earn money. 

Discount promotions are known to be one of the effective ways to increase your revenue. They can be a vital part of marketing your products and services. Plus, they are great at introducing a newly launched product. You need to know how to maximize their use. 

You can use websites like Facebook or other big social media to get more people to see it. Also, when it comes to existing customers, you can let them fill out a form where you can get their emails or phone numbers so you can spread the word about your promotions. 

Conclusion

Managing a small business can sometimes be a big challenge. And changes may not be seen instantly. But, remember, whatever you reap, you will sow. Keep the focus on your goal, and you’ll see your revenue increase in no time! 

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How to Find the Right Commercial Building Insurance for You

No matter what the nature of your business, ensuring that you have the right commercial building insurance is vitally important. 

Commercial building insurance will cover the costs needed to repair and even rebuild your commercial property should it be damaged or destroyed.

In the following article, we will look into commercial building insurance and what it covers and why you should ensure that you are fully covered by a policy today.

What Does Commercial Building Insurance Include?

Commercial building insurance will cover you against the cost of either repairing or rebuilding your business premises. It will cover against eventualities such as burst pipes, falling trees, fire, flooding, storms and theft.

There are two key different types of commercial building insurance; buildings and contents insurance. Contents insurance will cover you for items inside the building including IT equipment and any stock and other equipment used and buildings insurance covers anything related to the building itself.

Typically, commercial building insurance will include;

Property Owners’ Liability

Liability insurance will compensate any third party should property damage or injury occur due to negligence. As the owner of the property, you will be liable, as you are responsible for ensuring that the property is maintained.

Loss of Rent

Should your property become uninhabitable due to an insurable event, your insurance policy will cover you for the rent you subsequently cannot collect.

Landlord’s Contents

Your insurance policy will also cover the landlord’s contents. Essentially, the ‘landlord’s contents’ compared to the ‘building’ is anything that isn’t attached to the building including tables and chairs as opposed to doors, cupboards and walls. 

For example, some commercial properties may be rented with equipment included, such as a fitted commercial kitchen. 

What Will Commercial Property Insurance Not Cover?

Typically, you will find that most commercial property insurance policies do not cover general wear and tear that happens over time, such as office carpet thinning and stains. You may also find that damage caused by an act of terrorism aren’t covered, however some specialist insurers may be able to cover you as an additional premium.

Why Do You Need Commercial Building Insurance?

Whilst commercial building insurance isn’t a legal requirement, it is important to remember that many mortgage providers will insist that you have the right insurance cover before they agree to give you a loan.

No matter what the nature of the business within your premises, it’s always worthwhile considering a commercial building insurance policy to ensure that you’re protected against the costs needed to rebuild and repair the premises.

Choosing the Right Commercial Building Insurance

There are various different things that you need to consider about commercial building insurance to ensure your commercial property is fully protected. However, you shouldn’t rush into purchasing the first or the cheapest policy that you see.

It’s important to note that if your business premises is temporarily unoccupied, then it will be much more susceptible to break-ins, crime, and squatting, amongst many other crimes. Typically, insurers will exclude unoccupied properties from their policies, so should your property be temporarily unoccupied, you should convert your commercial building insurance to an unoccupied property policy.

Before you contact any insurance providers, it’s important to take the time to work out the exact level of cover that you need, as well as any additional features and requirements you are looking for.

After all, your property can be one of the biggest investments you make, and whilst you can easily see your investment returned in time and make a profit, it’s important that your assets are fully covered and protected. Should you not ensure this, even one problem could cause you to lose your property and resultantly your investment money in one go. The right commercial building insurance will ensure that your investment money is secure.

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What Is Fume Extraction And How Does a Fume Extraction Work?

Fume Extraction Systems

The production procedures are getting complex and well developed in due course of time. This has generated certain peculiarities in the related procedures. These particularities are, on one hand, advantageous but on the other hand, they may cause pollution that can be a health hazard and can be equally dangerous for the workspace. To save the system, several saving modes are being introduced, including the fume extraction systems

If you are new to the concept, you need to know the essential details regarding the fume extractor.

What Is Meant By Fume Extractors?

As the name indicates, the job of the fume extractor is to remove the toxic fumes and dust from any workspace. In most parts of this world, the system has to undergo close regulations according to the laws set by the concerned agencies. 

It is a piece of specialized equipment designed to clear the contaminated air with the help of the suction function. Once done, it then clears the air using a specialized filter once the air gets clean, it is allowed to move into space again. Once done, the fumes are collected inside the filter. 

The process then completes with the help of the fume extractor fan. It is a powerful fan that successfully creates the suction flow. The filter, on the other hand, is used as the air filtrate. 

Types of Fume Extraction Filters

What kind of peculiarities is bothering you in your product house?

The nature of each of these determines the kind of fume extraction system that your system is looking for. Here are the common types that are mostly used in any production process. Each of these is for a specialized production process. A system that is effective for one kind will not work for the other. 

ASHRAE, HEPA, and ULPA are the filters that specialize in handling tiny particles like of dust. They are equally good for catching up with the bacteria which actually makes them essential for domestic ventilation systems. 

Activated Carbon filters are also popular for being specialty-blended filters. They are used in spaces where there are chances of chemical fumes and organic vapor for example the pharmaceutical facilities. The more efficient the filter is the better it works by absorbing the chemicals. 

Micro-Pleat filters are cleanable filters that are mostly used in heavy welding production and facilities. It makes a strong filter for all those spaces where extensive soldering and welding work is carried out. They are equally good against dust and chemicals. Once the work is over it can be cleaned with pressurized air. The unclean, contaminated, and unwanted part comes into the catch can. From here it is removed easily. 

Fume Extraction Types

Portable extractors as clear from the name are small in size or light in weight so that they can be moved anywhere. They are fixed on wheels that make transportation much easier. 

Benchtop extraction system makes work very easy. They can be mounted anywhere you want. They make the perfect fit for soldering workplaces, pharmaceutical sorting or any kind of small-scale experiment in which heavy fumes are released. 

Enclosed extractors are fitted within the worktable. You can also add it to the shelf on the work stand. 

Wall-mounted extractors are designed for walls where they can be mounted easily. It is best for the places above the fume applications 

Stand-mounted extractors are kept on the stands. According to your personal preferences, you can add the stand to the ground or not. It can be moved without standing too. Thus, it is to some extent similar to portable extractors. 

Where Are The Fume Extraction Units Required?

The extraction system is required in spaces where a high amount of fumes are generated. The activities mentioned below create too many fumes. If these are not removed it can result in huge amounts of fumes that can even cause risk conditions for any individual. 

  • Welding
  • Painting
  • Plastering
  • Sanding
  • Grinding
  • Plastic bonding
  • Working with epoxies
  • 3-D printing

Final Words

The above list includes the fume generating activities in descending order. Welding tops the list as it uses welding rods that are too rich in manganese. The metal is used to create strong welds. If the manganese fumes stay for long they can damage the respiratory system. Once they enter the bloodstream they can damage the kidneys and the nervous system.

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How To Make Flyers More Cost-Effective

How To Make Flyers More Cost-Effective

Flyers don’t have to be expensive. With so many flyer maker tools available, it’s so easy to create one on the fly. For example, Venngage has hundreds of ready templates free for anyone to create, download, print, and use — you won’t need to contact professional designers all the time. If you need a simple print ad, here are six helpful steps to make cost-efficient and high ROI banners.

The Average Cost of Flyers Today

According to PSPrint, having someone design a brochure for a business can cost about $200-$1,500. Sometimes, you can get a design and copywriting deal for $500. Additionally, banner printing can cost you $165 for 2,000 copies. This number is equivalent to $6.5c per copy.

Average digital marketing banner budgets without printed copies will reach about $500 for a design and copywriting deal.

Alternatively, your digital advertising campaign will receive the printing budget. This spending can comprise search engine, social network, and email advertising costs.

Flyer Posters/Adbadshah

Creating Your Flyer Design

If you need inspiration, Venngage and other similar platforms offer pre-designed templates ready for anyone to use. In addition, these flyer templates include royalty-free images safe to use for your advertising campaigns.

On the other hand, paying a pro for custom designs is still an excellent alternative if existing templates don’t work out for you.

Of course, it will be more expensive. But, on the other hand, you get a unique design with a fresh set of images and icons that no other brand can use.

Sometimes, it’s worth paying for a one-of-a-kind flyer or brochure design.

How Much Should You Spend on Marketing Flyers?

Marketing flyer budgets greatly depend on how much it needs to get your message across to your audience. For example, frozen goods might require less marketing materials than clothing companies. On the other hand, consumer technologies might need more marketing banners than healthcare services.

Entrepreneur recommends that new companies spend about 12-20% of their annual profits towards marketing. Alternatively, established brands in any sector spend about 6-12% on marketing. Therefore, new companies will pay $12,000-$20,000 if they net $100,000 yearly.

In addition, your marketing strategy dramatically affects your total marketing flyer spending. For instance, a printed flyer-dependent marketing campaign will spend much more than a digital-oriented marketing campaign.

Mohamed Hassan/PXHere

Why Do New Businesses Start With a High Flyer Budget?

Start-ups and new businesses are unknown to most customers. Plus, an established brand has recognizable products and guaranteed results.

Therefore, new businesses have to “make noise.” To do this, they need various advertising and marketing strategies. Therefore, the strategy might include printing and publishing many of these media for both offline and online advertising campaigns.

Entrepreneur’s figures in the earlier section prove that new businesses will allocate higher flyer budgets. Alternatively, established brands work with affiliates and repeat customer recommendations. But, unfortunately, when it comes to lead generation, flyers can’t compete with the success rate of customer recommendations.

Pricing and Materials For Advertising Flyers

It’s easy to find cheap flyer printing. A quick search engine query will yield numerous printing presses promising high-quality but affordable flyer prints. The best way to find the best price is to find the lowest price and highest print quality possible.

Cheap, entry-level pricing will sound attractive at first. However, printers will produce your flyers on easily degraded stock paper.

Cardboards are the next best flyer printing material. They will cost a bit higher than flimsy stock paper. However, cardboard has accurate color printing. But, you’ll contend with possible water damage during rainfall.

Use this recommended flyer materials list or consult with your local flyer printer to learn about your other best flyer material options.

Drawtify.com/Stockvault

Should I Focus On The Cheap Flyers’ Design or Material?

Banners are cost-effective if they have a high success rate. Therefore, choosing the right design and material matters.

Sophisticated events require a provoking and captivating design. Plus, you might need to spend on better material to give the best representation to your vision.

If the event is happening during the rainy season, using waterproof material is an excellent choice. Alternatively, if you’re solely going for a digital campaign, spend a higher budget on design and digital advertising campaigns.

Therefore, your marketing campaign objectives dictate the design and material perfect for your banners. You can easily gain focus on both design and material afterward.

It Doesn’t Take Too Much To Reduce Flyer-Making Costs

A free banner-making program can help you bypass pro designer prices if you need simple flyer templates. In addition, you can edit each of these templates to suit your marketing campaign.

In some cases, a one-of-a-kind professional design on high-quality material might be much more cost-effective.

Therefore, your campaign goals and brand reputation will give you a better idea of making your flyers more cost-effective.

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3 Emerging Life Insurance Trends Amidst the Pandemic

Suffice it to say, the coronavirus pandemic has shocked the world to the core. People realized how uncertain the future could be and how helpless they could be if they did not tread carefully. The next thing we know, the health crisis is taking our loved ones one by one until the death toll hits millions. 

Conversely, people started to realize the importance of some form of protection such as life insurance. This policy covers the insured in case of an accident and death, thereby protecting the surviving family members. It is a contract between the insurance company and the policyholder, guaranteeing an amount to the predetermined beneficiaries. 

There are two sides to life insurance that the pandemic created: claims and uptakes. On the one hand, COVID-related death claims are high. On the other hand, life insurance applications increased dramatically since the pandemic happened. The latter is just one trend, though. Below are the other emerging life insurance trends to know about.

 

  • Omnichannel: Modes of interaction are changing

 

Policyholders want an omnichannel experience. Checking updates on the website or application or seeking answers to questions through a chatbot or social media representative, whichever is more convenient, are the epitome of omnichannel. 

Omnichannel means access to information whenever it is needed. Enhanced communication methods also mean bridging the gap between contemplating whether to buy and the actual decision to purchase a policy.

For the insurance company, it pertains to improved customer experience. For example, if a customer has questions about a life insurance product, he will contact the agent for answers. The more he knows, the better equipped he will be at comparing the products and deciding which to buy. So the proper knowledge is a driver of conversion.

Other than that, customers are checking digital platforms where the prospect insurance provider has a presence. The goal is to recheck for consistency and complementarity of life insurance product information. 

 

  • Self-service: Alternatives are meant to empower

 

Digital adoption has become mainstream amidst the pandemic. Speeding up the application process is a valuable strategy today. This aligns with the consumers’ demand for self-service instead of the traditional sales and payment channels.

The 24/7 access has always been about ultimate convenience, accessing a portal anytime and anywhere the user pleases to. However, the pandemic compelled people to use touchless or contactless interactions with the brand.

Self-service options are digital alternatives that allow the prospects or the insured individuals to speed up the process from application to claim. Chatbots and digital assistants also give these individuals the impetus to learn more about the life insurance policies, their coverage, and benefits even before they contact an agent. 

These are part of the customer-facing workflow that should be as streamlined as possible. If not, the prospects are always ready to switch insurance companies that offer them wider accessibility.

Digital adoption is apparent across age groups, so offering virtual assistance is perceived as enabling individuals to engage and own the process. Voice-enabled assistants are conversational. They offer a more remarkable customer experience than some human insurance agents are not able to provide.

 

  • Engagement: Health and wellness initiatives are embraced

 

Life insurance has static engagement because you get to use it when you have an accident, for instance. The minimal engagement is addressed by programs that target persistence and stickiness. For example, some policy companies offer rewards for healthy lifestyles as monitored through an enrolled wearable device.

Engagement aligns with the life journey of the insured individual while also increasing persistence, minimizing lapses, and ultimately, shifting mortality. For the insurance company itself, customer-led engagement is an excellent way to create opportunities for upselling and cross-selling life insurance opportunities.

Interestingly, health and financial benefits also drive engagement. Examples of the latter include discounts and rewards. These are program-tied value-added features rather than merely looking out for claims and payouts. 

Customers are also after the non-financial benefits. Some examples are estate planning, wellness coaching, retirement planning, and continuing product information. Another important feature is the risk-control consultation, which is perceived as a more proactive way to monitor the health status of the policyholder and determine any significant changes. The last one is paramount to ensuring timely interventions.

Bottom-line, individuals are looking for assistance for their policy needs, including gathering information. Therefore, they would rely on the first available option not just because of convenience but also time-sensitive reasons. 

The realization today is that when a policy can spell the difference between financial uncertainty and a more secure future, life insurance can no longer wait. But of course, virtually all of us want the latter. The pandemic is proof that we are not immune to uncertainties.

These omnichannel, self-service, and engagement trends scale the application process while also enhancing company-facing operations. With this said, it is safe to assume that these too may become fundamental to the post-COVID operation of the companies.

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Reducing The Hassle In Currency Trading Business

Many traders quit the trading field because of lots of pressure. When the market is highly volatile, people face problems in taking quick decisions. On the other hand, when the market is stable, people become depressed as there is no change in the values of the instruments. Sometimes traders take high risk, sometimes take a low risk. Similarly, sometimes they face loss and sometimes they get rewards. There are some ways that will help the traders to reduce the headache of these issues. These are being discussed here.

Learn to Control the Emotions

People need to learn the ways of controlling emotions. Emotional barriers can destroy a long time business career within a second. As the Forex market is the place of making money, most of the investors cannot control their greediness which provides them bad sequels. When a person will able to control his or her negative characteristics, he or she will able to regulate the trade properly. On the other hand, because of the fear, many investors do less trading for which they do not step ahead and hit the target properly. A person can take a deep breath and take some breaks, these will help them to reduce the tensions.

Take the Right Decision in the Right Time

Investors are needed to take the right decision to grab the opportunity. Only a good opportunity can bring a big change in the trading career of the investor. When a big change will appear, the businessmen will feel less tension. Every businessman wants to get good rewards to increase the account balance. To reach the ultimate destination, the investor needs to capture the best opportunity within plenty of opportunities. You should not forget that there are lots of competitors who are waiting for the right option so, you have to try your best to get the chance.  And try trade with Rakuten Securities Australia  so that you don’t have to worry about your trade execution process. With the help of a robust platform, you can improve your trade accuracy and gain better profits from each trade.

Use the Indicators Properly

Indicators are amazing tools that helps to determine the different trends. In the Forex market, people are required to do trade with the trend to make more money. So, identifying the uptrend and downtrend is very crucial for the investors. Different types of indicators help in different ways. Some indicators have shown when the current trend will be gone, and the new trend will emerge. This helps the person to take preparation for dealing with the different types of circumstances and eventually makes them better at trading.

Immediately Take a Break

When you see that you have completed all the things what you have decided in your plan, you need to leave the market for that day. On the other hand, if a person sees that he or she is facing a horrible situation, he or she also needs to leave the market. Because, both the situation indicate that a difficult situation can emerge at any time. So, at this time, the best way is to take a break and relax.

Have an Exit Plan

Because of making more money, sometimes the investors do not want to close the positions. But, this creates problems for the investors. In position trading, people hold the trade for the overnight or more than that and they need to give the charge of this to the broker. After doing this, if he or she sees that the market goes against him or her, they might face unbound loss. So, a businessman should set the exit plan and have to close the position according to this. 

These ways will help you to reduce the pressure and do trading with a fresh mind. If you follow these properly, you will able to keep calm in any sort of difficult circumstance.

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Increase Revenue from Your E-Commerce Store in 3 Easy Steps

E-commerce is an integral revenue stream for any business, and for many companies, it’s the primary driver for growth, brand recognition, and market accessibility. Given the increasing shift from brick-and-mortar to online shopping, especially in the new COVID-19 world, maintaining and developing your e-commerce store is a paramount task. Luckily there are plenty of platforms and support systems out there to ease the burden of development and maintenance, ensuring increased revenue without all the overhead. 

The question for most companies isn’t implementation, but what to target for the biggest bang for your buck. To get you started, below are three easy steps to get you moving and thinking about the bigger picture. 

Step 1: Make Your Site Accessible to All Customers

Seemingly obvious, most customers will decide whether to view your catalog or not within moments of accessing your store. Clunky, difficult, or confusing sites will scare away potential sales and limit your potential. Having a site that is easy to navigate, shows products clearly, and provides flexibility for both the owner and customer are critical for scaling growth and ensuring customer satisfaction–especially among people with disabilities. The goal of any online store is to present products that can be purchased seamlessly and simply by any customer at any time. 

Standard practice requires that sites are ADA & WCAG compliant, which requires some level of specialization. Companies like accessiBe can help reduce the complexity by providing an affordable automated solution and protection from ADA lawsuits. Their website states, “Here’s the accessibility dilemma: small businesses, who make up 99% of the market, knock on our door with a lawsuit worth $30K in compensations, on one hand, a $20K quote for an accessibility project on the other. The source of these litigations is that people with disabilities simply want to be included in the modern, digital era. So they turn to legislation as a last resort.” 

Fortunately, the advancements of AI have enabled companies like accessiBe to solve the age-old accessibility dilemma. This new development allows other businesses to make compliance attainable for every company, creating a real accessibility revolution, and achieving a win for everyone on all sides. Accessible websites, apps, and digital assets provide better customer experiences for all groups of people – in other words, build up your brand recognition and loyalty knowing that the customer experiences you are creating are optimized for everyone, regardless of ability.

Step 2: Control Operational Costs

E-commerce is one of the most effective ways to earn bonus returns on investment. The difference between a cost-effective and cost-prohibitive e-commerce site is the maintenance and overhead required to run and provide new content and continuous updates. Traditional website upgrades (accessibility included) require product-by-product reviews and changes that can reach tens of thousands of dollars, making the process costs prohibitive for most small to medium-sized companies. As with anything else, the right kind of change requires money and the primary focus of any operational function is to mitigate costs while providing world-class service.

A few ways you can reduce costs on your e-commerce store include: choosing the best payment processor, outsourcing freelancers, and streamlining your supply chain management. Instead of obtaining an expensive payment processing system, you should consider using software that allows you to invoice your customers without added fees. If you’re not careful, the high cost of credit and debit card fees can quickly eat into your profits. As far as freelancers go, a good one can be the difference between a productive and a non-productive e-commerce store. By outsourcing administrative and lower priority tasks through a freelancer or virtual assistant, you can free up more time to maximize business efforts – and save money! Lastly, streamlining your e-commerce store’s supply chain and distribution process is one of the easiest ways to cut down on operational costs. Incorporating supply chain management measures (like stocking just the required products), integrating supply chain methods and vendor managed inventory are some of the ways your online e-commerce company can streamline the supply chain process and earn above average return on investment.

Step 3: Optimize your online store for mobile devices

Online shopping has largely shifted from a desktop experience to a smartphone experience. With people being on their phones for hours upon hours during the day, it’s more likely that they are going to come to your site via a mobile device than on their desktop computer. Therefore, your e-commerce store must be mobile-friendly. Morebusiness.com states that, 

“For your products to sell on your eCommerce site, they must be visually appealing to visitors, and they should also be displayed in a variety of different ways to be successful. One way to do this includes going with a good web hosting company that provides many options to help showcase your offerings in their best light, such as image zoom, and that also enables you to display multiple images for the products, so customers can view them from all angles to determine if they may be the right products for them. If you plan to sell on social media, it should also include an option to share your product images there as well”.

This circles back to making sure your website is easy to continuously adapt as new updates and accessibility options are rolled out on desktop and mobile. “M-commerce” as it’s called, has already become a major channel for shopping and changed consumer shopping habits over the last several years. Customers are reliant on their mobile devices now more than ever, and it is only going to inch closer to becoming consumers’ preferred channel for online shopping within the coming years. 

The Takeaway: It’s Now or Never

If you haven’t already started thinking about how to implement or improve your e-commerce store customer experience, now is the time. It’s undeniable how accessibility enhancements can make an e-commerce store more usable for everyone, greatly increasing the likelihood that the product will end up in a customer’s cart. Remember that if you want your e-commerce business to thrive, be prepared to learn constantly and work on improving your store to provide a better customer experience, starting with these three steps!

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How Can You Protect Your Business from Hacking?

The business market is competitive and business owners are on the verge of becoming better than each other to lead the market. No matter how small or big a business you have, there are still some basic things that matter for every company to run successfully. You might have managed to get together a team of great employees who are skilled enough to do any work efficiently, you have maintained a healthy environment, you have clients coming in, and you are making progress every day. But is that enough? Yes, it is enough when you don’t have to worry about the competitors who want what you have.

Protecting your company from security breaches and hacking is equally important as making efficient teamwork for you. If you don’t have a good security system, you can lose all the efforts that you have made to get your company on the track to success. Nobody wants that, so you need to keep your eyes open and get ready for any threat that is coming your way.

This is especially important for hacking as hacking is one of the most common dangers that can affect your company in the worst ways. You need to take the necessary measures not to let that happen such as strengthening your security system and using Android spy and iPhone spy software.

How Can You Protect Your Business from Hackers?

You need to know from where and how the hackers can attack you, and then protect your company from all those sides. This requires awareness and information that should be provided to every business owner so that they can protect their companies. Also, the use of Android spy software can be proven helpful in many cases. Here are some of the ways that hackers can use to get into your company and get access to important documents and stuff.

  • Weak IT Department

You need the best staff at the technical side where they figure out the ways to protect every system in the company. This is the IT department where you need to invest the best to make sure that you have the best talent at the boundaries. These people will provide every sort of skill to keep the systems away from malware, viruses, and digital threats. So, invest right now in your IT department and iPhone spy and Android spy apps to protect your company.

  • Dark Websites

Sometimes one of your employees might be getting access to websites that should be unauthorized at the workplace. These websites shouldn’t be opened and used at the workplace, because they can bring malware and viruses too. Though your employees might be unaware of it, in no time, that virus can attack your system and help the hackers in getting the information that should be confidential. Your IT department can tell you if something like this has happened if they are using Android spy software, but sometimes it is too late to do something about it as the damage is done.

  • Links and Ads

This is also because of the negligence of the employees or any other person at the workplace where someone clicks on an ad or an attractive link that opens the ways to viruses and malware. These ads appear out of nowhere while searching for anything on the internet, and the more you get attracted to them and click on them, the more they appear everywhere. This also needs to be noted that employees should only work when they are at the office and there should be other recreational activities for them as breaks rather than giving them time to surf on the internet.

Hackers usually look for weak links to get into the system. They usually study the system and then attack at the place where it is easy to get in. This could be a weak IT department, security breach, or employees who are negligent at the workplace. As soon as the hackers get your weak point, they waste no time and do what they ought to do. You can control it by using iPhone spy and Android spy software to keep an eye on the activities of the employees during working hours.

The use of iPhone spy and Android spy software has become very common these days where business owners have realized that they cannot stop the threat unless they are well aware of it before it hits them. This can only be possible with a strong IT department and good monitoring and tracking software. Every employer should be aware of these options so that they can protect their companies at their best. 

What Should You Do?

Being the owner, you cannot simply sit aside and see all these things happening. You need to take some action and do something about it. First of all, there should be certain cybersecurity concerns that must be discussed in the policies at first with the employees. They should know what they are supposed to do when they are working at the workplace and what should they never do. There should be regular meetings about the right use of systems and the internet, and every employee should be made clear about the threats that can come in if they are using the internet the wrong way. 

Along with this, putting the necessary monitoring and tracking measures at the workplace is also very important when it comes to knowing what is happening in the computer systems and mobiles present at your office. Using iPhone spy and Android spy software should be among the top priorities so that you can know beforehand if someone has breached the security, or if someone has clicked on the wrong link, or if someone is sharing confidential information deliberately. 

If you know these things, you can better make some strategies to deal with it instead of being attacked. This way, the business owners and employers also learn about how the threat can attack them and what should be done at first to stop it from hitting hard. 

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Best Automation Software for Small Business Accounting

We live in the world of automation. As your business takes new ventures, so must its methods. It is highly imperative to upgrade business methodologies with time to stay competitive in this fast-pacing business climate. 

Long gone are the days when businesses used to amass paper-based records in ledger rooms for their accounting. Technology has revamped the way business and accounting work. And businesses that take up automation climb up the economic ladder with time. Small businesses should not run the risk by adhering to traditional accounting practices. In the present-day business climate, running in the business race with primitive and outdated accounting practices will not help you to win over rivals that reap the benefits of technology.

Big enterprises have already accommodated automation for their business accounting. Also, more than half the small to mid-sized businesses are using automation for their business accounting in one way or the other. Primitive practices are gradually fading out of existence. So, it is already high time to embrace automation before your business gets outdated.

Why should small businesses embrace automation?

The word automation resonates everywhere in the accounting sites and business talks. What really is in it? Why does the world take a steep turn on accounting automation? If such questions crowd your mind, you are not alone. These questions itch every small business owner who is comfortable with old accounting practices. Here are the answers.

Automation is not a new trend in accounting. Accounting has always been running with automation but in simpler forms. When people were using the abacus for calculations, calculators came in as the most sophisticated, modern, and expensive equipment in the industry. And then bashed in the computers, followed by a wide range of accounting applications. Today, accounting and bookkeeping have been simplified to an extent where they can be accomplished hands-free. 

Let us set out how automation can push your business boundaries up and forward. 

Bookkeeping is the most time-consuming exercise in accounting when done manually. Some businesses even have to employ people for manual entry or outsource data entry professionals. The average speed of manual keying is 8000 to 10,000 keystrokes per hour. Data entry professionals may even touch 13,000 to 15,000 keystrokes per hour. Think of the speed, it is nowhere near the rate at which software can do it. However, experienced the data entry clerk may be, it takes about 15 hours to feed 300 transactions. Though it seems like a great task, think of it from the automation side. It just takes five to ten minutes for the software to import these values. With automation, your books are done faster.

Accuracy is another severe concern about manual accounting. However vigilant the data entry person may be, there are always high chances of errors in manual data entry. Trivial errors may unintentionally occur. Mistyping a particular value, missing out on a certain column may seem like trivial errors, but will cause huge implications in accounting, especially at the time of reconciliation. But with automation, businesses can get accurate, precise, and intact records on books. As automation software integrates with the applications, the software does every interaction and so the records are error-free and untouched. 

Usually, businesses need someone to push and pass on the process to the next stage at every stage. A business owner will have to call upon his employee to know the inventory status, invoices, and any such information. But with automation, business owners have every information at their fingertips and can check them anytime. They do not have to wait for and rely upon someone to handle such stuff. 

Most of the cumbersome business processes can be automated and apprehensive reports are generated by automation software. This paves way for the business owner to cultivate business strategies and take actions accordingly. Rather than pecking at such menial issues, small business owners can get their accounting done easier, smarter, quicker, and more efficiently. This leaves them with a clear headspace to work on earnest business decisions.

Best Accounting Automation Software

With accounting automation, small businesses can accomplish accounting chores at a higher degree of speed and accuracy. It aims to take away most of the manual elements in small business accounting and so small business owners have more control over things that really matter.

QuickBooks is the most favorite pick for thousands of small business owners and their accountants worldwide for accounting. It can help businesses to send recurring invoices, payment reminders, reconcile expenses, generate reports, take automatic backups, pay bills, prepare taxes, and so much more.  And it is affordable for the feature suite it comes with.

Though QuickBooks is the most efficient accounting software, importing data into QuickBooks is done manually so far. As mentioned earlier, manual keying is the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of bookkeeping and accounting. Here are a couple of applications to automate and simplify the manual process in bookkeeping with QuickBooks. 

PayTraQer

QuickBooks needs values to do the accounting process for you. It cannot start accounting with empty columns. Manually keying transactions into QuickBooks will take hours. Despite consuming such a long time, the reports may not always be accurate. In such a case, an application that can automatically sync online payments into the QuickBooks account would save hours of labor. PayTraQer is one such application. PayTraQer can sync your online payments into QuickBooks automatically without any human support. By integrating payment systems with QuickBooks, every transaction detail flows directly into QuickBooks without any human touch. This paves way for accurate, error-free, and fresh books all the time. 

PayTraQer is Intuit authorized and is available in QuickBooks App Store. You can install PayTraQer by just clicking the ‘Get App Now’ button. Sign up with QuickBooks credentials and start automating your bookkeeping with their 30-day free trial. PayTraQer can integrate PayPal, Stripe, Square, Clover, and Authorize.Net transactions into QuickBooks automatically, in a snap. 

With PayTraQer, the whole syncing process can be automated, leaving no room for errors. Not only with ongoing transactions, but PayTraQer can also sync unlimited historic transactions as far back as required. There might be chances of uploading transactions that are not needed in the QuickBooks account. In such cases, PayTraQer can effortlessly roll back the sync, delete synced transactions from QuickBooks without leaving any trace. PayTraQer supports transactions in multi-currency, as long as the currency is supported by QuickBooks. 

SaasAnt Transactions Online

Here is another tool that can make importing way easier, just with a click of a button. It is ideal for small businesses that still rely on Excel spreadsheets for their bookkeeping. SaasAnt Transactions can import unlimited bulk transactions from Excel to QuickBooks Online with just a click of a button. Transactions that usually take hours to import manually can be imported in minutes with SaasAnt Transactions. SaasAnt Transactions can also do bulk exports and deletes in a flash. If you are a QuickBooks user, you will really love using SaasAnt Transactions. You shall try using it with their 30-day free trial. 

To Conclude

Having told everything, it is high time to embrace automation for your accounting. Rather than musing with mundane and redundant tasks, try automating repetitive accounting exercises that eat up the most time, to maximize productivity. An efficient automation tool will free you from doing redundant tasks and leaves accurate results in a short span of time. And PayTraQer does this all and is worth a shot!

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