Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Finance & Capital

Harness the Financial Markets for Big Gains

2020 is proving to be the year of the stock market. In an unprecedented shift, retail traders are pouring into stocks, hoping to build lucrative portfolios. From IPOs to blue-chip stocks, interest in equities is surging. Volatility is driving this growth, fueled in large part by tremendous market enthusiasm. Despite bullish sentiment, caution remains the order of the day. Savvy traders and investors understand the inherent risks of stocks. 

Two prominent schools of thought have emerged from the current predicament. There are those who believe that diversifying a financial portfolio with a mix of slow-growth, steady-yield stocks and high-growth, high-yield stocks are best. The opposing school of thought has opted for a portfolio comprised of moderate-growth stocks with hedge investments to guard against a downturn. In truth, there are a multitude of investment strategies that can be employed to deliver optimal results.

It’s really important to take a deep breath before you begin trading stocks. With your curiosity piqued, you will want to fill your head with the right information from the get go. Pick a reputable trading platform like StocksToTrade (Read this Review to learn what the platform has to offer) that has been tried and tested to perform under all market conditions. High-frequency, high-volume trading platforms are best since they deliver on expectations with real-time executions of trades (buy/sell orders), real-time market updates, and real-time pricing.

Making Sense of the Stock Markets Takes a Lot of Work 

This instructive guide is certainly not a cure-all to the maladies of the stock market; it is a solid foundation upon which to build your financial portfolio. Given the inherent complexities of trading and investing, it helps to begin on a solid footing. The trading platform and the broker serve as your go-to points for successfully navigating your way through tens of thousands of financial instruments. Many folks have avoided the stock market, for fear of dramatic losses. With the right broker, and a powerful trading platform, this needn’t be the case. 

Several misconceptions abound in the stock markets, notably:

  • You need to be an expert trader or investor to succeed
  • You cannot manage your own trades without an expert helping you
  • You need big money and a thick skin to profit off the stock markets
  • You will lose more money than you will make in the stock market over the long-term
  • You should always entrust your investments to financial brokers and financial planners

Fortunately, we now know that anyone with the determination to succeed, the will to learn, and the fortitude to stay the course can profit off the financial markets. Stocks trading is inherently risky. It is this very volatility that drives profitability in the markets. The first order of business is to pick a sector of the market that interests you. There are 11 market sectors. These include utilities, real estate, materials, industrials, IT, healthcare, energy, financials, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, and communication services. Many investors stick with what they know, and gradually branch out into other sectors.

What Are Some of the Pitfalls You May Encounter When Trading Stocks?

Insufficient knowledge. Before you get started, read up as much as you can. Top-tier trading platforms like STT offer a synergistic approach to stocks trading. You can view detailed charts and graphs, with technical analysis in play. Stochastic indicators, moving averages, Bollinger Bands, 52-week high/low pricing, SEC reports, volume trading, valuations, and scores of other elements are readily available. This makes it really exciting to learn how to trade stocks online. The inclusion of a demo-trading account for 14 days at a price of just $7 is an added bonus. Be advised that a trading platform and a broker are different. A trading platform permits you to manage all trading activity using the platform as the go-between. A broker is a sales representative who negotiates trades for you.

A rush of blood to the head. Many novices find that emotions govern their trading activity. As a rule, you should always take emotion out of the equation. There is no benefit to buying and selling on tilt – it’s a recipe for disaster. Rather accept that trades can go either way, but that your determination to conduct the necessary research, use technical and fundamental analysis, and powerful trading tools such as Oracle can sway the needle in your favor. Too many traders and investors allow market momentum to govern their decision-making processes. When markets are selling off furiously, the herd falls all over itself trying to offload stocks. This is the wrong approach. Investors are in it for the long haul. When markets start tanking, that’s when buying opportunities abound. 

Knowing when to get in and when to get out. This is an incredibly tough skill to master. There is no panacea to timing the market. It certainly helps to set stop losses and take profit orders, to guard against a market correction, or a sudden bear market. Fear and greed keep people invested for longer than they ought to be. On the upside, investors may believe that they can maximize profits by staying invested in a market that is turning south. On the downside, fear may cause indecisiveness and lead to accelerated losses. 

Rather than buying or selling big chunks of your portfolio during volatile trading sessions, mix up the financial instruments in your portfolio. For example, it’s perfectly okay to hold a chunk of Apple stocks and a chunk of gold stocks at the same time. Apple for example, will help to grow your portfolio during a booming market and gold will stabilize the portfolio in the event of a downturn. There are many useful tips, tricks, and strategies that can be employed when trading stocks online. Never invest too much of your portfolio in a handful of stocks – that’s akin to putting all your eggs in one basket!

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Marketing tools that would take a few hours to set up and that would bring continuing results

With approximately 30 million small and medium businesses in the world, competition has gone wild. New advertising channels and digital marketing brought a revolution in the business world, which basically means that, without online marketing, your business doesn’t exist. Somebody would say it’s sad, but actually, new marketing channels are heaven for everyone who wants to run over competition and breakthroughs in the business world in the best and most creative way.

Most of the businesses nowadays are breaking down due to inadequate or nonexistent online marketing strategies, so one thing is sure: you don’t want to be one of them. So, If you want to build a successful marketing strategy, regardless of your industry, it’s imperative to have a good plan empowered by social media, SEO optimized websites, and to follow the latest online marketing trends.

In this article, we’ll talk about the ultimate marketing tools that you’ll need when starting a business.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a definitive must-have today – there’s no doubt about it. As the most popular search engine, Google developed its analytics tracker which you can easily implement to your website. Google Analytics gives you the ability to track all actions from your visitors which is extremely important since you can see all behaviors your visitors’ have online. You can see what particular social media campaign or set of keywords is driving the most traffic to your website so you can use this data and adjust your future strategy so you can have the best possible results. Also, you can see what are preferred devices your visitors are using so you can adapt campaigns for desktop or mobile devices according to it.

Conclusion: if you want to succeed in the long term, creating a strategy based on visible parameters, Google Analytics isn’t a tool that you should avoid. It’s the primary tool you should install and learn to use.

Trello

Trello is the perfect organizational tool for all who want to keep the digital marketing team updated and synchronized.

It helps to manage all projects without stress, saving time – you can schedule and share blog posts with Trello before you publish them which is super useful because you can review the post and eventually change it before it goes online.

Trello helps you to keep everything related to your online marketing strategy in place: you can easily set up a board, invite colleagues working on projects, and share all content you want. Before Trello, email was basically the only communication channel for sharing information between the team. Of course, email is still the best formal channel for communicating with clients, for example, but Trello and other similar programs minimize confusion and lack of time while working on projects.

MailChimp

How many times have you subscribed to an email list for discounts and newsletters? Most of the companies today use MailChimp as a self-service support option, ensuring that all can quickly find answers to all of your questions and give its customers all information quickly and easily. MailChimp is absolutely one of the most used marketing providers in the world. It’s dating back to 2001, long before any company started using email as part of the marketing strategy. 

When you know the fact that more than 85% of B2B and B2C companies use email marketing strategy, it’s not surprising that MailChimp finds its wide use worldwide: in fact, it is estimated that there are currently more than 12 million users. Benefits, like a free plan for companies with less than 2000 subscribers and ones who don’t send more than 12000 emails per month, greatly facilitate its wide application and encourage small companies to grow in proportion to the use of the program.

With this benefit, companies can start using MailChimp pretty early, using the tool for free while acquiring new subscribers.

Hootsuite

With the increasing relevance of social networks in the promotion and success of companies regardless of the industry or the age, social media marketing became a crucial and unavoidable part of every successful marketing strategy. There are many marketing tools specialized on social media that help you to manage various online channels, but Hootsuite is an absolutely ultimate tool in which efficiency is proven by more than 10 million users. Hootsuite integrates with more than 35 popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube allowing its users to schedule social media posts in advance, reply to comments, and mentions through one dashboard using pre-written responses, and tons of other benefits. In this way, Hootsuite saves time and reduces the frustration of using each platform.

All in one SEO pack 

The All in One SEO Pack plugin is absolutely necessary if WordPress is your content management system (CMS).

The All in One SEO Pack plugin is necessary if WordPress is your content management system (CMS). Today WordPress is one of the most popular CMS in the world because it’s user-friendly especially if you’re a newbie, endless possibilities of customization, and lots of other benefits. If you are in search of an affordable hosting company for your WordPress website, Hostinger is highly recommended because its packages are a mix of high speed, 24/7 customer support, one-click-installation, and a dedicated team that will be dedicated to your needs. As you probably know, nowadays a great focus is on search engine optimization (SEO) and this tool will make sure that you always make good decisions regarding your content and its attraction to search engines. With All in One SEO Pack, you’ll get features like automatic generation of META tags, notifications from top search engines, such as Google and Bing, of any site changes, XML sitemap support, etc. Besides all benefits, the major thing that makes this plugin so popular is its ease of use.

With more than a million installs, All in One SEO pack is proven as one of the best helpers in SEO strategy, and also is completely free.

Conclusion

Digital marketing pretty fast became an ultimate weapon of a successful business – marketers became digital cowboys catching all the latest trends and following them in chase of conversions and profit. With digital tools that make the job easier and allow better maneuvering through the online jungle, everything is much easier. To ensure your marketing strategy will succeed, check all potential useful tools, read the reviews, inform yourself, and test them – we hope this list will be helpful in that chase.

Categories
Finance & Capital

4 Best Funding Options for Fledgling Startups

Besides getting customers, the biggest concern for startup owners is often financing. New businesses are strapped for cash and often don’t have the credit or track record needed to be interesting to financiers. They are also those who are the most likely to suffer from cash flow issues early on. However, there are some realistic funding options that most startup owners should consider. Here are some of the best funding options for fledgling startups.

Non-Bank Lenders

Non-bank lenders are often one of the best and only options for a new business to get financing. What differentiates these lenders is that they will usually be ready to look beyond your business’s credit to award loans. Services like AdvancePoint Capital, for instance, prefer to take a more holistic view of your business and its health. They might be more important to your cash reserves, or your bank statements, for instance. These are a good option if you don’t have credit and want to start building it.

Giving Away Equity

This is also an option that you could consider. Giving away part of the ownership in your company can not only get you some financing but some expertise as well. As a matter of fact, you ideally want to give equity to someone who’s going to be a strategic asset to your company as well.

Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping is about using the assets that you already have on hand to finance your startup. This could be anything from retirement accounts to home equity, or savings. You might also use low-interest credit cards. The good thing about this is that using a low-interest card could allow you to improve your credit and make financing easier for you later down the road.

If you’re going to go down that route, first make sure that you have the credit to qualify. Then, find cards with benefits for your business, like cash back or travel rewards if you have to travel a lot.

Grants and Contests

These are two of the most untapped sources of capital for small businesses, and it’s a shame. There are tons of government grants that you could qualify for if you simply took the time to look. For instance, some might offer money to businesses run by members of certain groups, like veterans for instance. Some will be awarded to people coming from impoverished neighborhoods, women, or from different ethnic groups.

You also have contests that are often geared towards fostering entrepreneurship. While you may never be able to get on “Shark Tank”, there are more and more municipalities that are holding their very own versions to help local business owners. You could check for competitions in your area as these will usually be much less competitive and give you a chance to connect with financiers even if you don’t end up winning. 

Conclusion

All of these options should be considered if you’re a startup owner looking for financing. Keeping your options open will give you more chances of getting the financing you so desperately need.

Categories
Operations

Advantages of AV Control Systems to Small Business

Having AV control systems and equipment in your business space demonstrates that your business is modern, tech-savvy and innovative. However, the actual value is the satisfaction and sense of fulfilment you derive when using these technological audio-visual systems. An effective AV control system ensures that engaging and informative content is displayed at the right time. And most small businesses need this approach as it is part of their marketing processes.

Saves time

For every company, time is valued, and anything valuable must be profitable as well. Whatever time and effort you spend during business working hours to handle inefficient things, are wasted, especially if it is related to technology. Therefore, to make a huge change, you must work with tools that can help you save time, effort and money. A perfectly working AV control systems allow activities to be done faster, better and with ease. 

Create an opportunity for unity

if you work with several people who are specialized in different areas and doing different things. Unity and oneness are critical, and the big question is, how can small business owners unite their employees. This is always challenging, but with the right knowledge and tool, it is easy to achieve. AV control systems like office contact phones, video conferencing tools can help create collaboration and unite team members.

Satisfy your clients with the right AV control system from Neets

As a business that wants to be successful and have the appropriate resources to thrive in the stiff competition in the market, you must consider a lot of things. AV control systems are one of the essential elements, you think your business does not need an AV system or you probably haven’t gotten to the stage? A soldier who is ready for a fight and sick victory won’t rely on a gun as his only weapon. Why you consider other things, take the burden of AV control systems off your back by visiting neets.io today!

Categories
Operations

The benefits of an efficient meeting room booking system

Meetings are an important component in business management; they enable communication, information exchange, problem solving and teamwork. There are, however, reasons why meetings can fail to be productive and instead be problematic for business operations. These reasons range from having the wrong participants present at the meeting to having no clear purpose for the meeting. Furthermore, there tend to be inefficiencies with regard to the meeting room booking systems being used by the business or there is no clear system in use to begin with.

The right software can streamline the booking process and save the business valuable time and money. A modern meeting room booking system, such as Add-On’s Resource Central, allows employees to select and book rooms, invite participants, use Meeting Labels to describe the types of meetings being held and even order catering. Businesses that are using technology correctly to their advantage are using software, which is secure, accessible, and scalable. Add-On is a reliable option that is trusted by customers, from commercial giants to legal services, globally.

Meeting room booking software also provides managers with insight into how and how often rooms are being used by employees. Office planning can consequently be a more informed and organized process as there is increased space management transparency. Facilities can be renovated to adjust for specific needs. With the most optimized spaces, workforce productivity can also be optimized. 

Resource Central can eradicate conflicts over double-booked rooms and other such miscommunications. All employees can have some level of access to the software, so all meeting participants are updated on any changes. When a meeting starts off on the right foot it is more likely to succeed than a haphazardly organized session that had to be re-located at the last minute; employees can arrive on time and well prepared. This reduces the risk of meetings lowering employee morale and generating dysfunction in the workplace; accurate information exchange means lowered stress and increased productivity. 

Misallocation of resources and time is costly to businesses. Meetings can take up a large portion of an employees workday, so it is important for any unnecessary steps to be removed. Well-designed software interfaces can save businesses a great deal of time. 

Nonetheless, if the meeting itself is redundant in terms of content, the efficiency with which it was scheduled holds less relevance. While strategic scheduling provides the groundwork for a meeting to be smoothly run and the ripple effects that can be traced back to a meeting room booking system are greatly beneficial, it is still the responsibility of the employees to cooperate well. Meetings must have an objective that is measurable and specific to keep discussion and brainstorming on track. 

An efficient meeting room booking system eliminates booking conflicts, facilitates filtered searches for appropriate booking options and coordinates with catering and services as an easy-to-use software option. In turn, the booking system will benefit the productivity of employees and be the profitable choice for an organization.