Small Business News and Articles
Article Topics
4 Steps to Google My Business
Google My Business explained. Anyone in business selling products or services have probably tried many ways to attract traffic to their websites. This includes via hits from the various search engines. ‘Page Rank’ particularly from the Google algorithm are impacted by various paid strategies. These include Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns and social media campaigns via
Focus your website
Why is it so important to focus your website? All business websites need to stand out from the crowd. Whether you do it yourself or engage a professional web designer there are some golden rules to consider. Building a website is fraught with traps if you don’t do enough pre-planning. A major aspect of getting
Project feature: Customised Supplements
Customised Supplements is a personalised nutrition business, underpinned by a network of progressive health professionals in the areas of nutrition, dietetics, naturopathy, pharmaceutical chemistry and nutrition-orientated scientific research. They believe that every individual is special, unique and dynamic. In order for every person to realise health benefits from nutritional supplementation, they wanted to provide an
Website trends for 2018
We’ve hit 2018, the internet keeps moving and the designs for websites of all kinds will evolve again this year. While most small businesses don’t need their sites to be on the bleeding edge of design it is a good time to take a look at what the expected trends are for 2018. More video
Cashflow after Christmas
Cashflow after the festive season can be a killer. Regardless of your business having a pre-Christmas sales bonanza – cashflow is a major difficulty at a time when everyone else is enjoying a wonderful time of the year. Usually, as consumers get into the festive spending spirit, it’s a profitable time for retail businesses. Some retailers
Negative Review Response Plan
Getting a negative review need not be the end of the world. Online customer reviews are very important for local businesses. Reviews display what other people, your customers, think of your product or services. If you respond to reviews, you show potential customers that you care about their opinion. It also makes your business stand out
ATO Support Resources
I’m from the Tax office and I’m here to help. While not always a statement met with confidence, small business operators can benefit from the assistance the team from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have on offer. Do you want to learn more about tax basics, good record-keeping and employer essentials? Would you like to
Using Customer Questions
There’s a range of benefits of asking your customers questions. For example, you can use feedback to further improve your customer experience and product development. But you can also ask your customers questions online and monitor their feedback, to improve your lead generation. Google launched a Questions & Answers feature that integrates with Google My Business.
Social Media Marketing Tactics
Businesses with a social media marketing plan get a big head start. 1. Join your professional peers on LinkedIn. Social media marketing over time has seen LinkedIn become a key online business-to-business channel. Now having a diverse community, LinkedIn offers huge marketing opportunities. Tactics range from simple conversations all the way through to direct marketing
Invoicing – 5 ways to get paid
Invoicing would seem like a no-brainer for businesses. But new figures show an alarming number of Australian small businesses are not set up properly for invoicing in a timely fashion which creates a major problem. In an article by AJ Singh, Managing Director, ezyCollect, a survey of over 3500 small businesses revealed that close to one
HTTPS Explained
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) secures the connection to the website you are visiting. No doubt you’ve seen this online. Take a look at the address bar in the browser and find the lock icon on the left side. If the lock is closed then the connection is secure. If it’s open or is there
7 Cyber Security Tips for Business
Cyber security continues to be a major consideration for businesses who are more and more relying on online activity. It is important you keep all your business and client information secure. If your data is lost or compromised, it can be very difficult or very costly to recover it. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) have
Online bookings for local business
Online bookings trend continues. Last year we published an article about the trend of small businesses integrating online bookings into their websites. Back then there were many options to choose from and now there are even more. Wading through each one to make a choice is difficult and time-consuming. Although many small business operators agree
Responsive Design Basics
Responsive design for business websites. Mobile device usage continues to grow therefore people are increasing using them to access websites. This means that it’s never been more important to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Responsive web design is an overall approach to building websites. It encompasses web specification standards and flexible design models. The
Structuring Your Website
Why structuring your website and menus is important. Visual structuring your website is, in most cases, presented by the menu of your website. Permalinks and breadcrumbs assist but these are not important for your visitor. Your main navigation menu is crucial. To keeps things orderly and focussed the menu consists of a limited number of top-level items. Ideally,
Social sharing – 3 golden rules
Social sharing is here to stay. Social media platforms will come and go over time. However people are social creatures and love to tell their friends (and in some case families) what they are up to. Social media is great for marketers, but should your business join in the fun? Everyone online knows that social
Small Business is Still a Tough Path
A new small business index and report has been launched. It looks at how Australia’s small business landscape of more than two million operators and how they are faring. Not much has improved following an ATO initiative 12 months ago. The problems of getting paid is still a major concern for business owners. (see ‘Late
7 Mobile Website Design tips
Mobile website design is crucial for business. The percentage of internet users with mobile devices is at 80% and climbing. So that’s millions of people looking for products and services online with small screens. In order to satisfy potential customers, every business must make their site easy to navigate on mobile devices. Besides being findable
Business Blog Guidelines
What should you write for your business blog? Business Blog publishing essentially needs to be interesting and relevant to your audience but also needs to be well structured and easy to consume. Grabbing attention and ensuring readers get to the end and follow through on your desired action are two goals for all online articles.
Website support and why you need it
Website support for your business is important. You’ve invested time and money in establishing your website and everything looks great. Neat, tidy, cool and inviting for visitors to engage with you or buy from you. But that’s just the beginning. The internet is ever-changing and you have to keep pace with it to avoid damage
7 Social Proof Website Examples
Using feedback from your existing customers Social proof from your current customers helps when potential customers are researching you online. They’re getting to know you by way of the content of your website. Understandably, many of them might be skeptical or hesitant to trust you right away. To prove the value of what you have to offer, why not let
5 Things to Help Facebook Search Find Your Biz
How to make sure you’re found on Facebook search. Heard about Facebook Search? It’s true that Google reigns supreme with over 95% of the online search market. However social media giant, Facebook are actively making changes to grab their slice of the action. Yet despite the potential, Facebook hadn’t in recent years been able to effectively
Mature Age Investment
Mature Age Investment in Human Capital In this post about SMEs employing mature age staff we highlight an excellent article from Inside Small Business. The article was originally written by Margaret Paton, Journalist/Copywriter, Communications: Keeping It Real. Taking on a mature-aged workers can mean reaping benefits. Knowledge and experience Hire a worker aged 50 + and you’ll tap
Sell Global – 7 Benefits of e-Commerce for Local Business
Think local – sell global To sell global, local businesses need a well-designed website so they can benefit from potentially lucrative new markets. There is a massive amount of at-your-fingertips information to show how easy it is to go online. Ever improving software applications make it easier than ever to construct your own e-commerce solution
4 EOFY Stress Points and Where to Get Help
End of Financial Year (EOFY) has always been a tough time for small to medium size enterprises. A recent EOFY report published by the Bank of Queensland showed more than a third of small business owners say the end of financial year is the most stressful time of the year. Of the 520 small business
3 Reasons Why You Need a Contact Form
Okay so you have your website setup and are open for online business. Use a Contact Form to fulfill your site goal. You have decided you key goal is to have site visitors contact you. You spent a lot of time, energy and money getting potential customers on your page so achieving a completion
Protecting Honest Businesses – ATO
Electronic systems are in-favour with the Australia Taxation Office (ATO). They know that most business owners are honest and that running a business can be difficult. So they are looking at industry-wide patterns so they can see who may need assistance. The ATO say that, unfortunately, there are businesses that operate in the cash and hidden
5 Ways to Save Time With FAQs
Save Time Spent Answering the Same Old Questions. Save time you and your team spend handling everyday enquiries from existing potential customers. We suggest to business operators that they implement a good FAQ page on their websites. It can be a very powerful tool. In addition to helping establish your expertise, it can boost your
Online business isn’t always simple
The following online business article is an excerpt from a recent post by Akiva Szental, Co-Founder, Ozen. It was published on the Inside Small Business site which I highly recommend. Akiva outlines some great points for any business operator who is considering the big step of taking their business online. From the outside, starting an online
Responsive Website – What It Is, Why You Need It
Everyone expects a responsive website whenever they are online. A ‘responsive website’ is one that delivers the visitor a pleasant visual and functional experience regardless of whether they are using a desktop, laptop, tablet or modern mobile phone. Any web designer worth hiring has the knowledge, skills and tools to produce a fully functional site