Author: Evan Hoeflich

How To Make Money With Sponsored Blog Posts?

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How To Make Money With Sponsored Posts

A great monetization strategy for your blog is sponsored posts.

For many bloggers this is a great way to generate extra revenue from their website.

People will essentially pay you to get their content published on your website as it helps them generate more exposure for their brand and builds a quality backlink which is helpful for SEO (assuming the link flows naturally and is relevant to the article).

The reason I love offering sponsored posts is 1.) because it’s an extra source of income and 2.) it provides you with consistent content for your blog.

Just make sure the content you are receiving is of the highest quality and don’t be afraid to turn it down.

Also make sure you check it for plagiarism using a tool like Copyscape.

I only accept/publish content that I know will benefit my readers and that is 100% valuable/unique content.

If you’re interested in accepting sponsored posts here are two steps below that will help you set this up for yourself.

Build Up Your Own Site Authority

In order for anyone to be interested in submitting an article to your blog, your site must have some authority in the eyes of Google. This means that it must have a decent domain authority and enough traffic for it to be worthwhile to post on. You need to make sure you’re creating quality content on a consistent basis and also building quality backlinks in order to give your website more weight in the major search engines.

Having updated and fresh content on your blog shows others that your site is current and relevant with helpful information. People want to contribute to websites where content is routinely being published and where readers are engaging on a consistent basis. They will most likely also check out your domain authority (see link above) so it’s important to adopt an on-going link building strategy, this way you can increase your overall search engine rankings and organic traffic. A more reputable/authoritative site also allows you to increase your sponsored posts fees, so this should be a top priority.

Create A Dedicated Page For Sponsored Posts

By creating a dedicated page for sponsored post submissions, this tells people that you are indeed accepting sponsored content. It also allows you to lay out your guidelines, topics allowed, pricing and submission process. For example, my page here is a perfect example of what you should include on your site if you’re interested in offering sponsored posts. These types of pages can also get indexed in Google which makes them much more accessible and visible to potential contributors. By creating this page, you can tell people exactly what type of content you’re looking for so that when you receive submissions, minimal edits will have to be made (saving you valuable time).

Take this sponsored post strategy seriously as it can potentially help you generate a few hundred dollars per month or even a few thousand depending on how authoritative your site is. Again, continue to work on strengthening your website on all levels as this will allow you to charge higher fees. Sponsored posts are pretty much pure profit as all it takes is your time to edit/upload them. Although you don’t want this to be your only method of creating revenue from your website, it is a really powerful strategy that should be included in your monetization mix.

If you haven’t started your blog yet, you may want to take a look here.

What do you think of sponsored posts?

Let me know in the comments section below!

How To Create Blog Content That Ranks In Google- Quick Tutorial

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Writing Blog Content

In order to get your blog posts noticed by the major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo you must follow a specific formula to make this happen.

You wouldn’t believe how many people get this wrong, which is why they generate little to zero organic traffic.

In this post we will go over exactly how to create blog content that ranks in Google so you can put yourself well ahead of the competition.

If you haven’t started a blog yet, you may want to check this post out.

Now let’s get into it!

1.) Keyword Research- Look For Long-Tail Keywords

The starting point to any successful piece of blog content begins with keyword research. Using tools like Ubersuggest (free), Google Keyword Planner (free) or MOZ Keyword Explorer (paid), you’ll want to start generating a list of a few keywords per blog post. Remember to try and focus on long-tail keyword phrases as they are less competitive and easier to rank for. Long-tail keyword phrases are generally 3-5 word terms, sometimes longer. See example below:

  • This post you’re reading right now is targeting the keyword “How To Create Blog Content“…but it’s also targeting “Create Blog Content That Ranks In Google“.  So with one long-tail keyword phrase, I’m actually targeting two different keywords. These will be less competitive compared to for example, “Blog Content” which is incredibly general…Does this make sense?

Just like anything, the more you practice the art and skill of keyword research, the better you get at it. When starting out just get used to compiling some keywords together based around the specific topic you’d like to write about. Don’t try to find the “winner”, instead grab around 2-4 that may be good candidates to target.

2.) Make Blog Posts 500+ Words Long

Now that you have your keyword(s) mapped out, it’s time to start writing your blog post. It’s essential that you do not take shortcuts here. You always want to publish the highest quality content possible. So with that being said, make sure your blog posts are at the very least 500 words long. I personally have seen the best results when I write my blog posts over 1,000 words long. Long-form style content tends to rank much better in Google from my experience.

Google favors websites/blogs that have a sufficient amount of content published. If Google sees two websites competing for the same keyword (say 350 words vs. 1,000 words) and both are blog posts, Google will pick the one that has more quality content to rank higher. Get into the habit of ensuring your blog posts are over 500 words but eliminating any fluff as well. You want your blog posts to be in-depth and valuable content for your readers.  

3.) Copy Optimization/Internal Linking

Once your blog is written, you’ll want to make sure it’s optimized properly with your target keywords sprinkled in throughout the content. This gives Google a better idea of what your blog post is about and gives it more authority from an on-site SEO perspective. Do not just stuff your keywords in here though, make sure they ready naturally and are placed strategically in your post. Remember that creating blog content that ranks in Google is just as much for real humans as is it for the search engines.

You will also want to add a handful of internal links to other relevant blog posts or pages on your website. Google encourages webmasters to guide visitors to other helpful content on their site. It helps people get around better and also spreads some ranking power (link juice) from page to page. Try to add 2-3 internal links per 500 words or so.

4.) Write Proper SEO Tags (Yoast)

A crucially important step is ensuring that you write proper SEO tags for each and every blog post. This really lets Google know what your article is about and which keywords you are targeting. To learn more about the specific SEO tags check out my post here: How To Do Simple Search Engine Optimization. These tags will contain your most important keywords and will create a strong SEO foundation for that page. Listed below are the main keywords you should focus on (remember to check out my post above for more details on each SEO tag).

  • Title Tags (60-70 characters long)
  • Meta Descriptions (155-160 characters long)
  • Header Tags (H1, H2, H3 etc.)
  • Image ALT Tags

A great SEO plugin if you use WordPress is Yoast. They make it incredibly easy to implement SEO tags for each and every blog post you write. It’s important to take your time on this part of the blog creation process as writing properly optimized SEO tags could mean all the difference in getting floods of organic traffic to your content or none at all. See screenshot below of how Yoast looks when optimizing your tags (this is showing your Title Tag, URL slug and Meta Description).

How To Create Blog Content

5.) Link Building to That Specific Post

A more advanced but incredibly powerful strategy to really set yourself apart from the competition is to build quality backlinks to your specific blog post(s). The best way to do this is through guest posting, where you would reach out to other relevant websites in your niche and find out if they’re interested in a guest blog post from you. You would then write a quality article for their website and embed your blog post link (using specific anchor text) and send it off for publishing. This is how you build natural and quality backlinks to your website/blog posts.

This strategy can give you a huge boost in terms of search engine rankings and many times is just what you need to cement yourself at the top of the search results!

6.) Consistency

Last but not least it’s important to be consistent in your overall blogging strategy. You need to realize that not every blog post is going to rank super highly in the search engines. Some will do great and others not so great, which is why you need to continue to publish quality, fresh and unique content. At the very least you should be blogging once per week. That’s four blog posts per month. Can you handle that?  If you can do more that’s even better, just make sure you’re not sacrificing quality. Stay patient, remain persistent and results are sure to follow.

That about wraps it up and to be quite frank this blog post that you’re reading is a good example of what you should strive for. It’s targeting a specific keyword(s), it’s over 1000 words long, it’s properly optimized with internal links, SEO tags etc., and eventually I will build natural backlinks to it through guest posting.

Was this post helpful to you?

Are you already using this formula? Let me know in the comments section!

Rather watch the video version of this blog post?

How To Create Blog Content That Ranks In Google

How to Make Sure Your Startup Succeeds In A Competitive Market

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Startup Business Success

Most small businesses don’t make it beyond the first year. Every startup creator needs to worry about more competitors than ever and the changes in technology are putting additional pressure on businesses as well.

If you want your business to succeed, you need to put systems in place that will allow you to rise above the competition and grow the company quickly and smoothly. This can be accomplished only if you know what makes your startup unique and who your customers really are.

Prepare to increase capacity

Setting up a business takes a lot of money and preparation and business owners usually borrow just enough to open the doors, keep the lights on and operate on their own for the first month or so. It’s a mistake to approach the business in this way. In fact, there should be plans to expand the business from day one.

It is an additional cost and sometimes that can be challenging, but try to expand your capacities both in terms of infrastructure and manpower. That way, you can grab any opportunity that comes along and step into the big shoes right away.

Finding a strategic partner

New startups can benefit greatly from finding a strategic partner that can help them out during their first year. Strategic partners are a much better option than taking out larger loans because getting tied in with a bank can be troublesome for small businesses.

A strategic partner is someone who will buy your products or services in bulk in exchange for cross-promotion and thus help you combat the uncertainty that comes with starting and running a new business.

Advertising

Advertising efforts need to start right away if you want your business to be set apart from the competitors and get noticed within the business community. This can only be done if you know your customers and which of their needs aren’t being met right now.

Building and maintaining a brand, doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor that will require you to take out long-term loans. In fact, promotional products, such as promotional caps, USB drives and mugs, could be the most effective ways to market a business and they are rather inexpensive. If these items contain your logo and some basic info, they can go a long way in promoting the company as long as you put them in the right hands. Another excellent and also essential advertising/marketing method is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which can be done with very little expense if you learn to do it on your own.

New streams of revenue

Relying on just one revenue stream is one of the most dangerous things a business can do. That means that any problem that might emerge with that revenue stream can completely stop or even destroy your business.

There are numerous ways of handling this problem early on. The simplest option is to try to offer additional services or products that will generate income independent of your main line of work. However, this isn’t available to everyone, since it requires resources. Another way to go is to streamline some of your services to the industry you’re working in and create a business-to-business side of your work.

There are no clear rules on how to make a business a success. However, there are problems that all businesses face and preparing to deal with them early on can help a startup avoid some of the common mistakes and grow exponentially.

Author Bio:

carolin

 

Carolin Petterson is a Business Lady/Content Marketer and contributor for a number of high-class business and marketing websites.

 

Any comments or questions?

Leave them in the comments section below!

 

Why Investing in Digital Currencies Is Less Risky Than You Think

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Should You Invest In Cryptocurrency

When it comes to digital currencies, there are many conflicting pieces of information floating around. While some people swear by them as the future of money, others dismiss them as a highly risky business at best. One thing is for certain, though: with spectacular success stories of individuals going from rags to riches making headlines, cryptocurrencies are hard to ignore. So, if you are at least a bit intrigued by all of this or on the fence about it, it is time to get educated.

Let’s set emotions aside and separate hearsay and myth from solid facts.

 

Investing In Digital Currencies

 

Two Sides of The Same Coin

Currencies like Bitcoin are notoriously volatile. Predicting the twists and turns the market is going to take is a daunting, if not an impossible task. That is why speculators are drawn to this tumultuous frontier in large numbers and traditional investors shy away from it. Yet, this inherent volatility is actually a double-edged sword: it is precisely where the greatest risk, but also the potential for immense returns lies. Also, all the highs and lows do not negate the fact that, in the long run, almost all the people who traded with virtual coins achieved great profits.

That is to say that despite stumbles and falls, the cryptocurrency market is going to evolve and expand. So, falling victim to panic and impulsive decisions is not the way to go. In fact, try to stay calm. If you invest in a digital currency today, you should not be bothered by drops it may undergo tomorrow. In a few years’ time, you might see an ROI percentage that is measured in hundreds or even thousands. It is also possible to at least double the investment money in a matter of months.

In For A Long Race

There are some other distinct advantages associated with cryptocurrency trading. The barriers to entry are incredibly low, especially compared to other, established financial markets. The initial capital investment is low and everything can be done with a few clicks. Moreover, the underlying tech framework, called blockchain, is nothing short of a revolutionary innovation. It is highly efficient, democratic, and fairly safe. There is no doubt that it will survive the crashes of many different virtual coins.

That being said, there are numerous scams and frauds preying on unsuspecting investors, so be advised. It should also be noted that there are more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies available. Therefore, do some research and feel free to look beyond staples like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Find trusted platforms where you can easily sell Dash, Ripple and other major cryptocurrencies. For now, the safest thing you can do is arm yourself with facts and figures and invest only the money you can afford to lose.

Going all in may not be the wisest move, but make no mistake: virtual currencies are not going anywhere except up. Rest assured that they are a sound addition to any balanced portfolio, a great tactic to diversify it. Seasoned investors and business leaders are slowly realizing this and deciding to give digital currencies a go. Are you ready to tap into this disruptive trend that fosters a new kind of financial ecosystem, which is free from regulative constraints of governments and banks?

Weigh Your Options Carefully

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay and rock the financial world. Yes, in the short term, all investments are susceptible to volatility. Over a long haul, however, they are poised to rise. After all, the market is in its infancy and cryptocurrencies still have a long way to go. So, we expect the upward trajectory to continue, with hiccups and setbacks, but continue nevertheless. Of course, the decision to invest or not ultimately depends on your tolerance to risk and investment goals. That is why you need to do your homework before diving in and hunting for opulent rewards and spoils.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

 

What is your opinion on cryptocurrencies?

How to Maximize a Link Building Campaign

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SEO experts have been saying it for years: backlinks are one of the most important factors for ranking in search results. So it’s no wonder that you’re exploring your options and putting together a strategy for building quality links to your website to get more traffic.

But building links is not easy, in fact it’s hard work. Surely there must be some shortcuts you can take to speed up the results. Maybe you should drop five bucks for 1,000 backlinks on Fiverr? Or perhaps you should buy 100 of those cheap link packages on Black Hat World? Surely all those links will skyrocket your blog to the top of the search results!

Yeah, right.

As with many other things in life, there’s a right way to do things and a wrong way. You get what you pay for, and building backlinks the wrong way will get your site penalized so hard that you might never recover.

So forget about the shortcuts. Hang that black hat back up on the coat rack. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to do some real work. Here are three of the right ways to build links that will get you solid traffic results for months and years to come.

1. Focus on Quality Over Quantity

It wasn’t very long ago that you could easily spam a bunch of forums and blogs and create thousands of backlinks on autopilot — and get great results! But those days are over, and nobody should be surprised about it.

Still, it’s amazing how many SEO “experts” are still pushing low-quality spam links. Do they not realize that that ship has sailed? Do they really think that they can escape Google penalties while doing stuff like that?

If you want to get more traffic for the long term without destroying your reputation and rankings, then you need to focus on getting backlinks from high-quality websites with content that is relevant to your own.

Start by reaching out to blogs in your industry and in related niches. Then go for top media sites and blogs with massive traffic. You can also do press releases with local media sites and bloggers, if your customer base is geo-targeted to your local area.

2. But Also Focus on Quantity

While it’s far more important to seek out high-quality links from authoritative websites with high levels of traffic, it’s still important to get as many of them as you can. The web pages that rank in the top spots in search results not only have high-quality links pointing at them, but they also have a large quantity of such backlinks. So if you are going after high-volume keywords with tough competition, then you need to get a lot of quality backlinks.

This is going to take a lot of work. There is no getting around this fact. You need to actually interact with editors and staff at these blogs. You need to offer them something of value, such as high-quality guest posts, infographics and relevant brand mentions.

Yes, it will take a lot more work to get links like these — especially to get a lot of them — but the good news is that once you start landing high-quality links, it then becomes easier to get additional links from other high-quality sources.

For instance, landing your first guest post on a site like Entrepreneur.com might take a lot of time and effort. But once you have that clip under your belt, it will then become a lot easier to land guest posts — and backlinks — on other authoritative sites like Forbes, FastCompany, Wired and Inc.

3. Build Your Personal Brand

One of the keys to landing backlinks and guest posts on high-quality blogs in your niche is to build your personal brand.

When your reputation precedes you, you’ll find that guest post opportunities actually come to you. Quality sites and media outlets will actually start reaching out to you and asking you to contribute to their publication. At this point, things really start to pick up momentum.

But getting to this point is the tricky part. You have to commit to a consistent campaign of outreach, real networking and non-stop guest posting. You’ll need to get your name out there however you can in the beginning, and it can be frustrating if nobody has heard of you yet.

Don’t let that discourage you, though. Every top business leader was once a nobody. Every industry expert in your niche started out as a no-name guest poster. But if you commit to putting in the work, the results are yours for the taking.

Building backlinks that will stand the test of time is a lot harder than it was in the past. You really have to work for those links. But one strong link from a reputable site is worth thousands of links from lesser-known blogs. So make up your mind to go all in on backlinking. Then make a plan incorporating the ideas above and then spend time every week putting the plan into action.

If you link it, they will come.

Author Bio

James

James Gorski: In addition to being the editor at designrfix and writing about tech, web and graphic design among other subjects, I love “unplug” and be outdoors hiking and enjoying nature. If you can’t reach me, it’s probably because where I am at doesn’t have cell phone reception.

 

Have any specific link building questions?

Let James and I know in the comments section below!

 

How to Create an Effective SEO Campaign That Works?

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effective seo campaign

In an ideal world, the quality of your website and the features included in your products/services would be all it takes to ensure the success of your brand online.

Unfortunately, this often isn’t enough.

No matter how advanced or sophisticated search engine algorithms become, they still have certain patterns you have to accommodate to in order to get more visibility. This is why you need a proper SEO strategy in place.

Nevertheless, while everyone boasts about their SEO abilities, a staggeringly large number of digital marketers are still unsure about what it is that makes a thriving SEO campaign. With this in mind, here are four things you have to keep an eye on.

1. Set your budget

The greatest misconception about digital marketing is that you can do it efficiently for free. Sure, self-promoting your content on social networks and sending emails to your contacts is also a form of marketing, but what about PPC (pay-per-click campaign), Facebook advertisements and premium SEO tools? In other words, what about the most efficient digital marketing methods? In order to use them, you have to be ready to allocate at least some of your resources, however, making this choice may not be as easy as you’ve been led to believe.

When setting your digital marketing budget, you have to take several things into consideration, all of which depend on your situation, which is why being honest with yourself is paramount. For instance, you need to set your goals early on, analyze your current visibility and consider your target demographic. Once you have all of this out of the way, you will be able to set a minimal budget that helps you achieve your plans.

2. Explore your demographic

Before you start with any further actions, you have to analyze your target audience and do your best to try and understand them. Find out exactly who they are and what types of keywords they are searching for. This will better help you craft your SEO plan.

One of the most reliable sources of data is paid surveys, seeing as how their participants also have a financial incentive to give honest (actionable) answers. Knowing your customer to a “T” before starting any SEO work is essential to success.

3. Start with on-site optimization

When it comes to boosting your visibility, reach and traffic in general, you need to realize that it all starts and ends with your on-site SEO. A non-optimized, non-responsive and poorly designed website will drive your audience away in no time, which will make your bounce rate skyrocket and therefore, result in decreased search engine rankings. To avoid this, you should work on your website prior to trying off-site SEO techniques that we will discuss below.

For more specifics on how to actually optimize your website properly, check out my post here.

Another mistake you need to avoid is looking at your website only through the eyes of your audience. Keep in mind that you also have to impress search engines, so try looking at your site’s infrastructure from their perspective as well. Metadata, tags, website speed and crawler-friendly navigation should be your top priorities.

4. Off-page SEO

Once your website is properly optimized with on-site SEO best practices, you need to shift your focus towards off-page SEO. Sure, tags and metadata are still important, however, if you’ve already set a proper infrastructure, you can just update this on the go, as soon as you upload a new piece of content. Your focus during the initial stages of off-page SEO needs to be A) proper keyword research and B) building quality backlinks. Needless to say, these two are the main pillars of an organic SEO campaign.

By pulling these two things off, your link building efforts will be much more efficient. Unfortunately, unless you’re a skilled copywriter or creative yourself, you might not be able to do all of this on your own. Web designers and writers are essential allies in this line of work, which is why an experienced digital marketer also has to possess certain organizational and negotiation abilities.

Conclusion

SEO is a process that takes time and should by no means be rushed. If you’re not comfortable attacking the SEO for your website on your own, then it’s a good idea to hire an experienced SEO specialist. Combine SEO with various other marketing strategies for the best chance of success and maximum exposure for your business!

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman

Lauren Wiseman is an entrepreneur, currently based in Melbourne and a regular contributor to bizzmarkblog.com. She assists clients in growing their personal and professional brands in a fast-changing and demanding market environment. Covering finance and investment topics, Lauren strongly believes in holistic approach to business.

 

Do you currently have an SEO plan in place?

Let us know in the comments section below!

Maximizing Wealth Through Entrepreneurship

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There are countless reasons why someone would set out on their own to conquer the business world. For some people, it’s about bringing their ideas to life. For others, the motivation is purely financial. Regardless of the reason, entrepreneurs are hardcoded to pursue success in all of its forms.

Let’s consider two ways you can maximize your wealth by leveraging your entrepreneurial skill set. Both options are viable paths to pursue for small businesses, so read on to decide which one is best for you.

Building Wealth Through Business Growth

The first approach is a long-term solution that rewards dedication and steady growth. Essentially, you will increase your personal financial standing by paying yourself an increased salary or income as the company continues to expand.

The profits of the company will decide how quickly your salary goes up. This requires both patience and a careful balance between keeping the business sustainable, and optimizing your personal wealth.

To accomplish this, you should focus on growing your business while also keeping things manageable on the administrative side.  Establishing systems, cutting unnecessary distractions, and keeping financials up to date will go a long way towards ensuring that your business is both profitable and sustainable as you grow.

Here are some current best practices to grow a business quickly:

  • Build a sales funnel early on that incorporates your entire business model and digital marketing strategy. This will ensure that you can scale upward as things ramp up.
  • Keep a close eye on your competition. Take a look at what’s working for them, and what they struggle with so you don’t make the same mistakes.  Use tools like LinkedIn, Alexa, ahrefs, and of course, Google, to keep an eye out.
  • Keep your current customers happy. Consider a customer loyalty program. It’s far more costly to acquire new customers, so build a lasting relationship with the ones you do have.
  • Consider a franchising model that will allow you to expand quickly. This can be a complex endeavor, but it pays in the long-term.
  • Focus on driving traffic through marketing practices such as SEO and PPC.

Maximizing Wealth by Selling Your Company

This option allows you to quickly garner wealth by selling your company, but it’s not quite as simple as growing a business and then passing it off. This option is attractive because it can result in immediate wealth (often with a lower tax rate, too) than running the business.

To start down this path, you’ll want to understand your exit possibilities early on. In fact, you can start thinking about the end goal during your first year of business. Start by setting goals for milestones in your company. Where do you want to be in 1, 5, or even 15 years from now? Setting these goals will help you direct the company’s path forward.maximizing wealth

Many small businesses are sold as a multiple of EBITDA, or put more simply, profit, (in the 4-6x range).  In other words, if you’re generating $1m of profit, you could expect to sell for $5m. However, high-growth companies with extremely high gross margins (often software) can sell for a revenue multiple — often, startups with recurring revenue streams can garner 5-10x revenue multiples — but of course, recognize that those types of companies will also have well-funded and national/international competition.

Think about if you plan on selling the company wholly or will you allow someone else to slowly take it over for you — that person could be a family member, a close friend, or even another business entirely.

All of this culminates in the sale of the company, which you should also prepare for. Pull in an expert and practice your negotiation techniques and pre-sale corporate planning skills. Understand common language and techniques for selling a small business and you will uncover opportunities to increase the value of the company and walk away with more as a result.

Before you enter into a transaction, make sure that your current financials are up-to-date and properly showcase the company’s worth.  The “diligence” process will be infinitely easier if you’re not digging up receipts from three years back when you’ve got a prospective buyer.

Start thinking about these things as early as possible. The time to sell may come sooner than you think, so having a plan will ensure that you are not caught off guard.

Final Thoughts

Maximizing wealth is a process that starts early in an entrepreneur’s life and extends long into the future. Whether you prefer to grow the business and reap rewards through annual income, or you plan on selling the company, preparation is key.

If you prepare early on, you can pivot your plans quickly and ultimate reach your goal, regardless of how you decided to get there. How do you plan on maximizing your wealth? What tips would you offer to new entrepreneurs? 

Author Bio:

Jaren Nichols
Jaren Nichols is Chief Operating Officer at ZipBooks and ZipBooks Pros. Jaren was previously a Product Manager at Google and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

 

Leave a comment for us below!

Tried-and-True Ways to Better Organize Your Small Business

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how to organize your small business

Sound business organization revolves around figuring out the most effective systems and procedures and putting them in place. So, you do not need a hefty budget to make sure your operations are running like clockwork. Do not waste time boiling the ocean. Find a way to make changes with minimum friction and avoid jeopardizing the quality of your work, service, and offerings. In other words, master the art of doing more with less. Get your priorities in order, allocate resources accordingly and spur sustainable growth.

Office purge

A good place to start your organizing efforts is the physical work environment (or if you work from home, the same applies). Take a good look at your environment and identify sources of clutter and disarray. Keep desks and workstations neat with all the necessary equipment and supplies close at hand. Digitize the office as much as possible to reduce the amount of paper you hoard. Bear in mind that employing smart, vertical storage solutions is a great way to facilitate uninterrupted workflow. This tidying up process will enable everyone to perform at the highest level and minimize distractions.

Financial house cleaning

Furthermore, make an effort to get your financial house in order. Establish a system for tracking and recording expense receipts. Consider implementing accounting platforms and apps to make your life easier.  Dive into data to anticipate holes in the cash flow and patch them up. To pull it off, proactively manage invoices, billing and payments –programs such as FreshBooks are of great help here. Oh, and do yourself a favor and remember to prepare for meeting tax obligations well ahead of time.

Tech tools of the trade

Technology is a big game-changer for small businesses. It allows them to enter the big leagues and advance by strides. There are numerous applications, from using business intelligence programs to support decision making, to hiring virtual assistants and monitoring employees via solutions like Xnspy. And in case you need to take care of a fleet of vehicles, check out car GPS tracking tools to foster transparency across the board and streamline management tasks. Whatever you do, avoid staying behind the competition.

Optimizing customer service

Next, focus your attention on customers, the heart and soul of your business. Firstly, make sure that you use proper channels to reach them and try to send consistent messages. There are various platforms you can take advantage of to automate management across touch points and make the interactions smoother and more effective. Also, have a dedicated team for these tasks, as well as for social media profiles. In this day and age, they can be utilized as powerful customer service tools.

Smart marketing strategy

Speaking of digital media, you also need to structure your marketing campaigns in this realm. Narrow down the focus to fewer networks in case you notice that your activities do not bear fruit on some of them. Put together a content calendar to schedule posts for maximum exposure. Note that it is also possible to manage content beforehand, with the help of various handy tools.  Finally, optimize your online presence to boost visibility and ranking in search engines.

Get on the fast tracks

If you really mean business, it is time to get organized. This is to say you should try working smarter instead of just pushing harder. First off, purge your office and manage finances better. Make the best use of resources you have at your disposal and fine-tune your organizational structure. Automate some of the core processes to save precious time and money. Rest assured that all the time and money you invest today will pay dividends down the road. You will be able to make a real difference and lay the foundations for success in 2018 and beyond.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

 

Are you using any of these tips?

When Saving Money Use Technology To Your Advantage

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Best Money Saving Apps

Technology should be your best friend when it comes to saving more money and on a consistent basis.

Too many people do not take advantage of the technology that is right at their fingertips (literally).Money Saving Technology

Getting used to and comfortable having all of your bank/investment accounts linked to your smartphone can mean all the difference in the world.

And especially if you have a goal of financial independence.

Constantly checking in to see where you stand is incredibly helpful rather than being totally blind to your finances.

Modern day technology is also good for setting up automatic savings plans, creating a detailed budget and tracking your net worth.

All in all, I want you to embrace technology rather than being fearful of it..anyone can learn no matter what generation/age you are.

Below are a few ways that I take advantage and utilize technology to help when saving money and increasing my net worth.

Download All The Necessary Mobile Apps

Taking your finances seriously and socking away extra cash means having all of the proper mobile applications downloaded to your phone.

In doing this, you are only a “screen touch” away from your most important accounts.

Most major banks/investment companies have mobile apps that you can utilize…If they don’t, make sure you can easily login from the Internet on your phone or your computer.

To help explain this further, below are a few apps that I’ve been using for years now (note: everyone’s personal setup will be different based upon where they hold their money).

  • Bank of America AppBank of America: I have a simple checking account and savings account with Bank of America. The checking account is used a lot for everyday type purchases so it’s essential that I have this linked to my phone in order to monitor my spending and check in when necessary. I can also easily transfer money from my checking to savings (or vice versa), quickly and seamlessly from my phone (or any other mobile device)
  • Capital One 360: This is an additional savings account of mine that provides a
    higher interest rate than my Bank of America savings account.  For that reason, Capital One 360 Appthis is where I’m currently putting money away for a down payment on a house. This account in the future will be used for longer term financial goals that I don’t want tied up in an investment/retirement account. Capital One 360 is great because it also allows you to set up savings goals where you can monitor your progress.
  • Vanguard: I have a Roth IRA and a Brokerage account set up with Vanguard, Vanguard Appwhich are both invested in the stock market (VTSAX to be exact- Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index Fund). I like to call these my “freedom funds” that I contribute to heavily to take advantage of compound interest, increasing my overall net worth and setting myself up for financial independence. Vanguard’s mobile app allows me to set up automatic or one-time contributions, track my investments in great detail, and provides in-depth metrics/analytics on how my investments are performing. I personally couldn’t live without this application.
  • PayPal: I use the PayPal app for my side business, which allows me to quickly PayPal Appmake transactions necessary to my business, transfer profits into my Bank of America account and send money to friends/family. When you run a business you need to be linked up to your accounts in order to save yourself as much time and money as possible. I use my PayPal app daily and couldn’t imagine doing business without it. When I’m “on the go” and away from my computer, this application comes in very handy to complete business transactions.

Automate Your Savings Plan

Another reason why technology is so important when it comes to saving money, is because it allows you to automate your savings plan…which quite honestly could mean the difference in being broke or becoming a millionaire down the road.

With the apps I highlighted above (specifically Bank of America, Capital One 360 and Vanguard) you can create a plan where a certain amount of money is transferred to those accounts every week, bi-weekly or monthly…automatically.

If you know anything about personal finance, you know that this step (as simple as it sounds) is crucial to your financial success.

The reason being is that you don’t have to think about saving/investing for the future since it’s automatic month in and month out.

It allows you to pay yourself first instead of spending your money as soon as you receive it.

And this my friend is how you build real wealth overtime.

Thanks to technology, saving money has never been easier.

Create Spreadsheets or Use Apps to Track Your Net Worth

Microsoft excel, although not entirely new technology can still be a great companion when tracking your net worth whether it’s monthly or yearly.

You can really create in-depth charts and tables based on your finances to keep track of your net worth.

This in my opinion is critical to growing your money as it allows you to see the progress you’re making and gives you incredible motivation to keep striving for more.

Personally, this has been an absolute game changer for me when I started implementing this strategy a few years ago…it’s really inspiring to see your hard work pay off over the years.

Spreadsheets are also really helpful for tracking expenses and improving your overall spending habits.

Lastly, another excellent app/website is Personal Capital which allows you to link your bank/investment accounts to the app in order to track your net worth, create various goals and manage your finances.

This is a great alternative to using your own spreadsheets if you’re not comfortable using Microsoft Excel.

Personal Capital is a useful way to get to know your money better, identify trends and create long-term goals.

Conclusion

In summary, technology when it comes to saving money should be used as a tool to increase your freedom fund, nest egg, net worth or whatever you want to call it.

It’s a sure-fire way to stay on track, stay inspired and ultimately help you reach total financial independence.

Adapting to the ever-changing technology we see today in the financial world is an incredible skill that shouldn’t be underestimated.

These little tips, tricks and tactics will really set you up for financial success over the long-term.

Stay focused, remain persistent and take advantage of the technology that’s available to you today!

How I Make Money With ClickBank With Very Little Effort

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Using ClickBank To Make Money

Interested in how to make money with ClickBank? Then I highly recommend this product here to start.

Disclosure: I get affiliate commissions for purchases made through links on this post.

Although ClickBank isn’t my full-time income online, I do generate a healthy revenue stream each and every week using this affiliate platform.

In this post, I’ll explain the specific technique I use to generate daily commissions with ClickBank and with various products that they offer in their marketplace.

Affiliate marketing is a great way for any beginner marketer to get their feet wet and start seeing results.

There is very little start-up cost, you do not have to create your own product and you can generally earn 50-75% commissions (depending on the affiliate company you use).

Heck, some people even make a full-time income just in affiliate marketing sales alone.

This is incredibly possible and especially through the power of starting your own blog.

But for the sake of this post, I want to briefly explain how I was able to build up a consistent side income from ClickBank, and the simple method behind my success.

How To Make Money With ClickBank

Now I realize this strategy won’t be for everyone and many won’t even try it to begin with but bare with me here…

Remember this is to demonstrate what is possible using the power of ClickBank and hopefully to open the minds of some people to test out this method for themselves.

If you’ve been reading my blog for anytime now, you know that I am a top solo ad seller.

I sell high-quality traffic to product owners, affiliates, list builders, online marketers etc., in the internet marketing, make money online, MLM and work from home niche.

Mainly my clients buy two different types of traffic packages on my site…Traffic from 80% Tier 1 Countries or Traffic from 100% Tier 1 Countries.

Tier 1 traffic comes entirely from english speaking countries including the US, CA, NZ, AU, GB.

So what happens to all of the traffic that doesn’t come from those tier 1 countries above?

Using ClickMagick, I am able to send these leftover clicks to a backup rotator which has about 30 ClickBank products loaded up in there.

And when you’re selling thousands of clicks per week, this means hundreds and hundreds of leftover clicks are being funneled through to my back up rotator which in return makes me consistent ClickBank sales.

I am constantly testing different ClickBank products in my backup rotator to see which ones convert the best and result in the lowest possible refund rate.

A good hint when scoping out ClickBank products is to look for offers that have a recurring fee. See screenshot below…ClickBank marks these types of products with the blue arrows towards the bottom.

How To Make Money With ClickBank

This way you can earn a commission each and every month from just one customer.

Multiply this by dozens and dozens of customers and you can create a very stable income for yourself.

Another tip is to not rule out products that have a “low gravity”, which is basically a metric that ClickBank uses to measure how many other affiliates have earned a commission selling that particular product.

In fact, I encourage people to go for the lower gravity products since they’re less saturated and seen less by the masses.

Just make sure they have an attractive sales page and make sure the product is of high quality.

So to sum it all up, my main strategy of generating consistent ClickBank revenue is through my backup rotator of my solo ad business.

This is almost entirely hands off once you have your funnel in place.

If this all sounds confusing, you may want to read up on my post on how to sell solo ads.

This will give you a better background of the solo ad business model.

If you’re interested in selling solo ads for yourself, please send me an email.

I’d love to give you some direction and connect you with a coaching program if you seem to be the right fit.

Like I said, ClickBank and affiliate marketing in general is an excellent starting point for many beginner marketers.

And if you need a platform to sell your affiliate products and the solo ad business model does not interest you, please consider starting your own blog.

So let me ask, have you tried selling ClickBank products before?

What were your results?

Or are you just getting started?

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