What Every Start-up Needs to Know Before Going Online

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Going online with your start-up|What Every Start-up Needs to Know Before Going OnlineWhether or not you intend to actually do business online or are simply going to be using your business website to build brand, there are a few important things you should know before going online. Make no mistake about it. Business websites are important on several levels even if you aren’t going to be engaging in eCommerce but first take the time to understand how to make your website work for you and not the other way around!

Time Is Money

One of the things that altogether too many startups fail to realise is that managing a business website, even a bare-bones WordPress theme, takes an ungodly amount of time to develop and maintain. Instead of spreading yourself too thin once the site is developed, have you considered the benefits of using IT managed services?

Just keeping a business site up and running securely takes an enormous amount of time and effort and that’s something you probably don’t have to spare – especially in the early days. To borrow an old cliché, time is money, and this is why you would be better spending your time developing and running your business. Let IT managed services do what they do best for you while you do what you do best for your company. It’s a simple formula for success.

A Look at Important Elements of IT Management

One of the leading concerns within the private sector as well as the public sector is theft of intellectual property. Even if you aren’t going to be selling anything online, a website can open back doors to your business’s mainframe where all your proprietary information is stored. IT managed services that focus on safety and security can help protect the backbone of your business and that would be your products, current or in development. You could also leave company and client data vulnerable to breaches without managed IT security.

Uptime, Downtime and No Time

If you find IT managed services as part of a provider package, all the better. One of the things which frustrates customers and potential customers most is when they have found your company in a Google search but are unable to click through because your site is down. Uptime is important but downtime leads to no time, for your business that is, and no pun intended. Downtime for your audience leads to no time for you as they simply move on to the next link on the SERPs.

Your Key Takeaway in All This

There is no denying the importance of creating a business website but only to the extent that you can ensure it will be well maintained. Sometimes it’s better to have no website at all than one which frustrates potential clientele. If you are going to go online with your startup, make every effort to ensure it will be an enjoyable (engaging) experience for your customers. Customer experience, UX, is the main path to success and the roadmap for their journey is your website. That’s what you need to take with you to the bank.

Getting Paid to Travel

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | Getting Paid to Travel | Traveling Nurse | In home nurseWhen you think about travel nurse jobs, you probably think about the tasks of the job itself and not the travel part. If you enjoy traveling, being a travel nurse may be an ideal job for you. If the thought of being in the same office every day makes you feel bored or stuck, then travel nurse jobs may be ideal for you. While you are focused on the functions of nursing while at work, there is plenty of time to explore new cities and towns. You can find trails to hike, stores to shop, and new restaurants to enjoy.

You Get To Pick Your Location

You have control over the places where you get to work. This allows you to feel like you have control over your work and your career. Not only that, but it gives you control over where you get to travel. You even get to decide how long you want your assignment, as well as how many days per week you work. It is possible that you can select a job that aligns with an area where you have an event coming up, such as a wedding. Depending on which agency you work with, you can find lists of travel nurse jobs that give you the freedom to make the best selection for you.

Travel the Country

The most significant perk associated with travel nurse jobs is the traveling. It is a great way to get paid to travel the country. It may take some getting used to living out of a suitcase, but if you have the desire to travel, you can pair up your career with travel. It is important to remember to plan breaks between your travel time because it can be exhausting to always be on the road. When you are a travel nurse, you get to know the locals in an area in a way you never would. In many cases, if you really enjoy an area where you are working, you might be able to extend your assignment to stay there longer. In addition, your friends and family can visit you when you are in a specific area, and you can explore together.

Reimbursed Travel

My travel nurse agencies offer reimbursement to help offset your travel expenses. Depending on where you travel, you may be able to drive and have your car with you. Other places, you may need to fly and find some means of transportation when you are in the area. This may mean you need a rental car or must use public transportation. Therefore, you may benefit from a travel reimbursement plan. On the other hand, if the travel nurse agency does not offer a reimbursement plan, you may be eligible for tax deductions. Either way, you have the ability to be reimbursed for some or all of your expenses.

If you are excited by the thought of exploring and traveling across the country and getting paid while you do it, then travel nursing jobs may be the perfect job for you.

5 Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Operational Efficiency Right Now

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Operational Efficiency|5 Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Operational Efficiency Right NowYou’ve heard this popular phrase more times than you can count: time is money. Of course, time isn’t literally money – but it’s pretty close.

Many managers throw money into marketing when trying to increase profits. While marketing is undoubtedly an essential part of a successful business, if you’re overlooking operational efficiency, you’re going to miss out on a portion of the returns that come from a great marketing campaign.

To improve your operational efficiency, consider these five simple tips that you can implement today.

Improve and increase your analytics tracking

First thing’s first: if you don’t know where your operational efficiency is lacking, you can’t fix it. To improve efficiency, you’ll first need to make sure you’re able to see your data and analytics in real-time.

This means that if you’re still using Excel spreadsheets to track data, it’s time to make an upgrade. There are many different types of analytics software on the market today, including SAS Business Analytics (SAS BA) and Tableau Big Data Analytics.

Take some time to research your options, and invest in a software program that fits your company’s needs and goals.

Increase automation

If your IT and administrative staff are filling their time with tasks that could easily be automated, you’re wasting both their potential and your company’s operational efficiency potential.

Any task that has a repetitive nature can easily be automated. Using your data analytics, pinpoint tasks that are taking up a lot of your employees’ time and automate these. Automation will allow your staff to spend more time on the non-repetitive tasks, which is where they really shine.

Emphasize training

Poorly managed companies don’t just hurt their employees; they hurt themselves too. If you’re not putting your employees first, your business will never flourish as much as it could.

One important way to put your employees first is to make sure they receive substantial training. Don’t just do the bare minimum; make sure they don’t just know how to complete their job duties, but they have the tools they need to excel at them.

Proper training also prevents workplace injuries, thereby keeping your employees at work.

Use load boards

If your business regularly ships supplies or products, you may be able to increase operational efficiency by using a load board. Load boards are similar to a job board in that they are a resource for both shippers looking for carriers, as well as carriers looking for loads.

Load boards are mutually beneficial, as they help shippers quickly find a carrier without spending time calling and emailing. Additionally, carriers benefit by maximizing their earnings by filling their trucks to the maximum load.

Improve cross-department communication

Though your department may be communicating effectively top-down and vice versa, if there are communication issues between departments, your operational efficiency is being sacrificed.

Improving your communication software doesn’t have to be costly; it just has to work for your company’s unique needs. Set up a meeting with departmental heads and come up with a strategy to improve communication between yourselves.

This will save all departments substantial time, which at the end of the day is what operational efficiency is all about.

How to Choose the Right Proxy Server for Canada

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Proxy Server for Canada|How to Choose the Right Proxy Server for CanadaThere may be a situation when you need to check a certain site to see how it looks in Canada. Maybe it’s because in your country it’s banned, and any other location will do. Maybe you specifically need a Canadian mock location to see how the Canadians see a certain page. If you cannot visit Canada in person, you may use a proxy. This is how to choose the right one among popular Canada proxy servers for your activity.

Right Proxies and How to Choose Them

The first question many of us ask when searching for a proxy: free or commercial? If you need to pretend to be a Canadian resident just once, you may be good with one of those free proxies or VPNs that offer their browser extensions and lots of ads. But if it’s a systematic part of your activity, you better choose a commercial service with defined terms and responsibilities. After all, you share your sensitive data with these services: your actual IP address and system data, the sites you visit, and so on.

There are other important details about proxies you should consider:

  • Legal aspects. If your relations are not regulated, it may be risky.
  • Connection speed.
  • Simultaneous connections. A number of them may be necessary for certain jobs, like logging in through multiple test accounts or checking the functioning of your website.
  • Data volumes they offer under various plans.
  • Uptime (which should be at least 99.99%)
  • Setup ease. Usually, you don’t need any extra software to use a proxy on your computer. You just receive the IP address, login and password you enter in your browser or in your network settings. Some providers, though, may offer it a different way.
  • Precise location selection. This is one of the aspects that matter in Canada for website managers and admins, and here is why.

What to Know About Canada When Choosing a Proxy

The main thing everybody knows about Canada is its bilingual status. Two languages are official in Canada, namely English and French. They are both widely spoken but spread unevenly: most French speakers dwell in the Quebec province.

If you are making a multilingual website, and you are concerned about displaying it in the right default language for potential viewers, you should not settle for just checking how it opens in Canada. You better check it from various Canada proxies, at least one in Montreal (or other location where French prevails) and one in Ottawa, Toronto, or any other English-speaking place. Catering to your clients this way will show your attitude.

This is one more reason to use commercial proxies. Free ones usually don’t let you adjust your location that precisely, only offering you to choose the country. With Canada, your business may require more.

The Conclusion

If you appreciate your privacy, security, time, and correctness of the results, a proxy is not a thing to save on. Especially if you run an ecommerce project that requires correct and precise feedback. Accessing sites under a Canadian disguise without the necessity to leave home or hire a Canadian resident is a great advantage provided by proxies. So if your business or everyday activity has something to do with this country, Canadian proxy will ease your life.

5 Reasons Why Every Business Must Devise an Effective Marketing Plan

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Marketing Plan|5 Reasons Why Every Business Must Devise an Effective Marketing PlanA marketing plan, undeniably, is a crucial and institutional aspect of any business. The reason? It’s because cash flow is the life force for an organization, without which the business might come to a standstill. This cash flow originates from sales, which stems from the successful and effective marketing of products or services to the right customers.

Essentially, a marketing plan is an engine that fuels a company’s growth and drives its sales. If you wish to launch your business and are in search of funding, the banks will want to have a look at your marketing plan. On the other hand, suppose you are in quest of potential investors to expand your business. In that case, the financiers will need to understand the marketing plan to ensure they are spending money where there are chances of positive returns.

A marketing plan is primarily a blueprint or a plan of action that outlines how to implement the marketing strategy in the forthcoming years. It enables the organizations to take on a cost-effective approach with relevance to marketing campaigns to increase the ROI instead of implementing a spray and pray marketing approach.

Need more compelling reasons? Here are some more good reasons why a marketing plan is an absolute need of every business:

It helps stay focused

A marketing plan is a golden opportunity for businesses to think about something big. For instance, you need to determine your ideal customers, build the brand persona, and make the most of untapped opportunities. And for this, you need to come up with the right team members.

With that said, you must facilitate your employees and provide them with cutting-edge technologies so they can leverage them and not squander any potential opportunities. For instance, suppose there’s a marketing professional who’s unable to work at their full potential in a noisy and full of distractions environment. In such a case, portable office pods for single person are the best solution.

Not only are these portable pods discrete and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but they offer complete privacy. What’s more? There are multiple options to choose from – from an office pod dedicated to video conferencing and phone calls to those that provide green environments and other amenities.
This way, employees can stay focused and get done with their high-concentration assignments in a quieter zone.

It assists in goal setting

Playing aimlessly with a ball in a field is just a pointless kick. Nonetheless, this game eventually attains a more significant cause when you break down some goals. While many business owners want to accomplish longevity; however, without distinct objectives and goals mapped out, it’s pretty challenging to maneuver this path.
A marketing plan enables you to create overriding business goals and define the organizational vision of the business. It expounds on the objectives precisely and shows which resources are at hand and what endeavors are vital to prosper the business. Likewise, it also helps establish metrics for success and organize the current business processes.

However, more often than not, many, but not all, organizations set forth goals such as ‘not to go broke’ or ‘sell even more than last year.’ Unfortunately, such plans fail to create tangible targets for the business. Therefore, be sure to develop SMART goals for business growth.

It identifies target audiences

While every organization wishes to flaunt its products and services and let people know how outstanding they are, unfortunately, this isn’t what the audience wants from them. Instead, people want to know how your organization’s products can solve their problems and make their lives easier.

Therefore, to prevent your organization’s image from deflating just like a balloon in the eyes of your ideal customers, you need to dig in a bit deeper. You first need to identify your target audience, comprehend their world, and understand their pain points.

And in this digital realm, there isn’t much of a reason why your business can’t identify the target audience. A marketing plan is a foolproof method to define your niche, specify the target audience, and attract the ideal customer demographics.

Marketing, undoubtedly, can be a tall order. Still, a marketing plan can offer you a clear-cut and definite direction about how to reach your target audience and ensure massive returns. Not only this, but a successful marketing plan enables the organizations to align their marketing strategy with customer wants, needs, and preferences and address their problems in meaningful ways.

It helps keep track of ROI

Without appropriate direction, it’s pretty easy for businesses to end up floundering. And this is generally a result of non-strategic marketing endeavors. So, while your business might achieve some outcomes here and there; however, when there aren’t any targets, is it possible to measure return on investment?

Also, loss of revenue – three words every business owner fears, yet they are relatively simple to avoid. Instead of splurging money on disjointed marketing campaigns, a well-designed plan allows you to invest cash in worthwhile endeavors.

A tactical marketing plan allows businesses to determine what works best in their favor and what does not. So, in this way, organizations can implement the right strategies, tweak the others, or cut off those that aren’t quite yielding results. Additionally, a marketing plan which aligns with organizational objectives strengthens the brand image, enhances customer acquisition, and improves retention.

It saves time and money

We are all aware that there are only so many hours in a day. And if there’s one thing we need more, it’s time.

While developing a cohesive and clear marketing plan from scratch may seem daunting at first. However, it will significantly save time in the long run and prove beneficial for sustainable success. An effective marketing plan enables businesses to study customers’ needs and interests and then create a strategy to attract them and fulfill their needs.

Moreover, as with time, the marketing budget is also definite. Without a proper plan, it’s easy to spend your money at the wrong places or just one-off projects. Squandering money on an email campaign one month and frittering away money on television advertisements the next month isn’t going to yield positive results.

Remember, creating a trusted and recognizable brand image mainly hinges on the successful marketing of products and services. Therefore, a marketing plan ensures that you allocate resources correctly and all the marketing campaigns tailor to the organizational objectives.

Final Words

An organization might witness some results without a specified marketing plan. However, these results will most likely turn out intermittent and shrivel up if there’s a shift in the market trend or a new competitor steps foot in the industry. In the same vein, if an organization already has a marketing plan in place but is too outdated, it’s probably a redundant working document.

Therefore, it’s imperative to develop a well-defined and streamlined marketing plan and revisit it to ensure that your organization remains on the right track. This way, organizations can also breed data that will help them figure out what’s effective and what’s not. And this, in turn, will assist them in making strategic decisions and remove bottlenecks that impact organizational growth.

Remember, the primary benefit of a marketing plan is perhaps not the plan itself. Instead, it’s mainly about performing thorough research, engaging in the planning process, and asking yourself tough yet essential questions about the business.