Posts

3 Things To Know When Hiring A Web Hosting Firm

/in , , /by

There are many things to learn about operating in the online world, and some strategies are more successful than others. This doesn’t mean you should be any more or less hesitant to begin your time online because your customers will demand it long before you consider it a viable option. What matters is that you keep a solid understanding about how to best progress during this time. Not only will the following tips give you the best understanding of what to look for when hiring a web hosting firm, but they should also help you stop making bad choices when you’re unaware of all the implements a solid online strategy needs to work in the first place.

Reliability

Your firm simply needs to be as reliable as can be. Otherwise, there’s no doubt going to be plenty of issues regarding the way you firm looks to your audience. If you’re simply not online long enough for them to complete whatever they intended to on your website, you will look unprofessional, and worse, not worth doing business with. This will be all very well and good if your firm deserves this, as it can improve your service understanding. However, if this happens as a result of not being able to express your online medium because another service is failing you, that is a sad state of affairs. For this reason, reading reviews such as this A2 Hosting review before you buy can give you good insight into how well the service performs under pressure.

Support

How accessible are your web hosting agencies? Do they have 24/7 support, or are you reliant on their office times to help you out of a sticky spot if their services go down in the middle of the night? As you hope to be an engaging and wonderful platform for your customers to experience, you should also hope to be treated in the same way by the web hosting platform who are attempting to keep your good servicing upkeep by any methods they possibly can.

Advice

How much advice is the firm offering you? Are they happy to give you solid and practical solutions for problems you may be experiencing, or do they leave you in the dust to figure it all out yourself? Depending on the level of experience you have with websites, this might be better off in either intense or limited quantities. Only you will know what works best for your firm, but you must be ready to communicate it. If the advice is an option which is covered by the cost of your usage, you may be able to negotiate a better price if you forgo this service, but don’t worry if this proposal is rejected. Keeping on top and happy about your internet servicing requires that you feel satisfied with the methods being taken to keep you online, and if you feel like the first you’re using is happy to explain to you their methods, you are more likely to feel happy and able in your commission.

With these tips, you’re sure to experience customer satisfaction.

Human Error: The One Thing Holding Your Business Back

/in /by

StrategyDriven Human Performance Management Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

Running a successful and efficient company is all about time management and reducing errors. A business that spends as much of the day being as productive as possible will always be set for success. The same can be said for a company that doesn’t make a lot of errors, therefore doesn’t waste time correcting these errors.

Sadly, there is one thing that can cost your business and hold you back; human error. Yes, while employees are essential for your business, they are guilty of making errors from time to time. One simple mistake could cause disruption in your company that leads to half a day being wasted as you all try and fix it.

As a consequence, it should be a top priority for businesses to reduce human error. Is this even possible? Of course, it is, and here are two easy ideas you can use:

Use Software For Certain Tasks

To completely eradicate the risk of human error in some tasks, you can use software. This is particularly useful regarding various human resources tasks such as paying employees and managing staff absences. These are tasks that often have the most mistakes occurring. As it says on the HRIS Payroll Software website, the right software can free up time and minimize errors. By relying on a computer to do certain tasks, you haven’t got to worry about employees making mistakes.

Software isn’t going to work for every single task in the office, but it will be a great solution to plenty of HR or accountancy tasks. Essentially, anything that can be automated or done by a piece of software doesn’t need to be done by a human.

Hire Better Employees

A simple way to reduce human errors is to ensure you hire the best people for every job. Companies that rush through the hiring process usually end up with employees that make a lot of mistakes. You must ensure you hire the best person and that they prove their worth. Someone with a good track record and lots of experience in the same role is ideal for your business. They know what they’re doing right from the start and will make far fewer mistakes than someone who might be in their first ever job.

The best thing you can do is take your time when hiring someone. Review their resume, check their employment history, talk to their previous employers, bring them in for an interview, etc. I’d even go as far as to say you should give them a trial run before actually hiring them full-time too. This shows if they’re good enough for your business and will highlight their mistake-making ability.

There may only be two ideas here, but they’ll go a long way to helping with any human error problems you have. As it was mentioned at the beginning of the piece, human error causes disruptions and wastes time. By reducing the likelihood of employee errors, you can stop holding your business back and drive forward in the right direction.

How You Can Save Your Business Money by Cutting Down on Paper

/in , /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution ArticleIt may have escaped your notice, but UK businesses are gradually changing how they deal with the paper trail. Offices around the nation are looking at ways to reduce the need for paper mills to order pulp (which makes paper) that comes from the cutting of small trees and the remnants of harvesting larger ones. This way, forestry across the UK stays where it is, which looks more appealing and helps clean the air across the country too.

Here are a few ways that your business can reconsider how it manages its paper use and what options there might be.

Intentionally Going Thinner and Lighter

Just like with our waistlines, aiming for a lighter, thinner version is a good choice when it comes to paper usage in the office. It needs the cooperation of the office manager who handles paper orders from the photocopier right down to the little notepads to pull it off. Cutting down the environmental impact from your business’ paper use is as easy as cutting down the paper stock thickness to use less volume.

It’s also worth noting that paper which comes with a special coating over it, or has been treated to be reflective, also uses different types of thicker paper to achieve this result. The greater use of this kind of paper product is impactful too.

Lower Storage Costs for Paper Files

With the use of thinner paper stock, paper files that are necessary for businesses to keep on-hand are thinner. With each page being a lower GSM stock (as recommended above), files get thinner overall. Fewer metal storage cabinets are needed, and you need less space to store them and access them too. A filing clerk is no longer needed either when there’s fewer files to manage.

Think Before Printing Out

Pausing to consider whether a printout really needs to be produced is a great way to reduce paper usage. The mindless printing of multiple copies of a seldom accessed paper version is not helpful to reduce paper usage or the costs of it. Where copies are needed, consider printing on both sides and train staff on how to set up their software and printer to achieve this result. Alternatively, the company could look at tablets for teams to use and access digital versions of reports for reference purposes.

Paper copies fade over time and are a poor way to keep records in the wake of the complete digitisation of software. Set standards for employees where staff are rewarded for reducing paper usage, which cuts the environmental impact and office costs.

Fewer Photocopies

Taking fewer photocopies is another way to reduce costs both in paper usage and maintenance expenses for the photocopier machine. Distracting staff by having to monitor repair staff when they have to attend to fix a copier machine is a time suck. The greater the use of the photocopier, the more often it’s likely to run into trouble too.

There are always more ways to cut down on paper usage to save money. You can a look at the GoCanvas.com website to learn more about how much paper usage is costing your company and how you can set up your business to operate more efficiently and less expensively.

Going digital saves businesses money in many areas. They are no longer reliant on a paper trail for most activities and the company operates more smoothly as a result. It’s also easier to look up key information online when necessary because putting hands on the paper file is no longer needed.

Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Business

/in , /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleWhether you’re a small business owner looking for advice on how to boost your business, or a professional working for a large business wondering how to make an impact, understanding the different ways businesses can improve is important. There are a number of tips and tricks to do with marketing, sales and the more technical side to businesses that can aid growth, but in many cases, improving businesses can be much simpler than that. Here, we’re taking a closer look at the top five ways to improve your business.

Invest In Your Business

The best way to improve your business is simply to invest in it. You don’t need to have a huge budget in order to do this, and there are many low-cost ways that you can make a better working environment and a better business as a whole. For example, consider looking into sales or automating your marketing for an effective solution. If you do want to invest a little bit of cash, but don’t quite have it to hand, then consider taking out a loan from a bank or something similar to Wizzcash short term loans. This will give you a little helping hand to help you boost your business when you need it.

Set Goals

A simple way to improve your business is to know what you want to achieve, and work out how to achieve those set goals. This way, you know that your business is consistently striving towards something, meaning you will continue to improve your processes and work environment as you go.

Monitor Trends

Events around the world, no matter how big or small, could have an impact on your business. Staying up to date with your industry and even the current economic, social and political environments around you can help you to improve the way your business runs. Monitoring trends doesn’t have to be difficult either – just open your eyes and ears to your local community and this will be done for you.

Boost Employee Motivation

While getting the sales in and ensuring that all work is complete might be at the top of your list as a business owner in order to ensure that you are getting a profit, the best way to do this is through employee motivation. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of businesses, but generally, those who look after their employees will see their staff turnovers decline and see your business begin to boom. There are a number of ways that you can do this, such as regular staff events, rewarding hard-working employees, recognising achievements and encouraging personal and professional development.

Know Your Limits

One thing that many business owners tend to forget is their limits. As they are fuelled with the idea of success, they can quickly wear themselves out and hit bigger hurdles than they may have imagined along the way. Know your personal limits as a business owner, employ the right staff around you to help hold up their end of the business that they may be experts in, and manage your resources in a much better way, and your business will begin to fly.

Cashing In On Your Passion: Turning Your Blog Into a Business

/in /by

Blogging is now a huge deal in the online world, and it’s fair to say that readers can’t get enough of the ‘written by the people, for the people’ format. Their honest content and down to earth style is seen as a breath of fresh air after years of glossy magazines with airbrushed models and columns written by journalists. The companies of the world have tapped into just how influential bloggers can be, which gives aspiring writers and bloggers the opportunity to earn money doing something they love. Many have even been able to turn it into a well paying full-time career. If you’ve been blogging for a while but want to push it to the next level and start earning some cash with your passion, here are a few things to bear in mind.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

Look Into Ways To Monetize

You can monetise blogs in a number of ways. The first and most obvious is Google AdSense, it’s completely free to set up, and there’s no hassle involved. The ads sit in your blog’s sidebar, and you get a little bit of money every time someone clicks on one. The main issue here is that unless you have a very large following, it probably isn’t going to make you a millionaire (or even enough to pay the bills) however it’s a little bit of extra income that can gained with no additional effort from you. Getting as many views and traffic to your posts as you can will bump these earnings up, so good promotion is essential. This information on Search Engine Optimization from Ignite Digital states that harnessing the power of search engines is one of the best ways to gain traffic. Along with Adsense, there are other affiliate schemes which work similarly, so do some research and find out which would suit your blog best. You usually insert a banner ad or a link within the text of your posts which earn you money for clicks, or a percentage of any sales made. The main way bloggers earn the majority of their income is through sponsored posts. These usually offer a generous payment in return for a link or mention, the only problem is they can be unpredictable. Because you have to wait for companies to contact you, you will probably find that some months you get a lot of work and others are quieter. If you plan on quitting your day job, you could do some freelance writing work from home during these times. This is useful as the work is almost always there, and you can pick and choose how many projects you take on.

Pay Tax

Once you start to earn money as a blogger, you are classed as self-employed, meaning you will need to pay tax on your profits. The exact process you will go through all depends on the country you live in- but it’s something that you will have to do. As they say, only two things in life are certain- death and paying taxes! Keep good records, if you spend any money on your blog as a business such as investing in equipment these can be deducted when it comes to tax time. Self-assessment is usually quite simple to do yourself, but you can always hire an accountant if you’re unsure.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

Boost Your Domain Authority

Because blogging is competitive when it comes to sponsored opportunities, you need to do all you can to appeal to these companies. Domain authority is one way to go about this, this is a metric which can show how much influence your blog has online. Companies will want to work with influential sites, and so this is something you can work on. Getting backlinks from other good websites can boost this, you can do this by asking other bloggers if you can publish a guest post for them. Include a link back to your site at the end and you get a good backlink. Putting out high quality and regular content on your blog will also help with this.