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Lay the Best Foundation for Your Business

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Starting a new business is both exciting and daunting at the same time. Any budding entrepreneur will likely be full of energy at the beginning and at the same time, scared of any possible pitfalls.

It is an emotional time and the wave of energy and determination must be directed towards productivity.

The first 100 days of your new business, commencing on the day you commit yourself to turn that wonderful idea of yours to a reality, need to be spent wisely on tasks that would eventually be your basis of reference for the next months and years to come.

It is therefore necessary and vital that you do the steps correctly and timely to give yourself a head start and get the ball and momentum rolling.

Here are some guidelines on what to do once you have commitment to bring that bright idea of yours into a money making venture.

Create a Business Plan

You may think yourself as a genius but it is still important to write the things down associated with your business idea and formulate a plan . Tackle the basics first, figure out your core business, your competitive advantage, narrow your target market, sort out a general marketing plan, work on the finances.

Seek a second opinion from a trusted friend or a business mentor once you’ve made a plan and be open to their insights. In the course of writing down your thoughts, you’ll discover the philosophy you want to adopt when doing your business. Perhaps you can write that down into a mission vision statement.

A good plan may just be the key to your success so check and review your plan very well, take your time. It is better not to rush this part as the opposite may cause you trouble in the long run. Use this time to think about the organizational chart as well.

And once your business has started, it is wise to refer to the original plan once in a while to assure you are on the right track. And should you need to revise some items due to different market conditions and other factors.

Select a Good Company Name

At this modern times, not only should you make your business name unique and catchy. You also need to consider a matching domain name and whether it is still available.

Likewise, the email addresses to use which normally bears the business name too. All these online labeling should not be too long or complicated.

And since most businesses nowadays need an online presence in order to thrive, you need to submit your name to Google to index your website. Then there are business cards, brochures and invoices which may require a logo.

That is why the right company name must me chosen as a lot relies on it. You can refer to your business plan for inspiration.

Register Your Business

To formally mark the first step of probably the most important project in your life, register your business at to the proper government department.

Gather all the requirements to guarantee that your work is legit and is open for business. Once registered, you are able to casually market your business to friends and family.

And hopefully they will spread the word that will reach potential customers who may just give you a call soon and just in time when you are all settled down and ready.

If you are into local business, make sure to verify your business with Google Local, Bing Local as well as most important local directories like Yelp and DirJournal. This will ensure your business will be visible to your customers on maps as well as drive traffic to your site.

You don’t have to go local, of course. Thanks to the Internet and Cloud PBX, any business can go global.

Determine the Type of Business

With a business plan at hand, you can determine what type of business will work best. You can opt for a sole trading or a partnership depending on the situation you are in. Picking the right structure will impact the way you do business.

So read up on the difference, advantages and disadvantages of each. Know what are the legal repercussions and what extra work or insurance you may need to take as a result of your choice.

When in doubt, consult a business adviser or ask a local government department for further information. You cannot afford to miss out any important details.

Set up the Foundation

What’s your initial investment is going to be?

Common startup costs include:

  • Incorporation fees: Under $300
  • Marketing: 0% to 10% of total budget
  • Website: About $40 per month
  • Insurance: An average of $1,200 per year
  • Taxes: Variable, but 21% corporate tax rate

You may be able to save here and there. For example, you can save money by hiring a digital marketing company that’s located outside of the United States.

Keep the Faith

Have faith in the process and do not give up should you encounter any pitfalls. Learn from your mistakes and do it all over again.

Customers will not be lining up right away unless you are giving out scrumptious hotcakes. It will take time and a lot of effort on your part to finally make your mark on your niche and for people to take notice of you.

Keep a positive outlook and always observe quality of your service to keep the customers satisfied and coming back for more.

How Your Small Business Can Go Global

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Bill Gates described the Internet as the “town square of a global village”.

It’s made the world seem a much smaller place, connecting roughly a third of the total population. And for small businesses it’s opened up huge opportunities.

Reaching potential customers in Sweden or South Africa is almost as easy as communicating with those across a (literal) town square.

But although national barriers are becoming less important, language barriers remain. The idea that everyone speaks English online is no longer the case.

In the last decade, the number of Arabic speakers has soared by 2501%, while Russian use has risen 1826%. This compares to just 301% for English-speaking users, according to Internet World Stats. And Chinese is soon set to take over as the dominant online language.

While only a quarter of users speak English, it accounts for roughly half of all web content. Although many people speak it as a second language, research by the Common Sense Advisory found that 85% of online consumers wanted information in their mother tongue before making a purchase.

This means monolingual companies and content marketers face a huge amount of competition to reach a dwindling proportion of users.

Getting your blog or website seen in the crowded English-speaking marketplace can seem an almost impossible task. In contrast, it’s much easier to climb the search engine rankings in foreign languages.

For small businesses, this means marketing in Portuguese or Japanese can be an easy way to win new customers. Whether you’re selling handmade jewellery or web design services, you can tap into demand all over the world. It might seem daunting at first, but here are a few tips on getting started.

1. Choose your markets

If you’ve already got a well-established website, the chances are you’re picking up visitors from other countries. There are plenty of free tools such as Google Analytics which can tell you where your web traffic is coming from.

But if you have a hunch that your ebooks or vintage clothing might be popular in Japan, then there are several ways to test the waters.

Start by translating your main keywords into the target languages, and use  tools such as Google Adwords to analyze the search demand and competition.

If you’re undecided, translating your homepage and information about your main products can give you a feel for the demand. If customers “bite”, then it’s worth translating the rest of the site.

Use your web analytics to identify countries that are driving your highest-quality traffic. Here’s a screenshot of Finteza reports on which locales are currently working well for a business:

2. Don’t get lost in translation

A little local knowledge goes a long way, especially in online marketing. While automatic translation tools offer an easy, free solution, they tend to produce over-literal results, with no awareness of context. It’s best to find native-speaking translators who can make sure your carefully written prose sparkles in the target language.

And don’t forget the value of appearing local. If you’re targeting French Canadian speakers, remember there are many differences from the language spoken in France. Getting the spelling or  vocabulary wrong can be jarring to readers. For example, Canadian shoppers magasiner while their Parisian friends faire les courses.

 3. Optimize and localize

Search engine optimization is the key to making sure customers can see your website. Localize your title tags and meta descriptions. Although translating your main keywords is a good start, it’s important to remember that direct translations aren’t always the best choices.

Italian searchers will often mix in English keywords – for example, using “voli low-cost” for “low-cost flights”. It’s a good idea to check your list of keywords with native speakers.

Search engines tend to prefer sites that appear to be local. Registering a top-level in-country domain name, such as .fr for France or .de for Germany, will help put you on an equal footing with local competition.

The good news is, there’s generally less competition for top-level domains in other languages. There’s a much better chance of securing the top prize of a website name with your main keywords, such as mykeywords.ru

It’s also worth considering speakers of other languages in your own country. BestBuy and Amtrak (as well as numerous smaller American companies) have seen huge surges in sales by targeting the growing Spanish-speaking population in the United States.

Use Text Optimizer (English and French) to identify key concept around your niche and craft your SEO strategy accordingly:

4. Make it easy for customers

The way we shop (online and offline) varies across cultures. Learning about local preferences can be a big part of persuading customers to buy.

While Americans love their credit cards, Germans tend to be wary of using them online, and often prefer bank transfers or invoices. The French still like to use checks, while PayPal is popular in many countries.

Research everything from consumer rights to postage costs before launching your site to avoid any surprises. For example, German consumers usually have no less than 90 days to complain and ask for a refund after purchase!

Fixing your slow site is another great way to get more customers, regardless the locale.

5. Hire international teams

I know it is easier said than done, but having people from other countries in your team will give you an insider’s perspective into those locales.

Fiverr allows you to see which countries freelancers are from, so does Upwork. Hiring international employees and freelancers is easier than ever.

Make it a good tradition to talk to all of them on a weekly basis and let them collaborate among one another. This is how your whole team will understand different cultures and regions better.

Setting up a cloud PBX system will allow you to effectively manage your international team and keep everyone aligned.

6. Be social!

Social media used to be seen as a fun way of passing the time, but not serious enough for business. Of course, this has changed, and companies of all sizes now find it’s an essential marketing tool. According to Maxwell Hertan of Megaphone Marketing,

The right social media marketing strategy can net your business MAJOR wins. Whether those wins are sales, sign-ups, leads, whatever. Social can do it for you.

And this isn’t just in the English-speaking world – more than half of tweets are in foreign languages.

It’s relatively easy to set up separate Facebook and Twitter feeds in different languages. If you don’t have the time or linguistic ability, hiring locally based social media managers can be an easy solution.

While these are the most popular worldwide, they aren’t the only ones. LinkedIn is a good way to reach the business community, while the Japanese love Mixi and Cyworld is wildly popular in South Korea.

Find  blogs and forums where you can share your interests. They’re great ways to pick up knowledge, share expertise and start to build your reputation.

It can be tough at first to find your footing in the international marketplace. But a little time and effort can put your small business on the path to global success.

Three Must Read Tips for New Small Business Owners (No Fluff)

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So you are planning to start your own business or go solo? I have to warn you, it’s not for everyone, but most people who get a taste of it, love it and never go back to working 9-5.

And, with more and more people opting to freelance and companies becoming more open to the idea of working with freelancers, we are seeing a shift in how work gets done.

Whether you are just getting your feet wet out of curiosity or are trying to make some extra cash or because you are in between jobs, here are three tips about the reality new business owners can expect:

Start Part Time

Owning a business can be scary. There is no guarantee, and you get out of it what you are willing to put in. While it’s tempting to jump in head first, a better approach is to start freelancing part time on the side while keeping your current job.

Therefore, you will have safety net just in case things don’t work out. You’ll also still have a regular income while you are figuring out freelancing and trying to etch out your niche.

The good news is, now is the best time to get the ball rolling! As it happens, Covid and its lock-downs have done one good thing: It has caused the demand for digital businesses to skyrocket:

The whopping 50% increase in internet use in some areas of the world is so significant that many have speculated about the possibility of the increased demand, breaking the internet (don’t worry, experts are saying that we are fine – for now).

The forced self-isolation to prevent the spread of coronavirus has provoked rapid changes in consumer behaviours. The most obvious result of this is the increase in online content and consumption.

Source: Megaphone Marketing

Treat Freelancing Like a Business (Because It Is)

Just because you are a great graphic designer doesn’t mean you are a good business person.

Many new freelancers overlook the importance of treating freelancing like a business. Freelancing is both a skill and a business, and you need both to be successful.

Set up an invoicing routine

One of the biggest ways people not experienced in business fail is by failing to ensure payments are delivered on time. Make sure you have a mobile invoice system like Invoice2Go that allows customers to pay with both credit and debit cards.

Create a better phone system

If your business involves a lot of communication (with clients, partners, remote employees, etc.), set up a better phone system early on. It will save lots of money and help productivity. Here’s a good virtual phone system for small businesses to consider.

Phone system for small businesses

Keep an eye on your ROI

It may sound obvious but too many businesses don’t have a good system for tracking and analyzing ROI. For digital businesses, Finteza is a comprehensive web analytics platform that will help you analyze and predict your ROI:

Web analytics

It’s a Battle of Attrition

Most freelancers fail because they give up too soon. Building a strong client base and having success in your industry takes time. It takes time to build the necessary connections, develop a portfolio of work, and hone in on your area of specialization.

If you can battle through the lean times at the beginning, you’ll be able to reap the rewards once you get your footing. This is where starting part-time definitely helps!

If your business is still slow, here are a few resources to help:

Are you up for the challenge?

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

How to Monetize Your Hobby

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Are you looking to make some money in the new year? Do you want to start a business but are confused on where to begin and how? Then why not start with one of your favorite pastime hobbies?

It may sound too good to be true, but many people are starting to turn their hobbies into side hustles to generate an extra stream of income. The best part of monetizing your hobby is that when you work on something you enjoy and love, it doesn’t feel like work.

It becomes fun.

Whether you’re a painter, a graphic designer, an illustrator, a calligraphy master, create DIY art pieces, an embroiderer, or make custom pieces, you can literally monetize any hobby and start generating an income.

That is why in today’s post we’ll share some tips on how you can convert your hobby into a small business that not only generates an income but gives you joy as well.

Keep on reading to know how you can start, right now!

1. Create a strategy

Whenever you start with a new venture or endeavor, it is always wise to start with a game plan on what you want to achieve, and listing down steps to get there.

When first trying to monetize your hobby, research online how other people in the same category as you are selling their products or services.

List down the steps you need to create a digital marketing strategy that includes the time, resources, cost etc it will take for you to achieve goals you’ve set.

If you have a budget, you may want to invest in Adwords Consulting to get things rolling quickly.

Make sure that you set goals that are tangible and realistic, so that you can maximize the benefits from your strategy and be on track for success.

2. Start a website

Having a website for any small business or entrepreneur is a must, even if you’re not thinking of turning your hobby into a monetary profession for the long haul. Creating a website to showcase the range of products you have or services you offer, not only makes it easier for the right customer to reach you, but has positive outcomes long term.

When you make a website and provide accurate information regarding price, contact info, shipping and delivery details, it creates credibility in the eyes of a potential customer and will help spread the word faster for more traffic. One of my favorite examples I recently found is this site profiling awesome waterfalls a family is visiting. Such a cool hobby!

3. Pitch and reach out clients

Reaching out to potential clients whether locally or online is very crucial to make your first sale. This point is especially important for people who run a food business, catering, provide supplies on a large scale, and are looking to expand their hobby to serve a company or a large gathering.

Whether your first pay check is the $5 or $500, your motivation to continue your new endeavor will be highly contingent on your first sale. In order to get potential clients, pitch yourself via email, in person, or on call to people you know can get benefit from your services or products.

Even if you’re shy of putting yourself out there, dropping emails is a great way to introduce your new business and if you can’t do that, then the follow the next point.

4. Create content for your social media account

Having a social media account even for your hobby is extremely important for exposure and gaining potential clients. Nowadays, both businesses and customers check social media accounts of businesses they want to engage with financially. Making sure you post creative content, regularly will not only increase your following but help you target potential customers as well.

The goal isn’t to go viral overnight, but to hope that one post gets viral enough to land you on the radar of your targeted business/customer for your category. And for that you need some strategies and tips to engage with your social media audience.

According to Oberlo, there are more than 3.5 billion social media users as of 2019, and the number is only increasing. Making sure you market your products the right way to the right customers will only increase your revenue and help you make profit.

And those are top 4 ways on how to monetize your hobby to generate an extra stream of income in 2021. We hope you found them useful and motivate you to start your journey today.

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Five Reputation Management Tools to Use

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Nowadays there’s a lot of personal information publicly available on the web. We all have an “online persona” which is directly related to the way people see and judge us as individuals.

Unfortunately managing your online reputation is everything but an easy task.

There are many social media channels where people can spread unbiased opinions about others, tag inappropriate photos, and otherwise mess with your reputation. As a blogger, your name stands for the quality and authenticity of your posts, apart from your personal and professional interest in having a “clean and positive” online reputation.

As Google says: “Your online identity is determined not only by what you post, but also by what others post about you – whether it is a mention in a blog post, a photo tag or a reply to a public status update.”

If you want to influence the way people see you online, it’s important to understand that there are two basic techniques for managing your online reputation.

  • Constantly monitor what people are saying about you and respond instantly when necessary.
  • Actively develop your reputation by creating “positive” content. Create a hub such as a personal landing page where people can easily find everything about you in a simple and compact format. Hiring a solid digital performance agency would be helpful here.

With those two techniques in mind, here are six simple, yet effective tools that might help you along the way to monitor what people are saying about you as well as actively develop and influence your online reputation.

1. Google Alerts

Google Alerts let you get notified whenever your name or email address gets mentioned publicly on the web. To use Me On The Web, just log into your Google dashboard and click “Set up search alerts for your data” – it’s as easy as that!

It is also a good idea to use a SERP tracker to monitor your branded search results.

2. SocialMention

As Inform Buki rightfully states, social media is the branding powerhouse, so it is only natural that you need to monitor your brand on social media.

Another brilliant tool to track your name across the web is Social Mention. It’s a social media search engine that searches blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos and micro-blogging services. You can select the sources you want to search and employ email alerts or a personalized RSS feed to stay up-to-date.

But don’t take it from me. Here’s their official description.

“SocialMention allows you to easily track and measure what people are saying about you across the web’s social media landscape in real-time. Social Mention monitors 100+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc.”

3. WiseStamp

Easily create a HTML email signature and automatically add it to your outgoing email with WiseStamp. Email signatures are effective tools when it comes to building your personal brand and an ideal starting point for influencing your online reputation with anyone you contact via email.

Having a professional email signature is very important – it should at least contain your full name, basic contact info, and a link to your main website or personal landing page. To see it in action, here’s a detailed tutorial in how to add an email signature in Outlook.

4. Linktree

Take advantage of a clean and simple app for building awesome personal landing pages in minutes with Linktree.

Linktree sites are free, customizable, and help you manage your information all in one place like your bio, social networks links, your blog, and contact details. Once created, you can provide one simple link where people can find out everything about you and follow you around the web.

5. Knowem

Knowem helps you to secure your personal name or username on over 590 social media services and websites.

You’ll hardly use any of the services you sign up to via Knowem, but assuring that your name or pseudonym will not be related to any undesirable content on those websites is worth the effort.

I hope these tools will definitely help you to maintain your online reputation. But if you would like to grow your online reputation then here is a great resource with some proven social media marketing strategies that will help you to grow your online reputation.

Are there any reputation management tools I have missed? Please share!

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

How and Why To Host Webinars for Lead Generation

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Webinars have proven to be a powerful marketing strategy, therefore, hosting your own event will undoubtedly be a smart marketing strategy for your business or brand.

Now if you’re considering setting up your webinar, here are 9 ways it’ll help you attract new clients and grow your business.

Webinar marketing offers multiple marketing opportunities.

Webinars help develop trust and authority

Hosting a webinar doesn’t only let you showcase your products and services, but your expertise, skills, abilities and industry knowledge as well. And what about the human element?

Webinars allow you to put a real face to your business. Your audiences can identify with your face and become emotionally invested in your business.

Webinars are the most effective lead generation tools out there.

Hosting webinars create business relationships

“Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationships.”

Ross Perot via bqotd.com

Think about it, how much do you think prospects can know you in a 30 second commercial? A little, right? Engaging your prospects via webinars lets your prospects to know you on a deeper level.

After all, people only do business with people, not companies. With a webinar, your attendees have the chance to know your person, admire you and trust you from the content you share.

Understand your audience more via interactive webinars

With the question and answer segment of an interactive webinar, you get to know your target audience, their challenges, expectations, and needs.

And with that, you are able to understand what motivates these audiences and create tailor-made products and services that match these needs.

Create brand awareness

Hosting webinars let you easily promote your business or brand – especially when you’re consistently feeding your audience with topnotch content and not simply handling it as another sales pitch presentation.

And when you also factor the nonexistent additional overhead, promoting your brand via webinars is incredibly cost-effective. With very little or no financial outlay, you can skyrocket the outreach of your nosiness.

Hosting webinars is affordable

Conventional seminars, meetings, and even conferences are no doubt expensive to set up. Interestingly, you can drastically reduce this high costs with webinars, especially with the wide variety of affordable webinar software solutions out there.

All that’s needed is a broadband connection, webcam, and microphone.

Webinars can be re-purposed

You might have only held your webinar – but that’s not the end of it. The content can be repurposed to offer the same value to those who couldn’t attend the webinar.

You can convert your presentation into an eBook or series of blog post. This lets you share your webinar content in other engaging ways.

Webinars can be recorded

When you re-purpose your content, your audience is able to relive your content and better understand your content as much as possible.

Webinars, unlike traditional conferences, are extremely easy and cost effective to record.

Increase your revenue via webinars

If you an audience base that’s big enough to monetize, you can simple set up a paid webinar event.

In so far your webinar is guaranteed to offer genuine value to your customers, your customers wouldn’t mind parting with a few bucks. And with a relatively unlimited capacity for attendees, you can easily generate an added revenue stream via webinars.

Webinars let you build up your list and generate quality leads

With the sign-up forms for your webinar, you can collect lead information such as email, addresses and job titles. Even better, the information and education that you offer in your webinar can be used to inform your audiences about your products and services – thereby creating a strategic sales lead in the process.

The benefits highlighted in this piece reflects the power of hosting your webinar. If you’re looking to boost your revenue, create cordial relationships with clients, minimize your costs and establish your credibility, then its time you begin to hold that webinar.

5 Ways to Better Do Webinar Lead Gen

  • Show the registrant numbers: social proof as a demonstration of the herd mentality is one thing that gets talked about a lot. “Join the 10,000 people who have registered for this webinar.” Really, sign me up. Now that’s how it works.
  • Urgency: tell people to hurry up. Setting up a maximum number of available “virtual seats” lets people be more inclined to sign up quickly because they don’t want to miss out. Indeed, nobody wants to be left out in something interesting.
  • Show what’s next: make sure that your website has a calendar showcasing your upcoming webinars. This can get sign ups in advance which you can then market to on the lead up to the main event.
  • Share free content: one exemplary way to convert your leads is to share valuable free materials. Practically, you can share eBooks with the people who have registered for your event. This way, you can facilitate easy conversion of your leads.
  • Follow up: after a successful event, send email to your attendees with a recording of the event. Also, include links to other closely related free content to the webinar they just watched. Trust me; they’ll love it.

QUESTION: What’s been your most significant challenge in hosting your own webinars? Do share with me. I’ll like to hear from you.

Featured image source: Pixabay