Thomas, Author at Successful Blog Page

What Must Change About Your Website?

April 15, 2016 by Thomas

How would you rank your business website when it comes to effectiveness and winning over current and potential customers?

In answering that question, think about the time and money you have sunk into your site, whether you are a long-time business or one of the new kids on the block.

Remember, your website is oftentimes the first contact between your brand and the public, so you want to make sure you get off on the right foot with consumers.

Many Eyes Are Watching

Start and end the website review process by looking at the following:

Look – Are you happy with the appearance of your company site? If not, what needs to change about it? While the content of your site is also of utmost importance, the look of the site can’t be neglected. Give consumers reasons to not only want to visit your site, but refer it to their friends and family. If you are a little short in experience and/or time when it comes to finding the right imagery and/or infographics, hire someone that can handle those tasks. You may decide (depending on the size of your business) to do the hiring within, though outsourcing such needs is always an option too. Lastly, the site’s appearance should not remain stagnant for months-on-end. Updating the site, giving it a refreshing look from time to time etc. will always prove to be necessary tasks;
Content – What kinds of content you place on your website also will have a major impact on dictating exactly how much business comes your direction. It is important that your content (notably what runs on your company blog) is not canned material, but has real meaning to it. The content should be useful to consumers, especially those considering your products and/or services. Give them something they’re not going to find anywhere else; meaning your business will be the source (notably your website) they come to. Also be sure that your content helps improve your search engine ranking (see more below) if you are currently struggling with this. Where you rank (most notably on Google) should always be a priority with your business website initiatives;
Ranking – Speaking a moment ago about where you rank on Google, do you take the time to check such numbers regularly? If not, it is something you should include in your regular plans. When you put a number of pieces in play – content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media (see more below) – you have a great opportunity to improve upon where you rank on sites such as Google and even Bing. Also avoid some of the ways that ranking can be damaged. These include practices such as duplicate copy on your site, updating your site infrequently, being viewed as a spammer and more. At the end of the day, you want your brand at or near the top when consumers do searches for your product or service, be it home/life/health/auto insurance, divorce attorneys, Texas license plate lookup, furnishings for your home, rental cars/hotels/flights and so much more ;
Socializing – As great as your business website may be, what if basically no one knows about it? If you think that isn’t possible, think again. You need to have a solid social media component to your website’s marketing plans. This means being active on at least what are generally regarded as the top sites – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. You can’t be all things to all people, but you do need to push your social media agenda as much as possible. One important aspect of doing such is sharing what others in the business community have to say about your respective industry etc. When you share what others are saying in their blog posts and more, they tend to want to do the same for you. By doing so, you’re getting your website out in front of countless eyes, some you may never have even known or thought about.

If you’re perfectly happy with your website, that is fine.

The hunch is, however, that there are one or more things on the site that you can do better.

Ask yourself, is it time for a change?

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.

Make It Your Business to Get All Available Deductions

April 13, 2016 by Thomas

Running your own business comes when joys and heartaches. The key is to avoid too much of the latter.

With that being the case, recording and paying taxes as a business owner can be one of life’s biggest headaches.

If you’re self-employed and have no employees under you, life is much easier when it comes to your tax responsibilities.

On the other side, making sure you take the right amount of money out for employees and meeting your other tax responsibilities as a business owner, well, it can sometimes seem downright taxing.

Don’t Make Running a Business Taxing

In running your own business, be sure that you not only are meeting all your tax requirements, but that you are receiving the deductions entitled to you.

For those individuals working out of their homes full-time, there are myriad of deductions one qualifies for, though many oftentimes forget or quite frankly do not know what is and isn’t acceptable to the IRS.

If you’re one of those self-employed folks working out of a private residence, note the following:

Your home is deductible…. up to a point – Working out of your home does allow for some deductions, but don’t expect to cover the entire residence from top to bottom. If you set aside a room etc. as your work area, you can use that as a deduction (estimate the square footage involved). What you can’t do is try and deduct the entire residence;
Your home office supplies – Assuming that your business needs office supplies, those can be used as deductions. Make sure you save the receipts for items you purchase. If you end up getting a new computer, fax machine, printer or other such office item, you can also deduct those. The key is always to save the paperwork from such purchases, especially if you need to show at a later date that you did in fact buy such items;
Your client meetings – When you mix and mingle with clients, you can deduct such meetings (that is up to a point). Meals and mileage to and from such meetings is fine, but don’t try and deduct a gift you may have bought them etc. Stretching things too far could run you the risk of an IRS audit, so it is definitely in your best interests to record and be honest about your deductions. If you do have legal questions or in fact do get audited, a New York tax attorney or one closer to you can assist you with how to proceed;
Your health insurance – Unless you have been under a rock for the last three or so years, you know about the governmental requirement that the majority of Americans be covered by health insurance. As a result, make sure you not only have coverage, but look to see if you are eligible for a tax credit. The whole idea behind Obamacare was to make health insurance affordable for the majority of the country. When it comes to medical items, you also can deduct a portion of your doctor visits (including mileage to and from) and prescriptions or other such purchases;
Your retirement planning – If you are wise, you have been putting away money over the years for retirement. In doing so, you are planning for that day and time when you will not be working, most likely getting by on Social Security income. Whether you have an IRA or other such retirement vehicle, try and contribute as much as possible to it yearly. This then allows you to record deductions from the money you put into the plan. While there are caps on how much individuals may invest in their retirement portfolios, doing it now and getting the deductions makes it well worth it.

When it comes to doing your taxes as a self-employed business owner, they don’t have to seem as frightening as they might first appear.

Getting organized now, keeping all your necessary receipts, and knowing who to turn to in the event of a dispute and/or audit, can make all the difference in the world.

If doing your taxes seems a bit taxing to you, put organization and the help of others to work for you.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes about business topics on the web.

Picture More Business When You Use Video

April 6, 2016 by Thomas

How often does your brand turn to video in order to spread its message?

If the answer is infrequently or even never, then you definitely might want to reconsider such thoughts.

When it comes right down to it, video can do myriad of positive things for your brand.

So, are you ready to give it a try?

Put Your Brand in a Positive Light

Start by looking at what resources you will need to put together not just one, but a series of videos tied to your brand.

One of the necessary resources will of course be someone to shoot the production. The question then is, do you do it in-house or do you outsource such needs to providers like a video production Orlando and others in the business?

If you opt for the first choice, you can save your business some money. In the event you want to outsource the video needs, while you will be spending additional money, you stand a better chance of getting a higher quality video production. That is unless of course you have hired someone (or even a team) of video production experts.

From there, you need to determine what your video message will say.

You may opt to make it rather simple, touting your product or service as the best one out there for the consumer.

On the other hand, you may choose to profile your company itself, including your team of employees.

Lastly, you might go in the direction of a video that demonstrates current happenings in your respective industry.

Whatever the choice may be; put 100 percent time and effort behind it, knowing that you are giving your brand a chance to shine in front of countless eyes.

Another important piece of the puzzle is how you can set your video/videos apart from the competition.

Differentiate Your Brand from the Competition

With more businesses turning to videos these days, it is important in your particular industry that you differentiate your brand from others.

You can do that by not only featuring your product or service, but also one or more of your employees.

Face it; your business probably doesn’t have the depth or financial pockets to go the direction of some more famous brands such as Progressive, AT&T, KFC and others, all of which generally have one character playing the lead role time and time again. That respective character ultimately comes into so many homes (commercials, magazines etc.) that they become a household fixture (at least their image does).

So, how best to feature one or more of your staff and still drive your brand’s message home?

Make sure you have someone on your team that is not only personable, but comfortable in front of a camera.

You probably know as well as anyone else that not everyone in your office is cool and collected when asked to perform in front of others, be it a talk or even a commercial.

Also make sure you to give any video productions you do plenty of social media love.

Just as you would hopefully promote your blog posts and other written initiatives on social networking sites, it is important to do likewise with videos.

There are myriad of sites that can help you with promotional needs, most notably Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

As it relates to YouTube, many companies have opted for this site, a site that has only grown leaps and bounds in recent years when it comes to videos.

You should keep your brand videos short and sweet, getting your message out without putting the viewer to sleep or wanting to leave, never come back to your brand again.

So, are you ready to picture more business when it comes to using video?

Properly done videos can play a key role in helping you promote and ultimately sell your brand to consumers.

If video has not been part of your marketing strategy up to this point, give it some strong thought moving forward.

There is a good chance that you will see video not only promoting your brand, but helping it ring-in revenue.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.

Make It Your Business to Go Paperless

March 30, 2016 by Thomas

Have you sat down recently to see what your small business is ultimately costing you as far as expenses?

If the answer to that question is no, it probably would not be a bad idea to schedule some time to do just that. In the end, you may find yourself saving some money over the long run, money that could help keep you in business for years to come.

As many business owners can tell you, it is oftentimes the expenses of running a company that weight on them most.

So, where can you look into cutting expenses to keep your small business moving along smoothly?

Do an Inventory of Your Expenses

Start by breaking down your costs (including if you have staff), seeing where you might save some money.

This includes:

Employees – Oftentimes the most expensive component in running a business, your help typically doesn’t come cheap. That said having employees takes a huge burden off of you when running a small business. Even if you are a really small business that relies on just an assistant, he or she can prove more than worth their weight in gold over time. If money is tight (yet you still need help), you can look to reimburse the employee or employees in other ways besides income. Partial or full healthcare benefits, providing them with discounts to other area merchants, allowing them to work from home (saves them commuting time and gas bills etc.) are some ways to compensate for lower salaries. Most importantly, weigh the true costs of not having others help you. Those costs in added time away from your family, additional stress etc. can certainly give you reason to want assistance in running your business;
Supplies – How often do you run the numbers in what it costs you as far as office expenses? You may be surprised to learn just how much money you truly are shelling out in terms of supplies etc. More businesses are going paperless (or at least attempting to) not only to save money, but expedite how they deal with clients. Instead of there being a long and expensive paper trail, your business can ultimately save money and have faster and more precise contact with clients through technology. Whether you run a medical office or another form of business, getting information to your customers via electronic means is a win-win for both parties. This is also true when it comes to billing clients. Instead of the cumbersome paper trail, everything can be neatly viewed online. When ordering supplies yourself, you should also do as much online as possible, saving you and the vendor time and money;
Teleconferencing – While in-person meetings with clients are sometimes necessary (don’t underestimate the value of such interactions), doing teleconferences has benefits too. Instead of having to run in and out of your office meeting with this person and that person, doing it over the computer, by phone etc. can save you time and money in the long run. If you run your business from home, set up an area in your residence where you can shield yourself from distractions, allowing you to do Skype and other video conference calls with customers. This saves you the hassles of being stuck in traffic and spending gas money driving all over town to meet with clients. In many cases, you will discover your customers prefer this mode of communication too;
Deductions – Given tax season is in full bloom, have you made sure to deduct everything but the kitchen sink for your 2015 returns? Oftentimes, small business owners will miss key deductions, deductions that ultimately end up costing them money. Take the time now to do a thorough review of your 2015 taxes, looking for any possible missed deductions. You might be surprised to see the money you are literally leaving on the table.

From paperless projects at work to making your meetings with clients more productive, there are many ways your small business can save on expenses in 2016 and beyond.

The goal is to take the time to find those savings, knowing that it is a worthwhile investment over the long run.

So, as a small business owner in 2016, how are you saving money?

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.

Needing Designs on a Better Website?

March 23, 2016 by Thomas

Is it about time that your business website got some spring cleaning?

For too many business owners, their websites almost become an afterthought following years in the business or even when starting up. Unfortunately, such thinking can lead to missed revenue and a low Google ranking.

So, what designs will you move forward with now and down the road to make sure your website is a proven winner?

Look and Feel of Success

You first need to start with realizing that your business website can always use some improving.

From there, what kind of improvements might you need?

Among the areas to focus on:

Design – First and foremost, is your site eye-catching, a site that will keep returning customers and those you are looking to land coming to your site again and again? The design of your site goes a long way in determining how inspired consumers will be to keep returning. Whether you opt for phoenix web design or numerous other choices, make the best selection the first time around. When you find the right designed from day one, you spend less time and effort getting your designs the way you want them, ultimately saving money over time;
Content – What goes on your site certainly matters too. If you toss up any content (without determining why it should be on the site in the first place), you risk several things. First, lackluster content is a problem because your website traffic is likely to be minimal at best. Secondly, your search engine ranking will suffer as a result, leaving your site way down the list when consumers search for your respective product or service. Be sure the content is not only authoritative and informative, but also is free of major gaffes. You also need to have content that consumers (and other businesses for that matter) will want to share with the public. When they do that, your traffic is likely to pick up, giving you the ability to drive more business in your direction;
Imagery – As important as your content is, having nothing other than content is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Colorful images should dot your site’s landscape. You would also be well-served to include some relevant videos. Having a company video about what your team does and how your brand stands apart from competitors is a great tool to have. Also look to include as many people-friendly images and videos as possible. When making videos, be sure they are exciting (include some music in the background while you are at it). A five-minute webinar with a person sitting there reading a script will put viewers to sleep in record time;
Podcasts – If you haven’t taken notice, podcasts are becoming more and more of an attraction to business websites. Companies see the value in making short podcasts available to the public, especially ones that are informative on trends in respective industries, how products or services impact the lives of consumers, what the future is for a respective market etc. You can even consider including short commercial breaks in the podcasts, though keep them to a minimum. In offering these, you can attract advertisers and increase your advertising dollars;
Accessibility – How accessible your website is (especially contacting you, your department managers etc.) is also something you should never overlook. When a consumer pulls up a business site, they might very well have questions, issues etc. they want to discuss. In doing so, they need easy access to a contact email or phone number. Better yet, if you have myriad of departments in your business, be sure to list those in charge of each unit (email, office phone etc.). This is better than having a general office email or phone number for consumers to have to contact. When a consumer can go directly to the individual they need, it saves them time and also saves your office team time.

Your website is oftentimes the bread and butter of your brand, so don’t underestimate how powerful of a tool it can be.

If your site has been lacking that punch as of late, put a focus on needing designs on a better one.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Is Your Business Staying up with the Times?

March 18, 2016 by Thomas

How do you set your business apart from those you are competing with?

One of the ways to do this is making sure your brand is current with the times. This means a number of things, most importantly of which is technology. If you’re lagging when it comes to the tech world, you could very well be watching business and money pass you by.

So, how do you make sure your brand is current when it comes to staying up with the times?

Review and React

Start by doing a review of all your business activities, checking each and every pertinent one.

How much emphasis does your company place on technology?

As the tech world continues to change and grow on seemingly a monthly basis, it is crucial that your brand is along for the ride.

One such area is the uptick in mobile sales in recent years, something your business can be capitalizing on with sound marketing initiatives.

As more and more customers continue trending towards browsing and buying goods/services on mobile devices, your brand must be along for the ride. This includes when it comes to customers and their payment processing options.

Is your company doing all it can to make sure customers have a smooth checkout when completing a sale with you?

Secondly, look at how your employees treat not only the customers that do business with you, but also their co-workers.

Running a successful business in 2016 and beyond means having a workplace where things run like a fine-tuned automobile. That means doing whatever is deemed necessary to make the business tick.

Sure, some co-workers will not get along entirely well with other ones, but always emphasize that it is the company which today, tomorrow, and the next day that ultimately comes first.

Don’t Forget the Social Experience

Also review how relevant your brand is on social media.

Face it; not being active in the social networking world in 2016 is akin to not having an ATM card or still using dial-up to get on the Internet.

Businesses with that social media presence stand a leg-up on their competitors for several reasons.

They include:

If a customer isn’t happy with the service he or she received from a business, they’re more apt to tell the world about it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any number of other social vehicles. The last thing you want as a business owner is having your brand talked about in a negative manner. This is one of the reasons having a voice on social media is important for your brand;
You should also use social media as a tool for your promotional efforts. Your products and/or services essentially receive free advertising when mentioned on social networking sites, so why wouldn’t you turn to these? While you want to go easy on the sales pitches on social sites, you should use social networking to tout why your brand stands apart from others. If you are running special deals for current and/or potential customers, use social sites to broadcast such news. You can even include coupons and other rewards on these pages that consumers can then download for savings;
You’d probably be lying if you said you never truly cared what the competition is up to. With that in mind, social media is a great means whereby you can learn about your competition. See how they use social media to promote their brands. Do they run contests on their Facebook pages? Do they use their Twitter page to retweet a number of interesting blog posts either from their site or industry-specific to them? Do they have a regular presence on Instagram, allowing them to post images of their products or services? These should all be areas of interest to you as you look to improve upon your own brand.

As you can see, there are many things for you to do in staying up with the times.

When you do just that, it is your business which stands to benefit the most.

Not only are you up to speed on technology, customer intuitions and what the competition is doing, but you show your brand to be relevant in 2016 and hopefully beyond.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.