If you think a virtual phone number might help your organization, here are just some of the benefits of hanging up on conventional phones.

Increased Privacy While Offering Personalized Service

In some business situations providing a personal phone number can be a good strategy to build trust and demonstrate your personal commitment to helping them. It can, however, bring privacy issues as someone could search for your phone number to get more information about you.

If you are using a personal cell phone or operating a home office, you can use a virtual phone number instead of your private number. With a virtual phone number, calls can still be routed to your cell phone without customers gaining access to your personal phone number.

Virtual Phone Numbers Provide Additional Features

Virtual phones give you access to advanced calling features, including IVR (Interactive Voice Response), call recording, conference calling, time-based routing, call stacking, and voice-mail. You can get advanced calling features that Fortune 500 companies have without significant expense. Many providers offer these features for free as part of the deal. Also, many virtual phone numbers can also support texting. That’s something landlines can’t do.

A virtual phone number may also save on long distance calls. Using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which is a cloud-based phone service, with your virtual phone service can save significant amounts of money. There are no more local tolls and no long-distance charges for domestic calls. Most international calls are free as well. Finally, you can also use virtual phone numbers to appear more “local.” If you want to appear to have a local presence, set up virtual phone numbers in all the area codes you serve. With a VoIP system, you can make changes easily through a dashboard. Virtual phone lines with local numbers can be created in more than 100 countries worldwide with virtual number forwarding to any device. If you every need help managing your messages, then consider checking out these texting solutions for small business. 

Flexible Set Up That Increases Calling Capabilities

With a virtual phone number for business, your options increase. As calls come in, they can be automatically routed to multiple destinations based on customized workflow rules. This can help manage when multiple calls come in or help manage different type of leads.

For example, you could have a single phone number you publish in TV commercials, print ads and business cards, then using technology tools, you can send inbound calls with local area codes to one receiving center, and out of town area codes to a different center. This could help you answer their inquiry or business need faster. Alternatively, if you often have too many calls come in at once, when you use a virtual phone number calls can automatically roll over to another line when unanswered or be routed to other locations.

Also, if you already have a business phone number, you don’t have to start all over. If you already have an established phone number for your business, you can switch to a virtual service and keep your existing number. Your provider can help you port your current number over and turn it into a virtual phone number.

Ditch The Landline

Using a virtual phone number can help your small business grow and better serve your customers. Virtual phone numbers untether your customer service team from a single phone or even a single office and allows the team to work nearly anywhere in the world. Additionally, leveraging different tools, a virtual phone number helps your business create a more professional experience or appear to be local to their area code.

Fortunately, even if your business phone is set up on a landline, you can keep your exact number and transfer it into a virtual landline. With so many added benefits and the ability to keep your current number there are really no downsides to a virtual phone number.

The post Top Business Benefits of Using a Virtual Phone Number appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

It is so because every single business in this world, regardless of how small or big it is compulsory, has a sales funnel.

Everything begins with the marketing efforts, which involves creating awareness and interests, and this draws the people’s attention to what you are doing and become leads.

Now the sales department tries to get some of those leads to buy the products. The tips which become closer to the goal become prospects, and eventually, these prospects buy the product.

Hence, this affecting consumer behavior and making them buy your products is called a sales funnel.

Top 9 Best Sales Funnel Software

INSTAPAGE

Instapage gives the ability to create landing pages to the users, it integrates with third party apps. It offers built in A/B testing tools and advanced analytics.

FEATURES

• This platform enables you to build conversion-ready mobile-optimized landing pages in minutes.
• No developer is required to review and publish them.
• Instapage easily integrates with the tools in your marketing stack.
• It optimizes the landing pages and attributes the performance to suitable campaigns.

PRICING

There are two pricing plans for instapage as mentioned below

1. The optimizing plan costs $199/month. It has no conversion limits, heatmaps, conversion analytics, zapier integration, SSL encryption, and so on.
2. Custom Plan. This plan varies in price according to the feature that we require from instapage. It charges separately for every feature. So every user can customize his website with the kind of features he wants.

PROS AND CONS

• PROS

1. There are a variety of designs available under all the plans of instapage
2. The drag and drop feature is usually beneficial.
3. The feedback system runs very fast and hence is excellent and one of the software’s key features.
4. The editing part becomes very easy due to this software as it is effortless to be used.

• CONS

1. It is a little expensive.
2. The text font appears to be very dynamic.
3. The software is not quite flexible because it does not allow manual customization of page sizes and another manual formatting.

THRIVE SUITE

Thrive Suite is a conversion-focused theme and plugin that will allow you to create very High converting landing pages and sales pages. It has tons of plugins and add-ons so that you can create and design inside WordPress.

FEATURES

• They have a new thrive theme builder. You can edit and organize the website inside this editor without any coding.
• It gives access to thrive, theme builder, thrive, architect, elementor, and many such plugins. The thrive lead is a superb feature that captures the leads and facilitates the sales funnel process.
• It has an option of third-party app integration, which links thrive suite with various other platforms.

PRICING

• It has only a $19/month price plan, which is quite affordable. It has access to all thrive themes plugins, access to thrive theme builder and shapeshift, support included, updates are included, and installing the tools on up to 25 websites. Finally, it also has access to thrive university.

PROS AND CONS

• PROS

1. The software is highly responsive. It never faces any significant issues when the users are designing their business model.
2. It has third-party app integrations which help the users in customizing their website using other tools and features.
3. It is very easy for beginners. No prior knowledge of any programming language is required.
4. Access to a thriving university is one of the most highlighting features as it provides training on how to use the software.

• CONS

1. The themes provided in thriving only tend to work with WordPress and not other platforms.
2. The variety of themes available are significantly less.

LEAD PAGES

Leadpages is a landing page builder. It is the actual go-to software for the small businesses worldwide. It build code free website, high converting landing pages, pop ups, alert bars, and everything.

FEATURES

• They have a wide variety of templates with help you customize the apps and websites and attract leads.
• The powerful conversion elements like the countdown timers, call-to-action-buttons, and pop-up options, allow you to capture leads from landing pages, blogs, and websites.
• Leads can also have captured through text messages allowing prospects to opt-in from anywhere using a phone.
• It integrates with primary services in CRMs from MailChimp to HubSpot.
• It also works with e-commerce platforms and webinar registrations to manage all the leads and digital campaigns.
• The A/B testing tools help you analyze the website thoroughly.

PRICING

It has three plans as follows:

• The pro plan costs $59/month
  • It has access to up to 3 sites, tech support via mail and chat, email trigger links, unlimited a/b testing, and a few more feature than the standard plan.
• The standard plan costs $27/month and is deemed to be the highly affordable one.
  • It has access to only one site and 40 standard integrations, free hosting, and so on, but many of the features are disabled.
• The advanced plan costs up to $239/month.
  • It has access to up to 50 sites, landing pages, pop-ups, alert bars, unlimited traffic leads, free custom domains, lead notification, email trigger links, and all such features like these provided by leadpages.

PROS AND CONS

• PROS

1. There are many templates to make your website look good.
2. It provides mobile and tablet preview.
3. The sub-accounts functions of lead pages duplicate the sales funnel, and two teams can have access.
4. It integrates with many different software solutions and makes things handy.

• CONS

1. Users usually face a few glitches and bugs while they are using the software.
2. The analytical data is not very informative.
3. The plans seem to be very uneconomical for small businesses.

LANDINGI

It is a landing page builder that allows the users to create landing pages, pop ups etc. It also has the A/B splitting testing which scans the total website and gives u an analytic report.

FEATURES

• It has a drag and drops editor, and also we add new fonts to it if the pre-loaded fonts don’t go well.
• It consolidates all the data into a .csv file which makes it easy for the user to analyze.
• It has a landing page scheduler that keeps track of the ongoing and upcoming launches.
• Anti-spams protect them for security.
• It helps to have landing pages on the user’s social media profiles as tabs.

PRICING

This software provides three pricing plans, as mentioned below.

1. Create a plan that costs about $55/month
   1. This plan allows 50000 unique visitors per month, there are ten custom domains, unlimited account users, but few features like the smart section, campaign scheduler, and the A/B splitting test are missing.
2. The automate plan costs about $79/month.
   1. This plan allows 100000 unique visitors per month, and there are 20 custom domains, unlimited account users. It has all the features missing in the create plan, but all the features deemed to be advanced go missing.
3. The agency plan costs $149/month.
   1. This premium plan includes all the features provided by landingi, including 300000 unique visitors per month, 30 custom domains, and unlimited account users.

PROS AND CONS

• PROS

1. The feature wherein the landing pages can be shared with other landing users. It is one of the most important and makes landingi different from its contemporaries.
2. The customer helpline is very helpful and responsive and responds in relatively less time.
3. The creation and editing process is super easy and can be easily handled by beginners as well.
4. Landingi integrates with CRMs like HubSpot, Zoho, and freshwork to manage the leads.

• CONS

1. The number of video integrations is negligible
2. No availability of pop-up functions.
3. The page faces issues related to speed and hanging often.

WISHPOND

It is a marketing and sales tool  built so that the users can easily scale a business without any extra coding. It helps build professional looking landing pages and also keeps a track of the email leads. This software is a all in one handy package.

FEATURES

• Wishpond enables you to promote your product through social media and emails by sending automated promotion emails and videos.
• It integrates with base CRMs, batchbook, campaign monitors, and several such platforms.
• It also supports online e-commerce marketing, which acts as a catalyst in affecting customer behavior and making them the prospects in no time.
• The feature of email and mobile preview helps the users to access the lead status anytime and anywhere.

PRICING

Wishpond provides three pricing plans.

1. The starting plan costs $75/month.
2. The Everything you need a plan that costs $149 /month, this is the highly preferred plan by the users as it has all the features an ideal software funnel has.
3. The Rapid growth plan costs $299/month

PROS AND CONS

• PROS

1. The tracking done by wishpond is always accurate and hence helps the businesses have closure about their customers.
2. The customer helpline team is the most supportive and quick at their service.
3. There are tutorials available on their website about how to use their software, which has proven to be helpful for several users.
4. It is very user-friendly and easy to handle.

• CONS

1. For the basic plan, the integration feature is disabled, which annoys the user at times.
2. The free version cannot be accessed by phone.
3. The CSV exports are minimal, which causes hindrance to several users.

GETRESPONSE

Getresponse is an email marketing and online campaign management software that sends product promotion emails to the desired list of customers. It includes good impacting newsletters, various videos, and images. It is a landing page creator and has hundreds of ready-to-use design templates.

 FEATURES

• There is a Preview option for email. So that you can view how the mail will appear.
• It has templates for sending mails with ease and also has an auto-response module.
• It can also import contacts from hard disks and Gmail, and other contact-saving applications.

PRICING

It has four plans

• The basic plan costs $15/month
• The plus plan costs $49/month
• The professional plan costs $99/month

PROS AND CONS

• PROS
• Campaign creation with getresponse is straightforward and the most loved feature by its users.
• The variety of beautiful templates available add on to the list
• It is considered an excellent sales funnel builder as it navigates the customers most efficiently, leading to meeting the desired goals.
• The email automation feature is a unique feature of getresponse.
• CONS
• Rejections of few commands are for no good reasons.
• The email templates don’t autosave, and hence once the data is lost, it cannot recover.
• Few times due to some error or glitch, Scheduled emails are delayed or not delivered.

KARTRA

With kartra you can host online courses, memberships. You can create newsletters and a sales funnel. It is an entirely new software in the market and has few unique features which help you handle the customer journey efficiently.

FEATURES

• It can function with external software, and it can also integrate an API
• Lead management, sales funnel, Campaigns, calendar integration, simplifies management.
• Automated Email/SMS marketing. It helps users have personalized membership portals and has immense options related to embedding videos like autoplay, social sharing, watermark building, and so on.

PRICING

The kartra software has four plans that include

• The starter plan costs $99/month
• The silver plan costs $199/month
• The gold plan costs $299/month
• The platinum plan costs $499/month

PROS AND CONS

• PROS
• The third-party app integrations prove to be very helpful.
• The analytic data is very detailed and organized
• The template design is unique.
• CONS
• The email editing option doesn’t work well and tends to get hung up quite often.
• Additional software is required while working along with kartra to get more add ons
• The customer service is not very helpful and often takes time to respond.

KEAP

With Keap, we can market by smart email marketing and manage our customers’ interactions with minimum confusion. It is mainly focused on providing a marketing platform to the new businesses.

FEATURES

• It has customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, and functions for e-commerce.
• Provides monthly reports, analyses the real-time traffic on your site, and also email automation.
• It can make segments for all the different kinds of clients, track customer interactions.
• It can use from Android and iOS devices as well.

PRICING

It has three plans that include,

• The lite plan costs $79/month
• The pro plan costs $149/month
• The max plan costs $199/month

PROS AND CONS

• PROS

1. The creation of campaigns is very easily handled here.
2. Making it available for Android and iOS makes it handy.
3. Good navigation for accessing features and applying them.

• CONS

1. The user faces difficulties at the start of using the software.
2. Initial setup is tedious and time-consuming.

CLICKFUNNELS

ClickFunnels is a website marketing funnel that delivers landing page solutions to market, sell and deliver products and services online. It focuses on startups, freelancers, etc.

FEATURES

• It helps in generating lists out of emails to gain leads on their customers.
• It lays out funnel templates like tripwires, sales letters.
• Launches a product, webinar, A/B split tests, custom domains, and related programs.

PRICING

It has two plans,

• The basic plan costs $97/month
• The platinum plan costs $297/month

PROS AND CONS

• PROS

1. User friendly and robust. And has a community that updates solutions to short-term issues.
2. It has an extensive library for tutorials which helps in coming out with almost any issue.
3. Simple to integrate external software along.

• CONS

1. It does not offer a shop builder tool.
2. It cannot access through handsets.
3. Even though there are a good set of fonts, you cannot add fonts of your own.

CONCLUSION

Hence these were the top 9 sales funnel software which are mostly used by the businesses in the market to maintain their leads.

We hope this article proved to be helpful. Please leave your reviews in the comment box.

FAQS

• Is clickfunnel good for e-commerce ?

Ans: No, click funnel does not allow any sort of integration with other e-commerce related platforms.

• Is the linking of softwares with CRMs necessary ?

Ans: It is not compulsory, but it is advisable to do so to maintain a good track about your leads.

• Why are only these nine softwares considered ideal?

Ans: The above mentioned softwares give you the most affordable plans unlike other softwares that are very expensive.

The post Top 9 Sales Funnel Tools appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Here are some of the countries where you need a VPN:

China

You may have heard of the “Great Firewall of China.” It refers to the country’s strict internet censorship. Internet censorship in China seeks to limit access to popular foreign websites and regulate domestic internet consumption. Some of the sites you cannot access in china include Google sites, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Facebook.

Although internet censorship in China has contributed to the development of a separate heavily-controlled internet ecosystem, you might need a robust VPN if you are traveling to China. You must also double-check to ensure the VPN solution will work in China.

Russia

The Russian government highly enforces internet censorship by progressively blocking sites and services it does not approve of. Sites such as LinkedIn and Telegram are blocked in the country. Although you might still use a VPN in Russia, the government is closing in with restrictive laws on VPNs, including fines for non-approved VPN providers.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia maintains a lengthy list of blocked sites, especially immoral or politically dissident sites. Saudi Arabia censors websites and services on a rotating list of sites criticizing their government. The country routes all traffic through the main hub and filters it by IP, domain, and keyword.

All international traffic is routed through King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, where inappropriate information is filtered. The country filters different topics, including pornography, drug use, gambling, criticism of the government, and LGBTQ rights.

Iran

Internet censorship in Iran has grown as more people in the country continue to access the internet. Most of the world’s popular websites are blocked in the county permanently, including Twitter, Facebook, Google, WordPress, and Twitter. Pornography and gambling sites are forbidden in the country.

In addition to blocking certain websites that do not conform to the country’s political, social, and religious ideals, Iran exercises speed throttling which ensures reduced internet access during politically uncertain periods.

VPN services are a popular way to circumvent government sponsorship in Iran, although the government sometimes blocks these VPNs.

Vietnam

Vietnam reads its internet censorship script from China with its Bamboo firewall, which censors anti-communist and any other content critical of the government. Luckily, if you are traveling to Vietnam and still want to enjoy internet access, you  can to use a robust and reliable VPN. You must ensure that the VPN you use is reliable since bypassing internet restrictions in Vietnam is a serious offense with severe consequences.

Pakistan

Pakistan exercises partial internet filtering. The Pakistani government could block certain ‘blasphemous’, religiously immoral, political, or sexual content. Social media, for instance, is restricted in Pakistan, as are sites such as YouTube and Twitter.

Using a VPN in Pakistan is crucial if you intend to have free access to the internet and protect your data. Although it is legal to use a VPN in Pakistan, the government often blocks unregistered VPN service providers.

Bypassing Internet Censorship

The freedom of speech, expression, and information may be restricted in certain countries that are intolerant of political criticism or content that violates religious or social principles. You should install a robust and reliable VPN solution before traveling to a country with internet censorship if you still want your online freedom .

Check for solutions that are proven to work for the country you are visiting to ensure you are safe. In addition to using a VPN, look at the local laws before accessing the internet from these countries.  

The post 6 Countries You Need a VPN to Bypass Censorship While Traveling on Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

An entrepreneur has to monitor the daily cash flow to make sure the business is not losing money through mismanagement or theft. They have to invest in marketing campaigns so that they can engage prospective clients. They also have to invest in employee training to improve the customer experience and boost brand loyalty. The business owner must also settle electricity bills and other office expenses. In general, a lot goes into managing a business and making it profitable. Advisors Alliance Singapore aim to the educate and bring awareness regarding financial literacy.

So, what happens after you make your first profit? You have three options:

• Invest the money
• Reinvest the profits
• Repay outstanding debts

The financial needs of your business and market conditions will determine your investment strategy. You can decide to assign distinct portions of the profit to all three options.

Repay Outstanding Debts

Repaying your debts on time improves your credit score and provides your business with a lifeline. Once you clear your loans, you can borrow again anytime you have a cash flow crisis. So, how do you decide the portion of the profit that will go to repaying debts?

First, consider the loan amount. If you can afford to repay the loan and still have some cash leftover, do it because the longer you stay with debt, the more expensive it becomes. Next, consider the loan maturity. If it’s a long-term loan with flexible payments, use a modest portion of the profits to repay the debt. Third, consider the interest rate on the loan and rate of return on investments. If the return on investments will be higher, that’s where most of the money should go.

Reinvest the Profits

When you reinvest the profits, you’re putting money back into the business to grow it. The portion that you’ll reinvest will depend on past performance. For example, if re-investing in the marketing department has always led to a satisfactory return and better performance, you can re-invest a similar or slightly larger amount this year.

Invest the Money

You can use the profits for other investments. You can diversify your company’s stock portfolio. Is there a new sector that’s emerging? The interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning has been growing. It means that stocks related to these two sectors have the potential to increase in value in the upcoming years. Therefore, you can invest in these stocks to boost your portfolio.

You can also invest in cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency exchanges like OKEx allow you to buy and sell Bitcoin, as well as all other major cryptocurrencies, directly through their platform. Just like the stock market, the idea is to buy cryptocurrencies at a low price and then sell them later at a profit.

To conclude, combining the three strategies mentioned above will help you multiply your business earnings. The portions assigned to each strategy will depend on your future cash needs. For example, if you anticipate a surge in orders over the next year, your priority should be increasing capacity and personnel. As a result, you’ll reinvest a large chunk of the profit back into the business.

The post Strategies for Investing Your Business’ Profits appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Sleep Deprived People Tend To Be Less Charismatic

To be a good leader, you need to have a certain level of charisma. Those with a higher level of charisma are more adept and getting their workers to act as a unit that is working toward a common goal. One study found that those who were sleep deprived were viewed as less charismatic than those who were allowed to sleep normally through the night. Poor sleep quality has a number of significant negative effects on daytime function. However, few studies have examined sleep quality in patients with dizziness. Do you know the common medical complaint that often puzzles doctors? Roughly 40% of individuals will seek help for this symptom a minimum of once in their lives. it’s usually the sign of a treatable condition, though occasionally it signifies a significant ill health . I’m talking about dizziness, an unpleasant symptom with one among many possible causes. As you’ll see, there are numerous reasons why you or someone you recognize could also be affected by dizziness. Treating the matter means treating the underlying condition that causes it. Familiarizing yourself with some typical causes of dizziness will assist you know what to expect once you consult your physician about this health concern. Here you can find multiple solutions to your health problems on coolsculptny.

The Most Common sort of Dizziness

The most common sort of debilitating dizziness is vertigo, or the false sensation that you simply and your surroundings are in motion. Vertigo usually originates within the internal ear , which is liable for balance and receiving sensory signals and sending them to the brain. Get that good night sleep you always wanted with the best cbd oil for anxiety and you’ll feel your mood improve to go to work.

When it involves vertigo, 25 to 40% of cases are thanks to B.P.P.V., or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Certain motions, like tilting the top back to seem up (think of sitting during a dentist’s chair), can cause otherwise harmless calcium deposits to become lodged within the internal ear , triggering B.P.P.V.

The treatment for this common sort of vertigo is surprisingly simple. It requires a series of head movements called the Epley maneuvers, which must be performed by a physician. In effect, the movements shake the calcium deposits back to an area where they will not cause trouble.

In other cases, vertigo is triggered by inflammation of the internal ear , that the cause isn’t known. presumably , it’s the results of a virus infection , which clears abreast of its own during a few days. Sometimes people that suffer from vestibular migraines experience vertigo and dizziness. The migraine makes them sensitive to motion, and vertigo can occur albeit a full-blown migraine doesn’t happen .

Other causes of vertigo are Meniere’s disease , which is treated by reducing the body’s fluid retention with diuretics or a low-sodium diet , and rare but serious neurological problems, like stroke or brain hemorrhage.

Other Reasons Your Head is Spinning

Though it’s not technically vertigo, faintness often involves similar unpleasant feelings and sensitivity to movement. It are often caused by a sudden drop by vital sign or insufficient blood flow to the guts due to heart condition , partially blocked arteries or arrhythmia.

Often, lightheadedness and dizziness occur once you get up too quickly. This phenomenon, referred to as syncope, is said to inadequate blood flow to the brain. once you get up after eating an important meal, you would possibly feel lightheaded because more blood is flowing to the gastrointestinal system than to your head.

Low blood glucose also can cause you to feel lightheaded, so it’s important to eat regular balanced meals, stay hydrated and not wait until you’re starving to possess your meal.

Dizziness is additionally a symbol of most anxiety disorders. you’ll feel this unpleasant sensation during a scare or once you are under great stress. Unfortunately many useful medications cause dizziness as a side effect. First, confirm you’re taking the right dose and if so, ask your dizziness doctor about making an adjustment to your dosage or choosing a special treatment.

In cases like these, or anytime you’ve got an attack of dizziness, herbs can help. Gingko biloba is understood to scale back symptoms. Many of my patients have also found relief with Sunergetic Products Quercetin Bromelian Supplement and ginger.

If you’ve got a history of dizziness or vertigo, you recognize it can make everyday activities difficult or maybe impossible. Working together with your doctor to uncover the explanation for your symptoms will direct you to an efficient treatment plan. albeit doctors must first do tests to rule out variety of possible causes for dizziness, their ultimate goal is to seek out the basis of the matter and obtain you on the trail to renewed health. You can also visit this Doctor’s Directory Site for more information.

Adequate Sleep Allows You to Stay In Control

One of the benefits of sleeping at least seven hours a night is that you are better able to control your emotions. This is important because your employees are not going to be enthusiastic about working with someone who belittles them or who is prone to bursts of anger. Furthermore, employees who work for a person who is stressed are more likely to be stressed themselves.

To get adequate sleep ensure you create a bedroom that is peaceful and promotes rest. Understand your sleep position and find the best mattress for your sleep behavior. Finally, create a routine that helps you wind down from a stressful day and helps your fall asleep faster. Also, Read More at gotta sleep about mattress dimensions and get the right one for you.

I was put on Ambien because of my anxiety and depression, I wasn’t able to sleep more than an hour or 2 a night. I buy Ambien 10mg and took for about a week and I had horrible indigestion the whole time and on top of that I still only slept 4-5 hours a night tops. And I have been off them for almost a week and I’m still having horrible stomach pains and possibly a swollen liver.

You Want to Set a Good Example for Your Workers

If you believe that working 18 to 20 hours a day is normal and healthy, you are more likely to expect that your people do the same thing. However, it is not normal or healthy to work so much during a day or to do so for many days in a row. By establishing a health sleep routine for yourself, it signals to others that they should also make it a point to get plenty of rest each night, in our blog vpnchef we will share with you advises for a healthy routine.

Your Employees Will Like You More

Employees who are allowed to stick to a regular sleep schedule will view you as a more charismatic leader simply because they are well rested. Therefore, they may be willing to overlook some of the pitfalls of working for you or working for the company because they want to make you happy.

All Leaders Should Strive to Get Adequate Rest

Research has clearly uncovered the link between sleep and the ability to leadership at work. Additionally, getting adequate rest can help leaders in other facets of life as well. For instance, a coach who wants to get the most out of his or her players is encouraged to make time for sleep. A teacher who wants his or her students to do well on a test should make sure that he or she is rested enough to provide the type of leadership necessary to achieve that goal.

As a leader, it is important that your people like and respect you. Otherwise, your business may fail or your boss may decide that someone else can lead your department more effectively. Ideally, you will choose to sleep in a dark room that is set to a relatively cool temperature. An eye mask can be an effective tool to help you sleep during the day if you’re required to work at night.

The post Why More Sleep May Make You A Better Boss appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

1. Don’t Be A Complainer Or Be Critical Towards Others

If you want to make friends and influence people, it’s important to be seen as a positive person, which you’re not going to do if you’re seen as a complainer or critical of others. If you do have a disagreement with someone, it’s important to try to seek common ground and resolve it as smoothly as possible. Follow Tadam black stock for more business updates.

2. Give Lots Of Praise

Giving praise is a great way to ensure that you’re well-liked, and it’s a great way to build rapport with almost anyone. Make sure that you recognize the achievements of others. Not only can this be a great way to make people feel good, but it also can be a good way to start off a conversation.

3. Always Make Sure That You Remember People’s Names

We all forget the names of people we just met at times, but not remembering someone’s name makes for a much less than ideal first impression. Remembering people’s names the first time helps to foster a stronger interpersonal connection.

4. Be Charming

Being charming comes naturally to some people, but it’s a skill that you can learn to a certain extent as well. In general, it’s important to be seen by others as a positive person, and this will not only make it easier to network but improve other areas of your life as well.

5. Have A Genuine Interest In What Other People Have To Say

In order to connect with other people, it’s important to be interested in what they have to say about their interests, careers, and other aspects of their lives. However, people are often able to sense when someone is simply pretending to be interested. Therefore, you should actually try to get interested in the things that people who you’re trying to connect with have to say.

6. Try To Find People You Have Something In Common With

In order to connect well with others and network, it’s important to make sure that you’re connecting with people who you have something in common with. Not only will this help you to connect with people, but it can also help to foster long-term connections. This can help you to network effectively for your business.

7. Stay Well-Rested

Being well-rested can make you more alert during the day, which can help you with things like remembering names, listening to others effectively, and being better at networking overall. One of the most important parts of getting a good sleep is choosing the right mattress.

8. Allow People To Feel Like They Arrived At The Correct Conclusions

Even if you played a strong role in the conclusions that people came to, allow them to feel like they arrived at the conclusion themselves. This will make people much more likely to enjoy spending time with you, which will make it easier for you to make strong connections with others.

The post How to Influence People in Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Understanding Cash Flow

There are several areas to your company’s financials, and you need to be aware of what each item represents to know if your operations and financial management are on track. Turning a profit isn’t the same thing as your cash flow. Profits are the monies you receive above the overhead costs associated with the production, sales, delivery, etc. Your cash flow is the amount of money you have in the bank at the start of the month and the money going out each month. In other words, its the flow of cash in and out of your business at any given time. If you are taking care of your payables before you have your receivables, you can get into a cash flow problem. The books say that you have made the money to pay for your debts, but the invoices on those sales are outstanding and may not be paid before the bills are due. A cash crunch can affect things like payroll obligation, paying your health or business insurance premiums, covering your vendor accounts, or utilities. Looking into a netsuite solution provider can help you with automating your books for better efficiency.

Keeping a Reserve

There are several strategies you can implement to improve your cash flow, but you should always be prepared with an emergency fund. Whether you have gone to a traditional lender for a cash influx or you pitched your business idea and practices to a venture capitalist like Mark Stevens, it is sound business practices to keep at least three to six months operating costs in the bank for emergencies. However, you don’t want to dip into this if you have long-term cash flow problems. This is where the following strategies come into play.

1. Improve Billing Practices

If your customers consistently pay past the thirty-day mark, think about offering a small discount if they are able to pay their bills before the due date. Not only does this create an incentive that energizes your customers and creates loyalty, but you also get your cash back in the bank. This is an easy way to boost your cash flow. Always send out invoices as soon as the purchase is made. This encourages more timely payments.

2. Lease Equipment

While many people feel that that leasing equipment is a more expensive option when it comes to the bottom line of your finances, the short-term benefits of saving your cash flow can be pretty convincing for leasing. Not only do you have to pay less upfront for the equipment or supplies, but you may also save on things like repair or upgrades since many vendors include those costs in the lease agreement. You are also able to count lease payments as a business expense, which can help you out around tax time.

3. Form a Co-op

If you know several other small business owners, consider banding together to form a buyer’s coop. When you pool your money and buy things in bulk, suppliers are more willing to haggle or negotiate better rates.

4. Check Your Customers

Even though you are desperate to make a sale, don’t sign on the dotted line if a customer is unable to pay in cash and you haven’t done a credit check. When a customer has poor credit, you assume a serious risk in letting go of your inventory. Your cash flow will take a hit if the customer defaults on the payments, buy isotretinoin in mexico but you also spend additional funds trying to collect on the past due amount. You can offset some of the costs by assessing a higher interest rate for customers with questionable credit.

5. Assess the Inventory

Your warehouse might be well-stocked, but if your products aren’t moving out the door, you have money sitting around on shelves. You would be better off to have a discount sale and see some return on the investment you made than to not make any money. You need to be objective with your inventory and let go of what is holding you back.

6. Pay Online

Rather than having to mail in your checks and waiting for them to clear, take advantage of online bill payment systems or automated billing centers. Pay the bills on the due date electronically, as you are giving yourself extra time waiting for cash to come in. You can also check on the grace period of credit cards, helping boost the cash flow if you hold out on your payment for an extra week.

Without strong cash flow, your business can’t survive. It doesn’t matter how profitable you might seem to be. Track your finances each week to stay on top of the data.

The post 6 Tips for a Healthy Cash Flow appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

In the past five years, more than 14.7 billion records have been lost or stolen due to data breaches.

Deploy Strong Security Technology

Cyber security needs to be a top priority in any business handling sensitive data or personally identifiable data. Traditional security such as firewalls, anti-virus software, and intrusion protection provide a base level of protection, but it’s only the start. A layered security approach using real-time monitoring and alerting is critical.

Less than 5% of the data exposed in breaches over the past five years was encrypted. Encryption done by professional IT support teams dramatically decreases your exposure from both a technical and legal standpoint. Military-grade encryption can prevent the data from being read even if cyber criminals manage to breach your systems and get it, that’s why it’s important to have managed it. If you need a new software to help you manage your data, then consider using this free nosql database.

Breaches can occur when software hasn’t been patched or updated regularly. The breach at Equifax that exposed credit card records happened when attackers exploited a known flaw in the company’s Apache-Struts web application software. The breach happened months after the software manufacturer reported the problem and offered a patch. Equifax hadn’t gotten around to installing it. If they had, the breach likely would never have happened. There are many things that you can check at melodyeotvos.

You need constant monitoring for intrusions and unusual activity.

Train Employees on Security

According to New Jersey IT services, 93% of data breaches begin with phishing attempts. Cyber criminals send legitimate-looking emails in an attempt to obtain login credentials, passwords, and sensitive information. While software solutions can help filter email phishing attempts, employees need to be trained to recognize them to avoid falling victim. You can have the best security systems, but if an employee gives up their login and password, cyber thieves may be able to bypass your security.

Your employees are your weakest links. Cloud-based storage, mobile devices, and more employees mixing company-owned and personal devices for business open up more potential access points. Employees need to know how to detect threats and avoid data leakage by using tools like ExpressVPN when connecting to any unsecured WiFi location. This can even be a threat when working from home while using some TV apps like kodi on firestick without first connecting to a VPN tool to encrypt their connection. Hackers have been known to access home networks this way.

Companies should have clearly defined security policies.

Maintain Strict Compliance

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) governs security protocols and standards for anyone handling credit card information, including use and access. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulates access to personally-identifiable health and medical records.  Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) deals with controls on financial data by corporations.

There may be additional standards within your particular industry. Compliance may include security measures and reporting, but each sets measurable standards for protection, for this, we highly recommend using it consulting services.

Pay Attention To Emerging Regulations

“Security breaches are bad enough, especially if your company handles patient information. Handling of this data is regulated by the federal government, so to avoid them you should trust this data to Medical Coding Solutions help to prevent breaches of sensitive information. New privacy laws are increasing the responsibilities for data protection and increasing the penalties for when breaches happen. In some cases, they mandate pro-active actions you must take to ensure security and actions you must take immediately on discovery of a breach.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted in the European Union impact companies located in the EU as well as companies doing business with EU residents. Several U.S. companies have already been fined for failing to comply with strict regulations on privacy and data protection.

California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides additional consumer protection and privacy rights. It takes effect in 2020.

New legislation is being proposed regularly that makes the penalties for non-compliance high and may affect your IT policies, procedures, and staffing.

Conduct Security Audits

According to New Jersey IT support, it’s important to regularly stress tests your systems. At a minimum, you should conduct security audits to make sure you are maintaining your established level of protection. Many companies conduct penetration tests with outside agencies to find weaknesses in their security.

Other companies use security audits in their training by identifying weaknesses and putting their team through the paces to identify and fix security threats while managing the business impact.

Develop A Disaster Response Plan

Every company that handles sensitive data or personally identifiable data needs to have a pre-established data breach response plan as per the experts on managed it services over the world. Roles and responsibilities should be spelled out in case you ever have to manage a breach.

It should include all levels of company management and not just IT professionals. In addition to repairing the damage to your systems, you also need people that will be responsible for managing your company’s reputation and business impacts.

This plan may be part of complying with regulations. It’s part of the GDPR, which has formal procedures you will need to enact within 72 hours of detecting a breach. This includes notifying the appropriate government authorities and informing all of those affected.

The post IT Management Best Practices to Protect Your Business from Data Breaches appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Over the last two decades, the VoIP industry has matured greatly. Today, VoIP service providers offer businesses unmatched agility.

As engineers improve on voice services technology, entrepreneurs continue to reap ever-increasing benefits. As a business owner, VoIP technology enables you to operate like a corporate giant – without paying giant corporate rates.

Reimagining Business Communications

Because VoIP technology does not rely on a fixed phone line, they give companies the ability to support remote teams around the clock and around the world. Employees can use VoIP services to fulfill their roles using any capable and compatible device.

Typically, VoIP vendors provide apps that allow companies to set up extensions wherever they’re needed. VoIP apps enable remote workers to access essential functions via their mobile devices, allowing them to do more, whether they’re in their home office or out courting clients.

As more enterprises embrace the remote workforce business model, VoIP technology will become an essential tool for remaining competitive.

Shortly, VoIP teleworker companies will use artificial intelligence to perform heuristic scanning that eliminates poor call quality. Resultantly, small business owners can expect that every call routed through their VoIP phone system will sound crystal clear and professional, even when workers are in the field.

The Best Is Yet to Come

Already, technology firms are building the infrastructure for the 5G mobile network. The technology promises to deliver speeds ten times faster than the current 4G standard. A faster network will result in markedly improved call quality.

The new 5G standard promises to empower the remote workforce with more flexibility than ever before. The increased speed will mitigate issues such as echoes, jitter and packet loss. Also, remote workers will have the ability to transfer large files or participate in video conferences, whether they’re in their office or the field.

Today, VoIP service providers make it easier than ever to equip your remote workforce with powerful communications tools. In a matter of days, you can have your entire remote team up, running and ready to do business.

Your Tools, Your Way

VoIP telephony gives you the freedom to make administrative changes on the fly. With a few clicks, you can reconfigure your network to manage resources efficiently. Furthermore, you can seamlessly upscale as your business grows.

It also enables you to pick and choose the tools needed to manage your company’s communications. Most importantly, VoIP technology enables you to unify messaging platforms, such as voice services, video and texting.

Technology enables you to do marvelous things. You can, for example, deploy voice and chatbots to handle common customer inquiries, leaving customer service representatives free to handle complex issues. A combination of the right technologies will enable you to boost your customer service resolution rate and reduce the time that CSRs spend on mundane, repetitive tasks.

Analysts forecast that VoIP technology will soon send landlines the way of Ma Bell. By taking advantage of this cost-effective service, you can future-proof your business with enterprise-grade communications.

The post How Your Business Can Leverage VoIP to Grow appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

However, there are alternatives. Types of Loans You Can Get with Bad Credit: Although there are more borrowing options for people with bad or no credit, two main options to consider are personal loans and payday loans. Personal Loans – Many online lenders offer unsecured personal loans for people with a bad credit score. These loans are easy to take out and require a soft credit check that doesn’t affect your credit score.

Look over these common reasons to take out a loan for your business. A bit of insight can help you determine whether or not this is the right fit for your goals.

Time To Grow

After your business has been in operation for a few years, you may wish to expand. Growth can be an excellent way to take your company to the next level. To see success, you can’t just rush into things. Careful planning involves assessing your finances and making projections on how much it will cost to boost your company’s reach. Not only do you need to cover your operational costs, but you also need extra funds for expansion efforts. In a majority of cases, business owners look toward financing options in order to cover the expenses related to growth.

There are many ways to grow your business including digital marketing, since marketing is really useful now a days, in this modern age the internet marketing revolutionized the world, and the online marketing ease the marketing needs and many online marketing tool, e.g Ahres, Buzsumo, MailChimp, sentence rewriter by SEOToolsCentre and Semrush are some most popular handy tools to over come your work. So whether you are purchasing real estate to open a second location or need to hire additional employees to meet new demands, you need money to make your goals into a reality. A loan can provide you with the temporary funding you need to help your business see success as it moves to the next phase of its existence.

Equipment

Growing your business is one way a loan can help, but you don’t always need to be involved in a larger project to benefit from financing. In many cases, some extra cash can help you improve your current operations. Your company most likely relies on a few key pieces of equipment in order to operate. If it has been a few years since you invested in this machinery, then it might be a good time to start looking at making a few upgrades. Since new tech can be expensive, taking out a loan may be a perfect solution.

Exploring your financing options can provide you with the insight you need. In order to upgrade to new equipment that will last you for many years into the future, you require access to cash. A loan with a fast application process can help you understand your eligibility right away and introduce you to a range of helpful financing options. Investing in new equipment is a surefire way to improve the way your business delivers its services to consumers.

Capital Considerations

Business owners need to take time now and again to assess the working capital of their companies. Available capital helps you cover the costs associated with running your business, ranging from payroll to ordering inventory. Unfortunately, there are a number of circumstances that can inhibit cash flow and cause your available capital to vanish. When this happens, you may not be able to cover the vital expenses involved with operating your business. A loan could be the right solution when you need to boost your capital to stay afloat.

There does not need to be a pressing issue for you to think about increasing your capital. Some business owners will explore financing options in order to expand the capital they currently have access to. Increasing your cash flow can help you take on extra projects that may help you improve your capabilities. A loan can help you tackle important repairs needed to make your workspace safer or upgrade to new software to increase company efficiency. As long as you have a plan for paying back the funds, this financing idea can be a helpful way of getting ahead, you can learn more about no credit check loans in our site.

Marketing

In the age of the internet, marketing is everything. A clever campaign implemented over an array of mediums can be a fantastic way to draw consumer attention to your establishment. Of course, these efforts do not come cheap. In order to get your message out to potential customers through social media, email, and traditional advertising methods, you need cash. A loan can provide you with funds that you can use to cover the expenses of future marketing endeavors. Investing money in the right campaigns can yield excellent returns for your company down the line.

In order for your business to stay successful, it can be beneficial to think about how some extra cash might be able to help your situation. Whether you are looking to invest in new equipment, expand your reach, or improve your access to working capital, the right financing may be able to assist you with your goals.

The post Common Reasons To Consider a Loan for Your Small Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Benefits of a Good Credit Score

One of the most common reasons people look up their credit report is to understand their credit rating. A great rating has several advantages. For example, you may notice improvements on most types of insurance, such as lower rates on key man, auto, and life insurance.

With a strong credit rating, insurers are likely to see you as low risk and if you want to compare car loans and are looking to buy a car then it will help you secure a better rate. Another benefit of having a good report is that getting a loan for your business or even lower rates on your merchant processor.

Factors That Affect Your Credit Score

There are three familiar credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Although the agencies gather roughly the same type of information, there are important differences. The influence of each agency varies from location to location. They also use different calculation models to determine your credit score. This means that a score from Experian won’t necessarily match the score from TransUnion. In general, however, factors such as the amount of credit owed, the limit on open credit cards, the number of credit applications on your history, the number of late payments, and bankruptcies all affect your score. If your business is ever on the verge of bankruptcy, then consider learning more about chapter 7 bankruptcy to get some financial help.

Access Your Free Report

If you understand how your score is calculated and know how to read the rest of your report, you can take steps to improve your score and your financial situation in general. For example, each of the credit reporting agencies offers services that help consumers improve how they manage their credit. The first step is accessing your report. A 2003 federal law requires that each of the three major credit bureaus provide you with a free annual credit report. You can request a report from one or all three credit agencies. With the report in hand, you’re ready to make improvements to your finances.

Recognize the Differences Between Reports

A consumer credit report from Experian is pretty easy to read. Each section is clearly labeled and comes with explanations of the information provided. If you request a copy from TransUnion, you can read through it with the help of an online, interactive guide that walks you through each section of the report.

Equifax organizes their report in groupings of open and closed accounts rather than in a monthly format. The Equifax format helps you quickly recognize old information versus new or current information. As you read through the reports, you may prefer one format over another. Employers and landlords may also have favorites. As you work on improving your credit, use all three to get as much information as you can and to watch for signs of identity theft.

Recognize the Similarities

The three agencies have many differences, but there are some important similarities, as well. Every bureau, for instance, gathers personal information including your name, date of birth, current address, and the name of your employer. They access account summaries from your creditors and read through public records to factor in any bankruptcies or judgments against you. They also obtain credit checks and inquiries from creditors. Although the agencies are searching for the same information, some lenders only share information with one or two of the agencies. As you read through your own reports, make sure you fill in any gaps.

Review the Report for Mistakes

It’s very important that you read through your reports, looking for mistakes, watching out for suspicious activity, and making sure your credit history is accurate.

• Review your personal information and make sure there aren’t mistakes or misspellings. If any of the information is incorrect, it won’t hurt your credit score, but you should correct it. Read this section to be sure the credit report is talking about you and not another person.
• Read through your credit summary. This section outlines the types of accounts you have (often listing current and closed accounts.) Make sure it accurately describes mortgages, credit cards, lines of credit, automobile loans, school loans, collection actions, and other miscellaneous accounts. It will also mention inquiries made against your credit for the past two years.
• Study the account history and make sure you recognize each creditor and type of account. You should see information about how much your monthly payment is, what the existing balance is, what the credit limit is, whether you have anything past due, and even remarks made by creditors.

For some consumers, getting a credit report card and reading through it is a strong motivation to make improvements.

Improve Your Credit

As you become familiar with your report and take advantages of available resources, the process of improving your score should seem pretty simple. One of the most important steps is to make all payments on time, especially your mortgage payments, and pay them in full. Next, begin reducing the amount of debt you owe. Finally, don’t apply for new credit cards or use existing accounts. This will help you obtain debt relief faster and assist in improving your credit score sooner.

In today’s market, you need to have a credit history. Use reports from credit bureaus and online resources to make sure your history has a positive effect on your life. If your score isn’t where you want it to be, check out a credit report card that breaks down your debts and gives specific advice about how to improve your score.

Sometimes improve your credit becomes a challenge and there is no way to recover from this, as a result the only viable option is bankruptcy.

The post How Online Credit Tools Can Help Your Funding Chances appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Below are hints to assist you in how much you’ll need to finance your app project.

Setting up a budget for specific costs

Unless you have a specific development team who has a chart breakdown, it’s best to create your own. App costs can range from $10,000 for offline standalone apps to $500,000 or more for enterprise apps. Hence, your budget should be flexible for the type of app you want. You might want to allocate about 60 percent for development and quality assurance (QA) and 15 percent for project management. Set aside about 15 percent for user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) and 10 percent for business analytics.

Allocating enough money for labor costs, coding and UI/UX

Your materials and labor costs are primary expenses with app development. Labor rates can vary depending on the development team you hire. If you can, find developers and designers under the same parent company to lower costs. Ensure they are familiar with the app preference you want and that they work on that type of UI/UX. Depending on your app features, your labor costs might be high and you might have a large team. You may need business analysts, backend developers and UI/UX engineers. You will also have a project manager, mobile developers and a QA engineer. Projected costs might range from $2,000 – $60,000. Once you have your app set up, you might want to use Apica Systems to make sure it is running smoothly.

Including project management and business analysis costs

To help with market analysis, research and documentation, you’ll need about $1,200 – $11,000. You also have to determine if your app will run on iOS, Android or both. Consider where your target audience is when making your choice. With your project management, set aside $1,200 – $12,000 depending on your app features. Your PM can help with account management, business analysis, QA and concepts. They’re also there to assist with digital project management and design.

Adding in expenses for maintenance and updates and specific app related costs

Another area to set aside money is for covering maintenance and updates. Depending on if you use iOS or Android, maintenance might run anywhere from $10,000 – $14,000 every year. There are additional costs you should factor in.

These might include:

• Server components that will work with your mobile app through APIs. These might cost between $6,500 – $30,000.

• Any features you offer with the app like navigation, OCR, QR codes or integrated payments. These can run about $3,000 for a single feature.

• Analytics that you include to gauge revenue, user payments, user characteristics or user actions. These can add on another $2,500.

• Adding in third-party chats from software development kits (SDKs). These can cost $2,500. If you use custom chat modules, these might run $15,000 or higher.

While app costs can vary, having a budget can help. Hire the best developers and designers and look for ways to calculate app design costs. That way you can allocate money where you need it to ensure the success of your app project.

The post How Much Does it Cost to Create an App? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Congrats!

However, scaling up an eCommerce company isn’t just about bringing in new business. One of the most challenging aspects of starting a business is setting it up so we highly recommend a very good company formation service in the UK as they take care of most of that hassle, leaving you to focus on the much more important parts. Yes, that’s the foundation of growth, but how you handle that growth is a big determining factor in your online business’ success. You will definitely get succeeded in online business with smart efforts and guides. Your operations are what sets well run businesses apart from those who fail to reach their full potential.

For a small business, managing orders, inventory, and fulfillment manually might have been a reasonable place to start.

As your business scales and becomes more complex to keep up with your customers’ demands, you’ll have to consider many more moving parts to ensure that you’re growing profitably and sustainably.

Nowadays internet is essential for your business to grow, but sometimes running a company is really stressful, then if you are far too busy with your business there are also some great services that can save you a great deal of time and one of those are quality virtual office services where they deal with your business telephone calls and lots more and so take a lot of work away from you which is really useful.

For example, is your backend processes optimized for efficiency so you’re not paying a large overhead on labor-intensive tasks that can easily be automated?

Do you have full visibility into your inventory, so you know exactly what products to stock, when to reorder, and make sure you have a healthy cash flow to support your expansion?

Are you putting the right measures in place to minimize delays, bottlenecks, and errors in your workflows?

If you have worked hard creating the perfect ecommerce website and gone through the maze of PPC, social media advertising and more, then you might be relieved to know there are people are out there who want to help you sell your product. Welcome to the world of affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is well loved by entrepreneurs and small and big businesses around the world because there is simply no risk. Essentially you can have as many sales people as you can find, all working on commission. You don’t pay them a thing until they make a sale, so you just give them a percentage of money you may well have never seen without them.

You can work on a percentage of sales or a commission fee on each sale. The terms and conditions are up to you; just make sure you give the kind of incentive that makes them work hard on your behalf.

Some of the platforms to consider

If you are prepared to part with a substantial amount of your profit and concentrate on volume, then you might want to consider the biggest retailer in the world: Amazon. It’s more of a partnership than a straightforward affiliate deal and Amazon like their pound of flesh, so check the figures carefully before committing to it. For online retailers, though, working with Amazon can be the kickstart you need to take your product into the mainstream and you’ll be amazed at some of the things Amazon sell.
CJ Affiliate is another one to consider and you can sell everything, from information products to real, physical things, through a network of more than 3000 partners. Formerly Commission Junction, CJ Affiliate takes care of all the reporting side and will organise the sales for you.

Rauten Linkshare is another one that is simpler and can be useful for affiliates that want to link to specific products from articles and sales pages.

There are costs with these platforms but, plain and simply, they will be worth it.

Always work on affiliates

Never stop working on your affiliate marketing programme either. You’ll learn valuable lessons along the way and it’s simple good business to keep speculating and mining new prospects. Adopt the same approach to your affiliate marketing programme as you do chasing new customers yourself. Really treat your affiliates like customers and you will find they will work harder on your behalf. For the best wealthy affiliate review, do visit.

So devote some of your content marketing to searching for new affiliates, make sure you promote your offers hard through the marketing communities and let them find you. Stay active in affiliate marketing groups and forums and you will find a lot of people willing to do the heavy lifting for you. It might feel like you do not have time to truly chase these people when you are doing your own marketing, but you simply have to make the time. If you have an army of people selling for you, then you will enjoy the full benefits of passive income and you can even throttle back on your own efforts. You shouldn’t, but you can. There is a whole industry in affiliate marketing where those who believe they can do a good job of internet marketing, but don’t have a product to sell, sell products and services for other companies. You can make the most of this by assembling an arsenal of sales staff, providing you get the deal right and make your product a strong seller for your affiliates, learn how to easily manage affiliates.

Treat affiliates like customers

However, don’t just search for the right people; make sure that your affiliate programme is set up correctly. If you have a landing page that collects their email address then make sure they receive a professional looking double opt-in confirmation with the help of an email provider like Aweber or Mailchimp. Then send them a welcome email, show them how well your programme works, include testimonials from your leading partners and give them links that show the affiliate programme in action.

Create a marketing funnel, complete with follow-up emails. Affiliate marketers are flighty and their attention span is short, so make sure you keep in touch with them automatically, and make sure you give them every chance and every reason to sign up. Then keep them there with constant communication, success stories from other affiliates and new offers they can push to their crowd.

Be available, too; give your affiliates a phone number they can reach you at, as well as your social media contacts. For one thing it reassures them they are dealing with real people and for another it will allow them to get to you directly and deal with issues without going public and causing you problems.

Here are five key strategies for scaling up your eCommerce company while minimizing the growing pain:

1. Prevent Cash Flow Challenges Caused By Stockouts, Overstocks, And Backorders

Inventory control is often a Goldilocks situation… if you have too much stock, you’re holding up cash flow and limiting your ability to invest in products that sells. On the other hand, if you run out of stock, you’re losing out on sales and missing out on revenues.

To prevent inventory issues, set strict reorder points to indicate the exact moment when you’ll need to order new stock for each item in your eCommerce store.

A reorder point should take into account the typical lead-time for placing an order, processing payments, and have the items ready in the warehouse for fulfillment. Also, set aside an emergency stock to cover sudden changes in demand, which shouldn’t be counted when setting the reorder point.

Good inventory control is the key to healthy cash flow and maximizing sales so you can fuel growth where it matters most. You can use an inventory management software application to get real-time updates into the movement of all your products.

When you have visibility into your stock at all times, you can better control your inventory. For example, you can sell against incoming stock by launching a special eCommerce sales promotion to generate additional cash flow.

An inventory control system can also help you manage multiple online channels for your eCommerce business (e.g., Shopify inventory management, Amazon) so you can coordinate inventory without the risk of running out of stock and missing out on sales.

It can also give you the necessary information to respond to market demand, move stock, and increase cash flow by using merchandising techniques such as bundles, mystery boxes, pre-orders, and loyalty programs.

2. Increase Efficiency, Reduce Delays, And Minimize Errors With Automation

There are many moving parts in the supply chain and as your eCommerce company grows, the complexity of these processes will increase exponentially. Tedious and repetitive tasks that are labor-intensive will become more costly as your business expands.

Handling OMS processes manually (e.g., order splitting, backorder management, order import, and shipping updates) can create bottlenecks and unnecessary delays in the workflows, which could have a domino effect on other aspects of your operation.

Not to mention, many of these tasks are prone to human errors (e.g., re-keying information from one system to another or moving paperwork from one department to the next) and inconsistency can cause delays and confusion.

Consolidating all the processes onto a single platform that handles omnichannel order management and automates the workflows can help you minimize inefficiency, delays, and errors.

Some key automation functions that can help streamline operations and increase efficiencies include order splitting, pre-order or backorder management, returns management, e-invoicing, and order routing.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that automation technology is only as good as the workflow you’re automating. If a workflow isn’t optimized, you’re just making an inefficient process happen faster!

To maximize the ROI on automation, you should first audit your current processes and then optimize and standardize the workflows to make sure that when you scale up, you aren’t multiplying any inefficiency that’s inherent in the processes.

3. Test New Items With Pre-ordering

Scaling up takes some trial-and-error and introducing new products to the market can open up opportunities for growth. Yet, the last thing you want is to stock up on a new item only to find out that it’s not what your customers want.

Not only will you suffer a loss and hold up cash flow, but the excess inventory will also take up resources in other areas such as warehousing.

To minimize risk and plan for inventory, you can explore the market and test out new product ideas by preselling an MVP (minimum viable product.) It’ll help you find out how much inventory you’ll need and get a gauge on future potential sales so you can plan for cash flow.

To make the most of your MVP launch, create a dedicated product page and position the promotion as exclusion access for existing customers or a limited time/quantity offer to generate buzz and build brand awareness.

In addition, you can use the opportunity to test the supply chain and collect data on the various fulfillment and logistics operations so you can optimize the workflow before automating the order management process in the future.

4. Focus On Products With High Margins

As you grow your eCommerce company, you’ll need more stock to fulfill increasing orders. However, that also means the inventory will cost more money, which could put you in a bind if you don’t yet have the cash flow to sustain the volume.

As such, you need to plan your product selection strategically to focus on selling differentiated items that have profit margins instead of commodity products that have low margins. This will allow you to generate more profits, which you can invest in higher inventory levels to scale up.

In today’s competitive market, guesswork is no longer enough. In order to identify the most profitable products to carry, you need to understand the market demand and find out what’s most appealing to your customers.

Then, you can make data-driven decisions based on information from a variety of sources to optimize your profits. However, gathering information from across the organization can be a time-consuming and cumbersome task.

You can use a centralized platform with a robust reporting and analytics feature, which can help you break down silos, minimize bottleneck, and consolidate data from various teams (e.g., accounting, operation, and sales) to make informed decisions.

In addition, it helps you minimize errors caused by importing and exporting files, transferring money, or manually re-keying information. You can bridge knowledge gaps and empower your team to make sound decisions in a timely manner based on real-time analytics and insights. If you ever have trouble transferring money, then consider contacting this money transfer service.

5. Optimize Fulfillment To Improve Customer Experience

Since it costs more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones, the ability to build a customer base that’d buy from you repeatedly is the key to sustainable and profitable growth.

Besides the many ways to improve the customer experience at the front-end, such as a streamlined checkout process or better customer service, you should also make sure that the backend processes are supporting a great customer experience.

If customers aren’t getting their order fast enough or delivered on time, they’re not going to have a satisfactory experience that’ll keep them coming back.

Therefore, making sure that your fulfillment and logistics operations are as efficient as possible can help delight and retain more loyal customers – giving you a strong foundation to expand your eCommerce company.

Automation can help you streamline time-consuming tasks, such as order splitting, warehouse routing, and shipment updates so you can improve efficiency while making sure that your customers are getting their orders as quickly as possible.

To facilitate shipment and delivery, use an order management platform that gives you full visibility into the fulfillment process and allows you complete control over logistics – even when outsourcing to 3PLs.

With the ability to control when and how orders ship, you can reduce mis-ships and improve delivery times. You can also provide better customer communications and post-sales customer service (e.g., real-time order status) to improve customer experience.

Tools like StichLabs’ fulfillment and logistics solution also enables you to leverage pre-built integrations and 3PL partner network to expand shipping coverage. It allows you to serve more customers without the added overhead so you can scale up more quickly.

Conclusion

As your eCommerce company expands, your inventory and order management system needs to grow in tandem to handle the increasingly complex processes associated with higher volume, wider product selection, and a more complex supply chain.

Consolidating as much as of your operation management onto a single platform and using automation technology to streamline workflows will help you improve efficiency, lower cost, minimize human errors, and improve the customer experience so you can scale up sustainably.

The post Growing Your eCommerce Business Through Optimization appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

This quest eventually resulted in the emergence of the Lean methodology. Now, continuous integration (CI) is the methodology that’s emerging as a champion among DevOps teams. The method encompasses developers working on a small piece of code and pushing them to market as deliverable as soon as they’re complete.

What Is Continuous Integration?

Historically, programmers toiled away in seclusion, working on large chunks of code and adding their work to the central repository once they’ve completed their task. The method made it much more challenging to merge substantial changes into the main program. Even worse, the code typically contained many bugs that weren’t apparent until the programmer merged the new work with the main project.

In the broadest definition, CI is the routine integration of small changes in code into a primary repository. Using the method, developers test code early, frequently and often.

Continuous integration does not eliminate bugs. However, it does help programmers find them remarkably faster. Also, with a CI pipeline in place, developers can produce deliverables quickly.

Making the Case for Continuous Integration

Using continuous integration methodology, software developers endlessly process, test and upload changes and code additions. Programmers save their work in a central repository that’s accessible to all team members. This way, all personnel have access to the latest version of code. By centralizing the storing and sharing of code, software development firms reduce the common errors that occur when many team members work on different versions of the same product.

Continuous integration is the first half of the continuous delivery cycle. By combining continuous integration with continuous delivery (CD) programmers streamline overall workflow, enabling them to deliver high-quality updates and programs faster. Enterprises that deploy both continuous integration and continuous delivery enjoy notable improvements in performance.

The CI/CD pipeline enables developers to quickly create business solutions that empower employees to meet corporate goals. The methodology ensures the release of reliable, top-notch software. Furthermore, the CI/CD pipeline reduces costs, labor, errors, outages and downtime.

Companies that deploy continuous integration and delivery can leverage the increased functionality of the method to deliver enhanced products and services. Resultantly, these firms gain an advantage in a highly competitive market.

Continuous Integration in Action

On a typical day at a software development firm that leverages the CI/CD pipeline, a developer might write a new feature or fix a bug, then push the updated code to the centralized repository. The repository would then run an automated integration test and notify stakeholders if there are any bugs or other quality concerns. As Jeremiah Small, Director of Engineering at Soliant Consulting, points out, “This empowers the development team to identify and fix bugs more quickly, because the changes tend to be more incremental and less complex than they would be with less frequent integration.”

After the review, and a final sign off by programmers, the code would move to the central repository. Meanwhile, feature development and bug fixes will continue. This process will repeat several times a day.

The CI/CD pipeline is especially beneficial for large teams. The method makes the most of many programmers working on small tasks. The difference is that all changes remain in sync. CI/CD methodology delivers on the concept of large teams working together to achieve a common goal.

Continuous integration/continuous delivery is an effective method for creating both internal and external resources. Companies of all sizes can benefit by embracing the philosophy.

A CI/CD pipeline can give any firm the ability to move nimbly and quickly while delivering high-quality goods and services. Today, continuous integration and continuous delivery are the latest tools that forward-thinking leaders use to outdo the competition.

The post Why So Many Businesses Are Implementing Continuous Integration appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

According to the Brevet Group, 87% of customers believe salespeople don’t understand their needs. That’s why it’s critical to spend more time understanding the customer than educating them on your product or service. Most customers do their homework, anyway, and won’t even reach out until they’re ready to buy.

In today’s uber-competitive sales landscape, one wrong move can blow a sale. To help you close more deals, we’ve put together a list of three of the biggest sales mistakes.

  1. Not following up

A study by sales training company RAIN Group says it takes an average of eight contacts to get a meeting with a prospect. Every missed follow-up means you are handing sales to the competition.

The key to smart and effective follow-up are to be consistent and relevant.  Keeping up with prospects can be tough, and it is easy to let leads fall through the cracks, but fortunately technology can help. Email-based automation applications like Mixmax help sales teams stay on top of their prospects by using automation to enrich the customer experience, not degrade the customer experience. For example, you can create a series of emails that includes personalized videos and polls (which make it easy for prospects to respond), that make it easy for you to both automate your follow-up process and to personalize your message so you can stay on top of warm leads and make them feel important.

By creating email rules and sequences, email automation can do the bulk of the hard work. For example, you can create a series of emails for new customers that have never heard of your service. Over 3 or 4 short emails, directly state different ways your product helps them. Then, automate! The emails can be automatically sent every 5-7 days and can be automatically synced to your CRM. You can even create rules so if one of those contacts signs up for your services, the emails will automatically stop once the CRM is updated.  You can also pull in fields from your CRM that will populate as variables in your emails. For example you can use variables like first name, company, industry in your email.

  2. Being too pushy

While it’s true that following up is necessary, no one likes an aggressive sales person.

Once your customer understands what you have to offer, don’t keep pestering them to make a decision. It’s important to ask for the sale, but a better tactic is to stay in touch and offer valuable free resources.

When you’re dealing with high-dollar products and services, the sales cycle is longer and more people are involved in the decision. According to The Harvard Business Review, over six people are involved in B2B sales decisions. Account-based marketing strategies are a better approach here.

Here are some easy ways to provide value to your prospects through email:

• Send a whitepaper

• Invite the prospect to a free webinar (teach them to do something and spend less than five minutes asking for a sale)

• Provide a link to an article of interest

  3. Talking More Than Listening

A study of 25,537 B2B sales calls conducted by HubSpot revealed that reps that spend less than 40% of a call talking won more deals.

Naturally, you’re enthusiastic about what your company has to offer. But not every prospect is a fit. If you charge through a conversation without determining a prospect’s needs, you’ll blow the sale.

  Wrapping it Up

When you’re approaching a potential customer, it’s easy to lose focus on what’s important. Good salespeople understand it’s not about making your quota or the potential revenue you’ll bring to your company.

The easiest way to get a leg up on the competition is to treat each customer like they’re your only customer. Listen first and don’t make assumptions. Ask questions if their needs are unclear. Take the time to build genuine relationships and stop worrying about the sale.

Don’t underestimate the power of personal connection in a sales situation. The best salespeople understand the importance of placing people over profits.

The post 3 Common Mistakes That Lose The Sale appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

In order for businesses to thrive, staying relevant in the online space is a necessity. Boring sites with straightforward features aren’t cutting it anymore, so if you’re noticing a downward trend in analytics across the board, here are 10 indicators that a redesign could mean a boon in your business:

1. The Proof is In the Data

It’s easy to get swept up in the hopes of success, but one indicator that never lies about your progress is the data behind it. Your user data and analytics show you precisely where your business stands in the eyes of customers, and quite often, it lends insight into where improvements can be made.

For example, researching your site metrics may reveal that sales have reduced, conversions are stagnant, bounce rates are too quick, and overall site views are diminishing regularly. Of course, there’s always the possibility that your products and services aren’t performing well to a targeted audience, but in most cases, consumers are turned off by some flaw in your site’s experience. Keep in mind, recognizing a drop-off doesn’t necessarily mean rearranging your entire look, but it sets a priority of finding design flaws and reshaping the way you interact with visitors.

2. Your Site Rankings are Low

Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t just a tool for promoting blog posts or articles. Your website copy, landing pages, pillar pages, and overall design play a pivotal role in determining your site’s search rankings, so if you’re not appearing on the first or second page of a Google search, something’s wrong.

Even if it’s not the overall look of your website, aspects of it must be tailored to provide a fluid layout with optimized SEO descriptions that boost search results. Not to mention, websites that perform the best have a combination of qualities that search engines recognize, such as speedy loading times, high quality content, optimized images, blogs, external links, and infographics. It’s a combination of design strategies that contribute to a positive ranking, and since 93% of online user activities begin with a search engine, developing a high ranking is a direct lead to greater conversions.

3. It’s Unfriendly to Mobile Devices

Research shows that consumers spend 60% of their time on mobile devices compared to 40% on desktops, which means that if your site isn’t mobile friendly, you’re instantly cutting off 20% of a potential customer base. Additional stats from CIODive in 2018 claim that nearly 70% of all web traffic happens on mobile devices, and since smartphones have become the new connectivity norm to a wide range of demographics, your business can’t afford to miss out on traffic because of a clunky design.

Creating a mobile friendly version of your site is quite simple in comparison to developing the main platform. Depending on what host service you use, default and custom templates automatically allow for easy customization for mobile devices, like optimization for different screen sizes, accessibility of photos and videos, dropdown menus for quick links, and buttons to prompt the user to navigate to the full website. Hiring an outside developer to do this for you may be a bit trickier and costly, but someone experienced should have no problem designing an interface that’s both desktop and mobile ready.

4. You’re Past the 3-Year Mark

Consumer habits and trends change at the drop of a hat, and what’s popular or standard one day is sure to become a legacy strategy the next. With that mind, the design of your website is just as susceptible to change at a blazing speed.

Industry norms call for a website redesign every three years. Doing this ensures a competitive edge with fresh startups and major companies that have dedicated teams to consistently update content and features on a regular basis. In most cases, sites that are low-performing do so because their experience is out of touch with mainstream directions. E-commerce abilities are always being updated, SEO keywords are being developed and put to use, and technology itself is dictated by a cyclical time frame that you have no choice but to keep pace with. Altogether, the three year mark is a good place to assess the relevancy of your site and make any necessary changes.

5. The Site is Debt-ridden

Much like how an old appliance needs constant repair to stay in operation, at some point your website becomes too much of a liability with outstanding debts and too many band-aids to replace. At the end of the day, performing minor repairs on a daily or weekly basis comes with exorbitant costs, and rather than keeping a developer on retainer, it’s more practical to scrap the original and start fresh with a new design.

In many ways, performing a complete relaunch of your website is liberating and makes the most financial sense. Sure, you could tackle small problems and chip away at debt-ridden fixes and patches to your tech and UX features, but starting over from scratch allows you to take all the mistakes from your first pass and develop them into long-term strategies that drive profits. In addition, a redesign allows for the implementation of new SEO practices, seamless navigation, minimalism for landing pages and a refocusing of primary drivers, as opposed to pages that are only adding to bounce rates.

6. Downtime and Glitches are Rampant

Have you ever visited a webpage only to see the dreaded “404” error page pop up? Well, when customers see this on your site, it’s a major disservice to your brand. In your defense, it’s not something you plan to happen, but when it does, it represents a critical design flaw or issue in your site that needs to be addressed.

Your site’s credibility is at stake when downtime and glitches run rampant in your UX. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as unscheduled server maintenance, issues with coding, corrupted packets and files, DDOS attacks, or bandwidth limitations that cause slower load times. No matter what the interruption may be, customers are quick to deem your site as unreliable, which means less traffic and less conversions. To make matters worse, studies show that even 5 extra seconds of load time (let alone broken page links) increase bounce rates by 20%, so a redesign could be just the thing you need to straighten out the misconnections.

7. Your Current Design is Out of Touch

Customers have an expectation in mind when they visit a company’s site. An experience that’s modern, fluid, and captivating is what reels them in, so you can imagine how off-putting a site can be with a design that’s out of touch with current trends. Website design trends for 2019 call for minimal interfaces, homepage background videos, black and white color palettes, and glitch art.

A great way to assess your site’s relevancy is to compare it with popular brands who produce tons of regular traffic. For instance, check out Apple’s layout and take note of how well it engages users with quality images and simple navigation bars. Products are displayed in crisp images and bold price points. The rule-of-thirds concept is put to use with wide graphics clean copy. Even Amazon conveys a strategic layout despite selling thousands of products and services. Their homepage displays a limited amount of items in large, clickable photos and copy is restricted to one or two-word labels. Bombarding the homescreen with too many pages and clutter is a byproduct of outdated design strategies, so investigate how you can clean up your UX and get consumers to the heart of your brand.

8. Social Media isn’t Incorporated

Your website serves as a foundation for users to take advantage of direct resources, but relying on it as a primary driver means that your cutting out an enormous pool of potential customers who spend their time surfing various social platforms.

Reports from Brandwatch show that over 3 billion people are active on social media, averaging over 5 accounts for each person. Each day, users spend roughly 116 minutes checking Facebook, posting on Instagram, researching Pinterest recipes, or tweeting about the latest current event. Needless to say, businesses need to market other platforms from their site and encourage visitors to follow them in order to generate growth. Diversifying content creates opportunities for interactive campaigns and building brand culture and awareness. However, some sites don’t carry the latest functionality to promote social channels to a wider audience, which is a mistake. A redesign that incorporates social icons to other platforms and allows visitors to share content to their platform of choice is a necessity that’s well worth the investment.

9. You Don’t Have Access to Your Site’s Design

Although you may not have the wherewithal to relaunch a site from head to toe, having the ability to make quick changes or updates is essential to knowing your brand and maintaining consistent viewership. With that in mind, if you’re kept in the dark about your site’s progress by the hands of a developer, it may be time to rethink your overall design.

Every business, to some degree, should have access to their site’s backend functionality. Whether it’s yourself or a dedicated team member who monitors site activity, having the ability to log in and know the basic inner workings of your design elements reinforces your efficiency to communicate with consumers in a timely manner. It gives you better access to track what changes should be made, offers insights into valuable user metrics compiled by the service provider, and helps you create ideas for what can be developed in the future. A quality developer includes you in the design process and gives you the tools to be in the driver’s seat, rather than you sitting in the back, unable to choose the destination.

10. Your Brand Identity has Changed

Nothing affects a company more than time itself, and after years of trial and error, your brand may take on a new identity that’s not represented by your current web design. Anytime a shift happens in your overall business model, it’s important to share that transformation with users. Whether it’s new packaging design or a new feature, get the message out there as soon as possible.

You don’t want your website to cause confusion about what your primary goals are, especially if you’re adapting to new models and new demands. By aligning the ways your brand identity has evolved, you can express those changes with a brand designer and launch a fresh web design that showcases your main drivers. In the end, you’ll maintain existing clientele with engaging innovations and convert new visitors to dedicated customers.

Change is a Good Thing

Although it may seem a bit overwhelming, adopting a new design is a way for your business to stay competitive in a shifting market.

As consumers gain more information and generate expectations for certain products and services, providing them with a UX that piques their interest and promotes their lifestyle is what leads to higher conversions. Maintaining outdated designs do the opposite.

The post 10 Indicators a Redesign Could Mean a Boon in Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Its initial purpose was to serve as a workaround to the costs associated with long-distance and international calls.

Although it was still in its very new, experimental stages in the seventies, many felt it was the start of something new, different, innovative, and, at the time, extremely futuristic.

And it was. Heck, it still is, as some people refer to it as one of the 20th-century breakthrough technologies.

Its popularity is on the rise and as it grows more people want to know which are the 5 Best VoIP Apps for iOS and Android devices.

What Is VoIP?

Even with some type of voip systems being around for nearly fifty-years, not everyone is familiar with the term, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), nevertheless, people are using it, they just know it.

Not realizing the association business voip services have with a variety of apps used today, it is often recognized by another name.

If you are an avid Internet user, then chances are, you are among those already using sms solutions for small business.

Whenever you use an app or the internet to make a phone call or text from your computer or mobile device and are not required to use your actual phone number, then you are using, commercial voip phone lines.

A category of hardware and software, VoIP, is similar to that of a phone system.

It takes the audio and analog signals, we make and hear during phone calls, and turns them into small packets of digital data.

As phones traditionally use telephone wires to transmit the audio, VoIP transfers the packets of data, using the Internet, instead.

Why Use VoIP?

There are many benefits to using VoIP, instead of the conventional phone system we grew up with, as it gives people a lot more options.

There are a variety of ways we choose to communicate with one another, and one popular method is the sending of texts or SMS messages.

Over the last decade, the number of text messages sent has increased 7,000%, and in 2018, over 560 Billion text messages were transmitted every month.

That is equivalent to eighty SMS messages being sent out by every person on earth.

It is clear, we are texting with each other at skyrocketing rates, which cannot be done as regularly from a landline phone, or without the right equipment, and phone services are not always dependable.

VoIP offers both, businesses and individuals the option to go beyond making calls and provides the ability to text whenever and wherever there is an Internet connection, either through WiFi or by using data.

It enables you to chat for longer and to feel more secure in knowing your messages are being sent, instantly, as expected.

Additional benefits of using VoIP, include,

Portability: Using any broadband connection, VoIP offers the comfort and convenience that comes with portability. As long as you have an internet connection, you can make phone calls, send texts, and SMS messages, from anywhere in the world.

Multi-Functional: Not only does VoIP offer you the ability to make calls and send messages, to stay in contact with people while on the go, but you can also choose to use it for video conferencing and business meetings.

Flexibility: Companies and individuals can still make regular phone calls with a VoIP system. You are also able to assign VoIP phone numbers to those who travel often. Ultimately, it gives you the flexibility you want when communicating with others, without limitations.

The most significant VoIP benefit is the amount of savings that can come by using it across your devices.

As VoIP turns your Internet connection into a system where you can place free or low-cost phone calls, texts, and SMS messages, it can end up saving you and your company a lot of money.

Due to VoIP already using your internet, you do not need to pay the additional costs that come with having a landline system.

Just imagine the number of dollars you can save from switching your mobile device or employee smartphones, from using a phone system to a VoIP one, instead.

Who Uses VoIP?

Just about everyone.

It is a growing industry, and a recent report forecasts that the number of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscribers will increase to approximately $204.8 billion by 2020.

More and more businesses and individuals choose to use VoIP as a way to communicate with colleagues, team members, employees, employers, clients, family, and friends.

As communication is a major contributing factor to the success of every relationship and business, choosing the best app for interacting with others is more important now, than ever before.

As a business, if you decide to use a phone system to communicate internally and with clients at your company, it is essential to consider the recent rise of remote workers, which may make you want to rethink using VoIP.

In 2018, a Gallup study found, 43% of U.S. employees work at least some of the time remotely, and this number continues to grow each day.

As an individual, the website, Flipsy, calculated how your smartphone services can have a significant impact on your financial future.

Based on current unlimited plans, you can expect to spend around $80 per month, which is a grand total of $57,600 over sixty years.

Before making your next call, from your Apple or Android device, first, learn which VoIP apps are the best, to ensure you choose the one that will reduce costs and meet your communication needs.

List Of The 5 Best VoIP Apps for iOS and Android

As the VoIP industry grows, so does the number of Apps for it, but that does not mean all are equal, in quality or the services they provide.

It all depends on you.

1. Nextiva – iOS and Android App

Nextiva is a VoIP App that lets you and your business stay connected to your customers, employees, and partners, directly from your variety of devices, the best part is that they also offer full user’s security.

No matter where your employees are, whether they are in the office or traveling for a work conference, with Nextiva, you can offer a seamless communication experience to clients.

They are able to do what they typically do on their computers, using their mobile phones and tablets, with the Nextiva App.

Offering businesses the ability to efficiently manage unified communications, the Nextiva App, provides features that let you take your business world, around the world, without creating disruptions.

With the Nextiva App, you will never be out-of-the-loop, again.

Its features allow you to use video, voice, screen sharing, video conferencing, chat rooms, cloud sync, instant messaging, and many other useful services.

You can choose to use the VoIP App with one device or create an account to manage your communications across multiple devices, like your tablet, desktop, laptop, and smartphones.

The Nextiva App is currently available for iOS and Android platforms.

2. Viber – iOS and Android App

Viber is a VoIP App much like other online Messenger apps and chat-like boxes, as it lets you make international calls, send text messages, and create group chats.

Express yourself with the GIFs and stickers the Viber Messenger App includes, to add a different element to your conversations.

The App allows you to fully sync it to multiple devices to see all of your old and on-going messages and previous phone calls.

Keeping you organized.

You can also sync contacts from your address book to stay connected with all your friends and family members.

The Viber Messenger App is currently available for iOS and Android platforms.

3. Skype – iOS and Android App

Skype is a VoIP App that specializes in providing video chat and voice calls for Skype-to-Skype users, on multiple devices.

Depending on your purpose, businesses and individuals can choose to communicate between computers, tablets, mobile devices, Xbox One console, smartwatches, and Alexa, by using an Internet connection.

Skype provides instant messaging services where users can share, upload, and download text, files, clips, videos, audio, and images.

It offers a version of its App for Businesses through the use of the software by Microsoft, its parent company, Office 365.

The Skype App is currently available for iOS and Android platforms.

4. Talkatone – iOS and Android App

Talkatone is a VoIP App, which allows you to call via your smartphone and other devices.

You can also text others, as both use WiFi or a data connection without using cell minutes.

You can choose to eliminate the costs associated with having a landline phone and can make inexpensive international calls, as Talkatone can be your home and mobile communication provider.

The App is great for those who often experience poor phone reception or visit places that do.

However, if the internet service works well, you are still able to make calls, as well as, send and receive text messages, for that is all it requires.

The Talkatone App is currently available for iOS and Android platforms.

5. Nimbuzz Messenger App – iOS and Android App

Nimbuzz Messenger is a VoIP App that is relatively new to Google Play, for Android users and is only available on the App Store for iOS devices.

It can be used to make calls, chat rooms, private chats, video calls, and to share files across all of your devices.

Connect your address book contacts to communicate with those you have established relationships with already.

Nimbuzz Messenger also offers sticker packs, chat buddies, and the sharing of music files.

The Nimbuzz Messenger App is currently available for iOS and Android platforms.

Choosing to use VoIP Apps on your iOS or Android devices, is a smart choice as it allows you to easily communicate at work and home, with friends and family members, without high costs or conversation breakdowns.

Whether you are a business or individual, you must choose the best VoIP App for your phone and for you.

The post 5 Best VoIP Apps for iOS and Android appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The best and brightest don’t let themselves get bogged down in admin tasks like reading and answering emails or scheduling meetings. They put technology to work for them and automate the tasks that eat away at precious minutes that could be better spent.

What’s their secret? Having the right tools.

By using software to automate tedious tasks that don’t directly impact their bottom line, they can focus more on closing more deals.

Here are five tools you can use to help you be more productive and become a sales superstar.

  Automation Apps to Increase Productivity

  1. Docusign

Getting everyone together to sign a contract can be difficult. When multiple people need to review and sign documents to start work, Docusign makes it easy. Simply create and upload your documents, then send to everyone that needs to review and sign. Esignatures are legally binding, and everyone gets a signed copy when the process is complete. Integrates with popular software including Salesforce and Google.

  2. Calendly

Tired of the back-and-forth when trying to schedule meetings with a prospect? Calendly lets you provide a link to make scheduling a breeze. Your potential client or client can pick a time from the open slots and include relevant details. Integrates with various calendar apps so no one misses an appointment.

  3. Mixmax

Email makes it easy to stay in touch, but keeping up with it can be impossible. Mixmax is a Gmail-based productivity tool that allows you to outsmart your quota by enhancing, automating, personalizing the email communications required to build your sales pipeline.

Features include:

• Email Tracking: Check and see when and who opens your emails.

• One-Click Scheduling: Share availability instantly.

• Automated Follow-ups: Create templates and automated drip campaigns.

• CRM Integrations: Update information instantly in Salesforce and LinkedIn SalesNavigator.

• Workflow: Automate manual tasks that take away your focus from engaging customers.

  4. IFTTT

IFTTT is automation software on steroids. The best part? It’s free! Your imagination is the only limit to what IFTTT can do. The software uses “recipes” to automate tasks and connect your apps and devices.

Though the learning curve is steep, once you understand how to create your own recipes you can automate everything from work to pizza delivery.

Sample recipes for sales pros include:

• Add new Google Contacts to a Google Sheet to track sales leads

• Get a text when an opportunity is closed and won in Salesforce

• Mute your android phone ringtone at a certain time of the day

  5. RescueTime

We all have the same amount of hours in the day. It’s how we use them that makes the difference. While not technically an automation tool, RescueTime automatically tracks how you spend your time on your phone and computer throughout the day. Once you know where your day is going, you can make a plan to cut out those tasks which are eating into your productivity.

  Take Back Your Time With These Tools

Your productivity (or lack of) is on you. By using the tools mentioned above, you’ll be able to save time on email, paperwork, and everything in between.

Start by learning where you’re wasting the most time. Then give these tools a spin and you’ll find out just how easy it is to squeeze value out of every moment of the day.

The post 5 Automation Tools That Will Improve Office Productivity appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Conversely, one terrible review can cost you valuable business and damage your brand’s credibility.

In light of this, we’ve got some surefire advice on how to handle any negative reviews published about your company.

Let’s dive in!

Respond Publicly to Bad Reviews

First and foremost, you need to be monitoring your company online for any reviews that customer publish. Tools like PowerReviews, allow you to automate the monitoring and collecting of your reviews online.

If you receive a poor review, you need to respond publicly.

As you construct a response, ensure you address the issue in a way that remains professional. Ideally, you want to provide a resolution so that other prospects can see how effectively you handle customer complaints. Needless to say, keeping your cool always creates a better impression than losing your temper.

If you feel the comment was particularly unjust, take an hour or so to cool off, and then compose a friendly response. Trust us; you’ll be thankful you did. Fighting fire with fire when it comes to customer relations never pays off.

You should also provide an email address or phone number so that if the customer wants to discuss the issue further, they have the option of doing so offline.

Top Tip: Publish your response as quickly as possible- the online world never sleeps, so a quick acknowledgment is expected. Plus, a speedy reply helps to ensure the situation doesn’t spiral as more and more prospects read the unsavory review.

Lastly, if your company was at fault, be sure to apologize. Do NOT shirk responsibility or try and blame the customer. This never comes across well. Instead, show you take responsibility and that you’re keen to make things right. Consumers appreciate this and are far more likely to respect your brand because of it.

If you’re unsure how to respond, here’s a quick template you can edit:

“Hello [insert the name of the customer],

Thank you so much for your feedback. Here at [insert the name of your business], we take customer complaints extremely seriously. We’re sorry about [insert their complaint] To try and make things right we would like to [insert resolution]. Would you mind contacting us on [insert contact details] so we can find out a little more about how things went wrong?

Best Wishes,
[Insert the name of your company]”

Make Necessary Improvements

If the same negative comments are surfacing time and again, then you need to make a change.

Go through your reviews and compile a list of all the negative comments you’ve received. Then call a team meeting to discuss how as a brand you can tackle these issues. This is essential for ensuring the same problem doesn’t repeat itself.

Not to mention, when you make the necessary improvements you show customers you care about their concerns and want to provide a premium user experience. This is imperative for rebuilding trust with disgruntled customers.

Follow Up

Now you’ve addressed their complaint; you need to follow up with them and find out whether they’re satisfied with the way things were resolved.

Shoot over a private message, and if possible offer a discount or freebie to try and smooth things over. This highlights that their opinion is valued and that you’ve taken their feedback seriously.

Showing genuine concern in your follow up message increases the likelihood of the customer giving your brand another try. Who knows? Perhaps they’ll even delete or update the negative review they published?

Top Tip: If you’ve apologized and rectified the issue, there’s nothing wrong with asking the customer to erase their negative comments. On the whole, people don’t usually mind doing this once there query is resolved.

Stay Vigilant

The best course of action is to avoid negative reviews in the first place. To do this, businesses need to meet and exceed customer expectations. One of the biggest pet peeves of most customers is when a business doesn’t keep their word.

For a service based business this could be as small as not showing up on time or as big as not living up to the agreed upon work. Whether you’re a web design firm or a home service business, exceeding customer expectations can lead from a first time customers to repeat business and referrals.

To help businesses execute this goal they turn to technology. For example, home service software companies, like ServiceTitan, help create a seamless customer experience by communicating with customers at every step of the process. From automatically rerouting the closest technicians for on-time appointments to texting customers ahead of time with the name, picture and bio of the technician doing the work.

Top Tip: Stay ahead of the online review curve by heading off potentially negative review before they happen. Using your customer service or field representatives as your front lines is a great way to deal with reviews.

Final Thoughts

Receiving negative reviews about your brand can be heartbreaking. It can be tough to handle when you spend so much of your time and effort building growing your business. So much so, that some business owners forget these reviews aren’t personal attacks.

Instead, it’s important to try and see them as opportunities to improve business operations and to learn more about what your customers really want.

If you follow the above advice and respond appropriately by committing to solving the customers’ concerns, there’s a good chance you’ll rekindle the relationship while demonstrating to prospects how professionally you handle customer complaints- win-win!

The post How Your Business Can Deal with Negative Online Reviews appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

In fact, 43% of cyber-attacks target small business purposely.

That means that small businesses need to prepare for the threats on the horizon. Cyber security is no joke, and it’s not something that comes with little consequences, that’s why it’s important to have cyber intelligence training in your security systems.

60% of small businesses close up shop within six months of a cyber-attack. That’s thanks to a detrimental loss of data, revenue, resources, and reputation.

Here are 5 tips from the experts to protect your data, secure your servers and promote safety across the web.

Hiring a private investigator Columbia SC can help your business with a full range of technical and surveillance equipment, including specialized cameras, audio equipment, GPS tracking devices and counter-surveillance detection equipment.

5 Quick Tips to Boost Your Small Business Cyber Security Plan

1. Educate All Employees on Cyber Security Threats and Best Practices

The first thing your business needs to do is educate your employees. These are the individuals that will be working on your network and exposing your data to threat. Therefore, they need to know what to do and what not to do.

For example, not everyone knows the difference between malware and ransomware. So you need to educate them.

This ensures that everyone on the team is on the same page and is moving towards the same goal of data protection.

2. Always Use a VPN — And Make Sure Employees are Too

Another best practice to follow — both for small businesses and large corporations — is the use of a virtual private network (VPN), if you still do not have one visit this page https://gizlilikveguvenlik.com/, this is a secure channel or network used to promote private, protected internet access. This encrypted tunnel secures your data and interactions online, making it impossible for hackers to decode and gain access.

As BestVPN.com President, Peter Zaborszky, explains, “Once they [hackers] get hold of your personal information, they stand to make money by selling your personal information to such as passwords, bank account numbers, and any other personal information you may harbor in your device. A more dedicated hacker may decide to use your personal information to gain access to your client’s network, damaging your reputation.”

Everyone should use a VPN. This way, you have less to worry about when it comes to external threats because no one can trace it back to you.

3. Monitor and Restrict Software and Hardware Usage

One in four data breaches comes from an internal threat.

Therefore, it’s important that you keep a close eye on the websites your employees visit as well as the software they download and use.

The best way to control these factors is to limit your employees’ ability to alter, download or use certain hardware and software by accident or on purpose.

4. Back Up Your Data

A smart habit to start getting into as a small business is backing up your data. There are many platforms and services available today that let you backup your data to an external drive, the cloud or another storage device.

This is important — because if you’re attacked, you can’t risk the time, energy and resources required to get all of that information back.

The best part about these data backup services is that they don’t just back up data — but customizations, functionalities, operating systems and more. If you need Security Training on this page you can learn how to become a licensed Security Officer, Aviation Protection Officer, Private Investigator, move up to security supervising, tackle cyber security threats, or specialize in government operations.

So you can get back up and running as if nothing happened.

5. Invest in Antivirus and Anti-malware Software

This one really is a no-brainer. The first thing your business should do is integrate antivirus and anti-malware software onto all devices — computers, tablets, smartphones and beyond.

Hackers can gain access to all kinds of devices these days — including smart TVs and voice-controlled systems. That’s why you need a first line of defense.

The Importance of Cyber Security in a Digital Age

Cyber criminals aren’t going away, and neither are the methods they use to destroy your business.

Luckily, these tips will put brands on the path to cyber security success.

The post 5 Small Business Cyber Security Tips from the Experts appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Desktop management, which is one of the components of systems management, can be particularly challenging without a formal IT service desk. In a modern IT infrastructure, it includes not only supporting desktops, but other computing devices such as laptops, servers, and mobile devices.  But for most IT pros in a small organization, supporting end-users can take a variable amount of time, with some tasks easy and quick to address and other tasks requiring a deep dive.

To focus IT department’s time on critical work, some small businesses have tried a different approach: empowering end-users to take matters into their own hands. As a result, their employees have had to spend time fixing their own computers instead of working on their own tasks. Rarely does this approach work.  For one thing, non-IT team members don’t have the same training and may take longer to solve technical problems. Further, from a security perspective, it is never a good idea to grant admin rights or privileged access to all end-users as it exposes the systems to exploitable vulnerabilities on a massive scale.

So how do you support your IT infrastructure with minimal disruption to the end-users, your IT team or your business? The answer is simple, WorkPal is a job management solution that streamlines your business operations, implement remote support best practice and leverage remote access technology.

Avoiding Desktop Management Pitfalls

Efficient desktop management means keeping the focus on both reducing time-to-resolution (a measurement of the time it takes to fix a technical issue) and increasing first-time-resolution (the ability to fix an issue the first time around), you can approach this like you would when using active directory tools to speed your process. Thus, it is important to understand which factors create friction within IT management processes and how they can be eliminated.

1. Asking End-Users to Provide Technical Information

If you ever worked at an IT service desk and you had to ask your end-users to find their computer name, their IP address, or the version of a software they are using, you must know how difficult it is for them to get it right on the first try.

The truth is that more often than not, end-users are confused about where to find that type of information on their computer. This can be a source of frustration on both ends – and this process is more time consuming than what is necessary.

2. Systematic Use of Remote Control to Fix an Issue

Remote control software is popular among IT pros. As its name suggests, it is a tool that allows an IT professional to take control of a host machine’s desktop, keyboard, and mouse from a remote location. When a technician initiates a remote control session, the end-user usually has to sit idly and cannot do any work until the session is over.

While remote control was once the only option, remote support software feature sets have come a long way, and nowadays there are a lot more tools available for troubleshooting and performing systems management tasks, including some that will minimize end-user interruption.

3. Juggling Too Many Tools

Support technicians usually have to perform different types of systems management tasks to re-mediate an issue or close a ticket. If they have to use one tool for troubleshooting, one for Active Directory management, another one to repair a software or dispatch an update, It makes their job more tedious.

4. Siloed Techs With Not Enough Cross Training

Some organizations silo their techs by specific job functions. There is a person in charge of active directory management and another takes care of software deployment or systems updates. While it is important to have a person in charge of overseeing those areas of IT management, he or she shouldn’t be the only one allowed to perform such tasks. He or she should delegate the basic work to the other members of the IT team. Otherwise, solving a simple ticket requires to involve too many technicians. This will greatly increase the time-to-resolution. Obviously, delegation without proper training doesn’t make sense either. But there must be a happy middle.

How Remote IT Support Software Simplifies Remote Desktop Management 

One of the benefits of remote support software is that it greatly reduces the frictions between tech staff and end-users, improves their productivity without jeopardizing security.  Furthermore, It aligns with a more modern and fluid method of providing IT support by leveraging data.

The right remote support software makes accessing a computer and troubleshooting a lot easier. There is no more asking an end-user for his or her computer name or IP address. The more advanced platforms provide a search tool that detects the user logged-in workstation in real-time. A good IT software will have a User Interface that provides a 360-degree view of the end-user IT profile, including details about hardware, systems, Active Directory, software, along with performance statistics such as CPU and memory usage.

Remote support software should also feature background system management tools, which enable a technician to troubleshoot or work on a computer behind-the-scenes without having recourse to a remote control session.

Most remote support platforms now consolidate a broad tool-set that can be used to manage, users, systems, devices, Active Directory, patches, and software. They are a great alternative for IT departments who are currently using a series of fragmented tools.

Finally, the top remote support software features a more advanced remote control. They usually include a set of collaborative tools, so a console operator can invite other technicians to join a session and collaborate on resolution.

IT Process Automation: Streamline Desktop Management & Keep Infrastructure Clean

Taking it a step further, automation of IT support processes can significantly streamline desktop management and maintain a more up-to-date and secure IT infrastructure.

It does this in the following ways:

• Keeping systems up-to-date through regular patching.
• Automating user provisioning and de-provisioning.
• Monitoring compliance and quickly detecting problems and issues.
• Tracking inventory to better manage the asset life cycle.

The best thing about it is that those automations run in the background.

Desktop Management Does Not Need Have to Be a Nightmare

For small businesses struggling with tech support challenges, a better solution may be available. It may require a small investment in remote IT support technology, but they are guaranteed to see a ROI in the form of increased productivity and security.

The post How Remote Access Software Creates Value for a Small IT Team Managing a Modern Infrastructure appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

With the rise of alternate communication platforms such as social media and business messaging apps such as Slack, business communication is evolving quickly.

Along with these new technological developments, people’s expectations are continually rising. To better engage your customers, you need to leverage the latest in email technologies such as personalization and artificial intelligence (AI).

But what should you focus on? Where should you place your bets when it comes to your email technology strategy?

Trends That Are Changing Email Now and for the Future

Don’t worry – email itself is not going away any time soon. If you have an existing email list for your business, and you get a good response rate from it, you are using email well. But consider the following as an upgrade to your email strategy:

1. Personalization (Within Reason) and AI

Personalization these days is critical in cultivating and retaining customers. Using metrics, analytics, and AI, you can deliver exactly the kind of emails your customers are looking for.

For example, email marketing software company, Campaign Monitor, offers marketers a way to personalize email content dynamically based on how they engage with each email. For example, email workflows can be created that send emails to each individual subscriber based on what video they view or link they click on from a previous email. This ensures that subsequent emails are tailored to each subscriber based on their interests.

There is a fine line, however, between using personal information about a customer to deliver them the information and content they want and violating their privacy. So, be careful with your personalization and consider making it opt-in.

2. Include Rich Media In Email

For the small business looking to win a new client, one great new technology to consider can turn your email into a presentation device.

Mixmax, a productivity platform , makes it easy to embed rich media in emails. For example, using  Mixmax you can put a slideshow presentation, PDF, video calendar or even poll directly into an email, making the content more engaging for your audience.  Embedding rich media makes your email stand out in a crowd and also makes it easier for the recipient to respond, meaning you are likely to get more responses.

If you look down the line, you can see how this technology could end up making each email into a potential channel of its own, delivering content by putting it right in front of the user in their inbox.

3. Group Messaging

We mentioned Slack already, and if you don’t know what that is, check it out. It’s just one solution for business teams who want to work together through an integrated messaging app. Rather than using a group email, you can log in to Slack to check messages from other employees and join topical discussions.

Keep Up with the Changing Face of Email Technology

Email will still exist in some form for the foreseeable future. However, you can also count on new developments in email and personal and group messaging to change and grow as time goes on. For your business to remain competitive in this dynamic environment, make sure you keep up with the latest news and trends in email technology. You will be ahead of the game and better able to serve your customers well in the long run.

The post 3 Ways Technology Is Changing the Face of Email Forever appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

An army of consultants, freelancers, and temporary staffers, they could represent at least 75 million workers in the U.S., with the power to make serious changes in the ways businesses work.

How Gig Economics Reconfigures Relationships

Gig workers, who have the option of working from home or working for multiple companies at once, often acquire broad skillsets that allow them to work faster — and more intelligently — across departments and channels.

For employers, the opportunity to hire gig workers on an as-needed basis allows them to reduce redundancy rates, healthcare costs, and facility overhead without compromising service.

In fact, smart businesses can capitalize on multi-talented gig workers to increase their range of services, all without the risk of overstaffing.

But there are issues.

In order to cement a reliable workforce, businesses must learn to foster loyalty among freelancers who have the choice to work for anyone, keep ahead of changes in platforms, and embrace a new kind of flexibility.

3 Ways Businesses Must Change to Take Advantage of the Gig Market

There are many things businesses must rework, revise, and reconfigure to make capitalizing on the gig economy not just feasible — but profitable.

Let’s explore some of the most impactful strategies businesses can use right now to increase their utilization of this burgeoning market.

1. Develop Strong Relationships

To capitalize on freelance talent, businesses must learn to foster real relationships with their gig workers.

Keeping them engaged is one way to increase loyalty and help freelancers feel like part of the corporate culture.

Businesses should include gig employees in engagement campaigns, corporate communications, and company milestones, with an emphasis on celebrating successes.

To avoid the frustration that often develops between geographically widespread employees, companies must develop clear channels of communications along with easy-to-use platforms for assignments, and most importantly, pay.

2. Implement Intuitive — and Reliable — Pay Platforms

Pay is a critical touchpoint for freelancers. In fact, 74% of freelancers in a recent research survey indicated they would have, or already have, dropped a marketplace due to a payment issue.

And losing freelancers is a kind of churn businesses can’t afford.

Even though you’re saving money on health care and benefit costs with freelancers, you have appreciable expenditures in onboarding, training, and continuity.

Losing a valuable asset after the onboarding and training process is wasted money that can be retained using the proper, flexible, transparent pay platform.

3. Use Online Talent Platforms Wisely

Online talent platforms like Upwork, Monster, and LinkedIn can effectively connect talent with opportunities.

But it’s not just about hiring. Companies can not only recruit from these platforms, but motivate and improve productivity once new freelancers start work.

A McKinsey study estimates that using platforms in this way can increase company output by up to 9%, while reducing recruiting and human resources costs by 7%.

Pivoting to Join the Gig Economy

With the pool of diverse, renewable talent sources growing, it would be a mistake not to opt in to the multi-faceted world of gig economics.

Smart businesses will find intuitive ways to cultivate relationships with their best freelancers.

Providing extensive onboarding and inclusion methods, swift and transparent pay platforms, and using proper motivation through buy accutane in thailand recommendations on online talent platforms are all sound strategies for fostering freelancer loyalty.

As the gig market continues to grow, businesses must be flexible and willing to face the challenges that multiple hiring platforms, long-distance workers, and changing technology bring to the hiring table.

The post 3 Ways the Gig Economy is Changing the Way We All Do Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.