Posts

What Your SEO Campaign Needs to Look At in 2022

/in /by

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |SEO Campaign|What Your SEO Campaign Needs to Look At in 2022Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the essential marketing tactics for any business, large or small, local or online, and across just about every sector. In an industry that’s constantly changing, where even the most established players are continually looking to stay ahead of the curve, SEO is an absolute must to ensure your business shows up when someone searches for it.

SEO isn’t just about getting your website ranked high on search engines; it’s about creating a strategic, ongoing plan that’s tailor-made to meet the needs of your business. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at everything you need to know about SEO so that you can optimize your site and get the most out of your digital marketing efforts moving forward.

Measurable goals

When thinking about SEO, the first thing you should do is figure out your goals. What are you trying to accomplish with your site? Do you want people to find your site easily? Do you want them to stay on the site for a specific time? Are you trying to increase conversions or make more sales through your online store?

Once you have established what you’re trying to achieve, it’s time to start planning how best to reach those goals.

Video content

Video content is a crucial way to reach your audience. As it turns out, video is the most popular form of content on social media, with 82 percent of people viewing videos daily. But it isn’t just about how many people are viewing videos; it’s about how much attention people pay to these videos.

When you create a video for SEO purposes, you want to ensure it’s grabbing viewers’ attention from the start and maintaining it throughout the video. Use a thumbnail that grabs people’s attention—like one showcasing your product or service—to draw attention to your video. This means that while they might not be watching your video all the way through, they will at least be clicking on it when they see the thumbnail in their news feed.

For social media, aim for short snappy viral content that is sharable. Work with experts for high-quality animated video production to share your brand with the world and use within marketing campaigns to support your SEO efforts.

Site speed

Search engines, like Google, don’t just look at what you publish. They also consider how fast your site loads when someone visits it. These days page loading speed can affect a website’s rank on Google.

When you have a slow website, it is more likely that people will get discouraged and click off before they even see what you have to offer. This can cause your conversion rates to drop significantly.

Many site owners are unaware of how much time their website takes to load; it’s essential to monitor your site speed with a tool like Google Page Insights and GTMetrix. If you don’t know how long your site takes to load, there’s no way to optimize the issue and rank your site higher on search engines.

Website loading speed is not easy to improve in-house (even though it’s something you should be targeting). For this reason, many businesses outsource their SEO efforts to specialists who are more familiar with the tools necessary to ensure your site runs as smoothly as possible.

Mobile responsiveness

Websites need to be built with mobile responsiveness in mind. As more and more people use their phones for internet browsing, over 90% of the world’s population access the internet via mobile phone devices, your site needs to be fast and look good when scaled down to fit on a smartphone screen. This is especially true for ecommerce sites as “m-commerce” (shopping via a smartphone) continues to grow in popularity.

Keyword research

There are many great tools out there for keyword research. Some of the best include Google AdWords, SEMrush, and Keyword Tool. These tools will help you determine the more popular keywords in your industry to use throughout your SEO campaign. It’s also a good idea to keep an eye on what other websites are ranking for keywords you want to rank for to see what kind of content they’re creating.

Long-tail keywords are becoming more common as SEO changes, meaning no longer should you aim for one or two words, but phrases and standard search terms, for example; instead of using”optimize SEO,” you should use a longer phrase “top ways to optimize SEO” “how best to optimize SEO for restaurants.”

Once you know the keywords you want to be using, you should make sure these are constantly reinforced throughout your website and the additional content you publish on other sites. Use your keywords in product descriptions, titles, meta descriptions, images, and more without stuffing them, which can have the opposite effect.

6 Ways to Improve the Customer Experience in Your Restaurant

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Improve Customer Experience|6 Ways to Improve the Customer Experience in Your RestaurantEven the most successful restaurants can struggle to keep customers happy. In fact, according to a recent study, as many as two-thirds of Americans have left a restaurant without feeling fully satisfied with their experience. To turn things around and win back disappointed customers, you first need to identify the issues currently hurting your restaurant’s rating on Yelp and other review sites.

Once you have a clear idea of the obstacles impeding your customer service, you can begin implementing solutions. In this article, we’ll discuss 6 ways to improve the customer experience in your restaurant.

Improve employee satisfaction

It’s vital that your employees are content and happy at work. If they’re not, it will prevent them from providing the optimal customer experience. It’s also worth noting that there are many low-cost ways to increase employee appreciation and improve work satisfaction. Here are a few ideas:

  • Provide an opportunity for staff to offer feedback about company policy or service
  • Offer a flexible schedule for personal time off
  • Emphasize teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation
  • Create opportunities for professional development
  • Provide ample opportunity for staff to have input on company matters
  • Incorporate cross-department training opportunities

Introduce digital ordering

One way to improve customer experience in your restaurant is by introducing digital ordering. This technology can help you eliminate waiting times for customers, increase the accuracy of orders, and reduce operating costs.

A restaurant ordering system is a huge convenience for customers. Digital ordering eliminates wait times and makes it easy for customers to place orders anytime with just a few clicks on their phone or computer screen.

Digital ordering also helps restaurants avoid mistakes when taking orders because all information is stored electronically instead of written down on paper forms that have a tendency to get mixed up or lost. This reduces the likelihood of sending out incorrect orders and saves time for both staff and customers by eliminating the need to double-check every item on an order form before handing it over to the kitchen staff.

Allow deliveries

One of the most common requests from restaurant customers is the ability to order food to be delivered. With digitalization comes the ability to offer delivery services. Now, diners don’t have to leave their homes to enjoy your delicious cuisine. Allowing delivery can also be beneficial for you as a business owner. For example, if you own a chain of restaurants, you could use one location as a distribution center for your other locations in the area. This would save you money because it would cut down on overhead and allow you to keep more of your profits.

In addition to improving customer service, deliveries are an excellent way to increase revenue and profits. Some restaurants that offer delivery services see as much as 15 percent higher profit margins than those that don’t. Offering delivery benefits everyone involved: customers get convenience, employees earn tips, and business owners can make more money without increasing overhead costs.

Streamline your menu

We understand that you want to offer customers various options, but too many choices can be overwhelming for many diners. There’s no need for customers to feel confused or overwhelmed when they order from your restaurant.

The best way to provide customers with the convenience of ordering dishes they know and love is by streamlining your menu. Offer a few items that you do well and make them available in different styles, cooking methods, and ingredients. This will eliminate confusion and give people the opportunity to choose something they might not have considered before.

Introduce loyalty schemes

A loyalty scheme can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. You could offer points based on the amount spent in a single transaction, or you could have a tiered system where customers earn more points for consuming more each time.

You could also consider linking your reward scheme with other brands. For example, if you have a coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi, you might offer discounts on food when customers spend an hour working at the café on their laptops. This would be to strengthen customer ties by encouraging them to use your services in tandem with another brand.

Be open and responsive to feedback.

The first step to improving your restaurant’s customer service is to be open and responsive to feedback. As a restaurateur, you have the power to change your business for the better by implementing a new system or adjusting the way you interact with customers. If you are constantly listening to customer feedback, you can create a more positive experience for them in the future.

Avoiding The Expenses Of Constantly Buying New Business Furniture

/in /by

StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Business Furniture|Avoiding The Expenses Of Constantly Buying New Business FurnitureYou want to ensure that you’re providing the maintenance and care that your workplace needs to ensure that your employees, as well as any clients, customers, or partners that visit, are able to do their thing safely and without concern. At some point, replacing old furniture might be a necessary step to take. However, if you find yourself having to buy a lot of furniture, whether it’s for the office or more industrial spaces, it can quickly become expensive. As such, here are a few steps you can take to reduce the expense of it all.

Give them the preventative maintenance they need

As with every other part of your office, your furniture is going to require preventative maintenance as well. If you spot some problems early, then you might be able to stop them from becoming bigger issues with a replacement part or, in many cases with chairs and the like, a drop of oil. Furniture that might be used in open-air spaces can require a little more work. For instance, wood furniture might need to be refinished and re-sealed to ensure that it doesn’t succumb to environmental pressures like moisture and sunlight. Fit your furniture into your maintenance schedule alongside the rest of the property to protect it for much longer.

Know when you can make the fixes they need

Prevention is the key, but even if you’re starting to see problems with your furniture, that doesn’t mean that it’s necessary to replace the entire piece of furniture just yet. Loose rungs on the share can be fixed by regluing them in place, while you can add braces to chairs that might be getting a little wobbly as their joints come loose. Even metal furniture can be protected, with the help of things like industrial grinders to smooth down and restore the surface of metal objects that are getting dull or showing the signs of age. Having the ability to show a little care to your furniture can help you keep it looking and feeling perfectly fine for years to come, instead of having to replace it at the first sign of trouble.

Don’t buy first-hand when you don’t need to

Sometimes, you simply are going to need a replacement and there’s nothing else to be said about the matter. When that happens, going to your local manufacturer or supplier might not always be the right decision. There are plenty of places to buy second-hand furniture for the office and many of these providers will even offer then refurbished, meaning that they have taken care to ensure that they are safe and working, and might have even fixed some of the surface-level signs of wear and tear that they have accumulated. Of course, if you buy second-hand furniture and it doesn’t match your quality standards, then you shouldn’t buy from that place again.

With the tips above, hopefully, you can help everything in the office last just a bit longer and, when it can’t, maybe you can find more sensible replacements that are better for your bottom line.

What Doors Can an Online Master’s Degree in Business Open for You?

/in /by

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | What Doors Can an Online Master's Degree in Business Open for You?What does it take to succeed in today’s competitive business environment? You’ll need information, skills, and a network to put those things to use. A master’s degree in business can provide you with a solid foundation to launch your career.

Advancing your career is a priority and an education can give you the skills you need to advance. The National Center for Education Statics states that there were over 7 million online learners in 2019 and 3 million of these were graduate level. A master’s degree puts you at the top of your game.

Here’s how earning your master’s degree in business can advance your career in the world of business.

Finance

A master’s in business can prepare you to work in finance departments across the nation. You’ll be able to work in a variety of specialized finance positions that will have you balancing the books in some of the most high-profile and complicated businesses around. The finance specialization gives you the experience and tools needed to handle money in today’s increasingly complicated environment.

The training that your master’s degree will provide you and finance gives you the skills you need to succeed when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Human Resource Management

Hiring practices have gotten more complicated no matter what industry you’re in. How we find new employees and how we engage with them isn’t as easy as putting a help wanted sign in the window. This means there’s a new demand for experienced human resource management professionals. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that these jobs are growing and their median salary is already over six figures.

An online masters in business degree will help you prepare to work in the human resources department. This advanced degree will set you up for a leadership role. You’ll be able to help companies navigate the increasingly complicated process of hiring and working with their staff.

Management

Management positions with the top of the pyramid in every company. These are high-stakes and high-profile positions that have you making complicated decisions that decide the fate of an entire company. A master’s degree is the perfect choice for individuals who are looking to jump into management roles with the most experience and information possible.

Management positions provide plenty of unique challenges. There are complicated decisions to be made about staffing, finance, and future direction for the company. An online master’s degree can help prepare you for balancing in this demanding role.

Business Analytics

What’s the number one factor running every single business today? There are plenty of important details, but the biggest one of them all is information. We’re an economy driven entirely by data and being able to gather and analyze this vast field of information is one of the most important and in-demand jobs today.

An online master’s in business degree will give you the potential to focus on business analytics. This allows you to get an in-depth understanding of how companies gather and analyze the information that they used to make business decisions. Experts in business analytics are some of the most well-paid individuals today because they gather and interpret the information that companies rely on.

Why Choose an Online Master’s in Business?

An online education changes how we look at learning. If you’re looking to advance in business, you’re already familiar with the challenge of balancing working and education. An online degree gives you new opportunities to advance your career, but with a schedule that’s flexible and works for you.

You can schedule online classes around your life. Whether you’re working on your own entrepreneurship or busy climbing the corporate ladder at an established company, you need all the time you can get to focus and build your education.

An online degree also lets you get some experience working in a digital environment. We’re seeing an increasing shift towards online working spaces as well as working from home. An online Masters in Business is just more experience and the latest technology used in businesses across the country.

What’s the Next Step

The next step in your career as a business leader and an entrepreneur is to investigate and get a master’s degree in business. This can open new doors and give you the resources you need to launch your career.

How To Create An Effective Employee Onboarding Process

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employee Onboarding Process|How To Create An Effective Employee Onboarding ProcessYour organization’s onboarding process is the perfect opportunity to make a lasting first impression on a new employee. This process should be all about making the new team member feel welcomed and valued in preparation for their role. You will want everything to go as smoothly as possible so that you can recruit and retain the right talent. Moreover, an employee onboarding process is often the first critical factor in building an engaged and motivated workforce. A strong onboarding experience can invoke a sense of loyalty among new hires, thus improving retention rates. Today we will cover some important strategies you can implement to optimize your employee onboarding plan.

Ensure Effective Contract Management

To make onboarding simpler, it is recommended that you implement a contract lifecycle management process. This will help you streamline the creation of contracts and simplify the collection of e-signatures. Pulpstream provides comprehensive guidance on the different stages of contract lifecycle management and how you can make contract execution more efficient with automation. As a result, you will ensure that everything is done in the same way every time by offering transparent and consistent communication. A new employee will receive custom onboarding, which will make a good impression on them even before their first day.

Create A Positive Employee Experience

You will want the new employee to feel excited and ready to dive into their new role. To ensure everything starts on a positive note, the employee onboarding process should begin right after the recruitment phase. It is important that HR sends a welcome email letter to allow the employee to learn more about the company’s culture. For example, it may be good to prepare information about orientation day activities, the first-day schedule, company dress code, and onboarding documents and forms. This will ensure they are prepared for their new role, as it will give them peace of mind and clarity.

Notify Other Team Members

Make sure you send an announcement to all employees prior to their first day, either in-person or via email. The announcement should include information about the new employee’s role and their previous experience. Encourage other team members to welcome and assist the new colleague as they familiarize themselves with the company policies and processes. When other employees are notified in advance, they will be more prepared to offer support and make the new employee feel more confident. Alongside this, it is important to coordinate with other departments as well to provide organizational belonging.

Make Their First Day Special

It is crucial to create a sense of belonging from their first day to make sure they stay committed to the organization’s goals. Take the time to plan out all activities and help them settle down by easing their worries and concerns. Prepare a formal employee orientation program and deliver presentations about the company’s history, mission, vision, and values. Answer any questions that might arise on the day and ensure they feel as comfortable as possible. You can also assign an onboarding mentor who can offer valuable insight into formal and informal strategies.

Organize A Team Lunch

One of the best ways to break the ice and allow the employee to get to know other colleagues in their immediate team is to arrange a team lunch meeting. Ideally, this can happen within their first week to ensure they have time to get used to all the new faces. There is no need to even leave the office, as you can simply ask your team to bring their lunches to a conference room. Take some time to get to know them outside of the interview process to make them feel appreciated personally and professionally.

Set Up Their Workstation

As a new employee, there is nothing worse than not having access to the tools and programs you need to be successful in your role. This is why it is important to prepare for your new arrival ahead of time and make sure everything is ready to go. For example, it may be useful to set up the employee’s computer, phone, and email address and order any necessary office supplies. Alongside this, a new employee should have access to software and electronic files before they begin. Disregarding this step can result in difficulties during the employee’s training.

Provide Personalized Training

The first few weeks with the employee should be focused on training to help them get started in their new role. Even if the new colleague has already performed the same job function elsewhere, there still may be some differences between organizations. Therefore, it is advisable to prepare a personalized training plan to bring them up to speed. Remember to include information about key processes, company rules, expectations, and procedures to fully know what the role entails. Training should also always be tailored to the employee’s individual requirements and goals.

Schedule Regular Check-Ins

Arranging check-in meetings with new employees is crucial to measuring how well they have settled into their new role. Although the exact check-in dates can be flexible depending on your company’s preferences, it is common for check-ins to be scheduled 30, 60, and 90 days after the first day. Be sure to keep these meetings informal and relaxed while still promoting active dialogue. It is essential to understand the new employee’s progress and their needs. Remember to review their performance and offer constructive feedback to help them identify areas for improvement. Ensure that they have the right support and resources to thrive in their role.

Follow Up And Request Feedback

Last but not least, it is important to meet with the employee even if you think they are doing well. After committing to a training plan and check-in meetings, you will need to find out how effective your onboarding process has been. Therefore, this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about the company’s strategy from an employee’s perspective. It may be beneficial to ask them what they found useful and what could be improved. Then you can make adjustments as you see fit and keep improving the onboarding experience for new employees in the future.