by Nick Throlson | Aug 25, 2016 | Guest Post, Social Media
There?s nothing more important to the welfare of a small business than growth. Without it, you?ll be constantly dealing with a high degree of risk, and your business will forever be in danger. There are lots of ways to try and pursue that growth, and lead generation is one of them. You need to make sure that you?ve got that strong source of sales, or you?ll be failing to make profits. But, every other business is trying to do the same thing as you. Your lead generation tactics need to be smarter than theirs. How can you make sure of this? Let?s find out.
Lead Generation Programs
Let?s start with the easiest option available to you. Lead generation programs exist to do all the hard work on your behalf. They?ll focus on the areas they think are most important to ensure that you gain more sales. Of course, this is going to cost you money to implement, but you?ll hopefully reap the rewards via substantial growth. By buying into the right type of lead generation programs, you?ll have a great chance of success.
Social Media
We?ve gotten to a point where your business simply can?t afford to ignore social media any longer. Your customers and potential customers will be spending masses of time online. This is your chance to invade their viewing space and attract them with excellent lead generation tactics. How you do this is up to you, and if you?re not so clued-up, you might want the professionals to help out.
Paid Advertising
There are loads of forms of paid advertising that can help when it comes to lead generation. Social media is the first example. Facebook & Twitter are just two platforms that provide paid advertising services to reach more viewers. You can also think about boosting your website with SEO or engaging in Pay-Per-Click advertising, for example.
Events & Conferences
There?s a reason why events and conferences still haven?t died out, despite the reach of the internet. There?s a personal touch that you just don?t get online. Because of this, these events can be incredibly beneficial in the right circumstances. They cost a lot in money and preparation time, but you might just find that they?ll generate a significant number of leads. Pick a reputable and relatable event with the right type of audience, and you?ll go far.
Inbound Lead Generation
This is the one that many businesses forget! Inbound lead generation encourages the customers to come to you. It?s really easy to put into action, too. All you need is to spread your contact details around. Advertise them on your website. Put them on your social media profile. Include them in your emails to your mailing list. The more services you provide, the better. In particular, live chat room services are becoming a fantastic way to generate inbound lead generation.
Once you?ve generated those leads, be sure to keep a close track of them in the future. Be sure to build a database of customers and potential leads that might just lead to sales down the line. We wish you luck!
by Nick Throlson | Aug 23, 2016 | Guest Post
Every local business has a local rival. If you find yourself lagging behind this rival, then now is the time to take concrete action and turn things around. There is nothing stopping you from getting the edge over that rival if you are willing to put in the necessary time and effort to do so. Here are some easy ways that are sure to have your business outselling its rival in no time.
Host an In-store Event and Slash Prices for a Day
One big event can attract a lot of new people to your business who would not have considered buying from it before. This is something that you should aim to make the most of when you run a business and want to get an edge. You can easily slash prices for one day, and this will attract new people. Combine it with some kind of in-store event, and you will have the store packed in no time. The thing you need to do is attract lots of people and then hope that as many of them as possible come back in the future. If they like the experience and what they buy, this should happen.
Rank Higher on Search Engines
Search engine ranking matters, even when you are trying to beat the store down the road. When people are looking for a business to buy from, they will often search for them online too. And if they?re looking for the options in the local area, they will be presented with various search results. As we know, people tend to click the link that is ranked highest first. So, you want to improve your search engine optimisation and ensure that your website can rank as high as possible. The Chatmeter Platform can help you to do this.
Build a Stronger Team
The strength of your team can be very important as well. When people enter a store, they have to meet the team of people you employ. If that team is too small or not helpful enough, then making a sale becomes harder. To be clear, it?s not about pouncing on browsing customers and giving them the hard sell. This can be very off-putting and will often fail. Instead, you just need to train your employees to know when to offer help and assistance to a customer and when to back off. You should also make sure that you have enough people to make the checkout process quick.
Emphasise a Quality Edge
People want to buy quality. It?s not just about prices. If people wanted the lowest prices, then businesses would be in a constant race to the bottom. Although good pricing is important, people tend to care about value for money more. So, if people think that they are getting good value for a product, they might be willing to pay a little more. This is why you should emphasise the quality edge you have over your main rival. This would mean that you could sell to people based on the fact that they know that you offer better value than the rival.
by Nick Throlson | Feb 23, 2016 | Guest Post, Website Security
Whether you are running a full website or just hoping to capitalize on a future opportunity, protecting your domain name is of paramount importance to anyone who is interested in an online career. You don?t hear too many success stories of people who lost their domain name to a hacker or scammer only to come back twice as strong. When you do hear a success story, they are the exception to the rule, and you can be sure they?d be better off not losing the name in the first place.
Just like any valuable property, your domain name is something worth protecting. This needs to be done on several fronts, and you need to take the steps to protect yourself immediately. The road to victimhood is paved with procrastinated intentions, and getting your domain name back is extremely difficult and/or costly once you?ve lost it. If you have a lot of valuable content associated with the name, it will only be more difficult to get it back.
Here are the main things you need to do to protect your domain name:
Keep Your Basic Computer and Internet Security Strong
Your computer and other online accounts likely have information that could lead to the theft or other loss of your domain name, so you need to make sure that you have great security habits in general. You should be doing the following:
- Make sure that you have a security suite on any computer or device you use to deal with your domain name. No exceptions.
- Protect your email using every method you can think of (and even more you can look up). Your email is the main gateway into your other online accounts and is probably the easiest route through which someone can take your domain name.
- Have a backup copy of all of the data on your computer that you?d miss. That way you?ll be able to recover more easily if your computer falls victim to malware or ransomware.
- Be wary of most online offers. Scammers are everywhere, and nothing on the internet is truly free or easy. Ask yourself how any offer benefits the giver and how it could negatively impact you.
- Be careful what you download or what people send you online. You could be clicking right into a trap, and it is very easy for things to become too late.
Protect Your Website
If your domain name has a working website attached to it, you should make every possible to protect that website if you aren?t already. If you lose it, then you lose your domain name as well. You need to make sure you are doing the following:
- Use the strongest verification methods you can associate with your website. Use complex passwords and security questions that no one but you know (you?d be surprised what people can find out online).
- Make sure you are updating your platform and plugins if you are using any. Get rid of plugins that aren?t getting updated or could potentially lead to an XSS attack. Make a check of this sort every couple of months.
- Do use plugins, tools and scripts that are beneficial to the security of your website. Once you find an acclaimed tool, make sure that you have something that can scan your website against vulnerabilities and protect you against brute force attacks. Protections against DDOS attacks and some other threats aren?t necessary to protect your domain name, but will prove helpful regardless.
- Constantly be on the lookout for new threats, and listen when you hear about potential vulnerabilities on your website. It is better to be needlessly cautious than reckless.
Beware of Public Networks
People who like to manage their websites and business from more than just their homes and offices (a near necessity in today?s fast-paced world) will often have to pay a lot for their data plans or use public networks whenever they can. Yet public networks are extremely dangerous for any internet user, as on them it is possible for hackers to intercept your data without you having the slightest inkling of what is going on. This can easily lead to your email account or domain name getting stolen and sold within a matter of hours.
The best way for you to protect your domain name from this particular threat is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) whenever you are using a public network. A VPN is a service that connects your computer to another server around the world via an encrypted connection. This connection will protect you on public networks and not even let hackers know what you?re up to online. It also will also you to access blocked content anywhere in the world and hide your IP address, keeping you anonymous online.
Lock Down Your Domain Name
Certain domain name providers will have an option to put on additional security onto your domain name, allowing you to lock it down to your account and prevent unwanted transfers. It is likely something you will want to look into so that you can prevent an accidental loss or someone coming into your account and easily taking it away. It might not always be an option, but a quick check right this moment will only take a few minutes and might save you a lot of money and time in the long run. It may even cost a few dollars, but it could still be worth it for the security concerned.
Check In Regularly
It is surprising to see the effectiveness of simply checking in on your website or domain name regularly. It allows you to notice different things that might be out of place and get other notifications. You might be able to check to see if a person has been trying to get into your account depending on your service provider and your timing. Try to set up as many security notifications as possible so you can know if something is up with just an email. It will also get you in the good habit of being more involved with your business.
Renew Early and for Long Periods of Time
If you have a domain name that?s in strong demand, you can bet there will be vultures circling your website via tools ready to tell them the second your domain name is available for purchase. It will only be a matter of minutes (or even seconds) before someone snatches it up, and then they?ll either use it for themselves or be happy to resell it back to you (for a four figure sum).
Don?t let your hold on the name expire. If you have an option to renew your hold for five years and intend to keep it for that long, take the option and save yourself some money in the long run. Don?t wait until the very last minute to extend your hold, and choose to automatically renew from an account if that is an option (and update the card information every few years as your cards expire).
Keep Your Contact Info Current
It is a little known fact that domain name providers can revoke registration if you don?t respond in a proper amount of time to an inquiry about incorrect information (see 3.7.7.2 of ICANN?s Registrar Accreditation Agreement). It isn?t a complex process and is resolved without too many problems most of the time, but your domain name could be in jeopardy if you don?t make the proper contact in time.
The main cause of this kind of domain name loss is the lack of contact information. More times than not you can safely know that your provider will be willing to work with you and reach out, but there?s nothing that can be done if you no longer have the email address and phone number that they have on record. Take a quick look to see if everything is current and make adjustments as necessary. Set a yearly reminder to check in on this. You?ll be thankful when it comes up.
Know Your Options
If your domain name does unfortunately get stolen or otherwise lost, you will need to act quickly and decisively. If the domain is particularly valuable, then you might want to consider legal action, in which case you should know the laws well and any policies your provider has put in place. If your computer is compromised, you should eliminate the threat, then reset passwords and accounts as necessary (be liberal about it). If you think your website is under attack, determine the source of the attack and retaliate as necessary. You need to plan ahead and have a go-to plan for any situation. Ideally, you won?t even have to think about it.
If you take the right steps, your domain name will be perfectly safe. It takes a little bit of time and some of your resources, but protecting your domain name properly should be seen as an investment which more than makes up for its costs. Do not be the weakest link online that will get targeted, and instead show the professional community that you care about every aspect of your online career and business.
Do you have any experience defending your domain name(s) from hackers and other vultures looking to make a quick dollar? Do you have any other tips that might be helpful to your fellow readers? If you do, please leave a comment below so you can keep the conversation going and share your knowledge with everyone.
by Nick Throlson | Jan 6, 2016 | Guest Post
With big brands like Chloe, Mercedes and Capital One jumping on the social influencer marketing trend and using them to increase brand visibility, and help more people notice their ads, small business owners would do well to get on the same train right now.?A smart person once said, “stocks are gold when the taxi driver on the street hasn't heard of them”. The same thing applies to marketing strategies. Now is the right time to get into social influencer marketing before it becomes public knowledge and the market becomes saturated and fiercely competitive.
To do this. However, you'll need to know what to look for in a social influencer. Choosing the right social influencer for your campaign is just as important as the ad campaign itself. Align your brand with the wrong influencer and you're wasting money. That said, here are the things you need to look out for before choosing a social influencer to promote your brand and products.
Reach, Influence and Relevance?
Social influencers are often selected regarding how much influence they exert over their audience and the size of their audience. However, please note that reach isn't the most important metric out there. The relevance is also extremely important.
You might want to resist the urge to look at parameters like unique visitors, and instead, focus on how relevant the audience is. For instance, a gardener with 200,000 Youtube subscribers is less important than a travel blogger with a reach of 50,000 on Pinterest if you're a hotel or restaurant looking to increase your reach.?Influence is also key. How much engagement is apparent from their social platforms? Is there increased interactions and activity from every post, picture or video upload? How rabidly do their audiences consume their content? These will help you determine if they are the right fit for your brand.
Trust and Credibility
These days, marketing without credibility is a total crock. People are more likely to buy from people, personalities and brand they trust than those they don't. So, if you'll be picking a social influencer, you need to be sure that their audiences trust them and think of them as credible.
Check out their interactions on their platforms to see if they have the necessary clout. More important, see if they have a lot of sponsored content and posts on their websites or social media platforms. This is important because influencers with less sponsored content are more likely to be taken seriously and trusted than those without.
Platforms and Rate
These are also very important if you want to succeed with your campaigns. Some platforms just don't work well with certain brands. For instance, image or video based platforms work better for food and restaurant brands. So, look at their platform(s). Some influencers have multiple presences on multiple platforms.?So, check to see if they are a good fit for your brand. Then, there's also the issue or pricing or how much they will be charging for their services. Whatever prices they throw at you, always know that you can negotiate their rates. However, you want to be considerate and offer a worthwhile rate.
Social influencer platforms like Neoreach have made all these very easy. With Neoreach, you will find social influencers who have a history of consistently delivering great results for brands at reasonable rates.?If you don't want to go through all the stress of manually sorting them out, NeoReach'ssocial influencer platform is the best place to find instantly and interact with influencers whose information, data, and ability to deliver excellent results that are verified.
As a freelance writer and small business owner, Oscar King?enjoys creating articles for his readers with information on running a smooth and effective business. If you would like to learn more about Oscar, you can check out his google+ profile.
by Nick Throlson | Dec 3, 2015 | Guest Post, Website Security
In short, yes. Everyone should be using a VPN.
As more internet snoops seek to harvest and control data, many believe a VPN will soon be as essential as the internet itself. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) protects you by routing all of your internet data through a secure network, making it impossible for others to record your activity. ExpressVPN goes even further, by using 256 bit key encryption as standard. This essentially means there is not enough computing power on the planet to hack it.
ExpressVPN has a host of benefits, not least the pure speed at which it operates. Indeed, there are no caps at all on speed or bandwidth, making it a market leader in functionality. There is also a staggering 99.9% uptime, with servers in over 78 different countries.
The Service You?ve been Waiting for
Modern operating systems demand a robust internet connection. ExpressVPN is a provider that lets you run things your own way. Businesses increasingly need more control over their digital output, as governments and organisations increasingly seek to wrestle that control back.
A trustworthy VPN provider is essential If you are transmitting, or even looking at, data sensitive materials online. Not only will it keep your connection private, but it will also keep no record of anything you do.
When your computer network is connected to the internet, a lot of what you do can be tracked and recorded. Operating Systems have long offered a great deal of control over your offline content, now ExpressVPN grants you the same control over your online activity.
Would you let your competitors go through your laptop?
Everything on the internet can be copied and abused. So it?s comforting to know ExpressVPN treats your privacy as a priority. If a government or competitor tries to gain access to your internet data, they will be wasting their time and effort. This is truly liberating, as it takes any privacy concerns away. Indeed, there is literally nothing to worry about, as ExpressVPN keep no logs of your browsing activity. Spend your time doing what?s best for you and your business, without worrying about who else isn?t.
Social Media for Business
Social Media has become the de facto way for businesses to reach their consumers. It's cheap, easy and accessible to everyone. A Facebook like can greatly expose your business to larger markets. But many countries have limitations in place that could interfere with your business interaction and promotion. Some countries block it entirely, making a VPN connection as essential as the computer it runs on. But it's not just the usual suspects. Any government could decide that Facebook is illegal, then censor it. Unlikely? Look at the list of countries that this has happened in.
The Facebook Like button is awash over many 3rd party sites, not just their own. As is the Twitter share button. This is how people communicate today. They are essential tools when promoting business. Having no access to them would be extremely detrimental. ExpressVPN will ensure you are always able to reach your customers.
ExpressVPN offer a fast, affordable, and reliable internet solution. An essential and trustworthy solution for any privacy concerns.
by Nick Throlson | Jul 15, 2015 | Guest Post
Below is just a snippet of what you will get from Joe Rodriguez Book. Get It Free Until Friday 17th 12 am!
25 To A Happy Life: My Stumbles. My Journey. My Happiness
How many jobs do Americans hold in one lifetime? The answer is 10-12. I?ve had twenty-five, and I?m only 41 years old. It took me 25 jobs to finally discover my true passion and happiness. I grew up in a small border town Calexico CA. Calexico has the worst unemployment in the US with over 25%. Another 25% of jobs taken by people from across the border in Mexico.
Living in one of the hottest places doesn't help. Over 120 degrees in the summertime. It was so hot in Calexico when I was young I tried to fry and egg on the pavement. If you love your eggs over easy Calexico is the place for YOU!!!
To be employed in Calexico was a difficult task let alone have these many jobs. All my friends would say I was the luckiest man alive, I always had a job. But what they didn?t know, I was on a mission to find my dream job. My average stay at one job was eight months. Who said finding happiness was going to be easy.
I knew deep down my future job would be related to helping people in some capacity. My heart and soul are telling me to keep searching for happiness. No matter what the consequences.
Things weren't looking good. My son had joined a gang at 13 years old.?I lost my home, job and filed for bankruptcy, that's when I decided to move to another city. Born and raised in Calexico the only place I've visited away from home was Disneyland.
I found Irvine CA while searching the internet. All I knew it was one of the safest cities in California. I landed a job in Irvine, but I made one crucial mistake; I had no place to live. I slept in my car in the parking lot. I got away with it for three days until the police ask me to leave. The closest place to Irvine was my mother's apartment in Oxnard CA. That's a little over 100 miles. Do you have patience?? Try Commuting from Irvine CA to Oxnard at 5 pm rush hour California traffic.
I remember crying when I found out it took over three hours one-way driving to my mom's house. My family was back home waiting for me to get established. Finally after one month of commuting I rented an apartment. It was a two bedroom apartment for 1675.00 in Irvine Ca. My gross monthly income was $1800.00 before taxes. You do the math. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?were the food of choice at the time.
My family eventually moved to Irvine. I wish I could tell you got easier, it did not. From layoffs to changing jobs and chasing my dream, I ended up homeless living in a hotel with a family of four. After I had run out of money, we stayed on a living floor of a friend's?small apartment. My son who is 6? 3″ could barely fit in the 5ft sofa.? It's easy to be positive when things are great, but to be positive when things are in shambles is what makes the difference.
Maybe I should off stayed at job#2 in Calexico with an excellent retirement instead of following my passion. It wasn't fair for my family to be going through this, but I kept pursuing my dream regardless. I landed in the ER twice for stress related symptoms. After moving four more times, my family had enough.
My last stop was Corona CA, and this is where I found my passion. Not only am I helping people by volunteering but I'm chasing my dream to become a motivational speaker/coach.? I joined Toastmaster.org 6 months ago. I won 2 international speech contest, and now I'm the president of the club.
After 25 jobs opportunities are on the horizon, and I?'m so grateful to be sharing this story with you. I've been married for 22 years now and have two beautiful kids. Life couldn't be better.
One of the key things I did was changed my thinking. You change your thinking you change your life. Be patient and have faith. There's always light at the end of the tunnel even when you think it's dark.
Giving up was not an option. It only took 20 years, but it was well worth it. It made me into the person I?m now. Just keep moving forward.
?The impossible can always be broken down into possibilities.”Joe Rodriguez
Corona Ca
Email joerodriguezclx@gmail.com
www.joerodriguez.co
