Internet marketing services are beneficial to those who want to increase their appearance on various search engines and enhance the visual presentation of their website.
Use these tips as a guide when choosing Internet marketing services or hiring a marketing consultant:
Ask for Referrals. Ask friends, family members and colleagues who have had success with Internet marketing services or a consultant for suggestions. Check out businesses through bbb.org to make read reviews and complaints.
Understand Your Audience. In order to hire marketing services that best suit your needs, you first need to understand the audience you are trying to reach. Awareness of your specific audience will condense your search to businesses that have experience targeting your potential clients.
Be Informed. Before choosing services or a consultant it is important to do your research on current marketing strategies. This preparation will allow you to have a better grasp on the marketing concepts the consultant is discussing. Researching will also allow you to better avoid frauds. Inform yourself on topics such as, search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO).
Ask for References. Ask the business for a list of references with a similar target audience and contact a few of the previous consumers. Ask about their experience with the business, if they met their needs, and if they have seen improvements. Keep in mind just because the business works for one consumer doesn’t mean they will automatically be right for you. Ask if the business will provide a proposal detailing how they plan to bring you success.
Get All the Pricing Details. Be sure to have the business lay out all the costs and fees associated with the marketing services. It is important not to invest too much money at one time. Ask the business if you can pay a portion of the price upfront and wait until you see results before making the final payment.
Many business situations require professional legal advice, such as accounting and labor relations. An attorney can advise you on your rights under the law as well as provide information on legislation that may affect you.
Selecting an attorney is similar to selecting a physician. Attorneys concentrate on specific types of cases as do doctors. The first step is to define the nature of the matter, and then find the lawyer who can best address your needs.
Where to look for a lawyer:
Most people find a lawyer by asking friends, colleagues or neighbors for a recommendation. Another source of information is the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, found online or in your local public library. For over 100 years the directory has provided as complete a roster as possible of the members of the legal profession in the United States and Canada. The directory gives brief biographical sketches of many lawyers and describes the areas of the law in which they practice.
Also check with the Lawyer Referral Service of your state, city or county bar association, usually listed in area telephone directories. Under a referral service, the lawyer will consult with you for a half hour without charge or for a prescribed and nominal fee, and then render whatever services are requested for an agreed-upon fee. If the lawyer cannot handle your problem, he or she will refer you to another lawyer. You should be aware that a lawyer often can ask to be placed on a referral list. Being on the list does not automatically mean that the attorney is qualified to handle a particular area of the law. However, bar association lawyer referral services will attempt to refer you to an attorney experienced in the area of law relating to your problem.
Since lawyers can advertise their services, you may want to check the Yellow Pages of the phone directory. Make sure you verify the information contained in the claims made in these ads concerning both services and payment.
Don't forget to check out the business at bbb.org!
Once you've established your business and built up clientele, it's time to focus on increasing your profit. The Direct Selling Education Foundation offers these tips for business owners:
Have a detailed plan, but be ready to adapt. Business plans can't anticipate every circumstance, so you need to be flexible and willing to adapt as necessary.
Be a creative problem solver. Think outside the box to figure out what your business is lacking.
Persevere. Don't let the roadblocks keep you from success.
Have mentors. Seek out mentors who have been successful and pick their brains for ideas you may not have thought of. Most people are happy to share their success stories with others and "pay it forward".
Stay lean with your budget. Be careful with how you spend, be aware of every aspect of cash flow and find ways to decrease spending.
Believe in yourself. If it's in your heart to succeed, you will always find the motivation to continue. It's a good idea to seek out people who can boost your self-esteem when you are facing doubt.
Can you offer any additional tips?
Businesses worry about keeping their computers up-to-the-minute. But what about your digital marketing strategies? Are they older than Windows 07?
Here are 5 quick tips to keep in mind:
Dos:1. Do your homework. Know that people only skim digital marketing, moving their eyes in an “E” or “F” pattern—not the older “Z” reading formation. 2. Do give the reader visual stepping stones: subheads guiding the eyes to points of relevance in descending order. 3. Do use sidebars, quotes, or graphics to break up large chunks of text. 4. Do keep in mind that your website needs to reflect what your customers want to learn—not what you want to say. 5. Do link to something your visitors will find valuable.
Don'ts:1. Don’t assume email is the same as direct mail or that people are itching to read it.2. Don’t treat your website like a brochure, with long sentences, long paragraphs, and no subheads. 3. Don’t fill your company blog with irrelevant personal anecdotes and lofty pontifications. 4. Don’t build the top of your marketing page around a pretty, generic image that has little to do with your business or your customers. 5. Don’t clutter the top of your website by cramming too many elements into it.
What other tips do you have?
If you are like most people, the thought of speaking in public strikes fear in your heart. No worries; you can overcome your fear of public speaking.
Public speaking is a great skill set to have, no matter your career path. If public speaking is not something you already do on a regular basis, you will probably need to brush up on your skills. The Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF), a BBB National Partner, offers four helpful tips to help ease the pressure of public speaking.
Prepare, prepare, PREPARE! If you have not done the legwork before a public speaking engagement, you may feel flustered, nervous, and incompetent. These worries will be evident to your audience, so prepare as much as you possibly can. Write down or type out your content, and frequently rehearse using your notes; also, make adjustments where necessary.
Show confidence. This is easier than it may seem, especially if you have adequately prepared. You know the material, you are a successful leader, and you have been given the responsibility to speak in front of a group of people. Take pride in this role by holding your head high, making frequent eye contact, and speaking in a strong, clear voice.
Focus on key points, but provide personal stories to balance them. Your main focus should be on the key points, or main ideas, of your speech. If you nail those, the rest will not matter as much. However, it is also important to give your audience a way to relate to you personally. So be sure to provide a few personal stories that will illustrate your main points.
End with a call to action. You do not want your speech to fall flat because of a boring conclusion. End with a call to action from the audience. Doing so helps give your speech purpose and drives your point home. Concluding with a call to action also helps your audience figure out where to start.
What other tips can you recommend?
Summer is here and with it brings a multitude of teens, college students and many others looking for employment. Better Business Bureau reminds employers that hiring seasonal workers – regardless of age, involves following many of the laws and regulations that apply to full-time employees.
If you’re hiring seasonal employees, keep in mind:- State child labor laws differ so it’s important to become familiar with what is allowed – and not allowed in regard to ages, restrictions and allowable types of work for youths and teens 9 and older. Check your state’s website fir specifics.
- Interns – paid or unpaid – should not be treated as replacement employees (even if just for a few months). Have specific tasks or activities designated just for them that would not ordinarily be done by a paid employee. Internships need to be for a specific length of time with no guarantee of a paid position later on.
- Be specific about the job, what it entails and how it should be performed. Don’t differentiate between seasonal and year-round employees, everyone should adhere to company policies and rules and everyone should have their own copy of the company handbook.
Provide safety training at the beginning of employment to ensure seasonal employees understand workplace risks and hazards and what to do if they’re injured on the job.
Seasonal and part-time employees are subject to the same tax withholding rules that apply to other employees.
What other tips can you offer about managing seasonal hires?
Welcome to a four part mini series of blog posts on hiring staff! Please check back each week for a new entry.
Small-business owners may be slow to admit that it is time to add staff. It's not always easy to decide to spend capital on a new hire, particularly if you've leading a one-person (you!) operation. Considering the following issues may help you reach a conclusion on whether to increase the size of your staff.
Overworked. If you find that you are constantly juggling too many tasks, are consumed with handling crises as they erupt instead of focusing on daily operations, cannot find time to attract potential clients or market to new customers, or lack the opportunity to keep your business on track to achieve its full potential, it is time to call for reinforcements. There are only 24 hours in a day, no matter how hard you work.
The same is true for your employees. Employees who are overworked, over stressed and overloaded are going to be under-productive. Burgeoning overtime may be another indication that you need to hire more staff. Excess overtime can be inefficient from a financial standpoint and it may lead to worker burnout. Hiring additional staff could eliminate those concerns.
Need for Specific Skills or Expertise. Many small business owners mistakenly assume they can do it all. Eventually, they reach the point where they must acknowledge they lack the time or expertise to perform a function critical to the success of the business. Be honest. Is there an area of your business operation that is suffering because you lack an employee with the right experience and knowledge base?
Sales Backlogs. Order backlogs may indicate the need for extra help. It may be worth your while to add an employee now to take advantage of a surge in demand for your product or service, even if you cannot yet determine whether the surge is temporary.
Spotty Customer Service. Take an honest look at how well and how quickly you are serving your customers? Are you exceeding or even meeting your customers' expectations? Satisfied customers are repeat customers and will often refer others to businesses that do a good job. Hiring extra staff could boost your ability to be responsive to your customers and market to new customers.
Check back for Hiring Staff: Before You Start the Search, where we will cover what to do BEFORE you start the search.
