Successful Blog

Does Your Website Clearly Explain Your Brand?

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When you run a business of any size, it is imperative that you have a sound website.

Yes, before the Internet age several decades back, one could get away without a website. Back then, most businesses relied on word-of-mouth to reach consumers. All it oftentimes took was good service and quality products at fair prices to attract sales.

Fast-forward to today’s digital age and it is a different ballgame.

Without a solid web presence, your business could be on the side of the road as many other companies pass you by.

So, does your website explain your brand?

Let Consumers Know What You Are All About

If you are in a business that is pretty simple, you do not have to put as much emphasis on explaining things.

No, this does not mean you leave them out to dry when it comes to informing them about what your brand does. It means you do not need to focus quite as much on things like your “about us” section of your website.

For those that may not be quite as self-explanatory, their website must fire on all cylinders.

An example of this would be explaining to consumers the need for the right O-ring material.

Now, some consumers are not even going to know what O-rings are for. Such items play a key role in many different aspects of life. Among more notable ones would be the performance of airplane engines, fuel handling systems for autos, and those in chemical processing.

The basic idea behind the O-ring is it keeps air or fluid in or out depending on the needs of the equipment.

As such, when your business makes and/or sells O-rings, you need to inform consumers all there is to know.

Your website is a great place to not only discuss O-ring usage and its configuring, but why yours are second to none.

Along with written details regarding O-rings, show some imagery of such items. You may even want to shoot a few short videos. Those videos can show how the item gets usage with the everyday public.

It is also a good idea to have a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section on your website.

Given consumers will likely have questions about your brand, why not answer them on your site?

Last, provide links to other sites that contain pertinent info to the brand you offer.

Doing so is not only helpful to consumers, but shows you are good at researching aspects of your particular industry.

In making sure your website explains your brand; take the time to do whatever it takes to bring more eyes your way.

When you do, the revenue is likely to follow close behind.

Photo credit: Pixibay

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Free Online Courses for Entrepreneurial Success

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By Kayla Matthews

Whether you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur or have been one for years, the learning process never ends. Any opportunity to expand your skills and knowledge base makes you more competitive, adaptable to challenges, inquisitive and more able to stay abreast of developments in your sector.

Fortunately, becoming more educated — particularly focusing on the entrepreneurial realm — doesn’t have to be costly. In fact, all the online courses listed below are free to take.

1. How to Build a Startup

This course covers topics such as how to actively engage your customers and find out what they want from your products, calculating costs, conducting a market opportunity analysis and the various types of business partners.

After taking this start-up class, you should understand the basics of rapidly developing and testing different concepts, while getting guidance from your customers and the marketplace at large.

2. Critical Skills for Entrepreneurs

Maybe you’re in the tough position of wondering whether now is the time to quit your day job and pour everything you’ve got into a new business venture, or it’s better to play it safe.

This course goes over some of the most useful traits for entrepreneurs to have, so you can get prepared for what’s ahead. Furthermore, it discusses common mistakes, giving you the knowledge to hopefully steer clear of the same pitfalls.

3. Global Entrepreneurship

Taught by a professor who works in Malaysia as the dean of engineering at Taylor’s University, but who received training in the United Kingdom as well, this course goes beyond pure lecture material and requires you to interact with classmates for a group project.

The things you’ll learn include money management, defining your vision and mission, effective communications and the essentials of marketing.

Due to the geographical limitations, that could prove challenging at times, but you shouldn’t let that stop you from enrolling and missing out on the pros of online learning.

4. Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans

Did you know the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) makes a significant amount of course material freely available to anyone who wants to learn? This program about business plan basics, originally taught in 2014, is one of them. Inc. magazine ranked it one of the 10 best entrepreneur courses in America.

Also, some of the speakers that contributed to it were judges in MIT’s entrepreneurship competition, which offered a $100,000 prize.

You’ll learn about potential legal issues, business models and financial projections. You also have the option to read a text transcript or watch videos of the course.

Maybe you’ve found some productivity hacks that are useful when launching a startup. By applying those, plus the business plan tips you learn in this course, you could find you’re able to make the most of your time and effort.

5. Business Ethics for the Real World

In your entrepreneurial career, there will almost certainly be times when you encounter ethical dilemmas. They might involve doing personal business on company time, or even taking home a box of pens for your family’s use because you’re sure no one at the office will miss them.

This course, offered by Santa Clara University, goes into the impact of ethics on the business world and how to identify ethical issues when they arise. You’ll also discover how to analyze complex ethical choices and determine your responsibilities associated with them.

6. Thinking and Acting Like an Entrepreneur

If you study the habits of entrepreneurs you find most inspiring, they probably have some undeniable characteristics that set them apart in a crowd.

When you enroll in this course, you’ll learn more about the decision-making process successful entrepreneurs use, explore whether an entrepreneurial mindset is something you’re born with or can develop and profile entrepreneurs’ personality types.

No matter if you’re a new entrepreneur and want to get started on the right track, or have been in business for a while and are interested in improving your practices, these courses are worth checking out in the interest of continual education.

Although these are all free online courses, many offer a certificate you can pay for if you’d like physical proof of course completion to frame and put on your wall.

Happy learning!

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image: by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash

Cook up Success for Your Brand

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How is your business doing these days when it comes to making revenue?

While all business owners would love to say their companies are running well that is not the case.

With that in mind, you want to do all you can to increase the odds of having a lot of money coming in and growth potential.

So, are you cooking up success for your brand?

Know How to Bring in More Business

In your quest to bring in as much business as possible, remember the following keys:

  1. It all starts with mission plan – Knowing why you went into business and having a mission plan are crucial. Running a business without a purpose can doom you sooner than later. As an example, if you opened up a burger business, did you do ample research on other such eateries around town? If not, you may soon discover that the area is overrun with burger businesses. While everyone should have a piece of the pie, the reality is most consumers will have favorites. Over time, you could find your brand being outdone for a variety of reasons. Know your mission from day one and do your best to stick to it.
  2. Hire the best – Unless you run a one-person show, you’re going to need to hire good help. With that in mind, be sure to investigate each individual you consider bringing on. Even if their role with the company will be minimal at best, you want the brightest talent out there. As important as their skills will be, make sure you hire people who want to work for you. Some individuals are looking for a paycheck and do not care about how much time and effort they put into a job. When you interview someone for a position with your business, get a feel for if they in fact want to be there or not.
  3. Is it time to grow? – If the business is doing well and growing now, when is the right time to expand? Know if another burger franchise for sale is in your best interests. Should you decide to grow, you want to make sure you find the perfect fit for such expansion. This includes the right part of town, the best property, and of course an audience of consumers to sell to.
  4. Give your brand plenty of promotion – Last; be sure to promote your brand as much as possible. This means not only via social media, but having a viable website too. Review your site on a regular basis to make sure it is chock-full of valuable info for consumers. You also want to be sure it loads fast. Many consumers will go elsewhere if they come to websites that are slow and tricky to navigate. Also have contact information easy for consumers to find when perusing your site.

From burger franchises to many other models you can come up with, being a business owner can be rewarding.

That said you need to do everything possible to make it work each day.

So, are you ready to get cooking on your business venture?

Photo credit: Pixibay

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

 

 

 

 

How to Keep Yourself Motivated to Build Your (Online) Career

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If you have motivation, you can overcome almost any situation.

~Peter Marshall (source: 51 Greatest Motivational Quotes)

No matter what it is you want to achieve, be it building your personal brand or capturing your dream job, it can be a long and grueling path to reach the goal you have set for yourself.

Staying motivated is hard at the best of times, which is why it is incredibly important to keep track of your progress, making good use of milestone targets to let you know you’re on the right track.

Unclutter Your Environment

Clutter effects a lot of areas of our lives. Researchers say it negatively affects our productivity by preventing us from focusing.

Motivations requires a lot of focus: On our goals, tasks and daily process. To get motivated, you need to focus.

It all starts from your home. An uncluttered home is the first step to clearing your mind and getting motivated.

Set up Your Inspirational Workplace

A big part of being motivated (especially whe you lack tangible goals) is being inspired. Inspiration moves us forward, helps us come up with creative solutions and make our work process much more enjoyable.

Whether you work from home or from an office, spend some time to set up your workplace the way it helps you get inspired. Natural plants, pictures, inspirational quotes help many people get inspired and motivated.

Home office

Buffer offers a great guide on how to set up lighting in your environment to boost your creativity. Here are a few ideas for you:

Share Your Goals with Your Relatives and Close Friends

Letting people who are close to you know what you are trying to achieve is a great way to encourage this kind of behavior. Families and friends are quite likely to check up on your progress regularly, especially if you are doing something they know is important to you.

These kind of support networks can be extremely valuable when trying to achieve a particularly difficult goal, as for many nothing beats regular encouragement from other people when trying to stay motivated.

Use Social Media Communities and Online Support Groups

Engaging your social networks to help keep you on track can be as simple as just telling your friends you are trying to quite smoking. However, in the digital age we do have more options available to use when it comes to letting other people know how we are doing. The usual suspects such as Facebook and Twitter are a good start, as that way, everyone you’re in regular contact with will know what you are trying to do (which can lead to a lot of encouragement and feedback).

Alternatively you could join an email group or forum dedicated to your particular goal (if its something you could do alongside other people striving for the same thing like weight loss). These kind of online communities are dedicated to helping their members achieve certain life goals, providing invaluable advice and neutral feedback to people who otherwise might not have anyone appropriate to turn to.

Keep Track of Your Progress

For some staying motivated will be a personal affair. A lot of people will only share their goals with those closest to them, relying for the most part on their own willpower to keep them going through the more difficult stages of their journeys. If that sound’s like the more appealing option to you, make sure to at least maintain a regular journal of your activities.

Keeping track of your progress, so that you can see whether or not you are achieving the targets that lead to your goal, is the best way to make sure you don’t stray from your intended path.

It can be as simple as keeping a pen and paper style diary. Though it may prove to be easier to use a more high tech solution such as an online goal tracking website or some kind of office application software (such as Open Office or Microsoft Office).

You could even combine the two tech options by using some cloud based office software like Google Docs or Evernote (as these can be accessed from multiple devices which make them easy to keep updated). Colorlib has a great list of many more productivity tools that can help you manage your to-do list and monitor your progress.

Productivity

Whatever method you choose to employ, as long as you keep a clear view of your goal and have a real understanding of your progress towards it, you should be well set for keeping yourself on the road to success.

Featured image via Pixabay

How a Password Manager Can Increase Your Work Productivity

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By Kayla Matthews

Whether you’re logging into your email or a time-tracking interface, it requires remembering passwords. However, with all the other things you might have on your mind, the act of remembering a password — or several — could throw you off track.

Using a password manager is an easy way to maximize your output at work. It offers the following benefits.

It Could Stop You from Getting Into a Bad Headspace

For most of us, unforeseen circumstances like sitting in a traffic jam or waking up late due to a malfunctioning alarm cause feelings of disappointment and anger.

These incidents also often make people start judging themselves and wondering what they should have done to avoid the undesirable situations. When that happens, focusing on work isn’t easy — especially if the unfortunate event involves a forgotten password.

A study carried out by Centrify, an identity management company, found that 33 percent of respondents admitted to suffering from “password rage,” which could include screaming, yelling or crying in response to forgotten login credentials. Fortunately, a password manager remembers them for you, ensuring that a failure to retain them in your mind doesn’t derail your day.

It Saves Your Brainpower for More Important Things

When you can’t remember a password, a service provider may prompt you to answer a secret question to verify your identity. Although some of them are straightforward, such as your mother’s maiden name, others may not be so easy to recall. If asked which street you lived on in first grade, you may not know the answer right away.

Intel surveyed individuals and found that between personal and work-related accounts, the average person has 27 unique passwords. The same study showed that 37 percent of people forget at least one of their passwords every week. Instead of trying to remember which password you used for a particular site or answering a security question correctly, you could use a password manager and free up your thought processes for things that matter more.

It Could Keep Your Data Secure

Data breaches cost U.S. companies trillions of dollars annually. That’s in part because many employees don’t use passwords that are sufficiently secure, or they change passwords frequently enough.

With that in mind, many companies are moving toward doing away with passwords altogether and using other identity verification methods such as text messages and biometrics.

Some password managers automatically generate hard-to-guess passwords for you. Similarly, there are others that automatically change all passwords regularly. Both of these precautions could prevent you from becoming a data breach victim.

Doing damage control after such an incident certainly hinders your output as you scramble to recover files and maybe even salvage your reputation, so it’s best to use a password manager to avoid becoming a target.

Now, let’s look at a few password managers that are worth checking out:

  1. LastPass

Marketed as an ideal password manager for businesses and teams, LastPass offers a free version, and the Premium plan is just $2 per month. It works in your browser and on devices. Simply create a master password to unlock your “vault,” then let the service store the passwords you use in it. Watch for dialog messages on your screen from LastPass that ask if you want to store a password. It couldn’t be easier!

  1. Dashlane

This free password manager (the premium version is $3.33 per month on an annual plan) automatically changes one or a dozen passwords for you with one click. There’s also an interface that tells you the safety level of a particular credential. If Dashlane flags it as weak, that’s a good indicator you should probably beef it up.

Check out the digital wallet feature to facilitate faster online shopping when buying office supplies for work, too. It securely stores credit card details, so you don’t have to reach for your wallet.

  1. LogMeOnce

LogMeOnce offers two-factor authentication, including granting you access to websites with a selfie photo, fingerprint or PIN. However, if you still prefer passwords, it works with those too.

Additionally, the service — which has a free tier with paid options — offers anti-theft tools. That means if you leave your laptop at the office and are worried about the nighttime cleaners or other unauthorized users taking a peek, it’s possible to log out of accounts or incorporate a new password remotely.

The LogMeOnce interface has a “productivity dock,” as well. After browsing the options and discovering the ones you like best, add them to the dock and launch them with one click.

Improve Your Workflow with a Password Manager

As you can see, there’s no reason to repeatedly deal with the frustration and lost time that often results when you forget a password. By researching the available tools and choosing one that works best for your needs, you can maintain a task-oriented attitude and stop worrying about login details.


 

SOURCES

http://www.informationsecuritybuzz.com/news/a-third-of-us-admit-to-password-rage/

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-world-password-day-true-key-app/

https://optimalidm.com/resources/blog/password-free-world/

https://www.lastpass.com/

https://www.dashlane.com/

https://www.logmeonce.com/

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image: by Jon Moore on Unsplash

Are You Investing in the Right Business Opportunities?

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Trying to come up with the right commercial property investments can prove tricky at times.

Making the right calls more times than not is critical if you want to avoid financial issues now and later.

So, where do you turn for the best business commercial property investment strategies?

You can and should of course talk to the experts. You may also want to do research in business periodicals. Last, the Internet can be a great go-to source. No matter where you go for advice, be sure to do some careful listening to understand what is REIT investing.

With real estate investment trusts, investors can invest in sizable commercial property assets. Those assets would more times than not be unavailable to one to invest through their own doing.

So, will you be placing your money in the right commercial investment opportunities?

Have a Plan in Place Before You Invest

Before you invest one dollar in any commercial property, have a plan in place.

Among some of the key areas to understand:

  1. What most grabs your attention? – Before investing in any commercial property, know what you have the most interest in. Would your dollars best go towards a shopping center, office building or warehouse? By knowing where your money is likely going to grow in time, you are better suited to make a sound decision.
  2. What is the potential growth possible? – In the event you have interest in an investment for an office building, is there potential growth? The factors that go into that can be a handful or many. Be sure to sit down and see how other area properties are doing when it comes to a return on one’s money. While there are slow times in the market, you don’t want to be investing in an area that has seen steady decline.
  3. What obstacles stand in the way of growth? – If thinking of investing in a shopping center, are there any obstacles that could stand in the way of its growth? An example of this would be if businesses have been pulling out of an area for one reason or another. This may be due to financial issues, higher crime etc. in the area. Although some obstacles can be overcome, you don’t want to be investing in areas where there is concern.
  4. Where you are in life – Last, where you are in life can also play a major role in your business investment strategies. A younger investor can be more flexible. They have more time to recover from an investment should it not pan out. Meantime, an older investor doesn’t want bad investments cause issues for retirement.

As you look at investing in the right commercial business opportunities, be sure to do your homework.

When you do, you will more times than not come out on the winning end.

Photo credit: Pixibay

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