How to Use Customer Analytics To Improve Your eCommerce Marketing

When running an eCommerce business, every little advantage is crucial.

With up to 80% of eCommerce stores failing and with industry giants like Amazon becoming ever more dominant, carving out a place in any marketplace is a steep challenge.

That’s why analytics are an absolutely vital part of any comprehensive strategy. Using insights and data that you collect from your marketing efforts and customer behavior, you can steadily improve your campaigns and start gaining a sizeable advantage over the competition.

But how can you use analytics to provide a boost to your eCommerce marketing campaigns? And which metrics should you focus on?

Let’s dive deep into the most important aspects of analytics for eCommerce that you should consider to get the most out of your efforts.

Why Are Analytics Important?

Before we go on to the specific strategies and metrics you should focus on, it’s important to understand why you should focus on customer analytics in the first place.

One of the primary reasons why analytics are so important is the fact that they help you channel your resources more effectively. As a small-to-medium eCommerce store, you probably don’t have infinite resources and time for your marketing efforts, which means you need to understand what’s bringing you the best results and focus your attention on that.

Without specific knowledge about what’s working, you might find yourself spending most of your budget on approaches that aren’t delivering or aren’t even well-suited for the audience you’re trying to attract.

Another important benefit of analytics in eCommerce is the ability to steadily gain an advantage over the competition. Every usable insight that you can gain gives you knowledge that others in your marketplace don’t have, helping you make informed decisions and attract customers that others fail to convert.

Finally, as you gain more experience and have concrete data backing up your decisions, you will notice that your day-to-day decisions will become much better.

Your campaigns will convert better, you will discover opportunities that others are missing, and will have a finger on the pulse of the entire industry, adapting to changes early and taking advantage of new opportunities that arise.

Most Important Analytics for your eCommerce Business

Now that we’ve gone through some of the reasons why analytics is essential in eCommerce, let’s look at what you should focus on when analyzing data to get the most useful information that you can use in your decision-making process.

On-Site Search

Understanding what your customers and website visitors want is a top priority for any business. Unfortunately, most companies end up making a lot of guesses at what their readers might prefer when it’s very easy to see actual data that can point towards the right approach.

One of the metrics that can provide you with a ton of insights is on-site search.

If you have a search bar on your site, you can use analytics to see the most common search terms and get a much better idea of what people are interested in.

You may find that some of the topics aren’t even covered on your site, which will give you a clear idea of what your top priority pages or content should be. If people are searching for specific products, you might need to consider adding them to your selection for an easy way to boost sales.

If many of the queries concern questions about how to choose or how to use your products, you might want to consider creating a knowledge base system where you could post comprehensive answers to these questions, as well as develop guides about various selections.

Remember, when you help your customers become more informed about the products that you offer and the various options that are available, you are not only positioning yourself as an authority but are also significantly increasing the chances of them making a purchase.

Map Out Your Customer Journey

Without analytics, the path that your customers take before becoming your customers would remain mostly a mystery. Sure, you could make educated guesses about where your traffic is coming from or how the visitors are interacting with your website, but in the end, you wouldn’t have any actual data to point to when optimizing your funnel.

Luckily, with the help of customer analytics, the process becomes much more straightforward.

You can track your customer journey through each step of the funnel, knowing exactly how many drop off at each point and having countless opportunities to split test variables and see whether you can make a noticeable improvement.

For instance, when you send out an email to your subscriber list, you can track how many people open the email, how many clicks through, how many add your product to their cart, and finally how many finalize their purchase.

Having this information at your disposal will show you where the biggest issues are and will help you focus your attention on improving those areas without messing with what’s already working well.

Find the Most Profitable Marketing Channels

As a small-to-medium eCommerce store, you are likely not working with an unlimited marketing budget, which is why you need to focus on getting the most value out of your efforts.

Even though there are many eCommerce marketing strategies you can use, not all of them will be equally effective in your situation. While one might work well in one industry, it might be completely ineffective in another, not to mention the sometimes stark differences between audiences and their online browsing habits.

Luckily, customer analytics allows you to ensure that you know exactly how much value every dollar you spend is bringing.

Whether you’re using paid advertising or are focusing on organic traffic, you can find out how many of your site’s visitors are converting, as well as how they’re interacting with your website, whether they engage with multiple pages, and how many of them add items to their cart.

For instance, you might be getting a lot of organic traffic from certain queries on Google, but you might find that the vast majority of that traffic isn’t converting and isn’t even performing any meaningful actions on your site.

Meanwhile, keywords with less traffic but with a stronger buyer-intent might reveal themselves to be much more profitable and deserving of more attention, even if the sheer number of monthly visitors is much smaller.

Final Words

Insights gained from analytics are becoming the driving force of success in eCommerce. With so many tools designed to make the job easier, any eCommerce business not using analytics in their decision-making process is sure to fall behind the competition.

The above sections are just a few ways to use analytics to improve your marketing efforts and make more sales.

As you get more familiar with how you can use data, you will find that there are virtually unlimited options for improving your business and driving your sales with the customer behavior insights you can come up with.

business analytics concept -DepositPhotos

The post How to Use Customer Analytics To Improve Your eCommerce Marketing appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/e-commerce/customer-analytics

What You Need To Know About Server Virtualization

Servers are powerful computing machines designed to host files and a variety of applications centrally. Most servers are made up of multiple CPUs, which is what gives the machines their capability to handle several tasks at a go.

Network admins assign dedicated processing units to different applications. While this approach makes it a lot easier to keep track of arising issues within applications without affecting other applications, the problem with it is that it does not leverage the enormous processing power of modern-day server computers. For this approach to continue working, we need to add multiple servers to the system as the network scales up. To solve this problem, admins can employ server virtualization – this is where specially designed software is used to convert one server to several standalone virtual machines/

Server virtualization employs the use of software to create more than one virtual instance on a physical server. At the same time, it combines several operating systems on one server. Virtual servers increase technical capabilities and help reduce app downtimes without going over the budget. 

Full Virtualization

In the model shown here, full virtualization uses something known as a hypervisor, which isolates guest machines and communicates directly to the physical server. However, it is worth noting that full virtualization has one limitation – it has its own separate processing needs, something that can slow down applications on the server.   

Paravirtualization 

The paravirtualization model generally involves the entire network working in unison as a single unit. At the same time, it abolishes the need for the different virtual machines inside the network to trap instructions, making the entire system more time-efficient. Once the network’s operating system identifies the existence of the hypervisor, it communicates directly to it using hypercalls.

Operating System Virtualization

The operating virtualization model doesn’t use hypervisors like Paravirtualization and Full Virtualization. This is because the model allows more than one instance of user space to exist. 

Server Virtualization Benefits 

Cost Savings 

Working with a virtual server means less management and maintenance. When an organization switches from physical servers to virtual machines, which means reduced physical server size, it should expect to see savings when it comes to cooling and power. At the same time, fewer physical servers require lesser hardware. 

Increases Uptime 

Another benefit of using server virtualization is that it offers advanced features – features that aren’t available in physical servers. These features are what help increase uptime. Something worth noting is that it takes less time to recover data, distribute workloads, and implement new applications and technology with server virtualization.

Improves Efficiency 

If an organization uses server virtualization, the different virtual servers in the system act in place of a single physical server. As a result, efficiency goes up since the virtual servers in the network produce the same result/output as a single physical server but more effectively.

Improves Disaster Recovery 

Another benefit of server virtualization is that it comes with a recovery feature. It’s worth keeping in mind that information isn’t tied to the physical server but to several servers. As such, if one entity crashes, there’s no need to fear – data in the other servers is perfectly safe.

Image-Based Backups 

Another thing worth noting about server virtualization is that it has a backup feature that can be used to restore the entire virtual server system. Organizations can quickly and effectively backup entire virtual machines and restore them if need be. Furthermore, image-based backup saves time and makes system recovery easier. 

Cloud Integration 

Abstracting hardware and making servers virtual makes it easier for businesses to move to the cloud.

The first thing organizations need to do is migrate from a public cloud to a private one. However, as technology advances and the public cloud matures, it will be much easier for businesses to move their data out of data centers into cloud hosting facilities.

Server Virtualization Cons

Security Risk 

Data security does determine the success of a business. It is worth noting that server virtualization does present a security risk to businesses. To mitigate this, organizations have to spend a bit more on data security to protect sensitive business information. 

Some Applications Can’t Be Virtualized

One major drawback of server virtualization is that some applications aren’t virtualization-friendly. The reason for this is that not all software or hardware vendors support virtualization. Fortunately, a majority of applications on the market are virtualization-friendly. 

Upfront Costs

Depending on the network and hardware you use, you might have to invest in more hardware to ensure server virtualization is implemented successfully. Fortunately, a majority of organizations have more than enough infrastructure to support the virtualization of their server network. As a business owner, consider hiring the services of a managed IT services provider and let them help you figure out which option best suits your business – whether to work with monthly leasing or to purchase plans.

Conclusion 

As you can tell, server virtualization has more benefits than disadvantages. And with advances in technology, helping solve and facilitate many operations, you can rest assured that server virtualization will only get better. If, as a business, you want full control of your server(s), then virtualization is the way to go.

 

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/server-virtualization

BO Parfet and the Explorer’s Club: Improving the World Through Innovation and Exploration

When faced with adversity, we have three choices:

1. Succumb to the idea that change is beyond our control
2. Run from it, all-the-while knowing that it is still hidden somewhere inside of us
3. Stare it directly in the eyes and rise above it

There is no greater feeling than that of proving to yourself that you can do hard things. In my life, I have faced many obstacles, whether it be overcoming my learning disabilities growing up with a speech impediment and dyslexia, or quite literally facing death as I scaled the highest peaks in the world. What got me to the top of Mount Everest (and through my climb of K2) is the same drive and determination that helped me get through school as a kid, and it is what has made me who I am today.

I am Bo Parfet and I am a mountaineer, naturalist, author, impact investor, and philanthropist. I cannot say that I ever expected my life’s work to include such a list, especially because I was kicked out of school more times than I care to admit. I am passionate about doing things that challenge me holistically and about exploring concepts, ideas, and places that may have otherwise remained uncharted territory.

Gaining a Broad Perspective

My professional experience in corporate finance led me to pursue and develop investment opportunities outside of traditional stock and bond investing. My personal ambitions have helped me evolve from a troublemaker youth into a person who cares deeply for our environment and humanity. Climbing mountains across the globe and seeing some of the world’s most impoverished communities enabled me to understand that we are all connected, and those of us that can, should serve others to strengthen each other as individuals and within our own communities.

I come from a long line of philanthropists, starting with my altruistic great-great-grandfather, Dr. William Upjohn. When I began preparing for my first climb, part of my mission was to give back to each of the communities I would visit. After doing some research and talking with some friends, I connected with the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), a wonderful organization that provides scholarships to kids in impoverished communities looking for opportunities to become doctors, lawyers, accountants, or excel in other professional occupations to better themselves and help improve their communities.

Connecting with SAIRR allowed me to raise enough money, about $12,000, to give two South African students medical school scholarships. Years later, I am still connected with these two individuals and am utterly impressed with their success.

You see, for me being an explorer is much more than climbing mountains for my own personal satisfaction. Being an explorer means that I really immerse myself in the parts of the world where my journey takes me. As I continued to make connections, I learned about an organization that unites explorers across the world, promoting the advancement of scientific discoveries to improve various aspects of our planet.

The Explorer’s Club

The Explorers Club was founded in New York City in 1904. It promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural, and biological sciences. Famous members of the Explorer’s Club include Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, and Ootah, the first individuals to explore the North Pole, and Roald Amundsen, the first to the South Pole. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first explorers to summit Mount Everest. Even our famous moon-landing astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were members of this illustrious group.

The Explorer’s Club provides expedition resources that include funding and member-to-member consultation. This member-to-member fellowship is probably the most powerful benefit in joining the Club. Once attaining membership, which requires your own participation in an expedition or scientific experiment of note, you are forever connected with a global network of expertise, technology, industry, and support.

There are many inspiring discoveries and daring expeditions that have come from members of the Explorer’s Club, two of which I want to share—Theodore Roosevelt’s decent down the Amazon’s River of Doubt in 1914, and the heroism of Ken Kamler during the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster. The adventurous and altruistic spirit of both men epitomize what it means to be part of the Explorer’s Club, and I am fortunate to be among their ranks.

Roosevelt’s River of Doubt

Theodore Roosevelt was one of the United States’ most remarkable presidents. Following his presidency, Roosevelt embarked on one of the most daring and challenging adventures in history. He and a team journeyed through the jungles of the Amazon and down an uncharted tributary, the River of Doubt. Dodging tropical illness, deadly animals and insects, and near starvation that caused many team members to perish, Roosevelt completed the mission with just two other men—his 23-year old son, Kermit, and naturalist George Cherrie.

After a two-month trek, fighting for his life every step of the way, Roosevelt and his team succeeded on their journey. The environmental and geographical discoveries that his team chronicled have been confirmed at least twice over. The Brazilians even changed the name of the River of Doubt to the Roosevelt River.

Ken Kamler, “Doctor on Everest”

Dr. Ken Kamler is an Everest legend. He is a mountaineer, hand surgeon, and expedition medic and his heroic selflessness allowed him to save ten lives on one fateful day in May 1996. Kamler is known as the “Doctor on Everest” after forfeiting his own summit bid to tend to injured and dying climbers caught in a whiteout on the world’s highest peak.

As the only doctor on the mountain during one of the mountain’s worst ever storms, Kamler took on the responsibility to help evacuate two teams that had gotten stuck, injured, and ill as the storm barreled its way through. The ten days that Kamler spent on the mountain during that storm was one of the most difficult things he had faced during his history as an expedition medic. Some call it a miracle, others call it true grit. I call it both.

My Acceptance into the Club—The Discovery of New Life

Soon after I returned from my first trek up Kilimanjaro, I began attending live lectures hosted by the Explorer’s Club. I was fascinated by the discoveries that the members of this group had made. It wasn’t until almost two years later, in early 2005 that I was finally accepted into the Explorer’s Club after returning to Kilimanjaro to complete a scientific expedition to prospect extremophiles in one of the mountain’s vast, arid craters.

Researchers at Indiana University estimate there may be one trillion species living on Earth, concluding that only one thousandth of one percent have been identified. Within the number that has yet to be identified, is a group of organisms known as “extremophiles”. Extremophiles are organisms with the ability to thrive in extreme environments under high pressure or acute temperatures. Discovering and studying these organisms can help identify at which range of conditions life is possible. Extremophiles and their chemical makeup show great promise for developing genetically based medications and industrial chemicals and processes with beneficial applications for humanity.

Our Explorer’s Club team-which included my friend, Emmy award-winning producer, author and, at the time President of the Explorer’s Club, Richard Wiese-summited to the top of Kilimanjaro to explore the 1.5 mile-wide crater of the Kibo volcano. We would take soil samples and GPS readings, while also collecting photographic evidence and documenting ground temperature and depth for each sample. At various points along that crater, temperatures would reach between 180-220 degrees Fahrenheit and we would go on to discover 29 new species of microorganisms, all thriving in an arid atmosphere flooded with ultraviolet light at an elevation of 19,340-feet.

It was determined from identifying these new species that their protective makeup could also aid in commercial processes, such as preventing house or car paint from fading under similar intensities of light. Completing this bioprospecting expedition earned our team recognition on the cover of Outdoors Magazine, and earned me acceptance as a member of the Explorer’s Club.

Being part of the Explorer’s Club is humbling and an honor. The recognition is one that drives me to constantly push myself to work harder and to work for what is good. In 2013, my wife Meredith and I founded Denali Venture Philanthropy with this goal in mind.

Denali Venture Philanthropy is an investment fund that uses well-established portfolio fundamentals to make debt and equity investments in for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, and social impact funds.

With the connections that I made with my teammates and within the communities in the countries I have been fortunate to visit, my understanding for the universality of the human experience has broadened. Denali Venture Philanthropy understands that market forces can, if implemented correctly and fairly, act as a strong mechanism for addressing significant global issues by raising education levels, improving access to quality healthcare, decreasing poverty, and protecting the environment.

mountains -DepositPhotos

The post BO Parfet and the Explorer’s Club: Improving the World Through Innovation and Exploration appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/personal-growth/bo-parfet-explorers-club

The Hidden Mystery Behind Writing A Perfect Email Newsletter

Email Marketing is one of the most essential marketing tools with higher Click-Through-Rate. What’s the way into a fruitful newsletter, contrasted with one that just sits in somebody’s inbox which no one peruses? Here are some tips that you must know before writing a perfect email newsletter.

A newsletter is an email that offers perusers and fans who buy in a rundown of your most intriguing substance, declarations, and advancements. The normal open rate for advertising email overall businesses is around 24% and the normal active visitor clicking percentage is around 4% (or 11% of opened messages). It tends to be useful for keeping crowds aware of everything and furthermore in picking up traffic.

How to Write a Newsletter Email?

Consistency is the key. Yes, your newsletters are meant to be sent on a regular basis. Email Marketing is essential and you must know how to write a newsletter that gives you prominent results.
Figure out what do you want to share? An event, Projects, Discounts, or what?

Then, start writing a perfect email newsletter and make draft of your content. After completion and sending the newsletter to your audience, do A/B testing that includes split-testing your email subject lines. By this method, you’ll be knowing which one gets the highest open rate.

Your newsletter is a significant advertising asset, and it’s the ideal opportunity for you to begin keeping in touch with them all things considered.

It Must Be Informative

Yes, send your newsletter only if you have something to send and not just for some random time. It should not waste your time working on it or of the reader. Presently, clearly, you’ll need to place adverts in your pamphlet as well. You need to acquire a living, all things considered. Your crowd couldn’t care less about your life or your issues. They just consideration about how you can assist them with their life and issues. Be that as it may, ensure that there is another thing to keep your perusers intrigued, regardless of whether that just methods unique offers. On the off chance that you can give tips and counsel, or industry news, these are key things that your supporters might be keen on.

Grab Attention

Make sure that your headline or subject worths reading. Make it catchy yet informative with Call-To-Action, add some words that can grab your audience’s attention.

Add One CTA Button Instead of Multiple Ones

It should be catchy enough to click on that and also they’ll be having an idea what to do with your newsletter.

Keep it Minimal

Don’t go hard or over creative with your content to make it feel cluttered. Use colors that go with some theme. Do whatever you want to do with your newsletter but in an organized manner.

Make Your Copy Concise and Minimal to Turn on the Customer and Gauge Your Skills and Services for Their Issues

No one is interested in your life story or experiences, get straight to your point in a relatable manner. Everyone is busy in their life and no one has enough time to read about your personal things so don’t fill up your newsletter with extra information. It would be better if you don’t exceed your limit of the email more than 3 to 5 paragraphs.

One Email Must Have One Topic Only

it would be confusing for the readers to gather everything in one email. What you can do is dedicate one topic to one newsletter and not bombard it with so many topics or subjects. Create a framework that you can use on a spreadsheet to track your progress.

Apart From the Body, a Beautiful Newsletter Template Is Required

You can create a template or choose from built-in templates to show the purpose of your newsletter. Free template builder like stripo can help you.

There Are 2 Types of Newsletters From Which You Can Choose

Plain text or HTML emails. HTML emails are a bit more complex but they can be tracked and gives you a higher conversion rate indeed.

Good Old 90/10% Ratio Still Works

Let me explain it to you, your newsletter content should be 90% educational and 10% promotional so that your readers could easily digest what they are reading and not unsubscribing. The recommended length is 1-12 words in a sentence in the active voice for easy understanding.

Do Not Overload Your Newsletter

keep around 3 to 6 items only. Use your creativity in forms of images, Blog posts, Contests, Infographics, and Offers or Deals. Once you are done with all of these, check on your link if it;s working or not that you kept in the newsletter.

Most of the People Are Using Phone Devices Now So Make Sure Your Newsletter Is Mobile Friendly

Your design and visuals must be functional with the phones. Don’t forget to write sender’s name. This is one of teh most important things to keep in mind while writing a perfect email newsletter.

email marketing concept -DepositPhotos

The post The Hidden Mystery Behind Writing A Perfect Email Newsletter appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/e-mail-marketing/writing-email-newsletters

A Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Landing Pages

Our world has shifted to a digital one and the real estate industry is no exception. According to a 2016 report from the National Association of Realtors, 83% of buyers use the internet to search for homes and that number keeps rising. Digital marketing has taken over and it has come to the forefront of the real estate agent’s marketing strategy.

Agents need to attract leads that will (hopefully) convert to clients. One strategy to draw traffic and convert is by optimizing your landing page. Before creating a landing page that converts, you need to know what a successful landing page looks like and every aspect behind its success.

Landing Pages and Why They’re Important in Real Estate

Your landing page strategy can make a huge difference. It’ll attract a targeted customer to the right page to increase conversions. So what exactly is a landing page?

A landing page is one page with a single goal: to make sales and attract leads by encouraging visitors to take a specific action. Visitors to your landing page will get there by clicking on a call-to-action, an ad, an email link, or through social media. Optimizing your landing page involves improving certain factors on your page to make those conversions. There will be trial and error and having the perfect landing page won’t happen on day one.

How can real estate agents utilize their landing pages?

Landing pages have different objectives, such as:

• growing a mailing list,
• scheduling private showings of a listing,
• communicating with buyers interested in a property,
• driving traffic to promote your products and/or services,
• a free home valuation report,
• and more.

Keep your objective in mind while creating your landing page. Make your page do the work for you to achieve your goal.

What Makes a Good Landing Page?

Your landing page needs to grab the attention of its visitors, give all of the necessary information they’re looking for, and convince them why they need your product or service.

Here are a few tips towards optimizing your landing page:

Keep It Simple

Your landing page should be clean, simple, and well-organized. Keep your copy short and to the point. A majority of viewers online-only skim material. You don’t want to make your page look messy or be too overwhelming.

You can use text, visuals, or videos to get your key points across to visitors. Every single aspect of your landing page should have a purpose, whether it’s to attract a buyer to a listing or sign up for e-mail newsletters. Make your content stand out and easy to read with contrasting and complementary colors. Show your key information in the visitor’s line of sight.

Keep your page attractive and give your visitors the information they need.

High-Quality Visuals

You don’t want grainy, unattractive images to represent you or your business. Use your photos or stock image websites. Keep quality in mind, but don’t forget performance.

Not optimizing your images can slow down your website and search engines consider loading speed as an essential contributing factor towards engagement. The top reasons why your images are slowing down your landing page are due to:

• large image files,
• several elements are trying to load simultaneously,
• and too many images.

There are compression tools available online, try lowering the display size, and don’t go crazy with the number of images. Try to keep it under five.

Use a Captivating Header

Your header is in large, bold font and at the top of your landing page. It’s the first thing eyes will land on so make your visitors know exactly what your page is all about.

Your header and subheading tell your visitors what you’re offering and how it will help them. This is what they will see first. The average attention span is eight seconds, and at that time, you have to grab the attention of your visitor and make them want to read more.

Your heading needs to spark interest, and the subheading needs to make them stay.

Call to Action (CTA)

A call to action is the action you want the visitor on your landing page to take.

Do you want a lead’s information for future contact or for visitors to click through into a sales funnel? For contact information, you want to include a form asking for a name, an email address, and a space to include a quick message.  A click-through landing page has a CTA that leads the visitor from your landing page to your website and into a sales funnel.

Make sure your CTA is direct, and it stands out among your content. Make visitors want to click.

Build Trust

Visitors will not become clients if they do not trust you. Put a face to the name and show off any credentials.

Build networks on social media and add those links to your landing page. Show that you have a following that listens to you and enjoys your content. It’s difficult to trust someone when you have no idea who they are.

Additional trust-building elements are:

• testimonials,
• reviews from past clients,
• years in the real estate industry,
• and the homes you’ve sold.

Clients want to see that you are a real, trustworthy person with experience in the business. Building that trust makes visitors more likely to listen to your pitch and act on your CTA.

Sales Pitch

A real estate landing page offers the services of the agent, a property on the market, or another promotion such as en ebook. What you offer will be in your sales pitch.

Why should a lead want your offer? Include some advantages of your offer and how that visitor will benefit. Crafting a solid sales pitch means you need to know your audience. Test each element of your landing page and make necessary adjustments.

Be creative with your approach.

The Bottom Line

To become successful, real estate agents need to master the art of digital marketing, and your landing page needs to fit into your strategy. Done right, and your leads become clients. If it’s not quite there, make some changes and see what works with your audience.

real estate website concept -DepositPhotos

The post A Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Landing Pages appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/marketing-strategy/real-estate-pages

How to Assess and Monitor Employee Engagement?

With an increase in the awareness of HR best practices, Senior and Mid-level managers have realized the significance of employee engagement and accepted its influence on productivity. It is the driving force that enables a workforce to work towards the company’s mission and vision. If you have begun thinking about ways to boost employee engagement, then there are two prerequisites that you are missing out on — assessing and monitoring employee engagement.

Even before you start implementing employee engagement strategies, you must have the necessary protocols in place to assess and monitor employee engagement. That’s because you need to know where you currently stand and where you are heading. Also, you must monitor and assess employee engagement after implementing each strategy and track its progress.

Monitoring employee engagement can seem like rocket science at first, but if you stay with us until the end, you’ll figure out that it isn’t as complicated as it seems. However, one must choose assessment and monitoring techniques depending on the size of an organization, nature of the business, and certain other inherent factors.

Why Assess Employee Engagement?

Did you know that close to 33% employees plan to keep their jobs and work for the same organization while only 18% are engaged in what they do? While this 18% also plan to stick to their jobs, they are likely to be more productive because they are engaged. They are not a victim of circumstances pressing them to keep their jobs, nor do they wish to cling on because they lack opportunities. Instead, this 18 % wish to stay because they are eager to contribute to the organization’s success.

That explains why it is imperative for businesses to work towards boosting employee engagement, but before doing that they need to know where they stand. Thereafter, repeated assessment of employee engagement is essential to evaluate which HR strategies are working and which aren’t. Based on this data, the organization can make key financial decisions such as whether or not to continue a particular HR policy.

So, if the town halls are conducted way too often and are resulting in loss of productive time, then a suitable decision can be made. Likewise, if bi-weekly team outings can be reduced to monthly outings as things improve and the team becomes well-acquainted with one another, then it can help cut back expenses. Since both time and money are of the essence, it is essential to measure the effectiveness of employee engagement strategies from time to time.

How to Measure Employee Engagement?

The easiest and most cost-effective way to measure employee engagement is through surveys. However, for higher precision, you need to lay down metrics based on which you would be conducting the study.

You can do this by seeking answers for a variety of questions, such as goal-oriented or satisfaction-based questions. Goal-oriented questions are the ones that let you evaluate whether the employee is working towards the company’s mission. On the other hand, satisfaction-based questions tell you about how an employee feels about the company or his job profile.

For a more quantitative study, you need to take into account absenteeism and average hours worked. The idea is that an employee has higher attendance and puts in more hours at work only when the employee is engaged. If you run a small business, then you can also measure employee engagement based on conversion rates. So, as it is evident, there are both qualitative and quantitative aspects that must be taken into account while measuring employee engagement.

Also, employee engagement has a direct impact on employee productivity as such professionals are driven towards excelling at what they do. So, measuring employee productivity from time to time is something that you must not neglect.

If you are thinking of designing yet another survey to measure productivity, then you don’t have to. That’s because measuring and monitoring productivity is as easy as installing a software application like EmpMonitor on the employee’s system. Once you’ve done that, then you can easily pull out monthly reports based on data such as keystrokes, application-wise usage, and more.

The best part is that you can automatically compile and download the report as a PDF document, at the click of a button. You can do this for individual employees or for an entire team to assess and evaluate how your engagement strategy is working.

Let us now discuss some scientifically proven and effective ways to monitor and assess employee engagement.

Sample Group Assessment

Microsoft has a total of 151,163 employees, Apple has around 1,37,000, and Google has 114,096 employees. Now, these are not the only companies that hire thousands of employees across tens of departments. That explains why interviewing each and every employee may not be feasible to assess employee engagement. That’s where sample group-based testing comes handy, which makes use of the time-tested research technique which involves creating and evaluating a sample group.

So, in the case of a very large organization, it only makes sense to choose a department-wise sample group. This involves creating a separate group for every department. Smaller organizations can create a single but diverse sample group with employees from various departments.

However, make it a point to limit the group to a maximum of 12 members to get the best results. Once you have shortlisted candidates and formed the sample group, then have a one-on-one conversation with each employee. Try to frame questions that let you find out how satisfied the employees are with their jobs, whether they trust their immediate managers, and if they have access to the tools and training required to outperform in their job roles.

Measure Impact on Productivity

According to statistics, a lack of employee engagement costs businesses up to 605 billion dollars each year. That’s a good reason to have a reliable yardstick to measure employee engagement. After all, highly engaged employees are found to be more dedicated to the success of an organization. As a result, they are more productive in their job roles. So, it only makes sense to use productivity as a yardstick to monitor employee engagement. You can measure productivity with employee monitoring and tracking software like EmpMonitor, which quantifies the data into a simplified report.

Use Utrecht Employee Engagement Measurement Scale

One way of measuring employee engagement is by using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), which is widely used by businesses across the globe to determine how engaged their employees are. This scale makes use of three key indicators — Vigor, Dedication, and Absorption — to assess employee engagement. Each of the three indicators is measured on a frequency scale of 0 to 6.

• Vigor refers to mental strength and resilience while at work, which is justified by one’s persistent attempts to complete complex tasks against all odds.
• Dedication refers to how important and valued employees feel and how much pride they take in what they do for an organization.
• Absorption refers to concentration level or how engrossed employees are in their work.

So, if your company has a good number of workaholics who put in extra hours at work, then chances are that your employee engagement is high.

Evaluate the Health of Your Employees

Employee engagement is all about employees taking pride in what they do, and that won’t happen if you have a bunch of employees that are stressed out. So, if your employees have been experiencing regular health concerns, especially those linked to stress and mental health, then it is time to take some necessary decisions.

Running a pulse survey or a sample survey along with a quick peep into the productivity reports will indicate the problem areas. Sometimes there could be more such cases coming from a particular department, especially when there are fewer resources as compared to the workload.

In that case, there is a need to restructure and hire more resources. So, although you may have set out to assess employee engagement, there’s much more information out there that can help the overall growth of an organization.

Retention Rate

According to a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, there is a direct relationship between employee engagement and employee retention rate. So, a quick study of an organization’s retention rate gives a clear picture of its employee engagement status. Therefore, organizations operating businesses that require highly technical and competitive skills must strive to increase employee engagement. Doing that allows you to get the most out of your existing employees and eliminates the need to hire new talent, which is often more expensive.

Conduct periodical pulse surveys

Pulse surveys are gaining rapid popularity as an efficacious employee engagement tool. It involves gauging employee satisfaction with regard to their job role and other factors that influence their performance.

Ideally, organizations must conduct quarterly pulse surveys because that’s the whole idea behind this type of survey — to know the pulse of the employees. Therefore, it is best conducted more frequently than other types of traditional surveys, which are either annual or bi-annual.

Pulse surveys can also be conducted to gauge the pulse of the employees when a new HR policy is rolled out to boost employee engagement. It tells you if that’s truly working as intended or needs another gentle nudge. The questions could be as simple as asking employees how likely they are to recommend the company to a near one, or something about the company’s mission statement.

However, the answers are invaluable because it helps you figure out how the employee feels about the organization. To make things easier, always stick to asking objective type questions with responses collected on a scale of 0 to 10.

Leadership

Companies with strong leadership are likely to draw more employee engagement than others. That’s because the employees have the satisfaction of working under someone they look up to and probably even idolize. According to a study conducted by Psychologists Kim Peters and Alex Haslam, employees tend to look up to leaders who do not shy away from working shoulder to shoulder on regular projects.

So, if you are in a leadership role and there’s someone struggling with a complex issue that your expertise can solve, then go for it. That will not only inspire your subordinates but will also compel them to work harder.

Final Conclusion

The above mentioned are some of the most trusted methods that you can use to monitor and assess employee engagement effectively. If you are unsure of which method to choose, then the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale would be your best bet. Whichever method you choose, executing it successfully with absolute precision is half the battle won. That’s because when you monitor and assess employee engagement from time to time, you are in a better position to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy. Unless there is a way to measure success or failure, one may never know the consequences of one’s actions.

hands holding puzzle pieces -DepositPhotos

The post How to Assess and Monitor Employee Engagement? appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/management/employee-engagement-assessment

Thrive Not Survive – How Business Can Evolve

Throughout history, hardship has always provided a catalyst for growth and innovation. This was borne out in the wake of the great recession in 2008, which initially drove widespread job losses and economic decline across the globe.

However, it’s thought that the financial crash also ushered in the age of the so-called  ‘accidental entrepreneur’, as many of those who unexpectedly lost their jobs decided to launch their own business ventures.

This is borne out by the figures, with almost 13% of the US working-age population in the process of launching or running an independent business back in 2013 (according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor). This number was 67% higher than the corresponding figure from 2010, while one-in-five respondents also embraced entrepreneurship out of necessity rather than an opportunity.

This provides an important lesson and frame of reference in the current climate, with the number of global coronavirus cases having recently passed 10.3 million and regional lockdowns being considered throughout the world. But how can entrepreneurs and businesses look to thrive against the backdrop of another new normal, and what role could innovation play in this?

Adopting a ‘Startup’ Mindset – Driving Rapid Recovery and Growth

Firms in western economies have certainly benefited from sustained government assistance in the wake of the pandemic, and this has helped to reinforce the sense of commercial resilience that businesses need to survive during times of hardship.

The US administration is currently considering a further $1 trillion economic stimulus and infrastructure package, for example, while the British government quickly rolled out its CBILS loan scheme in conjunction with private lenders to help sustain medium-sized and larger firms during the crisis.

However, while these measures focus primarily on helping businesses to survive the worst of the pandemic’s socio-economic impact, they don’t necessarily create a pathway towards near-term growth and prosperity.

So, how can businesses look to steal a march on their competitors and build towards a better future, particularly if they’re unable to invest huge amounts of capital?

Ultimately, it’s crucial that businesses focus on manageable aspects of transformation that are easily within their control, with the adoption of a so-called ‘startup mindset’ offering a relevant case in point.

In simple terms, this represents an agile and proactive way of thinking that favors actions over research, and is likely to eschew excess analysis over practical testing.

Of course, this may seem alien to relatively established businesses that have a viable model and an innate sense of caution, but it can deliver huge advantages in markets where competitors are focused primarily on consolidation.

This type of tenacious and proactive mindset certainly empowered the Pike Place Market bakery Piroshky Piroshky, which was quick to expand its website and delivery capabilities in the wake of the pandemic to incorporate other businesses in the marketplace.

Not only has this decisive action boosted the company’s earnings and driven growth during times of austerity, but it has also provided some invaluable free publicity and widespread awareness for the brand as a whole.

Creating a sense of accountability is also central to this, as it’s important to create an immersive culture around your business’s new mindset. By encouraging employees to buy into this and take responsibility for specific actions, it’s possible to grow quickly and thrive even in a challenging climate.

Embracing Innovation – What Role Will This Play in Recovery?

Another interesting element of the initial response to Covid-19 is the focus on human capital and employees, and more specifically their productivity and the way in which they work.

Make no mistake; companies have definitely begun to rethink their existing operating models based on how their staff members work best, with 60% of firms surveyed by McKinsey in early April reporting that their new remote sales models were proving as much (29%) or more efficient (31%) than their previous methodology.

With this in mind, it’s likely that these firms will look to focus more seriously on remote and flexible working directives across the globe, as they look to simultaneously minimize costs and optimize productivity in the longer-term.

There’s also a crossover here with the acceleration of digital, tech and analytics, with remote working tools such as Microsoft Teams and project management platforms like Trello becoming increasingly commonplace in traditional workplaces.

Of course, concepts such as remote working were already in place in the business realm, but recent data has shown that the rate of advancement and adoption has progressed by the equivalent of five years in the course of just eight weeks.

Interestingly, the best performing businesses are those that are further embracing digitization, by integrating advanced analytics and big data tools into their existing software.

One of the main benefits of this is that it’s enabling firms to combine new sources of both structured and unstructured datasets (such as those driven by social media and satellite imaging) with their own unique insights to improve commercial decision making.

The Last Word

While the Covid-19 crisis has proved devastating for some firms and marketplaces, it continues to create opportunities for businesses to thrive and build towards a more productive and profitable future.

It’s certainly interesting to note that some of the world’s most proactive and forward-thinking firms have delivered success stories during the pandemic, particularly those that have embraced an aggressive startup mindset and laid the foundations for long-term digital transformation.

Even on a fundamental level, history has proven that hardship provides a catalyst for innovation and growth, and ultimately it’s the organisations that embrace this that will ultimately be successful.

The post Thrive Not Survive – How Business Can Evolve appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/global/how-business-can-evolve

Using Web Design and SEO in Tandem to Impress Google

You might be aware that when your web development company in Noida plans the SEO for your business website, you are trying to get a good position in Google search results so that you appear in the top results and grab the attention of potential customers. You are mostly trying to impress Google to put you at the top. It is essential to understand that SEO and web design are two sides of the same coin and cannot succeed without each other.

Looking at Google’s policy for SEO, the design of the website is high on the importance scale. It does not evaluate it as a user can, but it has its parameters that are reasonably accurate at understanding if the website is what the user is looking for. Hence, good website design adds to the value of your SEO. You should aware of website bounce rates. When your website is designed with exactness then the SEO side of things needs to take care. then your bounce rate will be better. It would make happy the customers and Google as well. The better bounce rate of your website will appear with a high rank in Google.

The following tips combining the two can be successful in boosting your Google rank:

Mobile-Friendly Website Design

When mobiles were not as popular for browsing as they are in current times, Google used to index the websites based on the desktop version. Responsiveness was a criterion, but that has changed now. From the end of 2017, the indexing process has been considering mobile sites. The mobile version of the website should be considered as the initial design for a higher rank on Google search. If you are considering a design for a new website or are planning to revamp the old one, keep this in mind. Your website designing company in Noida will need to ensure that the site is responsive and all the elements appear as they do on the regular website.

Keep It Simple

Simple web design helps to attract more customers to your website. More websites are building the sidebar in the favor of a single-column design. It means less destruction and puts the focus on the content. As a web designer, you should keep your website design simple to target the audience and tell them, your website has a very specific process.

If Users Like It, Google Does Too

The bounce rate of a website is a critical evaluation factor for Google. If users visit your site and leave without spending much time, it is considered a bounce. A website with a high bounce rate is not appreciated by Google. To reduce the bounce rate, the website must be designed to engage the consumers and give them an excellent experience to make them want to revisit. The design must mainly focus on the smooth navigation and simplicity of the website so that the users can find what they are looking for. It would result in higher engagement and more backlinks – just what Google wants.

Speed Is the Name of the Game

Yes, it is all about speed. A website that takes too long to load is preferred neither by the visitors nor by Google. By Google standards, the site must load within three seconds to avoid a bounce. You can improve the speed of the website by decluttering it of unnecessary elements that slow it down. Compress the media that needs to stay and optimize the code. A faster loading website will surely climb up the ladder.

Good SEO Comes from Good Content

If your content is irrelevant and boring, all your efforts at SEO will fail. Just using keywords is not good enough. Your content must appeal to the consumers, answer the questions in their minds, and be relevant. Only then will it have the desired impact on Google. Google pays close attention to the misuse of keywords and pushes such content down on the rankings.

Include Social Sharing Buttons

If your website does not have social share buttons, you could miss social media traffic to your website. These buttons should be placed on the top or button of your blog post. They will allow you to share your page on several social media channels. When you look at the design of your website, you must ensure that the website design company in Noida has taken care to ensure that the structure and layout of the website are not confusing. A clear-cut website is easier to understand and hence is high on appeal. It should be intuitive and guide the visitors in the logically right direction.

From the discussion above, it must be clear that both web design and SEO are two different fields, but you cannot separate them. These tips will provide you an improvement in your traffic and business sales.

UX design concept -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/global/web-design-seo

How Modern IT Gadgets Can Improve Business Intelligence

No doubt, the business world has been greatly influenced by modern technologies. No matter, what industry a business belongs to, technology plays a vital role in every business. But many companies underestimate the power of some technologies because they are not well informed. Those who effectively use modern technologies for their business have reached new heights in their respective industry.

Knowing the importance of different techniques for your business can increase productivity and performance. Using smart devices can enhance speed, accuracy, and overall business operations. So, it’s worth spending some time to learn the importance of modern technologies in your business. Here I am sharing how you can improve different business operations using modern technology.

Importance of Modern IT Gadgets in Business

Understanding the importance of modern IT gadgets helps you to take advantage of technology for your business. Now let me share some of the essential benefits you get from these smart gadgets.

Helps in Better Communication

Business communication is greatly influenced by modern technologies. There are many IT gadgets that help with better communication. For example, the advent of smartphones transformed business communication. You can send an email, talk to your team in a video conference, send documents to your company, etc.

Besides, it allows you to attend online meetings from any location using different video conferencing software. You don’t have to worry about traveling. With some of the great tools, software, and applications, you can even work in a project online with the help of smart gadgets. Moreover, modern technologies also improve many business operations.

Ease the Business Operations

Every business has a number of operations such as documentation, accounting, financial management, planning, etc. Have you ever thought about how technology has impacted different business operations? It has made every business operation simpler, faster, and effective. Overall, it makes your business operations easier to manage. With the help of different IT gadgets, it’s easier to manage all your business operations. As the owner of a business, you manage multiple things at a time. However, technology plays an important role in managing different things in your business.

For example, a biometric attendance system allows you to take the attendance of your employees with all the essential details. Accounting software helps you to calculate your financial system. Some software helps in your business communication. You can work remotely with different platforms in a single project. More examples are file-sharing using an intranet, digital filing system, remote access of other systems, etc. Now let us know how modern IT gadgets improve productivity.

Improves Productivity

Another major benefit of IT gadgets is it improves the productivity of a business. As technology improves business operations which results in increasing the productivity of your business. There are many gadgets that can significantly improve your productivity. Gadgets like skype, connected whiteboard, the portable battery charger can improve your productivity. When your productivity increases your whole business performance increases.

Enables to Work Remotely

This is one of the great benefits that technology offers you for your business. Technology offers you the opportunity to work remotely. You don’t need to travel or relocate to a new location for working. You can simply work from anywhere due to the advanced tools modern gadgets provide. You get the freedom to work from home and it is a great advantage for many people who can’t travel.

Allows Secure Financial Transaction

Handling cash transactions is a risky job. With the advancement of technology, financial transactions become very easy and secure. Business transactions are no more risky jobs. Different financial gadgets like swipe machines, POS terminals, barcode scanners have made financial transactions very easy. This is another way how your business gets benefited from modern technology. In addition, online payment systems have dominated the financial world in the last decade.

Helps to Build Good Customer Relation

Customer service is an important aspect of every business. Modern technology can help you to build good customer relationships using different tools. Using social media can help you to connect with your audience. Online help desks can provide the information your visitors want to get from your website.

Getting feedback is an important part that you can get from online surveys. You can use analytics tools to know customer behavior and requirements. Hence different IT gadgets provide you the platform to provide customer support and build an effective relationship. Ensure that your business utilizes these tools to the best of their ability to improve your customer relations.

Reduces Human Errors

Another benefit you get from the advancement of technology is that you can reduce human errors. With the usage of modern technology, most of the errors can be reduced. One exception is that you may have technical errors some times, but in general, you can hugely reduce the human errors or manipulations that people do in your organization. It is easier to find errors using technology.

Safeguards Your Business and Employees 

Using different automation tools for repetitive tasks can reduce human labor. You can use technology for dangerous tasks to keep your employees safe.  Gadgets like surveillance cameras can help you to keep an eye on your business. You can see what’s going inside your organization. It helps you to protect you from theft or any illegal activities. Apart from this, technology can help you control and manage your employees properly. There are many other things that you can achieve using technology and IT gadgets. The important thing is that you need to be aware of the benefits and train your employees about it.

Conclusion

These are some of the ways that IT gadgets can improve your business intelligence. It is a different matter that what type of gadgets you use for your business. But every business can benefit from technology irrespective of any industry. So, it is important that you need to be aware of different IT gadgets that your business needs to stay out of the crowd.

Remember that this will continue as the technologies and new gadgets continue to change. Hopefully, the information in this article helped you realize how technology can improve your business growth.

The post How Modern IT Gadgets Can Improve Business Intelligence appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/technology-trends/business-it-tools

3 Common Mistakes Made by New Business Owners

While starting a business is easier than ever, the vast majority still end up failing after a few years. As a matter of fact, it’s estimated that about 60% of all UK businesses end up going bust after three years. This is often because people were ill-informed about what it actually takes to run a business. Many people start with assumptions or try to emulate someone else’s business model.

What they don’t know is that it goes well beyond a model. Some might have advantages that allow them to get better deals from their suppliers; others advertise better, while some people are able to run a leaner operation and reduce costs. This is why you need to give your business a close look and see if you are committing any mistakes that could later spell its demise. Here are some common mistakes made by new business owners.

Being Too Loyal

This may sound strange at first, but some businesses are just too loyal to the people they work with. Yes, it’s nice to have a good relationship with a supplier, and it can have its advantages, but you also have to take advantage of the market. Once you have been given an initial deal, it’s tough to go much farther than that, unless you bring in competition. This is why you should continuously try to negotiate your deals with suppliers, especially when it comes to utilities. 

Energy companies have a tendency to treat new clients better and won’t offer much later when it comes to deals, which is why you should not only always try to renegotiate your current plan, but consider making a switch. Some even recommend that you switch suppliers every three years. Doing so while comparing offers will allow you to always get great introductory fees. If you’re looking for options, we suggest you browse through these guides. You’ll be able to find the best deals on the market and broaden your options.

Not Having a Plan

This is probably the most crucial mistake most starting business owners make. You need to have a plan when getting started. Starting without plans is like going on a trip to a strange land without a map. Notice how we said plans because you shouldn’t have only one business plan; you should also have a financial plan and marketing plan. These will allow you to look at things like how much working capital and financing you think you will need, and start exploring and evaluating marketing methods.

Being Scared of Technology

This can take many forms. Did you know that over 1 in every 10 businesses only accepts cash? This is only one aspect, but when you’re averse to technology, you are bound to make some losses. Only taking cash may be convenient for a vendor, but it’s enough for a client to never return. You might also lose to someone who offers card payments.

Others will neglect things like online reviews and local visibility on search engines, or you have people who are still stuck on using outdated timekeeping and management techniques in their organization, thinking that other options would be too complicated. 

Technology’s main goal is to make things easier, and if you’re afraid of technology because you can’t understand it, speak with someone who does understand. Get multiple opinions and do your research. You’ll soon find out which technologies could not only help, but be essential for your business, and why.

Starting a business is a challenge. However, if you manage to avoid some common mistakes, you might become one of the few who are still standing and striving after years.

frustrated businessman -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/smb-owner-mistakes

3 Best Print on Demand Sites

Print on demand is a modern form of business that uses printing technology for business processes. In this kind of business, book copies are not printed until an order is received, allows printing of single or small quantity orders. There are various companies operating all over the world by using this technology. In this writing, I am going to discuss some of the most popular compies in this field, including the sites where printing is done in small quantities on receiving the orders. Unlike the publishing houses and clothing companies which print books or garments in a bulk quantity, print on demand sites are more customized and customer need-based. 

In this way, you can print cloths, books, mobile cases, home decor items, and mugs all in these websites. The sites are performing a number of tasks to make a difference from their competitors. In the last few years, print on demand is becoming a hot cake and a number of people get benefited from these sites. So, here are the sites that are working incredibly in the field of print on demand. 

Printful

It is an older website, playing the game since 2013, and has a slightly different business model as compared to others. This site better works for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can advertise their products on other e-commerce platforms. When an order is replaced they contact Printful who print and deliver the item to the customer. You can print wall arts, clothes for all ages, tote bags, pillow covers, towels, decor items, and mobile cases on Printful. The site has also its app for better customer services. 

Highlights 

• Provide high-quality items and dropshipping 
• No hassle of inventory, product, and printing related issues
• Entrepreneurs can concentrate on just creating the product, not on a printing

Printify

This print on demand business is based in Riga, Latvia provides merchants with high-quality printing services to build their own brand, as they benefited from its low prices, fast printing, and high-quality performance. That is why they can build their own micro-brands. Printify was founded in 2015 which continued fundraising to date, now working as B2B  eCommerce stores and manufacturers. They take the hassle of managing the mundane tasks like order manufacturing, fulfillment, billing, and shipping. Unlike the other platforms, it allows you to focus more on building your brand. 

Highlights 

• A wide range of offered items 
• Mockup generators which are easy to use
• Low prices 
• An extensive printing partner networks working in more than 90 locations. 
• Sync automatically with your online store 

Zazzle 

It is famous for its customization capacity, offering a unique and incredible form of doing print on demand business. At this site, you can build more than 1300 products and then customize them to make them relevant to your customers. You can choose the art of any artist or design something by yourself. You can avail of various printing services at Zazzle like, tote bags, t-shirt buttons, kid’s clothes, stickers, mugs, invitations, and many more. 

Highlights

• A wide range of products for artists to sell art and customers to buy  
• Online tutorials to improve your product 
• Choose your royalty
• High traffic 

made to print merchandise -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/business-resources/print-on-demand-websites

Why You Should Consider Drop Shipping in eCommerce

Someone said that starting a business is like planting a sapling. First, you have to invest your time and money into it. Then, you must take care of it while expecting nothing in return. However, being an entrepreneur, devoting everything you have to realize a worthwhile business idea and desire to make profits from it, it must be hard to sink or swim.

That’s when drop shipping comes into play as a powerful asset. It’s a low-risk business model that gives you the power to build up a business of your own without spending a lot of money and effort.

So what exactly makes dropshipping a top-rated business model, and how to dip your toe into dropshipping?

Let’s dive into this article to find all the answers.

What Is a Drop-Ship Business?

A drop-ship business is now a popular business model in which you are selling goods and services without literally holding any stock. After customers place orders, you – as a drop shipper – will process the orders online and pass them to a third party, such as suppliers, wholesalers, or manufacturers. After that, they will take care of all the remaining tasks, fulfilling the orders, including storing products, packing, and shipping the orders directly to your customers. You’re actually going to work via a computer and get everything on the track.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t have any control over the products you sell. One of the most must-have steps before launching your dropshipping business is to determine what product you’re going to sell. At this time, it’s up to you to select any product from any supplier. As long as the products are available, you can add them to your store and allow customers to purchase.

With dropshipping, you can become a business owner more easily than ever without worrying about the stock of products and inventory management.

If you wonder who should adopt the dropshipping model? The answer is everyone, but it’s especially an ideal option for the entrepreneur spirits with limited resources and budget.

How Does Dropshipping Work?

Now, you’ve known what dropshipping is, let’s move to how it works precisely. The working process of dropshipping is quite simple. Here’s a step-by-step overview of the entire dropshipping process:

Why You Should Start Dropshipping for eCommerce

Dropshipping is beneficial for you, and here are the reasons why you should start to drop shipping:

• Easy-to-start: You can start your dropshipping business without any prior business experience. Dropshipping is simple, as I mentioned before, and it requires so little from you. If you have time to learn some foundation knowledge about how to do business, you can get along quickly. The fact that you don’t need to store products and ship out the orders lessens a massive amount of burdens when it comes to running a business of your own.
• Minimal cost of setup: Unlike traditional businesses in which you need a particular amount of money to purchase goods beforehand to fill up your store, dropshipping takes you free from this money-consuming setup. You only need to pay for what you sell. Some costs associated with the setup is to build and maintain your website or market your products.
• Low-risk business: As you don’t hold any physical products or take care of any inventory, you have nothing to lose. You don’t have to worry if your products are in stock while there are no orders at all.
• Flexible business model: Dropshipping is flexible as you can make any decisions that work for your business. You can add any products to your online store whenever you want and decide on the prices for them. Also, it’s easy to automate your dropshipping business, so that everything is still operating smoothly even when you’re off the work.
• Little hassle: You can run your dropshipping business just via a computer. You can get started once you have an idea, find a robust niche, and a reliable supplier. Also, since you will not be involved in the shipment process, you don’t need to worry about the risk of losses and damage of products during transportation.

How to Start Dropshipping

Decide on the Right Niche

You’re going to find what to sell and whom you’re selling to. By doing proper market research, you’ll get the answer more quickly. You can also use product research tools to save time and fasten this process.

It would be best to sell what you’re passionate about; however, it’s even more important to choose a product that has some points as follow:

• Laser-focused: There are so many niches out there, but not all of them are potential for your business. If you choose a wide product range, it’ll be challenging to implement and control activities around your products, such as market penetrating or marketing. You can select a board niche at first, then focus on a more specialized niche.
• Low shipping costs: Your suppliers take responsibility for the shipment, but if the shipping cost is too high, it’ll discourage your customers from purchasing. Low shipping costs enable you to offer free shipping – an effective way to attract customers.
• Products with a lot of competition: If a product has no or so little competition, it might have a high shipping cost, manufacturing issues, or poor profit margins. It’s also a sign that there is poor demand for that product.
• Not easy-to-find nowhere: It’s better to make your online website is the only place where customers can find the product.
• Trending or popularly searched: If nobody is looking for your products, so to whom are you going to sell? Make sure your products are in the crowd’s interest by searching keywords about your niche via some tools like Google Trends.

Choose the Right Supplier

Don’t rush at this step. Choosing a wrong supplier can ruin your entire business even when you haven’t launched your business. Here are some considerations when finding a supplier:

• Always stick to your business need and your product
• Find someone that has the ability and capability to scale up your business with you
• Discuss your requirements, expectations clearly with the supplier
• Make sure you acknowledge the terms and policies of the supplier before signing a contract
• Make sure you can communicate well with the suppliers, especially if they’re from oversea

You might find it challenging to make a final decision. If possible, ask for professionals’ advice or refer to other dropshippers’ reviews. Besides, many free drop-ship websites help you find products and potential, prestigious suppliers.

Build a Dropshipping Website

An online store is what you need after determining what to sell. You ever think about website development with multiple lines of complicated code. Forget it! Now you can have a well-functioned website without any technical background.

One of the easiest ways is using platforms that are specially designed for dropshipping like Shopify. You can create a Shopify and turn it into your Shopify dropshipping store with easy customization. Another way is to find and purchase an available Shopify dropshipping store with various features, ready for sale. Whenever you want to enhance your store with advanced features, you can easily find extensions, add-ons, or Shopify apps for a store from many reliable providers. I recommend some big names like Avada Commerce, Seguno, SureSwift Capital, Oberlo, and more.

Market Your Business

Marketing is even more important for new businesses. If you don’t actively reach out to the audience, nobody knows who you are.

Many start-ups don’t put a lot of thought into marketing and end up seeing the sales like water-drop, some even claim to go bankrupt. The reasons might be the lack of capital to invest in marketing or a professional team to help out.

The good news is, you can start off with social media marketing – potentially an unlimited resource. Choose the social media platforms where your target audience is mostly on and build an attractive profile for your business.

As a newbie in the industry, you need customers’ trust more than anything else. Therefore, whenever you have a chance, kindly ask for customers’ reviews and display proof right on your website. This technique makes your website more trustworthy and beneficial for you to build customer loyalty.

Final Words

Dropshipping is a great choice if you’re just getting into online business and want to try something new. Even though drop shipping also has its disadvantages, like low-profit margins, it’s a great way to kickstart your own business. I hope that this article adds some valuable ideas to your checklist to perfectly open a dropshipping store. If you have any questions, let me know in the comment section below.

dropshipping concept -DepositPhotos

The post Why You Should Consider Drop Shipping in eCommerce appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/e-commerce/dropshipping-guide

8 Fantastic Social Media Tactics That Can Help Your Business Grow

Social media marketing has high power. It can skyrocket the reach of any product or service within a limited period. It is one of the most effective marketing tools in the hand of business managers.

But there’s a catch. You must know how to wield this marketing tool to your advantage. In this article, we will share some social media tactics with you.

Craft Your Content Meticulously

I know it may sound cliché, but even after so many years, content is still the king. So make sure that the content you publish is as creative and fresh as possible.

If you are posting just for the sake of being consistent, then you need to reevaluate your marketing strategy. Pay attention to whatever you post on your social media.

It can be an eye-catching infographic, a blog post giving insight into your business, the latest news about your industry, or some shocking discovery. Either way, strive to post content that makes your followers stop at your page and spend a few minutes engaging with your content.

You will be able to scale the ladder of success only through posting original, unique, and engaging content.

Optimize Your Content According to Different Social Sites

If you think that the same content works for all social sites, then you are mistaken. Each networking site serves a different purpose. You need to understand them before publishing content on any social media platform.

Let’s look at some social sites and what you can share on them.

Instagram

Visual content works the best on this platform. Long posts don’t work well here. Tell a story in fewer words accompanied by a catchy picture or short video.

 Facebook

It is an ideal platform for sharing the latest news and entertainment-related content. Although every type of content gets shared on Facebook, video posts get maximum engagement. Unlike Instagram, you can tell long stories just like Humans of New York.

Twitter

This social platform connects people and allows them to share their thoughts with a broader audience. You can share industry news, ask questions to your audience, and make announcements regarding your brand using Twitter.

Pinterest

It is a social bookmarking site ruled by highly visual content. You can display your full range of products and services via Pinterest.

Rule out the social networking sites that won’t do much for your business after that make a strategy of what and when you are going to post content.

 Stay Active on Your Social Media Channels

Only having a social presence is not enough for the success of any business online. For your social media marketing to be effective, you need to provide engaging, fascinating, and entertaining content to your followers and be consistent in doing so.

Staying active on social media will help you increase your follower and gain their trust. Here are a few tips to help you stay active:

• Schedule your content for social posting
• Make use of automation tools to save time and energy.
• Give priority to those social sites that your potential clients use.
• Repurpose the content of your old newsletters and other emails

Automate Your Posts

As we already discussed, consistency is the key to social media marketing to work its magic. But updating on different platforms can be tiring and time-consuming.

Marketing automation tools come handy when you want to publish consistently without wasting much time. There are various automation tools that you can use.

One such marketing tool is HootSuit. It can help you with scheduling and automating your posts. It has proven to be a lifesaver for people posting across multiple platforms.

Tell Interesting Stories Rather Than Selling Stuff

Don’t make your social channels all about yourself. Avoid promoting your business all the time. Thrusting your products on your followers is not good. It will do more harm than good to your brand or business. Offer something valuable to the users.

Internet users across the world spend 144 minutes daily on social networking sites. Provide relevant, interesting, and engaging content to your followers so that they stay a few minutes on your page, engage with your content, and maybe share it with others.

For example, people love reading personalized stories. They take a lot of interest in stories shared by other people. Tell your story; it will connect your followers with you.

They will get interested in you and want to know more about you. Hence, they would invest their time in reading, viewing, or watching more stories about you.

 Post at the Right Time to Maximize Engagement

Posting at the right time across different social channels is as important as posting anything at all. You may be posting insightful content but not being successful in increasing engagement. In such cases, posting at optimal times is the solution.

You can use management tools like HootSuit and Google Analytics to know at what time the user engagement is at its peak. Using the valuable insights provided by these management tools, you can determine optimal posting times and schedule your postings accordingly.

Use Videos to Keep Your Audience Engaged

Videos appeal more than text and images. The feed of any social media platform confirms this. Don’t trust me? Open any of your social networking accounts and see for yourself.

People prefer video content over other content formats. A study by HubSpot indicated that 54% of consumers want to see more videos from brands or businesses they support.

You can catch the attention of users and engage them by using video content in different ways. For example, if you own a cosmetics company, you can share a video of how makeup is made from scratch. You can document your next product launch. The idea is to keep your audience interested in your content.

Make it a Habit to Respond to All Comments

Social media has made getting feedback quick and hassle-free. Business pages and their social media profiles get many comments. They include suggestions, complaints, inquiries, or even appreciation of the users.

Users want a quick response to these comments from you or your team; so don’t disappoint them. The more problems you will solve, the more trust you will gain, and the credibility of your brand will increase.

You will also get a competitive edge over your competitors who do not respond to these comments.

One thing worthy of being mentioned here is that you must not lose your calm while handling criticism or addressing complaints. Sometimes the users get frustrated after not getting the product or service they desired. And go on to bash the product in the comment section. Here, you must think with a cool mind and patiently address all the problems as per the users’ satisfaction.

The comment section can do free marketing for you, provided you give a prompt response to the users. It will open doors to many new conversations and networking opportunities for your business.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is inexpensive, efficient, and builds brand awareness. Use it to can showcase your company’s products/services and post updates, events, etc. and see how your business grows its reach on social media.

social media background -DepositPhotos

The post 8 Fantastic Social Media Tactics That Can Help Your Business Grow appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/social-media-marketing/smm-growth-tactics