Author: Ethan Theo

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

Categories
Home-Based Business

Creating a Business Space at Home

Creating a Business Space at Home

Starting a new business isn’t as simple as picking an office space to lease and setting up shop. Some owners of new companies are anxious to put the cart before the horse, but creating a suitable work environment from home is the best method for establishing greater financial stability for your business to blossom. If you have an idea, you’ll need a place to execute it. Most fledgling businesses start inside the home. Whether your office is in the spare bedroom, garage, or in the middle of your living room, it’s important to keep overhead costs low, especially when your business is idling for flight.

Once you’ve developed your product concept, you may not be fully prepared to branch out from your homestead and find office space. That requires collateral and increases costs, which could take a serious chunk from your profits. Maintaining, repairing, and upgrading your home will not only allow your business to expand, but it will keep you from the sticker shock of higher bills when you inevitably expand your company prospects.

The first home improvement project you may want to pursue is creating a “business space.” When the kids are running rampant and the television is blaring, it’s difficult to concentrate. Sure, one of the luxuries of being your own boss is setting your own hours and creating your own terms. But as a professional working from home, you must maintain a safe environment from which to run your company. If you cannot separate your work self from your personal self, productivity will wane.

Consider converting a third bedroom into your home office or, if the space is not conceivable, you may wish to add on to your home. Sure, it’s a financial burden you must assume, but consider the advantages. You’ll increase the value of your home by adding more livable space and you can build the room to suit your needs. Find the outdoors inspiring? Add a large window that overlooks a scenic view. Need a rustic fireplace? Have one installed. The possibilities are endless when you’re building your workspace from the ground up.

The initial costs for expanding your floor plan may seem out of your budget, but construction loans are available to homeowners for such projects. These loans can either be stand alone, or tied to your existing mortgage. Once you’ve cleared zoning regulations with your local municipality, consult with a reliable contractor to determine costs and need. Many contractors offer free estimates. Shop around and attain several quotes to determine what best suits your needs and at what price. Qualified construction companies will offer you suggestions on what’s most suitable for you.

Before deciding on a contractor, research reviews on the company and verify their reputation through the Better Business Bureau. Once you’ve discovered these vital bits of information and you’ve worked out conditions of the construction loan with the issuing bank, you can break ground on expansion. Soon, you’ll find you now have the space you need to keep your new business growing.

Depending on your business model, at some point in the future you may very well want to develop your company outside of the home. When the time is right, you’ll know because your business has been profitable and the four walls of your house can no longer sustain your needs.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Online Business

Boost your Web Presence with Search Engine Optimization

SEO Perfect Company

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is what determines the rank of your company website when it appears in internet search results. Sites that have strong SEO tend to rank higher than sites that have weak SEO, or no SEO at all.

The website’s rank determines where it appears on a results page. For example, if you do a Google search for “wombats” the first result is a Wikipedia article. The second result is the official site for a rock band called The Wombats. These two listing are ranked first, and second, respectively because of their SEO rating. Both pages have such a high rank that they beat out the National Geographic page on wombats, which was ranked third.

SEO works differently depending on your search engine. A search for “wombats” on Bing shows the same top three results, but the fourth result is different. Bing lists the Wombat Information Center fourth, while Google lists WOMBATS – Women’s Mountain Bike & Tea Society.

These differences occur due to slight differences in the way each engine searches the web, and indexes the information it finds.

So why is SEO important?

Let’s say you have a blog site with affiliate links. In order to make money, you need to drive traffic to your site so people will click your links. Or, let’s say you are using your website to advertise your own services. Without traffic, you’ll be advertising to the void.

Just creating and publishing a site does not guarantee that it will show up on the first page (or even the fifth page) of a web search. And, if it’s not on the first page, then people are not likely to see it, and you’ll get very little traffic.

How does SEO work?

There are several different ways to optimize your website for high search ranks. One method is to publish content that uses keywords that match popular web searches. For example, if you have a website devoted to dieting, then content with words like “lose weight,” “weight loss,” and “how can I trim my middle” would give you a higher ranking.

Another option is to apply tags and keywords to the site itself to make it more visible to search engines.

But SEO isn’t just about throwing popular words and phrases onto a website.

When done right, SEO-rich content and tags appear natural and seamless, yet are very effective in driving traffic to your site.

When done wrong, they look awkward and contrived, and your site could still be overlooked by major search engines.

If it sounds daunting, that’s because for many people it is.

This is why a lot of business owners rely on search engine optimization services to help them improve their rankings.

A good SEO service can take over and make your company site a lean, mean, SEO machine so you can spend your time on other aspects of your business. On a basic level,  an SEO service can review your current site and offer suggestions for improving SEO. In more advanced cases they can take over designing your site, and provide SEO-boosting content and tags.

Whether you decide to tackle the task yourself, or work with a professional company, SEO is crucial to improving your presence on the web.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Online Business

How Design Elements Impact User Experience

How Design Elements Impact User Experience

One of the main problems with those who’re new to online business is they easily get attracted with the design of the month. Flash was quite popular in recent times, while sliding banners were considered as the ‘real deal’ later on.

Today, many online businesses gear their efforts towards search engine optimization, but they forget that the real success lies in user experience. Visitors coming to a particular website go through thought conversations such as ‘why am I on this website?’, ‘where am I supposed to place the order?’, ‘how do I contact the owner?’ etc.

Thankfully, web design elements can be used to guide users through sequencing and create the best user experience on a blog/website. There are many web design services that have expert knowledge on how design elements work such San Diego web design and similar companies in other states.

Here are some of the design elements that are considered important when it comes to user experience:

1. Shapes

Shapes have an important connection with the visitors as they’re used to communicate and appeal to their emotions.
For example, many of the bloggers who write about making money online use dollars ($), giving the readers an impression of money. The brain also processes shapes much faster than simple text.

2. White space

A website is going to be more attractive when it’s filled with banners, ads, opt-in forms, messages, pop ups etc. This is a misconception that needs to be cleared. There should be plenty of white space in the design of a website (see Huffingtonpost).

White space makes it easy for the readers to consume the information posted on the website, while banners, forms and the likes can possibly distract them from the main content.

3. Size

Size is important for emphasizing the visual and text content on the website. In case of web design, bigger is better when it comes to shape, front or graphics.

The bigger size is used to emphasize the importance of a particular element. It also becomes easy for visitors to skim through widgets, messages, content etc.

4. Position

Position is a tricky element and text, banners and other properties of the website need to be placed carefully, as they can prove to be the difference marker in the end. For example, for some, putting advertisements above the fold is the main source of revenue, while others say it reduces the user experience and the visitor should be able to see more of the content above the fold.

A website should place the most important information above the fold, because that is the area the eyes of a search engine visitor scans first when he/she lands on a particular web page.

5. Motion

Motion can directly impact how a user behaves. The size, shape and color on the web page can be combined to make a motion to direct users towards a particular action.

A simple arrow moving downwards towards a form that says ‘pre-order now and get a free dock connector’ has the ability to tap into the will of users and prompt them to make a purchase.

These design elements come together to provide the best user experience. They also help businesses to gain the trust of the visitors and communicate their message effectively, which leads to better conversions.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Operations Planning & Management

Scaling Up Your Business the Right Way

Scaling Up Your Business the Right Way

Let’s face it – scaling up matters to any business, regardless of its size. Whether it’s a multinational corporation with thousands of employees or a startup comprised of a few devoted full-timers, business growth is the objective. And if there is no scaling up, there’s obviously no growth going on.

Now, scaling up ranges in complexity, involving equal parts practical and prospective. It’s that balance that positively defines entrepreneurship. There is buying new office chairs from officedesk.com, and there’s reinvesting in new information technology. It’s about taking the business to the next level with the right mindset and building a proper foundation for it. In order to ensure a flourishing/successful business the following scaling tips should be kept in mind…

#1: Streamline Processes

One of your key focuses when scaling your basis should to make things simpler, faster, and more efficient. Whether it’s bringing down double work to making improvements to the bottom line – you have to work on “speed” and “ease”. So how do you go about doing this? You do it by streamlining processes, which can only be possible by keeping track of technology trends, welcoming feedback from employees and working with consultants/contractors. The idea here is to bring more improvement and ease in your business in the best possible way so that scaling becomes practically possible.

#2: Take Advantage of the Cloud

There’s no doubt about the fact that cloud storage is a highly effective way to not only share information easily, but also to collaboratively edit documents. When you get in the cloud, your business benefits in a number of ways. It helps in cutting down on paperwork, saves you printing money and of course lets you have a clear office space. The storage account can be managed by the CEO so that he has access to all files 24/7. There would be no excuse to to getting the wrong copy or not being present in the office to grab the needed file.

#3: Invest Where it Really Matters

Investing the money that you have in hand the right way is crucial if you want to scale your business effectively. There will times when you simply shouldn’t skimp on investing. Times such as when you want to hire an SEO expert to optimize your website for the search engines, or buy some quality technology that will make your business run smoother. By focusing on the right investments, the business will have the tools and resources needed to maximize the returns and thus make scaling a reality.

#4: Work on Micromanaging Issues

If you’re the CEO or the manager of your company, understand that you will have to strengthen your skills and keep on improving to ensure that you effectively manage the business’s growth. If required, go to a supervisor consultant that helps you address any micromanagement issues early on, giving you the freedom to scale without worrying.

Conclusion

In the end, whether your goal is to run an energy conscious business or dominate your niche – you will have to effectively scale up things to ensure that you’re on the right track. Because without growth, your business will become stagnant – which is the last thing you want.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Success Attitude

3 Positive Reasons to Do the Right Thing in Business

ABC’s “Good Morning America” ran a story recently about 7-year-old Ransom Duel who noticed his classmate choking after eating a bite of a Nutella sandwich. Ransom picked up the jar, read “hazelnuts,” and knowing that his friend has an allergy to nuts, ran to get his teacher who brought an epi-pen and saved the friend’s life.

When asked about it afterwards, Ransom said, “I just did the right thing. I didn’t think, ‘Oh I’m gonna be a hero.’”

What can we learn from Ransom about business ethics?

First, do the right thing regardless.

At first, you might think, “What else would Ransom do?”

Nothing.

He could have done nothing as his friend grew sicker by the second.

The opposite of doing the right thing isn’t necessarily doing the wrong thing. Doing nothing is just as damaging to your business operations. Apathy drains profits. Lack of engagement lessens productivity. The more employees there are, the easier it is for you to say, “Somebody else will do it.”

Take personal responsibility for acting. Make it your business to do the right thing regardless.

Second, depend on someone always watching you.

Ransom didn’t realize his right-thing action would be so public.

At work, when you face an ethical decision, assume someone is watching you. Odds are good they are regardless of whether you see them or not.

If you catch yourself saying, “No one will ever know,” you’re headed down a slippery ethical slope that leads away from doing the right thing. Be assured—someone will know. At the least, you will know. Knowledge of deliberate, unethical behavior erodes your core values, maliciously rearranges your priorities, and removes power from your unique contribution to a profitable business.

Depend on someone always watching you.

Third, deal with consequences either way.

When you do the right thing regardless while fully aware that someone is watching you, you create consequences that are far easier to deal with later. Ransom’s greatest challenge is dealing with all of the attention that comes with being dubbed a “hero.”

When you do nothing or the wrong thing and hope no one sees you, your consequences are extremely difficult to explain away when they come to light. The business you work for eventually displays your unethical choices either through loss of customers, key employees, or critical supplier relationships—all of which lead to lower profits.

You deal with consequences from every decision. Choose easier outcomes to live with.

Work Positive with Ransom Duel today. Do the right thing regardless. Depend on someone always watching you. Deal with consequences either way.

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Work Positive coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they leave the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org.