5 Ways To Benefit From Customer Video Testimonials
For any business owner looking to attract and convert more visitors, one sure way is to utilize and implement video testimonials from satisfied customers. When used properly, these videos will make your website more visually appealing (and sticky!).
Getting more exposure
In today’s social media society, visibility is vital to being a leader among your competitors. A few short video testimonials can draw quite a bit of attention, which often times will encourage your visitors to share your content with others on sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Not only will this help increase exposure across social media networks, it will also help your search engine rankings. This makes it easier for prospects to find your business, access your website and purchase your products and services.
Touching individuals in different ways
A video testimonial can easily answer a customer’s questions, almost acting as a visual form of a FAQ. This can provide both visual and audio reassurance of a company, its products, and its staff.
For some customers, a video testimonial adds credibility to the website and adds a personal, one-on-one experience.
Linking your videos to your social media properties
Websites that also leverage social media pages for their business can reap the benefits of these videos testimonials by showcasing clips on YouTube and Facebook for a double-dose of visibility. This can be another strategy used to gain more followers and momentum online.
Displaying important information above-the-fold
Some visitors prefer quick information when they visit a web page. Most people don’t appreciate pages of content and dozens of confusing links to navigate through.
Video testimonials, if used properly, can summarize common questions about:
- Pricing & billing;
- Discounts;
- Warranties;
- The company’s return policy.
Boosting credibility and putting your visitors at ease
Not only will these video testimonials serve as a visual source of information, but they also have the ability to put potential customers at ease. If a visitor has never used your company’s product or services before, this can boost your credibility and make them feel comfortable buying into your offering or simply reaching out directly for more information.
About the Author: Sean Rosensteel is the Head of Business Development at Bravo Video, a web-based platform that enables businesses to easily capture video from customers, users and fans – right over the web.
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Start a Small Business in a Recession
Many entrepreneurs dream of starting their our small businesses. For many the question is not what type of business to start, but when to start up a business and cut the ties to your 9-5 job. The dilemna facing every small business start up since October 2008 is: ”Do I have enough money to start a small business during a recession?”. Here is information on starting a business in tough economic times and having success in the process.
As the ecomonic crisis of 2008 clearly demonstrated, having enough capital to see your business through is critical. During times of economic contraction banks, other lending institutions, and even venture captialists and angel investors become much more discerning regarding the quality of the business propositions they will fund. According to the Wall Street Journal even proven business models such as franchises are currently having trouble getting sufficient money to expand. International Franchise Association data shows that franchises owned by small business entrepreneurs need over $11 billion in capital this year while banks are only making available $9.5 billion. That’s a gap of over 18 percent which will go unfulfilled.
One factor cited by CNN Money in hampering small businesses is the reluctance to step up debt and borrowing while confidence on the economy is still low – both on the part of business owners and the markets they serve. In fact the United States Federal Reserve is reporting that small business loan demand has been weak of late. The assumption is that uncertainty surrounding the presidential election and what will transpire with the economy post-election is paralyzing small businesses in regard to raising new capital. A recently conducted survey of small and independent business owners by the Nation Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) shows only 7% of small business owners think that right now is good time to expand their business. This data is collected monthly by the NFIB Research Foundation. Click here to view the entire PDF of the most recent NFIB survey data.
One business owner who started his small business in the teeth of the economic downturn is Neil Heuer. Mr. Heuer along with business partner Eddie Martin founded the Naples custom cabinet manufacturing and design firm Grand Woodworking in the summer of 2011. While not the depth of the economic crisis, the timing raised a few eyebrows among competitors in the South Florida real estate and remodeling sector. Mr. Heuer gives the following tips regarding capital requirements at startup, ”I would recommend creating a business plan including finanacials for the first year of the business. Make realistic estimates of what the expenses are going to be in order to keep the business functioning at a high level. This number should be the minimum capital reserve that you consider at startup. That way, if your business takes off and you earn high revenues you’ll be covered. Conversely if the sales are not rolling in, you’ll be covered for the first year or so. That will give you the breathing room to adjust your strategy or pricing models if necessary to agressively grow the business and stay competitive.”
Many entrepreneurs choose to start with a popular resource for those businesses needing capital – the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA has information on its website to help business owners navigate the process of applying for loans and grants. You can get started on the process by visiting the SBA.gov Small Business Loan web page here. The site includes information on small business loans, grants, venture capital and bonds. Best of luck in starting up your new business venture.
About the Author: Derek Vaughan is an Internet industry veteran and expert. Prior to entering full time consulting work, Mr. Vaughan was responsible for online marketing at The Walt Disney Company where he marketed ecommerce for the ESPN.com and NASCAR.com brands. Mr. Vaughan received his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University and currently serves on the HostingCon Advisory Board.
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An Effective Catch Phrase Can Make All The Difference
It may seem odd, but a catch phrase may be the exact thing your business needs to really pull ahead of the competition. Just a simple list of words, usually between five to ten words, can make all the difference. However, a catch phrase needs to be good in order to have any benefits. If you can’t think of a catch phrase, then it is usually better to go without one. This is because a bad one can really limit people’s trust in your business.
Diversity
Think about the thousands of businesses that populate each niche. While their products, staff and services are diverse from one another, no one is going to look into all of these factors one by one. This is because people just don’t have the time to investigate thousands of different companies before finding the best one. So, they pick the best one based on qualities such as trust and likability.What is one of the best ways to stand above the crowd? By having a good catch phrase. A good phrase is not only marketable, but it enables you to stand above all the other businesses in your niche. You only have a few seconds to gain the trust of a consumer or client, and a catch phrase gives you those few seconds to capture their attention.
Memorable
Standing above a crowd of businesses is great, but you also need to stay in the consumer’s mind. Even quick-trigger consumers will rarely shop somewhere without doing a little research or hearing about how good the business is from a friend. A good catch phrase is able to keep your business fresh in your audience’s mind.If someone can’t remember your business, then it is going to be hard for him or her to buy your products. Make yourself memorable with a good catch phrase, and you should see an increase in traffic.
Tone
Your catch phrase can also set the tone of your business. If you use a funny catch phrase, then people will expect your business to be loose and easy to engage. If the catch phrase is professional, then people will expect your business to thrive on business customers.The tone of the catch phrase should match your business, as people expect the two to match. If they don’t, then you may end up attracting customers that really won’t buy from you. While it is possible to make a catch phrase that matches all tones at once, these are rarely successful. These phrases try too hard to make everyone happy, and it doesn’t properly section off your business to the right audience.
Bite-Sized Information
Aside from standing above businesses, a catch phrase allows people to peer in your business for a second. A catch phrase will tell people exactly what your business is about, or at least what you do. For example, if your catch phrase is, “I love SEO. Ask me why,” then people will expect your business to be about SEO. While this is a rather straightforward approach, your real catch phrase should say something about your business.If you say something that isn’t true or relevant to your business, then customers will feel betrayed when they see that your business has nothing to do with the catch phrase. This obviously leads to poor sales and low customer retention.
But, if the catch phrase really does include something about your business, then it can give people a very brief insight into your business. While you shouldn’t just be blunt about what you do—some word crafting works best—make sure to slip in a few details about your business.
Conclusion
Having a good catch phrase can make all the difference with a business. It can help people remember who you are and what you do, and it also sets the tone for your business. Your catch phrase can also be used to garner trust in your business, which leads to sales. Having the perfect catch phrase can lead to a huge boost in sales, while a bad one can sink your business. When choosing a catch phrase, make sure it is good or hand it off to a professional. The DIY approach sometimes works, but there are horror stories that are best avoided by using someone who knows this field.About the Author: Stacy Dewald is a blogger for the official Moby Tickets Site.
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Lend Me Your Ear: Radio Commercial Tips
Thanks to the technology boom, the marketing landscape has evolved dramatically over the last 20 years. The Internet and social media paved the way for new “pull” marketing techniques, and there has been a shift in some of the more traditional “push” marketing channels, including radio.
Contrary to what you might believe, radio advertising isn’t going away any time soon. In fact, marketing funds spent on radio commercials increased by almost 11% between 2010 and 2011, according to Nielsen. And no wonder—radio reaches an estimated 57 million Americans each week.
Radio Commercial Advantages
Radio advertising has distinct advantages over other media. Audio advertising has been shown to elicit a stronger emotional response than visual, if done correctly. In addition, radio commercials are usually much less expensive to produce than television commercials, and the production time is much shorter, making them an economical choice.
Many radio stations now stream their broadcasts live on the Internet. This means radio commercials have the potential to reach a broader audience for the same cost.
Ride the Radio Waves to Success
Successful radio marketing campaigns take into account a number of key factors in order to maximize their effectiveness. If you’re new to radio advertising, you may want to try to incorporate some of the following into your radio marketing plan:
Know Your Target Your Audience
Radio has a natural system for reaching different audiences due to its ability to target a wide range of demographic segments. It’s up to you to determine which type of listener you’re trying to reach. Knowing your listener will help you find the best station to advertise on, and it will help direct the message within radio commercial itself.
Research How Radio Works
If you’ve never ventured into radio advertising before, you may want to do some research on the metrics used to compare various opportunities. The value (or effectiveness) of radio advertising is usually measured in terms of “cost-per-point,” i.e., what it will cost to reach 1% of your target audience. However, you’ll also want to weigh frequency (number of times your audience will hear your commercial) and reach (number of people who will hear your commercial), along with the cost of actually producing and running the commercial.
Make a Great First Impression
Radio Ad Lab research by Gallup & Robinson determined that successful radio commercials have strong beginnings that capture the audience’s attention in the first few seconds. Grabbing a listener with an emotional “hook” makes the listener much more likely to remain engaged throughout the entire commercial. All the more reason to incorporate a killer first line when writing and producing your commercial.
Say Your Name, Say Your Name
Research shows a strong correlation between the number of times a brand is mentioned and how well a listener is able to recall the brand name after the ad is over. Consider mentioning your brand or product name regularly throughout the script, and be sure to offer your audience a “call to action” within the commercial to drive them to buy.
Use a Great Voice
Your company’s CEO might have a great personality, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he or she should be the radio spokesperson for your brand. Because a commercial’s effectiveness relies on the listener’s emotional response, you may want consider investing in voice talent. Voice actors are specially trained to be effective and clear communicators who have the ability to emotionally engage their audience.
As you can see, radio commercials can be a worthwhile marketing investment. Just remember, the most effective commercials are well-thought-out, strategically placed, and emotionally engaging. If you aren’t already, consider making radio commercials part of your marketing mix.
About the Author: Sarah Stockton is an Outreach Coordinator for Voices.com, a site connects businesses with professional voice talents. She enjoys helping potential voice talent find their start in the voice industry.
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How to Set Up a Small Business Customer Service Call Center
When you call a business and reach a courteous, seemingly scripted customer service representative, you generally feel like you’re speaking with a bigger company. For good or ill, these are the companies that have the resources to man such an operation. Despite the sometimes negative experience associated with calling customer service, deploying one for your small business can have a positive impact on customer satisfaction and, ultimately, your bottom line. You just have to take the time to do things right.
In this guide, I will show small business owners how easy it is to set up their own customer service call center and benefit from the professional level of service typically reserved for more established organizations. By employing a call center to handle some of your calls, you can ease your personal customer service responsibilities, run your business better, make your customers happier, and save a lot of money in the process.
First things first: You aren’t running a call center, you’re hiring one
This statement is true for large organizations and start-ups alike. Unless you have the resources and skills necessary to run your own call center, it’s best to seek out an established company to provide service on your behalf. There are countless companies providing answering services for small businesses, companies that exist solely to provide telephone customer service for other organizations.
There are plenty of reasons why outsourcing the call center aspect of customer service makes sense:
- Call center equipment is expensive. It may be easy to have one person set up in your office to take calls, but once you need to include call routing, scripting, integrated software, and call distribution, it quickly becomes more sophisticated. Established call centers have this all taken care of.
- Hiring employees is costly and time consuming. If you hired an assistant to take your customer service calls, there’s a good chance you would pay him or her more in one day than it would cost you to use a call center for a month. Plus you have to deal with scheduling, benefits, taxes, and all the other nuances of bringing on an employee.
- Managing a call center takes skills you don’t have. Handling call volume, staffing, quality assurance, software customization, etc. – these are things call centers deal with every day. If you tried do take all of this on you would quickly be over your head.
- You’re best at running your business. As the above points indicate, it takes a lot to run a call center. You’re doing what you do because you’re good at it, so taking time away from your core responsibilities has a direct impact on your business performance. Handing this work off to another company allows you to stay focused.
So find a company that has experience working with small businesses, preferably experience with businesses in your niche, and enlist them to operate your customer service call center.
Next: Customize the service and make sure it meets your customers’ needs
Here is where a lot of businesses mess up. Not taking the time to make sure your new call center actually works for your business is a recipe for disaster. If you send your callers to a call center that is unprepared, you’re going to be the next example of customer service outsourcing gone wrong. You can’t treat the vendor as a separate company who is solely responsible for meeting your customers’ needs. That isn’t their job. Their job is to perform your customer service processes in a more cost-effective and professional manner.
The key word in that last center is your; they’re performing your customer service processes. So before you can use them effectively you need to know what you customer service processes are and ensure they address the issues faced by your customers. If you run a small computer repair business and callers are constantly checking the status of their repair, then you should have a system in place for keeping track of job statuses. With that system in place, you can easily make it available via the web so that your customer service call center can access it. Just like that, they’re performing a simple task that you would normally be doing in your office.
Another example is appointment scheduling. If you have clients calling you to schedule appointments, don’t hire a call center just to take a message; use a cloud calendar system and give your call center access, allowing them to schedule appointments for you based on your availability.
The above examples can be summarized as follows:
a.) Set up systems ahead of time that address the types of calls and inquiries you receive
b.) Work with your call center to integrate the systems into their operation
There’s certainly tweaking that needs done in order to get things right, but repeating the above steps for the different situations that arise will ensure your call center remains in line with the rest of your business.
Lastly: Take time to listen and refine
While it is ideal to set up your call center and let it go, it would be irresponsible not to check in and make sure things are running as planned. You owe it to yourself, to your customers, and to your call center to do your part in ensuring the success of your customer service operation. By listening to calls, getting feedback from customers, and working with your vendor to make improvements where necessary, you can continually improve the effectiveness of your call center.
And there you have it, you’re on your way to providing professional customer service like the big boys. Hopefully you find this guide helpful in your efforts to improve your business and better serve your customers. By treating a call center as an extension of your business and partnering with them to meet your objectives, you’ll find their services extremely worthwhile.
If you have any questions regarding the process or how a call center can work with your business, I would be happy to talk with you about it. Same goes if you have worked with a call center in the past. Learning about what works and what doesn’t helps me improve and I’m always available to chat.
About the author: Gere Jordan works in business development, marketing, and operations at Continental Message Solution, Inc. (CMS), a US based contact center and small business call center. He has experience designing and implementing effective call center solutions, improving communication workflows, and helping companies share their success via the web. For more information, please visit http://www.continentalmessage.com or email gere.jordan@continentalmessage.com.
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5 Things You Can Do to Start Driving Traffic to Your Site Fast
These days, getting people to your website is key to make sales. Even if you do not sell directly online, your website will often serve as a first port of call and your main marketing tool to capture prospects that search for what you are offering.
The trouble is, all this fails if no one visits your site. You can have the best online presence possible but unless someone actually sees it, it’s pointless.
Gaining traffic to your site is not an easy task. Traditional and the most effective methods such as SEO are quite time consuming, yet you might want to drive people to your site much faster than this.
Luckily, there is a number of things you can do to make this happen.
1. Use Google Places
Setting up a Google Places account should be the first thing for any business to do, regardless of their website promotion activities. However, this can be used to gain visitors to your site as well.
Google Places offers small businesses a chance to create a local listing for themselves. Your listing will only show for anything related to what you are offering and only in your location, which is perfect for most companies. Also, the Places listing will rank in Google much faster than your website and depending on your industry, it might even start showing on page one of the search engine relatively fast.
Moreover, your Google Places profile, which is very easy to set up, can include your website address, pointing people to it for more information.
2. Submit Your Blog Posts to Reddit
Nowadays, a website must have a blog. It is the most effective way for you to add new content and build an image of yourself as an expert in your field. But there is more that you can do with your blog than just create posts for it, you can use it to quickly drive traffic to your site.
Submit your blog posts to Reddit, a social bookmarking site, known for thousands of users who are there for one purpose only, to discover new content. Submission process is easy and the traffic spikes after you do so are incredible.
3. Promote Your Business With Online Press Releases
Press releases are great for many things, from announcements to raising the awareness of your business. However, they can also help you gain website visitors.
A well written press release can attract many people to your business and if it gets picked up by the press, even more people will find out about you.
By including your website address in your press release you increase your chances of getting visitors to your site from there.
4. Use social media to drive traffic to your site
Sites like Twitter and Facebook are the best places to find people interested in what you are selling. And, it is a known fact that people like to click on links from those sites. Therefore, start using social media and promote your website there as well. Include your web address in your profile but also post links to your latest posts and so on.
5. Submit Your Site to Business Directories
Just like with Google Places, you can create profiles for your business on various other business listing sites and promote your website there. Including a link usually goes beyond what you get with a free listing though so you might have to spend a little but in the end, it will be all worth it.
Promoting a website is not an easy task, however, as you can see, there are a lot of things you can do quite easily to start receiving traffic to your site. Of course, none of them will replace the long term value of good SEO but in a short term they will help you to get things moving with your site.
About the Author: Pawel is a writer and publisher of business books for beginners and through his publications helps newcomers to start and build a successful business.
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8 Common Legal Mistakes That Nearly Every Small Business Makes
Going into business isn’t just about hanging a sign on the front door anymore. In an increasingly complex world, you have to protect yourself and avoid making embarrassing and expensive legal mistakes.
1. Failing To Register A Trademark
Trademarks protect you in the future. You may not be too concerned about it now, if you’re a young business, but eventually you may want to make sure that your brand name is protected. It’s easy to forget about trademarking a name or slogan but if someone infringes on your trademark you will want that protection.
2. Infringing On Someone’s Copyright
Since it’s sometimes unclear whether an image is free of any copyright, it’s best to use a paid service or check to make sure that the image is in the Creative Commons. It’s not enough to post an image or graphic and credit its author. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t intend to violate copyright law. If you’re using someone’s property without his or her permission, you’re in violation and could be sued by the copyright owner.
3. Incomplete Filing
One of the most common mistakes businesses make is to file Articles of Incorporation and then set the paperwork aside. This gives you no protection, from a legal standpoint, and the IRS will not recognize the corporation as a legal entity. You must also prepare bylaws, execute organizational minutes, issue shares of stock, execute key agreements, and file IRS elections (i.e. S-Election).
4. Assuming Mandatory Incorporation
Not all businesses need to be incorporated. It’s become almost an unwritten rule that all businesses need to be incorporated. This is simply untrue. Unless you really need the legal protection that a corporation affords you, there’s little benefit of incorporating. What you do get by incorporating is extra tax forms, additional corporate tax (if you’re a C corporation), additional record keeping, and franchise fees.
5. Using Stock As Currency
Paying employees, vendors, or anyone else in shares of stock ties the corporation to the new shareholder for as long as the company stays in business. If you do this with your business, think of the long-term consequences. You will be legally bound to act in in their best interest since the purpose of the corporation is to maximize shareholder value. If you don’t want to be bound by this kind of agreement, don’t issue stock as a form of payment.
6. Careless Filing
As incredible as it sounds, many business owners file business documents based on what “sounds good.” LLC may sound good and snappy after your business name, but does it serve your purpose? Choosing what form your business takes while chatting with a friend over drinks could be a costly mistake. For example, in New York and California, LLCs pay far more in fees and taxes than other business entities. If you choose an S-corporation, you had better be prepared to file extra paperwork for the “S” election. Make sure you are choosing the right business entity for your needs.
7. Ignoring Jurisdiction
Don’t just randomly choose a state of incorporation from a drop-down menu on a website. In most cases it makes sense to incorporate in the state where you are doing business. There is normally no reason to incorporate in states like Nevada or Delaware, despite what some people say. In fact, you may actually increase the legal fees by doing so while decreasing your legal protections.
8. Failing To Formalize Contracts
A common mistake that many business owners make is to not formalize contracts. Small businesses often have this problem when dealing with vendors and sometimes even with customers. A handshake is no way to do business. While you might be completely honest and ethical, you have no way of knowing whether your customers or vendors are.
Even if your vendors and customers are honest, you may run into legitimate disputes that require arbitration or a trip to court to sort out. A contract is the only way to protect your business and your interests.
About the Author: Guest post contributed by Hayley Spencer, on behalf of Lawyers.com, providers of legal help and resources.
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Make a Direct Impact by Going Local
For many entrepreneurs, local business means big business.
The digital world may have broken down boundaries, but in the rush to engage online with our target audiences, let’s not forget about the opportunity knocking in our own backyards.
According to a recent study by Roost.com, just 15 percent of an average local business’s social media fans come from the city where the business is located. Small businesses must do more to reach their nearby customers.
And that starts with a ZIP code.
Just ask Jim Lafeber, owner of Simon’s Shine Shop, a high-end car wash in Chicago. Jim came to my center looking for an effective way to communicate directly with his customers. He had been supplementing his direct-mail promotions with social-media activities, but his mailing lists had become outdated and expensive. He needed to take his direct-mail distribution to the next level.
Jim turned to an affordable, tool called Every Door Direct Mail. Created by the U.S. Postal Service, Every Door Direct Mail helps small businesses send advertising mail to targeted audiences without the need to acquire an address list. It helps build traffic, find new customers and increase revenue, and is available from The UPS Store franchised network.
Jim selected his target ZIP codes and provided us with his design file, and we handled the logistics of printing and mailing more than 20,000 coupons. This saved him the valuable time and expense of having to purchase a mailing list or travel from printer to Post Office. Jim also saved $190 a year in mail permit fees.
Today, he happily reports new customers are flocking to his carwash to redeem the coupons. And he’s connected with a new audience without spending a lot or dealing with the logistics of a mass mailing.
Solutions from reaching hundreds or thousands of customers to printing your next brochure are closer than you think. They might even be in your own backyard.
Whether coupons or postcards, direct mail remains an effective way to communicate directly with customers. Every Door Direct Mail can help the process by:
- Simplifying direct mail orders. You provide the mailing design, and The UPS Store handles the logistics—from printing to coordination with the local Post Office—so you don’t have to worry about the process.
- Reaching all of your target customers: You pick the target area—whether city, neighborhood or a specified distance from your business — and the mailing will be delivered to every door.
- Customizing your message. Today’s business communications are constantly evolving, and the old bulk printing approach has gone by the wayside. Quick, flexible printers can create quality collateral as your business and audience change.
Solutions from reaching hundreds or thousands of customers to printing your next brochure are closer than you think. They might even be in your own backyard.
About the Author: Tom Bellino is the co-owner of four The UPS Store locations in Chicago. He is a current Chairman’s Club member and past president of The Lakeview Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining The UPS Store network in 2005, he was an executive at a local oil distribution company, preceded by an 18-year career at UPS, where he held several management positions.
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Photo Credit: Homini:)
Seven Important Factors to Re-design your Website
Your site is an essential tool that you simply hold very much to yourself. Spent substantial amount of time focusing on its maintenance and improvement. Your site can double as an remarkable possession so that as your supply of earnings. You may also utilize it to articulate your tips and share information around the world. However, it reaches a stage you need to re-design your site to satisfy new demands. Only at that level, you may be worried on if the changes you need to make would change your site.
Nonetheless, it is vital to think about factors that will assist you to redesign your site perfectly. It’s also wise to undertake reresearch to look for the appropriate time for you to effect the modifications. However, about this article you’ll find a few of the factors that will trigger the requirement for a re-design. guarantee to completely read and evaluate everything prior to making a variety. When in the event you re-design your site?
1.Whenever your website branding is poor
The company of the website must be well situated to capture the eye of the site visitors. Additionally aimed at your website logo design and mascot, you need to ensure the look can also be a part of modeling. For your reason, you need to re-design your website to make sure its look is supplying site visitors.
2. Once the latest plug-inches fail in your website
Plug-inches affects the performance of the website. Consequently, in case your website does not accept the most recent plug-in, you need to re-design. A few of the plug-in failure actions incorporate wrapped texts and damaged images. You need to realize that if site visitors find damaged links, texts and pictures, they’d not take advantage of your site and therefore, they’d leave.
3. Whenever your Site Search engine optimization ranking does not improve
You need to regularly examine your site ranking on search for motors. Whenever your website ranking does not improve, the time is right you add new, high quality and appropriate content materials. You make sure the content you add is suitable aimed at your website niche. You need to keep in mind that individuals today visit sites for brand new information and therefore, you’ll need new information to lure site visitors.
4. Once the design is outdated
Each year, developers create 1000′s of website designs that center around related styles and search. In certain occasions, it’s Consequently easy to tell once the website was produced. You need to put many emphases in your goal. This really is by making certain your site encourages the meant quantity of specific traffic or maybe more. You are able to search for new concepts in the latest internet sites release. When the appearance of your site can’t be modified to include the meant modifications, the time is right you re-design.
5.Whenever your website navigation is tough
Many people get it wrong of creating an internet site in line with the appearance. You need to put stresses around the functionality of the website a lot more than seems. You need to guarantee your site site visitors arrive at their information with under 3 clicks.
6.If this has less than professional look
It is important to ensure your site look is professional. You need to realize that males and ladies don’t trust poorly designed websites and therefore, you need to re-design to enhance it.
7.Whenever your website specific visitors are low
You need to re-design your site once the specific site visitors does not improve Regardless of offering quality articles along with a great look. In certain occasions, it’s important to optimize your site and posts, which depend on the development of your site.
About the Author: Donald Bates is a website designer who loves to help fellow designers and business owners sharing his knowledge and experience. He would like to invite you to find out more about south florida web design and also to find out more about miami web design company.
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12 Most Common Business Tax Questions
Most people can get away with doing their own taxes. Even if you itemize, there’s not that much that needs to be done in order to square things away with the IRS.
For businesses, however, it’s a whole different ballgame. Even a sole proprietorship in a service industry (where you don’t have to deal with much in the way of inventory) can face significant tax questions.
Here are 12 of the most common tax questions asked by small businesses:
1. When first starting a business, what do I need to do to keep from getting in trouble with the IRS?
The most important thing you can do is to make sure you’re keeping decent records. It’s most often poor record keeping (rather than dishonesty) that impacts small businesses during the IRS audit process. Keep all of your receipts, and use a reputable bookkeeping software program such as QuickBooks or Peachtree.
You’ll also want to get up to speed with what can and can’t be deducted as legitimate expenses.
2. Can I write off my vehicle since I use it to travel for business?
You can indeed consider your vehicle a business expense, but usually not in full. You have to be able to track just how much you actually use the vehicle for business. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a mileage log, noting the purpose for every trip.
When it’s tax time, you have two options: write off the use based on the “mileage” deduction which works with a cents-per-mile formula, or use the actual expenses that you pay for your vehicle at a pro-rated percentage.
3. Can I write off entertainment?
You can write off half the cost of entertaining clients and customers. If you have a party or other event for employees and their families, however, you can write off 100%. Here again, documentation is key; note who was in attendance and their business relationship.
4. What are capital vs. current expenses?
Current expenses are those everyday costs that keep your business running, such as office supplies or the electric bill. Capital expenses are those that keep the business running over time, such as a copy machine or furniture.
5. What is depreciation?
Depreciation is the process of writing off capital expenses over several years. Depending on the type of expenditure, you may need to write it off over three, five, or seven years.
6. Do all of my capital expenditures need to be depreciated?
Right now, Section 179 allows you to deduct the cost of your capital equipment all in the first year, but there is a limit to that amount. In 2010 and 2011, it was $500,000. For 2012, that limit will decrease to $125,000. Many small businesses will be able to cover all of their capital expenses in that single year.
7. Are there exceptions to Section 179?
There are certain things that Section 179 doesn’t cover. Inventory, buildings, land, and heating or cooling units aren’t covered. Vehicles are covered, but there are rules about what portion of the cost of the vehicle you can deduct.
8. Can I deduct a home office?
If your business is based in your home, you can deduct a percentage of your home’s costs, including mortgage, rent, utilities, homeowners insurance, and even remodeling. The office to be used primarily and regularly for business reasons, however; if it’s partly used for work and partly for personal reasons, you can’t deduct it.
9. Can I deduct my family’s expenses if they travel with me to a trade show?
If anyone else goes with you when you travel for business, you can deduct your expenses. However, you can’t deduct more than if you were traveling by yourself. You can’t deduct your family’s meals, and you can’t deduct additional expenses (such as a second hotel room) incurred by their presence.
10. Will incorporating help me pay less in taxes?
This really depends on the nature and size of your business. If your business is solidly profitable, it may be worth looking into incorporating. It’s often not beneficial during the first couple of years of a small business’ life, however.
11. Should I do my own accounting and file my own taxes?
For many small businesses, doing your own accounting and taxes can save money. However, it’s worth having a qualified professional review things at least once or twice a year. A small business tax professional can help you to avoid some nightmare scenarios that could come up during an audit, for example.
12. Should I hire employees or contractors?
The IRS has specific rules about this. If you tell workers how, when, and where to work, the IRS considers them employees. If they have their own businesses and have other clients, they’re contractors.
Your small business taxes don’t have to be a huge headache. Do your research, keep good records, and turn to an accounting and tax professional when you’re not sure if you’ve got it right.
About the Author: Dominique Molina is President of the American Institute of Certified Tax Coaches, an organization of tax professionals who are trained to help their clients rescue thousands of dollars in wasted tax and is a registered educator with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). In addition to her blogging and speaking engagements, Dominique also provides engagement letter, accounting marketing and a range of accounting templates to her clients.
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