Online trading is a booming industry that has been around for over 20 years. The internet and the introduction of online brokers have made it easier than ever to invest in stocks, forex, and commodities. But there are things no one tells you about the world of online trading before you get started:
You Should Avoid Penny Stocks
It would help if you avoided penny stocks over the long term. Some of these stocks can exponentially increase in value. However, on rare occasions, penny stocks may become lucrative investments and yield high returns over a short period.
However, many investors lose money because they are not aware that most penny stock investments are speculative. The significant risk involved with trading penny stocks is that it is easy to lose money. The penny stocks listed on the OTC Bulletin Board or Pink Sheets can be hazardous and volatile, and you should avoid them altogether if possible.
You should not invest in penny stocks if you are going through a rough financial patch because they will only stress your situation. It is not a brilliant idea to invest in penny stocks when your main priority is paying the bills and taking care of yourself, especially if you live paycheck to paycheck. When it comes to making investments, sometimes all you can think about is how much money you have lost or what amount you might be able to make instead.
You Should Stick to One Trading Platform
Sticking to one platform like MetaTrader 4 is good because it allows you to develop the skills and strategies needed for trading. You should try out different platforms, but if one works well with your needs, then stick to that one. There is also a lot of community support on many of these sites, which can also help. It's important not to get distracted by other platforms because you might get confused or trade poorly.
You Should Have Enough Funds When Starting
You should have enough funds when starting online trading. That means you don't need to borrow money or pay with your credit card because it can be easy to get into this situation if you are not careful and end up losing more than what you started with.
If the market is doing well, that might work in your favour, but there's no guarantee that it will, and you could lose a lot of money. So you should set aside some money for this purpose before even starting online trading so that if something does go wrong, you have the funds to cover your losses.
You Should Be Realistic About Profits To Avoid Losses
It would help if you were realistic about the potential profits that you might make. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Do not expect huge returns because someone gave you a tip, or there are rumors online of quick success stories. With anything in life, if something seems like easy money - it usually isn't and will end up costing you.
Conclusion
Now that you have a better idea of what it takes to be an online trader, you might want to give it a try. There are many benefits associated with this type of trading, and having the correct information can help even beginners get started on their journey without any hiccups along the way. So don't think about it any longer, and get started today!
The end of the year is quickly approaching. This means it's time to start thinking about what you need to accomplish before the year is over! Of course, there are many things on your mind, but some critical areas in your business should be at the top of your list.
Whether you're a small business owner or an entrepreneur, these are all essential tasks for every company to have accomplished this year! Here is a list to guide you.
Your Market Share
It is common for companies to have market share reports and analyses on their annual performance. This is also one of the most sought-after information for new companies to know how they are doing compared to competitors in their industry.
To improve your market share, you can create new products, start advertising more, lower prices, increase quality and strengthen customer relationships. You can also improve market share with People Ai.
Your Employees' Skills
Employees are the backbones of your business. They make sure that everything is running smoothly, and if they're not happy with something in the company, then either you or them will be unhappy. So, it makes sense to keep your employees happy.
Start by grading your employees. You can do it on many factors, like communication skills and punctuality, but you will also need to know how skilled they are in their jobs. For example, if a customer service agent is not knowledgeable about the products they are selling, their customers won't have a good experience.
Your Warehousing
Your warehousing is critical to the success of your company. It's a space where you can keep all your inventory and be able to track products sold, who ordered those items from you, as well as where they're going. Make sure you organize it, so things don't get lost or misplaced in this vital area of your business.
Your Products and Services
Your products and services are some of the essential things in your business. They need to be fully developed, marketed well-enough so that you know what they can do for clients, and put out there so potential buyers or clients can see them. There is a lot of work involved with this process, but it's essential to your business.
Your Production Systems
Your production systems are the backbone of your business and can be a key area you need to work on before year-end. One thing that will help you grow is efficient production systems, so everything runs smoothly with little downtime or stress caused by a lack of materials.
Planning for this replenishment process takes careful calculation and consideration, especially if you are hiring additional staff to help with the workload. You can begin this process by first determining how much material is needed each day and establishing a plan for getting that amount of inventory into your business.
Your IT Department
Your IT department is your business's backbone and needs the attention it deserves. If you're looking for an IT support service provider, you need to know what critical areas in your business to work on before the year ends. Looking for an IT support service provider will help you improve your business' operations and prepare it to face the future.
Your Customers
The customer is the reason why you're in business. Make sure you meet their needs to maintain your reputation as an industry leader. It would help if you also focused on creating efficient communication channels with customers so they know how to contact you when problems arise. The last thing you want at this point is to lose customer trust because of poor communication.
Your Website
You'll also need to keep an eye on your business' website and make sure it's mobile-friendly. Many customers look for information online when researching about products or services they want to buy, so if you don't have a good presence in the digital world, then there is no point in running a business.
Your Procurement Activities
As the eCommerce business grows, it is essential to have an effective procurement strategy. The biggest challenge that most online stores face today is managing their growing inventory well and controlling expenses simultaneously.
If you want to grow your income with better margins this year, having a good supply chain management process in place will help you achieve it much more manageable.
This article gave you an overall focus on things to work on for your business. The covered areas are some of the main important ones, but this is not all-inclusive as there will be other aspects in your business that need attention before year-end.
The rise and development of information technology and the Internet have created a great environment for online businesses to thrive. The Internet has a great influence on our lives, it has developed so much, it has become one of the main mediums where we do our purchases, communicate with others. It's a virtual meeting place for the majority of our daily operations.
Along with its development, a change in the business environment happened. Businesses are now racing to offer a seamless service as possible and as convenient as it can be for the customers. One of the methods that allow brands to be more approachable to customers in the ways of how we deal with money transactions. Direct Carrier Billing, as a payment method, has a great potential to speed up the purchasing process and improve customer experience. And it's threatening to revolutionize e-commerce. Let's see how.
What is DCB?
But, before we dive in and explain how Direct Carrier Billing revolutionizes e-commerce, let’s see what DCB is.
Direct Carrier Billing or, shortly, DCB is an online purchasing method that allows customers to pay for the services by charging them on their mobile phone bills. Besides mobile phones, DCB works on almost any tech device, ranging from tablets to smart TVs.
Why will DCB revolutionize e-commerce?
Now when we’ve explained what DCB is, let’s see how it can revolutionize e-commerce.
It’s easy to use.
One of the main reasons why we think Direct Carrier Billing is going to revolutionize e-commerce is the fact it simplifies the payment process. Since DCB isn’t dependent on any banking infrastructure, customers don’t have to disclose all the details and leighty information they’re putting in when they use other payment options. This makes DCB an easy and convenient payment option, and it’s seen as a great tool that can help in customer acquisition.
It’s accessible.
Using DCB in online purchases means that customers just have to have their smart devices at hand to make a payment. They don’t need to sign up each time, fill in leighty and sensitive information. They don’t even have to have a credit card!
Since there are more people in the world owning a smartphone than credit cards, integrating DCB as a payment option for your business will allow those people to seamlessly make their purchase, but open up space for a greater customer pool.
It increases customers’ trust.
As we said before, DCB doesn’t require customers to put in their sensitive information to make a purchase, making it one of the safest payment methods. Besides that, given that DCB payments are secured with multiple levels of security and don’t pose a risk to the customer, users feel safe and comfortable while purchasing products. Because of all this, consumers have more trust in this type of payment, making it one of the most desirable forms of payment.
It’s able to increase conversions.
Since it’s generally easy to use, using DCB for your business has a great potential to decrease cart abandonment rates. Due to its simplicity, DCB works the best with businesses where customers are more likely to impulse buy products, such as the gaming and gambling industry, for instance.
It offers a possibility of tapping into undeveloped markets.
Surprisingly, there are more smartphone users than credit card owners in the world. And while this might pose a problem for other payment options, DCB allows brands to tap into undeveloped markets with poorly developed banking infrastructure, broadening their customer pool.
Wrapping it up.
With a fast change of technology comes the fast change in how we conduct our purchases. E-commerce businesses need to adapt to these changes fastly and be agile if they want to stay competitive. DCB is one of the trends that it's not new, but its potential is yet to be seen. And we cannot wait for it to happen!
Developing an app is now easier than ever before. However, there are still many careful considerations that need to be made if you want your app to be a success. Below are 10 important things to consider when building an app.
What is the purpose of your app?
You shouldn’t build an app just because it’s the hip and trendy thing to do. There needs to be a clear purpose to building an app - and there should be clear benefits for its users.
For instance, if you own a gym, creating an app could be useful for allowing members to easily scan themselves in, as well as potentially allowing them to track their workout (the app could be linked up to machines in the gym to digitally track performance). You could even offer vouchers to loyal members that can be used in local restaurants or shops, which could serve as an added incentive to download the app, as well as helping to retain members at your gym.
The app may even be your product. Perhaps you have a creative idea for a mobile game or personal finance app. In this case, there is a clear purpose to the app.
Make sure that your app isn’t just a copy of your website or a copy of your company software. You should also make sure that there isn’t an existing app out there that already serves your purpose.
Will you build it yourself or hire developers?
You have two choices when developing an app: build it yourself or hire developers.
If you’re a skilled programmer, you may feel up for the challenge of coding your own app from scratch. There are also free and cheap drag-and-drop app builders out there that require no programming know-how - these are useful for creating simple apps.
Hiring developers may be better suited if you want to create a unique or complex app. Most companies choose to hire developers. There are various different types of developer to choose from including small companies and large companies, depending on the complexity of the app you’re designing, which leads onto the next important consideration...
How complex will your app be?
Will your app have a basic purpose (such as serving as a digital loyalty card)? Or will it be very complex (for instance, an AR app)?
The complexity of your app is important to consider as it will affect the type of developer that you should hire and the amount of maintenance that is likely to be required to keep it running. A complex app is also likely to cost more, which leads onto the next point...
How much will your app cost?
The cost of developing an app can vary. You can code an app from scratch yourself for $100 - or you can pay developers $1,000,000 to create the next Uber or Tinder.
The majority of good quality company apps cost between $10,000 and $100,000. When creating a basic small company app, you should expect the price to be towards the lower end of this range. When creating a complex enterprise app, you should expect the price to be towards the higher end of this range.
Game apps can meanwhile cost between $5,000 and $250,000 to build depending on the complexity.
How will you fund your app?
Most people don’t have $10,000 lying around to spend on an app - let alone $100,000. You should consider how you will fund your app. This could be via a business loan or it could be via the help of investors.
When choosing a business loan, shop around for rates. It’s worth exploring a range of bank loans and private loans. Some app development companies may even offer finance.
When choosing to use investors, consider whether to crowdfund or to pitch to angel investors. Crowdfunding can be more straightforward but slower.
How fast do you want the app to be developed?
You can spend years developing an app or you can develop an app in a series of weeks.
In order to develop an app quickly, you’ll need a team of developers and you’ll need to be willing to pay more. There are some developers that specialise in rapid application development. This is much faster than the traditional ‘waterfall’ development method.
Slower development may be better suited if you are on a budget and feel that there is no rush to get it built.
How much communication is necessary with developers?
Do you want to pitch your idea and leave the rest up to your developers? Or do you want to be involved every step of the way?
Some developers may prefer one method over the other. This is worth enquiring into when hiring a developer so that you can keep the right level of communication. A more hands-off approach may be better when designing a basic app, while a more complex app may require a lot more communication between developer and client.
Which devices will your app be available on?
Separate apps will need to be coded for iOS and Android devices. iOS apps tend to be faster, easier and cheaper to build. That said, there are more Android users than iOS users. In most cases, it’s worth focusing on one first and then building an app for the other platform if this is successful.
How will you test your app?
Testing your app before you launch it will help you to iron out any bugs. Developers will usually be able to do some of this testing. You may also be able to hire third-party testers to look for bugs.
It could also be worth testing your app on consumers. This can help you to make sure that your app is user friendly. Continuous testing could be worthwhile for constantly improving your app and giving customers the best experience.
How will you promote your app?
If you don’t promote your app, no-one will know it exists. The best way to market an app depends very much on the type of app. If you’re designing a company app, you may be able to promote it on your website, via company emails and in your store. Promoting a mobile game app meanwhile may require looking into in-app advertising, getting reviews from mobile game publications and promoting your app on social media. Make sure that you’ve developed a marketing strategy before your app is ready to be made public.
Working at home is something that many of us have had to get used to in recent months; and in fact, a lot of companies have decided to make the move to remote working official and permanent to cut down costs.
If you are currently working at home or you will be doing soon in the future the most important asset you can have is a home office. Having somewhere specific to your work is important not only for your own convenience and comfort but also to ensure that when you switch off for the night you can really leave work behind.
A home office might be a separate room in your house, or a small corner you have created for yourself to work from, and to make it the best it can be there are some things you need to do. From looking at your screens to ensuring plenty of natural light; we want to note a few items that will make your home office working experience so much better this year.
Multiple screens
One of the first items that will make your life easier when working at home is having more than one screen to look at. It can be both annoying and time waiting throughout your day to have to constantly flick from window to window when doing your work. Whether you are using something as a reference or you need access to multiple documents at once; we know how hard it can be to manage with only one screen. Computer monitors can be bought for a very reasonable price and by having these in your possession you will likely be able to work more efficiently and more productively.
A comfortable chair
It is crucial to ensure your own comfort when it comes to working at home. You need to make sure that you are able to work for long hours every day without damaging your back, and a comfortable chair will not only help you work more productively but it will improve your overall posture. Make sure to invest in a good chair because this is where you will be spending a huge chunk of your time throughout the week.
A cable organizer
One thing you may not have considered about working from home is how many cables you will end up with under your desk. Devices need power, and power means cables and sockets. First of all, ensure you have enough sockets in your chosen location to withstand the devices you need for work and ensure that you organize them in a way that they won’t get in your way. It might also be a good idea to know a good personal injury law firm if you have a whole lot of cables to use for your role.
A whiteboard
To help you stay focused when working at home one thing you can consider doing is hanging a whiteboard somewhere above your desk where you can see it every day. A whiteboard will allow you to write down important tasks and notes and this will ultimately help you stay on track.
If you want your business to be successful, then you need to be seen. If people have no idea about who you are or what you do, how are they going to know that you are the solution they need? The short answer is that they won’t, and you are losing customers every second that your business is invisible. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the things that you can do in order to get your business seen, so keep reading if you would like to find out more.
The first thing that you are going to need to think about is SEO. Search engine optimization is the thing that will determine where your page is ranked in search engines such as Google. Typically, people aren’t going to look past page 1, maybe 2 if you are lucky, to find what they are looking for. It’s for this reason that you need to rank as high as possible, as it gives you a better chance of being seen by users. If you hire a professional SEO company, they will be able to provide all the services you need, helping you to rank higher. This will include ranking for certain keywords, phrases, and even locations.
Another thing that you are going to need to do is use social media. Do you have any idea how much of an opportunity you are wasting if you aren’t using social media for your business? Most of your clients are already on there, we guarantee you, so if you’re not, why not? Social media is not something new that you need to get your head around as you probably have a page on all the main platforms. Your business needs one too, and if you want to hire someone to manage this for you, post content regularly etc, then this might be a good idea.
You want to engage with your customers using social media. Once they have found you on here, they might want to talk, comment on posts and such, which you need to reply to as often as possible.
Traditional Advertising
Finally, there is always traditional advertising if you want to focus on this. Getting your name out there on the TV, billboards, radio, leaflets and so on might seem old fashioned, but it still works. People still go outside, they still see signs, they still read posters at bus stops when they have nothing else to do, and you need to take advantage of this.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you can do to achieve getting your business seen. There are, of course, many ways that you could go about this, but these are just a few of the ideas that we came up with off the top of our heads. We wish you the very best of luck, and hope that you see the results that you are looking for.
