How Do I Drive Traffic To My Website: Easy Tips and Tricks

What is Website Traffic?

Your website analytics tells you how many web page visitors a page has. The more the website traffic, the more opportunities there are for converting. You may also see that higher traffic means lower conversion rates. It could be because traffic isn’t as targeted as there may not be many highly qualified leads that are likely to buy your product or services.

The idea is that although more traffic is coming to your site, it won’t. The number of page views and the number of unique page views are often the same as the number of people visiting your site happens multiple times or once.

How can I increase my website traffic?

With the help of tools like Facebook and Twitter, the number of website traffic your website will have increases. You also get an insight into how expert website traffic works.

You can discover how much traffic you have and what you want to get. And we’ll also incorporate website traffic checker tools to tell you what you need and how much it costs to get traffic to your store. Use these tools to analyze your shop’s traffic history.

More emphasis on internet marketing is a common goal by many business owners. You wouldn’t gain enough customers if someone did not find and use your website.

In this post, you’ll learn just how to get recognized online so you can boost your visibility. It will be your online showcase where the visitor can see how the company operates.

How can I increase my website traffic without SEO?

It is also helpful to diversify website traffic when the search engine is scarce. We will look at the best ways to increase online traffic with no SEO, but you won’t ’embarrass’ yourself with some algorithm change again. Here are a few useful tips you can apply right now.

Also, we are looking at practical steps you could take to get back into the game. For example, podcasts could help you grow your business without relying on a search engine to get more traffic.

1. Add share triggers to your content

Share Pushes are what you create on your site for people to share.

And Share Trigger is one of the main reasons why an infographic is so successful.

2. Create a useful industry tool or content

An easy way to increase website traffic is to promote material/tools on LinkedIn Groups or other forums where people from the industry interact. Offer products and tools in exchange for a user’s contact details so that you have optimal ROI and find new customers.

Create other tools and content that could help other industries, then offer them free on your websites.

3. Use advertising to increase website traffic

Advertising through paid search, social media, and display ads are effective ways to increase website traffic. Every option comes with upsides and downsides, and it is important to plan out your budget and goals before making huge investments. For instance, it’s vital to use one campaign and several ad groups with specific keywords you want to target when doing PPC ads.

Once a campaign begins, it shows how customers behave with various keywords. One keyword may only have impressions that did not lead to increased traffic, while another resulted in clicks and conversions or other keywords which did not lead to increased traffic.

The best way to increase website traffic

Building your social media strategy will allow you to get more users and expand brand awareness.

1. Perform keyword research

Keywords should be used in the first place and do not be buried deep down in content in such a way as to detract from the main ideas or distract readers. It is important to use keywords throughout the content, such as the meta-descriptions, the homepage title, URLs headers, and a few times throughout the piece.

You may do keyword research using tools like Moz and Ahrefs. If you want to show some SEO services on a company’s websites, such as ePages and Google, consider outsourcing them. The most significant thing is to add relevant keywords to your articles, such as a title and an article meta description.

2. Start a referral program

Successful reselling depends on a belief that people become four times more likely to hear from a friend to purchase. Dropbox’s Referral program has increased users’ numbers by 3900% in just 15 months. To create effective referral programs, your incentive must be attractive or compelling.

Ideally, it may be a discount, upgrade or free sample, or credit—something that motivates customers to actively share your website with your existing customer bases, such as Facebook users and Dropbox users. For instance, the dual-sided Dropbox program which rewards both new and old users with increased storage space.

3. Advertise

Paid Search Advertising – Social Media Advertising and display advertisements provide excellent ways to attract visitors. Adapt your paid strategy to your objective. Think clearly about your targets. If you hope to gain more traffic to your site will also lead to a lot more sales.

You’ll need high-impact keywords. Competition for these search phrases can be fierce (and expensive), but their rewards can be worth it. Try Smart Ads Creator – a program adapted for a savvy Advertiser today that uses technology similar to SmartAds creator.

4. Answer questions on Quora

Can people answer questions about my website with answers I found on Quora? You should create your profile to reply to this if it is yes. It’s not that you should use the whole site as a promotion. Only where necessary should you link to your site.

This might be in the profiles or answers where you link your website to the site. There’s a strategy required: you definitely ought to provide quality answers and look for questions not already saturated with responses. See editor James Altucher’s account for a good example of how to use Quora to draw in curious readers.

5. Update old blog posts

It’s natural for all old blog entries to become stale through time. Update old posts and re-publish them now to gain traffic. Google changes its algorithms and makes its keywords search engine rankings fluctuate from time to time. As a result, the content should never remain static.

Keep your blog’s content fresh and current. To refresh obsolete content, try making some changes: Try making some of these changes: Google’s algorithms keep evolving; re-publishing old content can increase visibility as well as save you the trouble of developing complete new material.

6. Create content that appeals to influencers

For content to hit successful targets, the obvious factor is: it should appeal to influencers in the personal space. Create content that emphasizes the issue they care about. And this will lead to shares and mentions on several authority sites and a boatload of traffic.

7. Exchange backlinks

Reach out to relevant websites and offer your content as extra resources for including in one of these posts. Do the reciprocally beneficial backlink exchange by offering to add another backlink to your posts.

How many people use backlink- exchange to earn big bucks? It is important to increase site traffic as backlink increases your traffic with mutually beneficial post exchange.

8. Write guest posts and invite guest contributors

A guest article gets your name and helps you gain others’ readers. Aiming for sites in the same or related industry helps guide the more relevant traffic possible. Not every writer will produce quality content for a website. Therefore it’s advisable to choose what not to publish.

Writing elsewhere on a blog can increase traffic as guest contributors typically promote their work to their followers.

9. Host giveaways and contests

You can boost your brand’s popularity for customers while increasing the number of visitors by offering giveaways. The prize should be valuable for users but should also be easily recouped in terms of its cost. Once you decide which prize you want to give out, you can promote it on your website and social media.

To increase the ante and increase traffic, you can request that interested participants share your post online or tag a friend to win.

10. Make yourself heard in comments

Commenting on other industries’ blogs can be an easy way to get out there. As with any guest post, quality and relevance are vital. You should engage with other people in your niche and do not drop unrelated spam links on unrelated websites.

Commenting does not necessarily give instant referral traffic right away, but making a name for yourself is a way to build more traffic to your website.

11. Create memorable content

Sites featuring blog-based information provide 426% more search engine-generated pages than sites without this type of data. Sites producing more than 16 articles a month get over 3.5 times more traffic than those posting only one article a month.

People use Google to look up detailed answers to questions. and your content should provide these answers. According to experts, Web traffic in English should also improve as search terms are being used as the ranking tool by searching websites in search engines.

12. Create evergreen content

Always green content is a post that has relevance wherever it is published. Perpetual relevance means people will want to find them any time of the year. If such an article about needing an emergency fund is everlasting, it would never be advisable to list the best stock right now.

Evergreen posts can get users for days, months, or years on end. Still, it can also produce significant traffic in a long time if it is time-sensitive. For example, a blog post about the importance of having emergency funds can produce substantial traffic in the short term.

13. Create viral content

Viral content tends to be brief, topical, and also elicit strong emotions. Remember to provide a compelling headline and format your work in a way to facilitate access, e.g., a listicle.

To think about creating a viral headline: come up with the idea and format it into an easily readable format.

14. Go after referral traffic

Learn which types of links send good referral traffic in this post. Just focus on getting the natural flow of referral traffic from reputable places. Learn which types of links give you referral traffic and help you get maximum conversions online.

15. Target long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords represent highly specific phrases that have reduced search volume. This is often the result of users’ high probabilities that their conversion has occurred. Producing specialized content means you won’t face any competition to write content with low keywords.

As a result, it will greatly improve your chances of ranking well in Google for long keywords and boost the number of people interested in your product or service. For example, creating specialized content helps you stay in the top 10.

16. Syndicate your content

Like guest-hosting, syndication can broaden your content to an audience who wouldn’t have stumbled upon your post otherwise. Syndicated websites would bring you enormous numbers of new visitors. Start by posting all of your content on social networks such as Medium and Linkedln.

17. Link internally

Internal links build your website’s foundation. It helps search engines determine how each page is related to the site’s content. These internal links are easily accessible by web crawlers.

A solid website hierarchy makes it easier to find search engines such as Google to recognize your most important content or, in other words, your main content. You can, for example, include landing pages and blogs not directly to your website. Your reader is limited to where they land within that page.

18. Optimize for Google’s Mobile-First Index

The update means Google will take first account of mobile versions of your site when calculating a Mobile-First Index score. This free Google software was created: the Mobile-Friendly Test.

This nifty tool tells you whether your site is optimized correctly for mobile devices and offers specific recommendations for improving your site.

19. Use captivating headlines

A captivating headline can make a huge difference in allowing new visitors to click on one of your posts. If your article has good quality content but low traffic results, try editing your post titles for extra attention at the page level.

This will help you make your text more shareable and clickable, even better ranking in the google search engine results pages.

Channels that drive quality traffic to your website

In this second section, you will focus on how to increase your site traffic for your blog. There is not one program out there to create traffic to your site if one forgets about doing it once. Instead, different channels combine to get in front of consumers by driving them to their site.

Some will require more of an effort while others need time and others require funding. In the next section, we will discuss how best to increase website traffic for free.

Go on podcasts

26% are regularly listening to podcasts. If you want to research for the best podcast, then I strongly suggest that you listen as an individual to others’ podcasts. This plan works well.

Foster a sense of community

I’ve always felt that creating a community on a website is good for snatching some serious traffic. Create a robust commenting system through third-party solutions like Facebook comments or Disqus. Do not forget to manage your community to ensure that the minimum standards of decorum are met.

Create dedicated forums where visitors can take questions they want to talk about, topics they are passionate about. Do not forget to remind yourself of the etiquette in the beginning.

Best ways to use social networks to build a brand that’s successful in traffic:

1. Retarget visitors with Facebook ads

The cost of Facebook advertisers is being increased drastically. The retargeting option helps you target users with a single mouse click for an extra penny. First, create a Facebook ad that sends someone to a blog post. Then target people who visited your site within three months.

2. Offer samples to bloggers and influencers

‘Micro-influencers’ provide an economical method of reaching audiences without paying high sponsorship fees. Small to medium-sized influencers have fewer followers compared to big-name influences but see a more engaged audience.

Bloggers and influencers help make sales more transparent. Working with influencers can help enhance the visibility of your site and lend you social credibility.

3. Don’t Neglect Email Marketing

Email marketing is effective, and even a moderately successful email blast can significantly increase traffic. Avoid ignoring word-of-mouth marketing mainly from people who enjoy your services or products.

Email reminders about product updates can improve visibility and sales. Keep a steady email schedule to bombard people with new information from your products or services. Use “word by mouth” promoting.

Increase website traffic without SEO

You shouldn’t just rely on search engines to improve site traffic. Algorithms evolve a new technique of SEO rapidly. The steps we discussed today are enough to make a complete digital marketing strategy.

Using both or all of their effects together can alter how you recruit the best prospects. What’s your best road speed control strategy for now? Share your knowledge of your methods.

Interview Industry Thought Leaders

Inquire about your interview and post these on your website., the interviewee is likely to share the interview with you and share it with your blog, which can boost your name recognition and improve your website traffic.

Not only will recognition increase your credibility and increase the traffic on your blog, but the interviewee likely will share the content too, further expanding its scope.

Implement Schema Microdata

Schema makes indexing your site much easier for your search engines for search query results. They help users to find richer HTML-based snippets that can help boost the click-through rates of websites. Also, the benefits of using schema for SEO include that it could result in richer snippets that can improve click-through rates.

Examine Your Analytics Data

Google Analytics is one of the most important sources of information you may ever find. Check visitor information to see where and what traffic has been collected.

Use this information to inform your marketing and content strategy. Pay attention to which pages and posts are popular with your site, from your most popular pages to your most recent visitor demographics.

Share Videos on LinkedIn

How can you make more traffic on Linkedin? Send videos or images. Post video to attract traffic. Try to get it on Facebook for a similar engagement.

Try getting engagement for the website. Share your content on LinkedIn. Please share it with people. Share pictures or video clips. Share your story on YouTube. Share your views via Twitter.

Post Content on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is far more than just an information tool for finding a job. The most famous and enduring professional social media platform has now become a valued publishing platform in itself.

You should regularly post content on LinkedIn to boost traffic to your site and increase your profile inside your industry, particularly if you have a small or large following.

Create an active YouTube channel

YouTube is the 2nd biggest website globally (only behind Google). YouTube is one of my main traffic sources (Google, Facebook, and referral traffic from blogs). Getting views on your YouTube videos is a simple matter.

Make Sure Your Site is Responsive

More people are accessing web content via smartphones. If you force people into trying to navigate around you, you’re asking them to go elsewhere. Even if you have a basic website, you need to ensure it’s available across various platforms such as small smartphones.

The days of Internet browsing being only made for laptop computers are gone.

Make Sure Your Site is Fast

Make sure your webpage is as technically optimized as possible. The quicker a site loads, the better. The faster you run then, the greater chances you’ll have bounce rates of around 30 seconds. The bounce rate is a significant advantage for your site to bounce quicker than other sites. When your site slows down, your bounce rate will skyrocket.

Repurpose content

Blogs with strong analytics have a longer shelf-life. A data-supported post placed on your website may be repurposed later.

Engage Online

The more you engage your community, the more visibility and visits to your profiles you will gain. If your social media profiles contain links to your website, your engagement is an additional channel for website traffic. Make sure to respond courteously and honestly and avoid mentioning the contents of your website in your comments. Increased traffic should no longer be the intention of your engagement, experts say.

It’s free to use online groups and websites relevant to your business and community — it’ll improve your traffic for business websites. Comment on articles on your blog or in social media forums for any type of content related to your industry.

Optimize your free Google Business Profile

An optimized website will get 7x more traffic than an incomplete website. Google has become smarter. Suppose your listing provides all the data an individual is looking for to make a decision. In that case, they may forgo your website or contact you/visit your business directly- even better than a website visit.

Also, keep in mind that Google is smarter every time they come up with the results pages. You should constantly update your page with relevant information. Create a new listing and maintain it as far as you can.

Build backlinks

Google is interested in backlinks. Backlinks from complementary businesses or business influencers can get your business noticed by an expanded audience. This allows you to increase trust in Google when you have other trustworthy websites. More confidence from Google translates into high scores, which results in more traffic on your website.

Get noticed without a charge on Google. Backlinks increase quality traffic towards your site.

Perform On-Page SEO

There are many SEO tactics to improve each site to increase traffic and to get more business. This includes producing high-level content that your readers are looking for and writing concise meta descriptions for your pages. The meta descriptions appear under your URL in search results.

Knowing what pages to visit and what will result in one click can help to increase the chances of a potential visit to the website. On-page SEO tactics like these are free but need some time.

Google Ads

Paid search results appear first – at all tops of the results pages. This kind of exposure is a great solution for creating more traffic on your website by qualified visitors.

Google is only paid when someone clicks on an advertisement. Google examines all bids for them and displays and ranks the paid results relying on the quality and relevance of the advert. You pay for your website to appear on search engine results for specific keywords.

Post on social media

How do I promote a useful website on a social media page?

Social media is one of the cheapest methods to get people to your website. It also means you’re turning your followers to web traffic, and they will see you sharing some of the content on your site.

The creation of helpful material is free – and not as hard that it seems. You are the expert in your product/service; your job is to simplify things for your audiences.

Learn from your analytics

Google Analytics is free, and it will get data about your website traffic. Use tracking links in your marketing campaigns and regularly check your website analytics. It will help you discover which types of content you’re working on that needs improvement and on which one you should not waste your time.

Include Hashtags in your posts

The more eyes on your links, the more free traffic you get to your site. Using hashtags to promote your blogs and makes users likely to see your content more.

Now that you know how to drive traffic to your website, how are you going to get started?

11 Online Advertising Tricks To Get More Clients For Your Freelance Work

Online advertising has a unique place in the business world. Advertising, regardless of the type of company, is critical to its growth.

There are several ways to promote your business, and in today’s world, as the internet is becoming a more dominant medium. Online advertising is an efficient way to promote your business and attract more customers.

It wouldn’t be incorrect to suggest that advertising is the most important way to get clients, particularly for freelancers.

If you work as a freelancer, it is your responsibility to find enough clients to make a living. When it comes to freelancing, this is the most difficult task. One of the most effective ways to broaden your customer base is through online ads.

You can market your freelance company online using a variety of methods. All you have to do is pursue them to see a rise in your client base.

11 online advertising tricks to get more clients

1) Networking events

Getting acquainted with others in your business or niche is often a good idea. It’s a cost-effective method of online advertising.

When you’re a freelancer, networking with other people will help you find more clients. Various networking activities take place on a regular basis.

When you go to a networking function, don’t go with the intention of finding clients. Always keep in mind that you’re going there as a freelancer to meet other people in your field.

People may or may not be your clients, but don’t dismiss anybody. This is because you never know who may be a connector who can help you meet potential clients.

It is your duty to search online for networking activities and attend them. This is one of the easiest ways for a freelancer to advertise online.

So, you can simply search for networking activities on different event boards. You will look for the same on the following websites:

Eventbrite.com- You can learn about various types of events that are taking place in your region. This site also has a filter in its search feature that allows you to scan for events that are specifically relevant to your niche.

Meetup.com- This is a well-known site for searching about networking activities and fun gatherings. So, you can do online advertising through this platform.

Facebook– Who these days doesn’t have a Facebook account? Almost everybody has a Facebook account. And, there isn’t a single industry that doesn’t have a Facebook community.

Whatever industry you work in, you can always find a community of people who work in the same field. You can also learn about upcoming networking events through these groups.

2) Referrals

When you work as a freelancer, you must always be on the lookout for new clients while never abandoning your current ones. It’s always a good idea to keep your current customers, regardless of industry.

This is because they’re the ones that will introduce you to new ones. This is another great way of online advertising.

Having referrals from current clients is a smart way to get more clients. It is your duty as a freelancer to please your clients with your work so that they can recommend you to others.

You’ll get more work and be more competitive this way. You may also ask for referrals from your existing customers.

Your clients can also exchange information about you online with others. This allows them to learn more about you and your work, resulting in new clients. Since referrals work so well, this is a very powerful method of online advertising.

A rise in price– Many freelancers maintain the same rate or price for their work. This is one of the major roadblocks to their success. As current clients refer you to others, they are, in a sense, adding value to your work.

Always remember to reflect this by maintaining higher rates for new clients.

Increases income– When you gain new clients and charge a higher price, your profits will almost certainly increase.

Encourages you to do good work– It motivates you to do good work and keep your clients satisfied. Eventually, you understand the benefits of referrals from current clients.

Only when you treat your customers well would they recommend you to others. This is an intriguing method of online advertising. That’s because keeping the customers satisfied leads to referrals both online and offline.

3) Sending cold emails

This is a method of online advertising that some freelancers may find intimidating or challenging. You may be afraid to send cold emails as a new freelancer, but it can be a smart idea to send cold emails to your future customers.

When sending cold emails, keep in mind that you do not have to send them to everybody. Just send cold emails to people who are in your business or niche and maybe future clients.

To get more clients, you just need to use the right tactics when sending cold emails for online ads. Once you succeed, you will find out that this is a good method for online advertising.

If you’re sending out cold emails, make sure they’re appealing to the people who will be receiving them. The following characteristics should be present in a strong cold email:

It must seem like you know the recipient– Make them believe you know a lot about them and their company if you send a cold email for online ads. There’s nothing wrong with complimenting others, so go ahead and do it.

Who doesn’t like being praised? When you compliment the individual who will receive the email, it helps you. When you express your interest in working with them, they will almost certainly give you a chance.

Make them give it a thought– Always remember to provide details that are important to the recipient. Only then can that person, or your potential client, read your email and consider it.

If you have some kind of relationship with that guy, make sure to mention it. This is because it will improve your chances of having clients.

Attract the potential clients’ attention– It depends upon you to make your email attractive. This way it makes the people say yes and become your client. When you select this method for online advertising, do it the right way.

4) Industry-specific Job Boards

It’s a smart idea to do online ads at places where you can find potential clients while you’re searching for more clients as a freelancer. Clients are best found on industry-specific work boards because they know exactly what they want.

These job boards are a great platform for online advertising if you are a freelancer.

There are work boards dedicated to specific sectors. As a result, you must locate the appropriate job boards for your industry or niche. You will be able to get a lot of clients if you do a lot of research and advertise on different work boards online.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the best industry-specific websites and work boards for online advertising:

For Developers or engineers– Toptal.com, iCrunchData.com, Engineering.com, SmashingMagazine.com

Illustrators/designers– 99designs.com, Designs.net

Media/publishing– MediaBistro.com, JournalismJobs.com

Healthcare/pharmaceuticals– allpharmacyjobs.com, healthcarejobsite.com

Non-profit– Encore.com, Idealist.com

5) Testimonials

This is one of the best ways of doing online advertising. People trust public feedback as much as personal decisions and advice in today’s world. When you work as a freelancer, testimonials are a great way to promote yourself online.

That’s because prospective customers often look for what your former clients and audience have to say.

Client testimonials must be shown on your website and social media accounts if you want to attract more customers. It’s a smart way to draw new customers through online advertising, but you’ll need good feedback to do so.

Always aim to make the most of your testimonials in order to create a solid client base.

If you want to attract more customers by showing testimonials, you must ensure that the feedback is from actual people. Analyzing your testimonials is a good practice to get into if you want to better your job.

All you have to do now is copy and paste the testimonials widget code onto your website and social media accounts.

To show testimonials, you must first obtain feedback from your current customers. It is your duty as a freelancer to request testimonials from your clients.

If you have a sufficient number of positive reviews, you can simply show them on your website to attract new customers. This is one of the most straightforward ways to increase your client base through online advertisements.

6) Social media platform

Social media has developed into a dominant medium in today’s world. Nowadays, almost everyone uses social media, and there are a plethora of social media sites to choose from. This is a great method of online advertising.

As a freelancer, you can do online advertising using social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Make sure you have accounts on all of the different sites so that people can find you. Also, on all channels, try to keep your personal details, bio, and profile picture consistent so that your future clients can remember you.

LinkedIn is a perfect place to find customers for a freelancer when it comes to business and online advertising. There are a number of trustworthy groups where you can engage in discussions and network with others, including:

Advertising freelance- Consultants who work in the field of communication should join this community. Media, digital, production, strategy, creative,

etc. are the fields for which this group is good.

Freelance professionals– This group is for IT, animators, 3D Modellers, editors, and art directors, etc.

7) Freelance Marketplace

Joining the Freelance platform for online advertising as a freelancer is a brilliant idea. When you enter the Freelance marketplace, you have a great chance of finding new clients.

Getting in contact with people in your industry or niche is often beneficial and successful. Treat everybody well when you meet people on the Freelance marketplace. You never know who might introduce you to potential clients or who might become your new client.

We’ve compiled a list of a few freelancing marketplaces where you can advertise online and gain more clients:

Freelancer– It provides freelancers with a wide range of assignments. It also allows them to compete with others and demonstrate their abilities. This is a perfect place to highlight your talents and draw new customers if you are confident in your skills and experience.

Upwork– It has millions of clients and offers both short-term as well as long-term projects.

Toptal– This is particularly for freelance designers and developers. Once you pass Toptal’s screening process, you will be able to get projects with good clients.

8) Optimize your website

Your website is one thing that says a lot about your work and helps you draw more clients. If you’re a company owner or a freelancer, it’s one of the most important factors that affect your business. When it comes to online ads, the website is also important.

Your website still takes precedence over your social media pages and other products. So, its design and content must be professional enough to catch the attention of potential customers. Hence, this is one of the most important ways to do online advertising.

Always remember to keep your website updated as a freelancer by reflecting on your work and the results you produce for clients.

You can also keep updating your website with pictures and videos related to your work and accomplishments. This helps prospective customers learn more about your expertise.

Not only that but make sure to configure your website so that it loads faster. Make it easy for people to use your website. That’s because it is an effective tool for online ads and attracting new customers.

9) Guest posts

What is a decent way to do online advertising? Well, whether it’s online or offline, having a strong sample of our work to demonstrate often helps to draw more clients.

Writing papers for reputable companies will help you reach a larger audience and gain more clients.

You can give editors emails directly informing them of the articles you’d like to contribute and asking if they welcome contributions.

Always try to get the editor ready to publish your article before you start writing to avoid wasting your time. Before you begin writing, read a few of the company’s previous articles.

It’s always good to try to learn and copy its style and tone to make it more appealing. People reading your articles will serve as good online ads for you and can help you gain new clients.

10) Starting YouTube channel and blogging

Nowadays, every business owner has a YouTube channel. When you’re a freelancer, a YouTube channel can be a great way of online advertising. To start a YouTube channel, you don’t need anything.

When potential clients watch it, they will learn more about you and your website. And, if they like it, they will contact you.

Not only that, but blogging is also a good way of online advertising. You can write blogs about your niche and post them on your website and social media accounts, among other places.

You would be able to draw the interest of potential clients and become a profitable freelancer in this manner.

11) Join groups

If you’re a freelancer, you can join a variety of groups focused on your industry. On different social networking sites, there are a plethora of online communities. There, you can interact with people in your niche and find new clients.

Joining a community dedicated to a particular industry provides you with opportunities for online advertisement. Not just this, it also allows you to learn about local networking activities.

Additionally, you will be able to obtain projects and be introduced to potential clients.

Well, are you a freelancer? Are you looking forward to getting more clients through online advertising? This guide has genuine tricks that can help you get more work and clients.

You just have to follow the given techniques and you will be able to attract more people to your work.

What Is A Sales Funnel & How Does It Work? Complete Guide

To convert the website visitors into paying customers, any online business requires a Sales Funnel. Without the right sales funnel, a business can hardly make any money.

Successful businesses don’t just make sales, but they make sales consistently of high volumes. Hence, they can comfortably hire full-time working employees. Despite having recurring expenses, big companies are profitable and smoothly running.

The key to their success in consistent sales is the Sales funnel. The primary goal of a business with sales funnel is to move people from one stage to another until they are ready to purchase the product/service.

In this article, you will learn all about Sales Funnel and how it works. Let’s get started!

What Is A Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel (also known as a revenue funnel or marketing funnel) is a step-by-step buying process through which potential customers go on their way to purchase a product.

A sales funnel allows you to determine and reflect on your customers’ actions at every stage of the buying cycle. You can design a great customer experience along their journey.

The buying decision is empowered through a series of marketing actions like automated emails, articles, videos, and landing pages on the websites.

This marketing model uses a funnel as an analogy because many potential customers may start at the top end of the sales process. Still, only a fraction of those individuals actually ends up buying the product.

When you optimize your sales funnel precisely, more people will complete the journey from start to finish because your funnel serves your target audience in the way they need to be served.

Why Is Sales Funnel Important?

The sales funnel a vital tool that systematically increases a company’s potential. A company relies on a sales funnel that gives insight into what customers would like to purchase. For any business to be successful, it is necessary to be alert and adapt to the changing market and customer needs.

In today’s digital world, people are spoiled because they have so many options. So unless you already rule the target market, you will need some way to show customers your worth and win them over.

A well-crafted sales funnel an ideal opportunity to show your value to the customers. They can get to know the team behind the product, which raises trust, leads to purchases, and helps to scale sales.

Stages of a Sales Funnel

There are different stages like the top, middle, and bottom of a sales funnel. These stages may vary according to a company’s sales model. It is essential to review the different sales funnel stages to understand and create a successful one fully.

The original sales funnel includes four cognitive stages through which a customer goes during the buying process of a product or service: Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. This model of the sales funnels stages is known as the AIDA model.

Stage 1: Awareness

The awareness stage is where your customers read about you for the first time. You make potential customers aware of what your company has to offer to them.

Here, your goal is to let people know that you exist and reach your target audience, especially people who haven’t heard about your business yet but can benefit from using your product or service.

Customers become aware of new companies through an advertisement, google search, a blog post, or a cold email. If a company conducts keyword research accurately, it can capture many leads early on by creating content targeted to buyers in the Awareness stage.

There are various methods to reach your target audience and build brand awareness. The tools that are typically used by businesses at this stage are:

1. Landing Page

A Landing page (also known as a sign-up page) is a simple website designed with a clear goal of getting customer details like email addresses and contact numbers to reach and advertise their products to them.

It is also used to show key features or vital information about the product or service. It has a clear call to action for interested people and wants to learn more about the product.

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is an effective way to create brand awareness. Writing quality articles can increase traffic to your website through SEO and social media, allowing people to see you as an expert in your field.

3. Video

Video is another handy tool that can help build awareness and in business growth. Videos allow people to see inside out of a company and form a deeper connection with that company. It is usually used to demonstrate a product, its features, and benefits or share other ideas.

4. Facebook and Instagram Ads

You can set up targeted Facebook and Instagram ads and find new customers.

If you already have some people on your contact list, you can use the email addresses of your current customers to create a lookalike audience on Facebook Ads manager.

Using this method, the Facebook algorithm will find Facebook users with similar characteristics to those on your contact list who are most likely to become your customers.

5. Google Ads

By Utilising Google advertisements, you can contact individuals who are effectively searching for an answer your product/service could assist with.

Recognize the terms your target customers would probably type in a while looking on Google and show them your deal. You can likewise limit the targeting by giving negative catchphrases, for example, ones that don’t apply to what in particular you’re offering.

6. Word of Mouth and Referrals

Word of Mouth and Referrals will begin to create mindfulness for your business if your products/services and content are acceptable. While getting clients through references is pleasant, please don’t depend on it. Rather, form a genuine advertising framework that gives unsurprising income and results.

7. Lead Magnet Funnel

A lead magnet funnel is an automated approach to produce leads for your business. It permits you to establish a campaign that includes paid ads promoting a landing page with relevant signup incentives, follow-up email series, and analytics that display important statistics in real-time.

Stage 2: Interest

At the Interest stage, your prospects understand their problem and actively seek solutions and ways to achieve their goals. They search for solutions on Google, and usually, they take into account all available solutions to solve their issues.

Here, the brand will develop a profound relationship with their potential customers, becoming more actively involved in learning about their issues or goals.

In doing so, brands start by providing preliminary solutions, allowing them to experience ‘quick success’— and become more engaged.

For example, a customer is sure that he needs to fix his back pain, but he is unsure whether he should buy your mattress. In other words, he is searching for types of solutions instead of evaluating solution providers.

This is where you need content that can attract that customer and tell him how your mattress can help him get rid of the back pain and why he should buy it.

This may be the time when he shows his interest in your product or service and follows you on social media, and subscribes to your list.

The tools normally used at this stage are:

1. Engagement Score

The contact card shows all your contact data. One of the snippets you might find specifically valuable is the engagement score – a tool that recognizes and scores the movement of your contacts based on their reaction to your messages.

You can send better-targeted emails once you have created engagement-based segments.

2. Facebook Pixel

Facebook Pixel is a piece of code for your website that allows you to calculate, optimize and set up audiences for your ad campaigns. It helps you to chase landing page visitors.

Once people visit that page, you can see what people like and then develop customized re-marketing campaigns based on it. You can also define custom audiences based on the pages people visit or ignore to make the most out of your social media ads budget.

3. Marketing Automation

Marketing automation can create workflows that will send emails and assign tags on their own, based on user behavior. These tags can be used to determine what kind of content your prospective clients are most interested in.

4. Push Notifications

You can deliver push notifications to your website visitors and stay connected with them. Push notifications(web) do not require email addresses. Hence you can send rapid and hard-to-miss notifications to individuals who opt for them after visiting your site.

5. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a popular marketing strategy because it is relatively inexpensive. Create content that enlightens your customers and helps new leads eventually make an informed purchase decision.

When somebody gets on your email list, you can continue communicating with them by delivering emails. You can even utilize retargeting to show promotions to individuals who visited your site before so you can keep on building brand knowledge with those prospects.

Stage 3: Decision/Desire

At this stage, a potential customer is armed with information about your company and planning to decide. Your prospects are at the bottom of the funnel, knowing everything about their problem, and they are keen and ready to pay attention to what you offer.

They will dig deeper into your packaging, pricing, and many other things before they are ready to make a final decision to purchase. Webinars, Sales pages, and calls are really beneficial to encourage qualified prospects to make a purchase.

This is the time to offer the customers something special and set yourself apart from your competitors. Small factors like discounts, free shipping, or a free item can increase the chances of prospects completing their customer journey from top to bottom of the sales funnel.

Stage 4: Action

The customers make a final move at the very bottom of the sales funnel, i.e., the Action stage. They purchase your products or services, and you, at last, convert a quality lead into a client through a distinct sales process.

At this stage, you ought to think about transforming one buy into multiple purchases. When they start to understand the genuine worth of your product or service, they’re bound to purchase again and start with the sales cycle all over.

If they choose not to buy from you, your marketing efforts can still produce outcomes. It would be best if you remembered that the deal isn’t lost for always. You can build nurture campaigns to make sure you stay ahead in the league.

Furthermore, you can interact with your customers and urge them to leave feedback. You can have one more sales funnel stage that deals with customer retention.

Customer Retention

Along with the four Sales funnel stages, this stage is also important because a customer has shopped from you and is on board with your company.

A company’s focus should be on keeping customers happy and satisfied to turn them into regular customers and brand advocates. Word of mouth is a significant force, and happy customers are the best way to use it.

Helping the customers with any problem related to the products they bought from you makes them happy and loyal to your brand. You basically want your customers to stay engaged with your product or service, and you can do that by:

Special offers
Emails
Product usage guides
Surveys/Outreach and follow-ups
Technical assistance literature

How To Create a Sales Funnel?

Now, let’s discuss how to create a sales funnel for your business. Follow the steps mentioned below to set up the sales funnel stages to improve your sales process.

1. Create A Landing Page

Most people learn about your company for the first time through a landing page. Capturing quality leads should be your main goal at this stage, rather than forcing people to purchase your product or service.

If a customer clicks on an advertisement, downloads an ebook, or signs up for a webinar, they will be taken to a landing page. It is a fantastic idea to create a landing page and use your content marketing efforts to steer traffic to that page.

It should be able to deliver a clear message to the public about your company and the products/services it offers. It should have all the unique benefits your products will offer to the customers.

Also, it must contain a form for people to fill in their information like email address, mobile number, so you can continue to interact with them.

A landing page should be used as a vehicle to take your prospective customers from the top stage to the next in the sales pipeline. Hence, it must have an explicit call-to-action telling your customers what they should do next.

2. Create Buyer Personas

Every customer is different from every other, and hence, you can’t have the same sales funnel for all of them. People are unique because they have different reasons for buying a product and different ways of making a buying decision or using it differently.

Therefore, creating separate buyer personas for each category is effective, and creating different sales funnels to enhance their experience.

You need to understand your audience accurately to establish a genuine connection with them. This will result in more people going through your sales funnel and a high chance of turning them into paying customers.

3. Lead magnet (Offer Something Of Value)

The lead magnet must give a deep insight or real value to be impressive. It should be something a user can hardly trust to be free and encourage him to become a paying customer.

There are various types of lead magnets. Some useful lead magnets are as follows:

An ebook
A video course to acquire a new handy skill
A free subscription to a newsletter or magazine
A webinar and much more

You can set any of the lead magnets you like and can change them whenever you want to.

4. Engagement Strategies (Nurture)

You have put big efforts into lead generation. Now, you need to constantly engage your leads at every stage of the funnel, inform them about the topics they are interested in and help them slide down your sales pipeline.

You should have great content to keep them engaged, and for that, you can use:

Blog posts
Videos
Podcasts
Social media posts
Facebook Live

You have obtained the email addresses of many prospective customers from the landing page. With that, you can develop an email nurture series to share useful content about your products.

5. Upsell

It would help if you offered something that pushes the prospects in making a purchase decision. This could be done using sales tactics like a free trial, product demo, or special discounts.

6. Closing Strategies

It is crucial to create needs for your target audience and then make clear offers that satisfy their needs. This will increase sales and help in business growth.

Finally, the marketing strategies that you use to convert your prospects into clients are:

Sales call and sales email
Sales and product pages
Webinars

7. Stay Top of Mind

In the Action stage, you will either land new customers or discover that customers aren’t interested in buying. Either way, you have to make sure to nurture your connection with customers whether they complete the sales funnel or not.

Focus on giving product information to new customers and keep them engaged. Please create a new nurture series for prospects who didn’t buy from you to keep in touch with them.

How To Optimize Your Sales Funnel

Missing a sale is very painful. Potential customers can drop out of the sales pipeline after days of content creation and pitches.

This usually happens when a company’s sales team doesn’t optimize the sales funnel. It’s essential to evaluate sales funnels if they are not generating sales.

Forgotten follow-ups, inappropriate messaging, missed appointments are some of the holes in sales funnels and they can be easily fixed. The marketing strategies mentioned below will assist you to optimize your sales funnel:

Use A CRM Software

If you wish to make your sales and marketing processes smooth, use a CRM like HubSpot to make your sales funnels work excellently.

The HubSpot Growth Platforms tools make it convenient to create and maintain an effective sales process that produces results.

Use Social Proof In Your Sales Funnels

Social proof escalates the conversion rate so that you can use it in your sales funnels and other marketing efforts. Social proof from existing customers, credible industry experts, and others can be of great help.

If you sprinkle social proof throughout your sales funnel, you’ll give your clients the confirmation they require to feel confident.

Modern customers have more trust in their peers than the brands they buy the products from. With the help of social proof, customers can understand what they will get when they do business with a particular brand.

Social proof can be of many forms:

Short endorsements
Long-form testimonials and video testimonials
Written case studies
User-generated content
Pictures and videos posted on social
Logos or trust seals
Before and after images
Numerical reviews and ratings

Locate Cracks in Your Sales Funnel

If you aren’t able to make sales like you want then try something different or try to find out the cracks in your sales funnel. Some ways to fix the cracks in your sales funnel are:

Re-visit your sales funnel- Be sure to break all the barriers at all sales funnel stages and make things effortless for customers to engage with you.
Check your initial lead response time- As per InsideSales.com, 35 to 50% of sales go to the seller that responds first. This means you have to prioritize quick responses to leads because speed wins deals!

Observe Relevant Data

Tracking your performance is very important. Setting realistic goals and then calculating your performance against those goals is the correct way to operate.

Scrutinize the relevant analytics, because it helps you to control relationships between you and your customers perfectly. Google Analytics is a really helpful tool that allows you to organize and supervise your sales efforts easily.

I hope that you have now understood the sales funnel and how it works exactly. Thank you for reading this article patiently and if you want to read more interesting articles like the one you just read, click here.

Who Is A Brand Ambassador? Everything You Need To Know

A company’s reputation shapes its position in the market and governs its accomplishments to a great extent. And it’s certainly not enough (or viable) for a company alone to put itself forth in the best possible way. It needs reliable and credible brand ‘advocates’ since personal referrals from real people resonate far better with an audience than words from the brand itself ever will. This is why they need a brand ambassador (also known as the corporate ambassador), who is a person that represents the company, advertises it, and stands in front of the brand as the embodiment of the company’s corporate identity — through words and actions.

Before diving headfirst into what a brand ambassador is, let’s first get the basics out of the way: What is branding?

Running a business means you probably have a ‘brand’ for it.

Branding, in loose words, refers to the process of putting your product forth in a positive light so that people not only see it but also choose it time and time again. According to the American Marketing Association,

A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.

Let’s say, for example; you have a clothing company. But isn’t there a myriad of companies already selling clothes? Then how are you supposed to convince people to purchase the clothes that your company sells?

By creating a brand.

A product can be copied. But a brand stays unique.

But here’s the thing, branding is not an easy topic to define, but Seth Godin, author, and entrepreneur, does it best:

A brand is a set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.

Why Is Branding Necessary?

In a study done by Princeton, psychologists found that it takes only a tenth of a second to form an impression of somebody. But branding still goes far beyond just a well-designed logo. When a company’s customer service, reputation, and advertising work well together, a brand deem itself overall healthy.

Since competition is always brutal, no matter what industry you’re part of,

Branding Assists You In:

Building trust and recognition (including reputation on social media).
Highlighting what you have to offer.
Elevating the way your business is perceived (in the market and consumers’ minds).
Providing an identity to your business.
Validating your financial value.
Supporting your advertisement (online and offline).
Generating new customers.

Branding is essential for the business because it’s what the potential customer is going to see first. But when do brand ambassadors come into play?

Who Is A Brand Ambassador?

In its simplest form, the brand ambassador definition would be ‘people with a flexible schedule who promote a product or company, both publicly and among their friends, as well as on social media on their own hours.’ A company sometimes gives a brand ambassador free products to use its products and encourages others to do the same.

product promotion — Photo by Product School on Unsplash

Usually, types of brand ambassadors are divided into these categories:

The enthusiast; who already loves your product and effectively raises an excitement in other people about your brand by airing it in their community and on their social media accounts,
The expert; who is in a position that allows people to trust their recommendations,
The peer; who is the most reliable to reach your target audience, and,
The celebrity; which is a famous, easily recognizable person.
The employee; who is obviously already part of the company’s own employees.

What Does A Brand Ambassador Do?

Being a brand ambassador means that you have certain responsibilities. Some of them are:

Positive Representation Of The Brand

Introducing people to the brand and the experience they are about to have as its customers is one of the biggest responsibilities of a successful brand ambassador. Brand ambassadors are well aware of what they want people to think about the brand they represent and then make sure that they deliver that very perception. They get across what makes the said brand unique and unforgettable while ensuring that the company’s image stays consistent. Presenting a brand positively is the sun that a brand ambassador’s planets revolve around.

Increasing Brand Awareness

While being a brand advocate, most brand ambassadors also assist in content creation — writing blogs, newsletters, and product reviews, creating shareable infographics, delivering word-of-mouth marketing as well as traditional marketing, improving SEO with user-intent related keywords — and maximizing their organic social media presence so they can develop a voice for their brand is the key to keep testing new strategies to make sure what makes the biggest impact. Additionally, brand ambassadors also stay aware of what is going around them to discuss brands online and increase brand awareness the right way with the right people.

Being A Leader

People like to be led and are always in search of new information. Hence, promoting content and brand online can be the easiest way to become an opinion leader. And social networks are the quickest ways to tell the world about yourself and tell your opinion on a matter. That also makes a brand ambassador a social media influencer. By gaining trust and building their reputation with the help of famous influencers, many brand ambassadors try to gain as much experience as possible, analyze them, and then tell the world about them by staying active on social media platforms.

Providing Feedback And Insight

Brand ambassadors are constantly listening to and engaging with their target audience on online platforms. They gather feedback on experiences with the products that their brand advertises and provide intelligence to optimize its marketing efforts. Hence, answering all questions about the brand and its products to maintain brand identity is part of a brand ambassador’s job.

Participating In Event Marketing

Brand ambassadors participate in face-to-face interactions since the people they speak to could be the company’s future clients. In fact, it’s a major part of their job to build relationships. Event marketing gives one the power to engage with buyers directly. Aside from helping brand ambassadors build brand presence (before, during, and after) at the event, it can generate leads, pipeline value, new opportunities, and more sales.

Other responsibilities of a brand ambassador could also include –

discussing strategy with management to best increase sales in the market,
visiting retail locations to spread knowledge,
recording concerns and feedback from customers and staff,
learning the lineup of the season’s products,
scheduling time with store management to discuss the impact of their product on the business,
posting about a new product on their social media networks,
distributing marketing materials,
wearing branded uniforms/other clothing items,
providing samples in stores,
being trustworthy,
not focusing too much on sales but authenticity.

networking — Image by ar130405 from Pixabay

How To Become a Brand Ambassador?

From the company’s own employees to popular celebrities, anyone with the required skill can be a brand ambassador. The standard level of education needed to be a brand ambassador is a high school diploma. Still, there are various job listings where companies try to find brand ambassadors that are in the middle of finishing their degree. Other general qualifications needed to fill the position of a brand ambassador require one to be friendly, charismatic, energetic and holding the potential to connect with their peers. Since they are close-knit with their campus communities, College students are very fitting candidates for most brand ambassador programs.

When written step-by-step, the process to become a brand ambassador would look something like this:

Researching the companies you are considering is always a good start. Look for brands that represent your interests well, or try to go for a brand that creates content you already produce. Going through a company’s social media posts is always the easiest place to start with. Also, research events happening in your area.
Having high interaction on your social media can make you more attractive to brands as a potential ambassador. Building engagement is a great way to advertise yourself, so consider commenting on well-known pages or blogs, as well as responding to the messages and comments you receive.
Create social media content that reflects a cohesive tone and set of interests. Most companies look for potential ambassadors who reflect a certain vibe to represent them.
Build a good online following to allow people to keep up with your in-person activities.
Make connections with other influencers to increase your own social media site following.
Start reaching out to companies you are interested in promoting, and make sure they hire brand ambassadors.

The basic demand for being a brand ambassador usually includes previous retail or training experience, willingness to travel to multiple locations, an outgoing personality with love for helping people, and excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Brand Ambassador Program

To keep the relationships with your brand ambassadors running smoothly, it’s best to create brand ambassador programs. Companies that set up a brand ambassador program are usually confident in their services, have a happy customer base, have the resources required to create strong marketing campaigns, and are active on social media. Plus, starting a brand ambassador program is cost-effective since the payments are based on results, which means that you only incur costs after you meet a certain goal.

Being in a highly competitive industry or targeting a niche audience can often benefit from an ambassador program.

Whether you want to keep your circle of brand ambassadors relatively small with only a few members or form an entire army that can promote your brand far more intensely is something you need to decide on before you work on the rest. Either way, it’s going to require a lot of your time and energy, as well as a lot of dedication. Therefore you need a clear map of what you’ll be getting out of the brand ambassador program before getting it started.

So that’s your first step: Don’t start a brand ambassador program ‘just because.’ Define the goals of your brand ambassador program, and know your end-game beforehand. Knowing these demographics can make it easier to identify brand ambassadors who can help you reach your goals.

The next step would include establishing your criteria. Different brands have different requirements for their brand ambassadors. Before reaching out, consider taking note of the following:

How much has this person engaged with your brand in the past?
How passionate about it are they?
How long have they been a customer?
What does the follower count on their social media look like?
How would you rate their social media interaction?

After settling all of that comes the policies and guidelines you want to set for the brand ambassador program. Since ambassadors reflect your brand, you’re supposed to review their presence on social media to ensure that their ideas go hand in hand with your own. Additionally, making sure that they maintain their own personal voice, don’t needlessly trash competitors, and promote the right products/hashtags also gets covered under this part of starting a brand ambassador program.

It goes without saying that working with a brand ambassador will be a long-term relationship after getting through the brand ambassador program. Don’t forget to give out freebies, financial compensations, as well as shout-outs to these brand ambassadors on your own account, so they remember what’s in it for them as long as they work for you.

Lastly, but most importantly, track your progress. You need to assess what’s going on as your brand ambassador programs grow.

Why Do You Need Brand Ambassadors?

In today’s digital and online marketing work, brand ambassadors can be seen as an essential element to your team. They fulfill the human aspect of your business and provide the genial voice that your company needs.

Brands hire ambassadors to help raise product awareness for the company and greatly assist the brand in question in boosting sales. Their job description promotes your brand and helps defend it — calming situations surrounding any negative attention your company and talking in a positive light.

It doesn’t always have to be a celebrity. They should only market your company and help consumers decide to know more about your product.

To understand more about business, check out another article by us: Understanding Operating Capital: How Do You Safeguard Your Business?

Integrated Marketing Communication: 10 Great Examples

Before proceeding with Integrated Marketing Communications, let me give you a small brief about Marketing. What is Marketing?

Marketing is the procedure of planning and executing activities of promotion, pricing, and distribution of goods and services or ideas to create an exchange that satisfies organizational and personal goals. In today’s world, Marketing has a huge role in every organization, and it is considered a substantial career option by people.

Introduction: Integrated Marketing Communication

In simple words, Integrated Marketing Communications means integrating various promotional elements and marketing activities to promote a particular product/service effectively among end-users. Other levels of integration are vertical, horizontal, external, internal, and data integration.

In all the business functions and marketing mixes, there is Horizontal integration. Encouraging the staff and keeping them informed over any new progress is Internal integration. The assistance of communication and marketing objectives to the high-level corporate objectives and missions is Vertical integration.

Collecting important data that is shared across various divisions is Data integration. External integration brings partners from outside the company, such as a Marketing and Public relations agency, to work together to form an integrated message.

What is Integrated Marketing Communications?

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) refers to carefully integrating and coordinating all the methods of brand promotion of a company to deliver a clear and consistent message to its customers.

In IMC, there is an added value of a comprehensive plan that analyzes the strategic roles of– Sales Promotion, Public Relations, Advertising, Social Media, Direct response and combines these principles to provide consistency, clarity, and maximum communications impact.

Its main objective is to ensure that all aspects of marketing communication collaborate for higher sales and maximum cost-effectiveness. Also, it enables a company to convey the correct message to customers at the correct place and correct time.

What is Integrated Marketing?

Integrated marketing is a marketing approach that joins all marketing channels to make them a unified force. This approach creates a more unified and seamless experience for customers.

This means that all marketing efforts, be it on the internet, T.V or billboards, should have a similar style that will connect them to that company. Companies ensure that via this method, all communication with customers is consistent across different platforms.

IMC Tools

IMC tools are various marketing tools such as online marketing, advertising, public relation activities, sales campaigns, direct marketing to promote brands so that the same message gets to a wider audience. Promotional tools are more productive when they work together rather than in isolation.

Let me take you through the Integrated Marketing Communications tools:

1 . Advertising

Advertising is paid and one of the most effective communication tools because it reaches a wider audience immediately. Billboards, radio, television, print media are various ways of advertising to increase sales and create brand awareness among customers.

2 . Sales Promotion

Sales promotions are short-term incentives like free samples, discount coupons, special schemes, membership cards given to consumers to increase sales. It gives customers a reason to buy the product/service.

3 . Direct Marketing

Direct Marketing is the oldest form of communication that allows organizations to communicate directly with their customers. Various tools are telephone, fax, text messages, emails, catalog, and brochures.

4 . Personal Selling

Personal selling is face-to-face communication with customers to publicize the product/service and convince the customer to purchase the product.

It is an important and effective IMC tool as the biggest advantages are that the message can be customized as per the buyer’s needs, issues can be resolved on the spot, and it helps build a long-term relationship with the buyer.

5 . Public Relations

Public relations is the policy of maintaining a relationship between an organization and the public. PR activities help in brand promotion through press releases, event sponsorships, news, and public appearances.

People share their feedback with the organization, and hence it is two-way communication.

6 . Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing means sending text messages to customers on their mobile phones. It is a cheap and traditional marketing strategy for promoting a particular brand.

7 . Social Media Marketing

It is a cost-effective and powerful way of brand promotion through various social media channels. Companies manage to get loads of attention on social media platforms and interact with customers when browsing the internet.

8 . Event Sponsorships

Sponsorships improve the visibility of a company and create brand loyalty, also helps in differentiating the product from competitors.

Top 10 Examples of IMC:

Let us now have a look at the top ten Integrated Marketing Communications examples.

1 . Domino’s AnyWare

Domino’s is a pizza restaurant chain that established the AnyWare campaign. This campaign allows people to order pizzas in more suitable ways by ordering with a text, tweet, smart televisions, and smartwatches.

Domino’s established Pizza Profiles which save customers’ payment information, Easy order, and address just two years before the AnyWare campaign. In Easy Order, a customer’s dearest food order is saved along with the preferred payment method, chosen store, and order type (delivery or carryout).

To attract customers to AnyWare.Dominos.com, where they can order pizzas in unique ways, Domino’s arranged a national television campaign, press releases, and online marketing.

The result of all the marketing efforts put by Domino’s was that the site got 5,00,000 more visits and generated 10.5% annual sales growth.

2 . GoPro: Be a Hero

One of the most impactful examples in top integrated marketing communication campaigns is GoPro: Be a Hero campaign. GoPro, the video camera brand, has mastered the use of online content to grab its target audiences’ attention.

GoPro has a YouTube channel where it has uploaded videos of high-quality, mini action cam including unique, thrilling, and beautiful shots taken by users and by the company itself to reach its target audience.

They have plenty of follows and likes on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and have used the platforms to catch people’s attention by posting visually stimulating videos taken with the cameras.

GoPro looked to create content to expand its target market by capturing a larger audience like professional athletes, tourists, photographers, hikers, and many others. The Be a Hero campaign appealed to the audience’s emotions, and that’s the reason it succeeded.

3 . Always #LikeAGirl

Always is a feminine care brand that wanted to target the next generation of customers. The company saw a chance to support girls as they transition from Puberty to young women.

This idea was very successful because of the problem it tackled and was interesting for their primary target audience, i.e., teenage girls, and their whole target market of women. Always found out that close to half of the world identified their campaign and their brand.

They thought of Social media as the right path to make the campaign go viral and introduced #LikeAGirl to co-create the message that the company is trying to spread. This campaign went viral like nothing else and resulted in the company’s growth and considerable global awareness.

4 . Volkswagen: Think Small

Volkswagen’s integrated marketing campaign in the 1960s changed people’s perception of the brand and drove sales through honesty. The Company was against a challenge to increase car sales in the United States of America even after 15 years of World War 2.

It was difficult to sell German products in the USA market at those times, and on top of it, the car was much smaller in size than the other cars or what the buyers used to purchase.

The company embraced the fact and used the small size of the cars to its advantage by starting a campaign that conveys a message to the audience to Think Small.

Its longevity marks the success of this campaign as it ran in popular magazines and newspapers across the country for years. After being triumphant in print, the integrated approach was used with the campaign in TV ads, posters, and radio to great success.

5 . Apple: Get a Mac

The series of 66 television ads featured comedy actors representing the two computer brands, PC and Mac (by Apple). This ad aimed to convince people to switch from a famous and reliable brand, PC, to Mac’s lesser-known competitor.

The Ad was funny and competitive, which described Apple as a good guy who always used to tell PC not to be so harsh on himself. The campaign penetrated popular culture almost straight away because it was superbly executed.

By being a part of cultural discussion, Apple secured its fate with the younger generation who were already well-informed of the brand due to iTunes and iPod. There was a growth of 12% in Mac sales right after the first few commercials were aired.

6 . Old Spice – The Man, Your Man, Could Smell Like

Old Spice aimed to build a campaign that would fascinate both men and women. In 2010, two of their ads were aired, but the real victory was found on social media.

It was noticed by the company’s creative unit that the ad was becoming famous online, and they followed the TV ads with an interactive video campaign. The customers’ reactions were stunning as the videos received more than 11 million views, 30000+ Facebook fans, and 55,000+ new Twitter followers.

7 . Southwest Airlines Transfarency

An Airlines company named Southwest Airlines had launched an integrated marketing strategy called Transfarency. The company uses T.V, print media, radio, and digital assets to inform customers about paying for things like flight changes, checked bags, snacks and drinks.

For this campaign, the company has made a microsite that displays the importance customers will receive by choosing Southwest airlines over other airlines. The site has fun and informational content like-

A Fee or Fake game checks customers’ understanding of unforeseen fees they will encounter when travelling with other airlines.
A #FeesDontFly compares Southwest and others like United Airlines, American Airlines, Spirit Airlines, etc.

It’s great to watch a big company like Southwest Airlines use a sense of humour to differentiate itself from its competitors.

8 . The Martian Movie Prologue

Films about Mars had suffered negative box office results before the release of The Martian. Some failed movies about Mars are Disney’s John Carter, and the animated Mars needs Moms.

The prologue campaign for The Martian decided to reverse the box office misery through integrated marketing strategies, and its goal was to bring the movie to life.

The marketing managers had to partner with various organizations like GoPro, National Geographic, Under Armour, NASA, Microsoft on a multi-platform narrative to achieve this goal. The marketing efforts included social media channels and celebrity endorsements to maintain enthusiasm.

The Martian opened at the No. 1 position at the box office in the USA, and the videos, apart from the trailers, received more than 20 million views, and the campaign was honoured with several awards. The movie was loved by people and earned more than $600 million worldwide.

9 . Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty

An Integrated Marketing campaign is successful when it sparks conversations and draws attention, and in 2004, Dove’s campaign for Real beauty did just that exactly. The company used a series of billboards across Canada and London that featured pictures of different women to start the campaign.

The advertisement asked the passers-by questions about the ladies, like whether these ladies were Fat or Fit or Wrinkled or Wonderful. Dove prompted people to talk about female beauty with these bold questions.

The Ad was featured on billboards, but through smart marketing, Dove successfully made people discuss the brand message on social media platforms. This helped the campaign to go viral and to trend.

Annual sales of Dove products increased from $2.5 billion to $4 billion due to this superb campaign. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty was a financial success, and it was also unorthodox, which celebrated women of all shapes and sizes.

10 . The New York Times: The Truth Is Hard

In 2018, New York Times, a popular newspaper company, was struggling. They had a decrease in total subscriptions, and people were losing trust in their news, so the company had to figure out ways to regain the public’s trust.

They came up with the campaign Truth is Hard, a prominent example of an integrated marketing communications plan. The campaign’s goal was to offer transparency to the citizens, and it had a clear story to prompt people to learn more about the issues at hand.

In the same year, they released a short film that displays the clarity of the newsprint. This film was appealing to viewers who felt challenged and realized what truth meant to them. The campaign also showed what journalists endure to deliver accurate coverage to the public.

The New York Times then launched paid campaigns on social media, and due to this, the message reached the whole world. All this resulted in The Times’ skyrocketing subscriptions, and its subscriber base went up by 100%.

I hope this article was helpful and fun-reading to you. Thank you for your time. If you want to read more of our articles, click here.

11 Interesting Legit Online Jobs You Can Find on Internet – bit copied

Are you looking for legit online jobs? Also, the one that will be a full-time income job, working from home rather than something that’s only going to help you make money for a short period?

It is necessary while considering today’s Coronavirus situation because businesses all across the globe have shut down their offices and adapted the remote mode of work. As per Time Magazine, COVID led the “world’s largest work from the home experiment.

Earlier, most people didn’t encourage the work-from-home concept because it wasn’t profitable at all. According to the time, there are many opportunities for people to earn money from home as various legit online jobs are available.

In 2020, the improvement in technology and the emergence of large-scale social media usage ushered in a new wave of legitimate online jobs.

11 best legit online jobs you can find on the internet

The top 11 legit online jobs have the ideal mix of large-scale demand, a low supply of talented individuals,s and the potential to start earning fast.

1) Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant is a person who offers support services to a business from a remote mode or location. Administrative tasks are generally common for virtual assistants, but they can also be related to any other elements required by the business.

Virtual assistants are in demand by Traders and Online businesses that need help but don’t want to spend money on office space for staff.

This is a good option if you are looking for legit online jobs. However, many small businesses use virtual support, especially for specific tasks such as social media management. These people work as remote executive assistants doing some particular tasks.

Following are the common tasks carried out by Virtual assistants, including answering emails, scheduling appointments, or booking travel.

Some assistants take on multiple agents simultaneously, allowing them to earn over five figures a year from home.
Average pay: $15 to $40 per hour approx

Benefit: The more systematic and efficient you become, the more clients or customers you can add.

Disadvantage: Mostly business people would want you to work only for certain hours of the day.

2) Photography

If you are looking for legit online jobs and your photography skills are amazing, you have plenty of online jobs for photographers and image buffs. You can take awesome photos of anything, and there are good chances that you can sell them to online image sellers and create a niche side income online.

It is an easy task with smartphones and digital photography technology today, and anyone can take and sell photos. Many websites, blogs, and even social media need images and photographs to engage and attract their audience, so they are willing to pay for great shots.

It doesn’t matter whether you are taking pictures of natural attractions in your area or focusing on staged shots. There is supposed to be a buyer out there who wants to use your photograph and is willing to pay for it. Therefore, it can prove to be one of the best legit online jobs.

Average pay: 10 to 40 cents per image approx

Benefit: Many of us have it as a hobby, which can be turned into a profession.

Disadvantage: It takes time to build up your stock of photos for sale.

3) Freelance Writing

If you are good at writing and looking for a legit online job, you can earn a high income as a freelance writer. You can work in a niche that you enjoy and understand while making (from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars per article.)

A freelancer can be described as a self-employed person who provides services, usually to multiple clients at a time.

As a freelance writer, if you want to increase your earning capacity, you should try working directly with businesses and finding online clients. Regarding freelance writing, you write online content for blogs, magazines, and online businesses, etc.

There are a variety of legit online jobs available in the field of freelance writing. To search for customers, try engaging with online businesses to inquire if they need any content.

Talk and engage with their social media contacts online, and reach out to site editors to look if they have any vacancies.

Apart from that, you can try having your website post your written content in the niche because this is a great way to find new customers. They can see your writing’s standard or quality, which leads you to the top paying online jobs.

Average pay: $10 to $35 per hour approx

Benefit: In the contemporary world, the growth of online publishing is increasing, and because of this, there is a huge demand for freelance writers.

Disadvantage: One should have some experience

4) Bookkeeping

Are you looking for legit online jobs to work from home? If you have a head for figures and especially if you know accounts or have financial planning experience, you can earn money by helping individuals or other businesses with bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is a major task for ensuring that a company runs smoothly and will survive in the future.

Market your services to entrepreneurs to help them manage their finances. Find customers by searching local works in your locality or joining social media such as Facebook groups to promote your services.

One can make a lot of money if they are interested in numbers and do legit online jobs. There are a lot of opportunities available in this field. It doesn’t require any certification.

Average pay: $20 to $50 per hour approx

Benefits: You will work with customers on an attendant or retainer basis, which offers you a steady income base.

Disadvantage: Atleast need basic training for the first customer.

5) Translator

If you are looking for suitable legit online jobs, then becoming a translator is the best option. A translator converts the written word from one language to another without losing the literal meaning.

It doesn’t matter which country you are in. Being a translator is always fruitful. So, one can use translation online earning sites to make more money from home.

The best thing is that one doesn’t require a degree (although having a bachelor’s degree helps), but the most important requirement is fluency in at least 2 languages.

One can easily look for hundreds of projects related to transcriptions to make money online. Not only that, the approx national wage in this field was around $46,000 in 2016, although the top 10% of workers earned an average of $83,000.

There are sites available like LinkedIn and Freelancer, which can help you find legit online jobs. Everything depends on the languages you are an expert in and how effectively you can translate from one language to another.

Average pay:$5 to$50 per page approx

Benefits: It is very convenient and easy if you are fluent in any two languages.

Disadvantage: It can be very time-consuming, and at the same time, is a slow process to make money.

6) Online Tutoring

In India, during this pandemic, the high-growth business industry right now is online education. Apart from that, one of the fastest-growing niches within online education is online tutoring jobs.

There are a lot of legit online jobs available in the field of education. If you enjoy helping others learn, your knowledge can be put to good use through online tutoring.

You don’t require any qualifications if you are good at that particular subject. Platforms such as Udemy are a great place to sell your course.

Average pay: $20 per hour approx

Benefits: There is a chance to start earning in as little as a few weeks.

Disadvantage: Limited upside.

7) Medical Transcription

If you are looking for legit online jobs, being a Medical transcription is one of the best options. Even though many medical transcriptionists work at hospitals or physician’s offices, most can work from home or at a time or place according to their wish.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report: Medical transcriptionists earned a national median wage of $34,770 in May of 2018 or $16.72 an hour even after being self-employed.

They usually edit medical transcriptions for local healthcare providers. The most important thing regarding this is that medical transcription requires a certification. With the medical transcription certification approved by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity, you can prepare yourself to land an online job as a transcriptionist in an industry that’s hungry for qualified talent.

Average pay:$10 to $25 per hour approx

Benefits: It is a steady source of income

Disadvantages: One needs a high startup cost to earn a credential.

8) Travel agent

One should believe that travel agents are still in demand, and there are many opportunities present in this field if you are looking for legit online jobs. It just depends on finding the right niche. This is a good business for you if you have personal or professional travel experience because you can offer your clients insights they can’t get from a website.

Travel agents are in charge of helping individuals, groups, and business travelers plan and organize their travel schedules, purchase tour packages, and book flights and hotels. A travel agent also plans trips and offers advice on destinations.

We all know that job prospects can be best for travel agents who offer expertise in certain areas of the world, have experience in planning tours, or focus on group travel. So, if you have experience in traveling, there are various legit online jobs available in that field.

Average pay: It depends on the cost

Benefits: It is a way to earn more money for those who love to travel.

Disadvantage: Income can vary, as travel tends to rise at certain times of the year.

9) Social media marketing

Use social media platforms to connect with your audience to build your brand or increase sales and drive website traffic. This involves publishing great content on your social media profiles, engaging your followers, evaluating results, and running social media advertisements. This is an excellent option when you are finding legit online jobs.

The prime social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat.
Generally, what happens is that many company owners don’t have the time to make consistent updates to their social media platforms or to respond to customer requests and answers made through social media.
That is why companies nowadays hire social media managers for media marketing.

As long as you can post accurately and manage content on social media channels, you can take on customers and begin your job. So, what are you waiting for? Search for legit online jobs in the field of social media marketing.

Average pay: $20 to $100 per hour approx

Benefits: They work on a retainer basis.

Disadvantages: Limited upside

10) Data entry

Data entry may not be one of the exciting legit online jobs, but it can offer you to earn $15 to $20 per hour. Data entry is a legit online job that does pay less than some of the others we’ve listed, but it can provide you to make a decent side income.

These jobs tend to be highly flexible, which provides you to work in your spare time. You can opt to work as much as you can or as little as you need according to your schedule.
There are various platforms like Capital typing, which allow you to find online data entry jobs. Most of these generally require setting up a basic profile and confirming a few details before you start earning. This is one of the best legit online jobs.

Benefits: It is a very convenient task to do.

Disadvantage: Less earning.

11) Graphic Design

If you are an artist, graphic design is a great way to monetize your hobby to turn your passion into money. This is one of the most creative legit online jobs available. The web is becoming more and more visual, especially as mobile devices have become the supreme browsing method.

The highest-paid graphic designers compile multiple skills into their designs. Knowledge in branding or sales can help – graphic designers to charge over $150 per hour. Choose this among all the legit online jobs if you want something creative.

Average pay: $150 per hour approx

Benefits: One can work in flexible hours

Disadvantage: It needs certain kinds of certifications.

Overall, we can say that the internet has made it much easier to make money from home nowadays. Many people are just looking for legit online jobs and opportunities to make a little money here and there by taking online surveys. Whether your goal is to work full-time, part-time, or run your own business, there’s no shortage of work-at-home jobs. So, it is time to get ready and get started today. Take at least one action and give a fresh start to your career.

Are You Ready to Start a Business? 11 Tips You Should Follow

Are you ready to start a business?

Starting a business is no child’s play as it takes a lot of effort and time. Before starting a business, you have to undergo various steps such as planning, decision making, market research, and legalities. So now, are you ready to start a business?

Undoubtedly the idea of entrepreneurship seems fascinating to many people, but when you take to start a business, it can be overwhelming. Each business is different, in various terms, from one another. Still, every business requires enough hard work from you to be successful, and that’s why the question of ‘Are you ready to start a business always comes to mind in the beginning.

All the industries work differently, but it takes similar steps to make them successful and achieve greater heights. So, if you plan to start a business, you must be aware of some essential things.

Are You Ready to Start a Business? Here are 11 tips

1. Working on Ideas and Determining the Type of Business

Before starting a business, you must be having an idea about what you are going to sell. That is to say, you need to determine the type of business beforehand. You must decide which industry or market you want to enter and look at other existing companies for inspiration. After all the decisions, it’s finally time to decide ‘Are you ready to start a business.’

Once you are sure that you can deliver something that other companies cannot, you can take further steps.

“Always start with why,” says Simon Sinek. You don’t just need to determine the type of business; you must have a clear idea about why you want to choose that field.

Always choose a field about which you have enough knowledge. Your business must have the ability to fulfill market needs.

Many people jump into launching their business without working upon their ideas, leading to disappointment.

2. Market Research

If your answer to the question ‘Are you ready to start a business’ is yes, then it’s about time to move to the next step.

After you have decided the type of business, you must make sure that you can make money through your niche. An excellent way to do this is to conduct market research to understand the trends in the market and economic behavior.

If you do market research before starting your business, it lets you add things that add to the success of your business and eliminate the risk factors.

You can either use existing sources to know the market or research yourself by talking to the consumers. Though using current sources saves your time, the information provided by them might not be entirely accurate.

If you research yourself, it gives you a more nuanced knowledge about your industry and audience. Though it requires time and effort, the result received is more accurate and solves your business-related queries quickly.

3. Choosing a Location for Business

When you know the answer to the question ‘are you ready to start a business, you must first choose a suitable location for your business.

Picking the right location for your business also plays a vital role while starting a business. The business location determines the zoning laws, taxes, and rules and regulations that your business must abide by.

Your decision to choose a business location depends on the site of your business partners (if any), target audience, and personal preferences.

When deciding the location, it’s necessary to consider the costs, state taxes, and expenses, depending upon the location, as it makes a significant difference.

4. Business Plan and Exit Strategy

Just because your answer to the question ‘are you ready to start a business’ is yes doesn’t mean your job is done. You must have a good business plan and an exit strategy before starting a business.

Writing a Business Plan

One of the most significant steps before starting the business is to write a business plan, as it lays down the foundation of your business. A business plan is a record that covers all your business details.

A good business plan gives the guide you need through all the stages of starting, managing, and making your business successful. Moreover, it helps you get funds, brings new business partners, and convinces other business owners to believe and invest in your industry.

No right or wrong format is there to make a business plan. It just requires you to meet your needs. Your business plan should include all the necessary details about your business, such as a description of your company and product, ways of management, sales strategy, marketing plans, financial plans, and a summary of everything regarding your business.

Exit strategy

It’s always a great idea to keep the future in mind. Whenever you start a business, plan the exit strategy, making you a good entrepreneur. An ideal business owner holds both success and failure in mind.

Whenever you enter something, you get to know where you are supposed to exit from. Just like that, you must be knowing beforehand what your strategy would be if you don’t get successful.

5. Business Structure

While answering the question ‘are you ready to start a business, you must answer one more problem regarding the business structure.

Before starting a business, you must decide the business structure. It influences everything in your business (be it the day-to-day operations, risk factors, or taxes you pay). Always choose the business structure that suits your business.

You can even convert into a different business structure in the future, but you may face restrictions based upon your location. Some common business structures that you can choose from are:

Sole proprietorship: This means that there will be a single owner of the business. It is easy to form, and you have full control over your business under this structure. But, you will be the one liable for the risks simultaneously. This implies that your business assets and liabilities are not different from your investments.

Partnership: This business structure has two or more owners of the business. It is of two types, i.e., limited and limited liability. Limited partnership businesses have one partner with unlimited liability and other partners with limited liability.

On the other hand, the Limited liability partnership has all the partners with limited liability.

Limited liability company: This one has the benefits of both the corporation and partnership business structure as it provides legal protection of a corporation and at the same time allows tax benefits of a partnership. It is one of the most common structures for small businesses. LLC can be the right choice for a medium or high-risk business.

6. Funds and Expenses for Business

Say yes to the question, ‘are you ready to start a business when you have enough funds to bear the expenses.

You need money to start a business, and funding your business is one of the essential things before launching your company. You need to decide whether you have enough means to cover the costs and support your business or do you need to borrow or find investors.

If your business runs out of money before making a profit, your business will fail—the funds you have affect the determination of the company’s structure.

Self-funding

You can self-fund your business if you have the required amount of money. You can even ask for help from your friends or family.

You get complete control over your business when you do self-funding, but you have risks too.

Loans

If you don’t want to share the ownership and control over your business, but at the same time, you are not able to self-fund your business, you can take a small business loan from the bank.

To secure the loan, you must have a business plan and financial projections ready so that the bank knows that they can believe in you and sanction your loan.

Investors

When you cannot self-fund all your business, you can get funding from venture capital investments from investors. In return, venture capital generally offers an ownership share and an active role in the industry.

We are aware that everything has a price. If you need investors to invest in your business, be ready to share control and ownership of your business with the investors.

To get funding from investors, you first need to find interested investors, share your business plan with them, and discuss all the terms and conditions. Only after they know and believe in your company will they invest in your business.

Crowdfunders

This is yet another way to get funds for your business. If you do not want to share the ownership and control over your interaction with others, this is an excellent way to help you. Crowdfunding means raising funds for a business from many people (called Crowdfunders).

They are not investors as they don’t receive share or control over your business. Crowdfunders don’t expect financial returns on their money as well. They expect a ‘gift’ from your company to return their contribution. You can either give them the product you will sell as a gift or give them their due credits.

Crowdfunding has a low risk for the business owners as you are not obliged to repay the crowd funders if your business fails.

While funding your business, keep in mind one thing that you must not overspend money when you are just starting your business. Make only those necessary purchases for the business and enough to help you achieve your business goals.

Keep a record of your expenses while starting your business as you don’t want to regret and incur a massive loss if your business fails.

7. Business Name and Registration

Are you ready to start a business? If yes, be prepared to give it a good name and register the company.

After you are done with all the planning and funding, it’s time to decide on a name for your business. Every one wants a business name that reflects your brand and is different from others.

After you choose the business name, you need to register it, and there are four different ways to register the business name to protect it:

Trademark: It protects your business’ name, goods, and services at the national level.
Entity Name: This protects the name of your business at the state level. Your entity name is the way the state identifies your business.
DBA: Doing business as DBA doesn’t provide any protection, but it might be legally required in a few states.

Domain Name: Everyone wants an online presence of their business nowadays. Your domain name must be registered so that no one can use it as long as you are using it.

After you choose a business name, get your business registered. The registration of your business depends upon your business location and structure. If you have a small business, the registration process is as easy as writing the business name.

On the other hand, there’s no need to register your business at all in some cases. If you plan to conduct your business as yourself, using your legal name, then there’s no need to register it.

8. Open a Business Bank Account and Get a Tax ID

Are you ready to start a business? Well, then be prepared to open a bank account and get your tax ID.

Once you are done registering your business, apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) straightaway, as it’s free of charge. Your EIN is your federal tax ID. It’s mandatory for your business if you need to hire employees, pay taxes, open a bank account, work with certain types of organizations, and apply for licenses and permits for your business.

When you are ready to accept and make payments, open a business account as it helps you stay legally protected. Business accounts generally include savings accounts, checking accounts, credit card accounts, and merchant services accounts.

You can open a business account after you get your federal EIN. Choose the right bank to open your business account in. Opening a business account is easy as you need the required documents.

9. License and Permits

If you can perceive the answer to the question ‘are you ready to start a business, then be prepared to get all the required licenses and permits as well.

After your business registration, you need to apply for all the necessary licenses and permits. Most of the small businesses require licenses from both federal and state agencies.

All the requirements and fees for getting a license and permits vary based on your location, business type, and rules. You need to get a federal license or permit if a federal agency regulates business activities.

Not only this, you need to get state licenses, as states regulate more activities than the federal government. The state licenses and permits vary in every state based on the rules and regulations of the state concerned.

10. Insurance

Are you ready to start a business? If yes, then start finding measures to protect it from risks.

Many people ignore this step while starting a business, but purchasing an insurance policy for your business is essential. Whenever you start a business, there’s always a risk of expected and unexpected damages (be it theft, property damage, or some natural calamity).

If you initially buy a suitable insurance policy for your business, you’ll be protected appropriately. You should always choose the right approach for the type of business you start.

11. Build your Team, Launch your Business and First Product and Market your Business

When you say yes to the question ‘are you ready to start a business, then be prepared to build a good team for the success of that business.

Building a good team for your company is one of the most critical factors that determine the business’s success. Unless you plan to run the business all by yourself, you need to hire talented and efficient employees and workers for your business.

After you have a team, you are finally ready to launch your business and serve the target audience. You can keep hiring more people after the launch, according to the needs of your business.

After the final launch of your business, you need to launch your first product and make it available to your audience. We all know the saying, ‘First impression is the last impression.’ Ensure that the first product of your business is powerful enough to attract more clients to your business. Always keep consistency in the quality of your product.

Before selling your product, you need to brand yourself and market your business and product. Create a logo so that people can identify your brand and use the same logo across all the platforms.

To market your business, you need to spend money on advertisements. Make sure that you don’t spend much. A good marketing plan must be present to advertise your business and attract an audience.

So, now that you know how to start a business successfully. Are you ready to start a business? It might seem a bit challenging initially, but everything takes effort, and to start a business, it requires a lot of hard work, knowledge, and dedication.

Remember that it’s okay to make mistakes initially as we learn from those mistakes so that we don’t repeat them in the future. You may face a few obstacles in your way, but it’s all about how you handle things while starting your own business. Just make sure that your answer to the question ‘are you ready to start a business‘ is yes, and then follow all the steps given in this guide.

5 Best Fields to Freelance in

If you want flexible work hours or give a shot at building a career that involves working from home, freelancing may be a great choice for you. Here is a look at the five best fields to freelance in:

1. Marketing:

This field can easily bring you anywhere between $46 and $52 per hour. You will be responsible for creating customer experience strategies for brands and companies, and also utilise social media for the same. You will only get better more time, and your payment will also rise accordingly.

2. Recruitment:

If you have an eye for spotting new talent, this is the job for you. Many companies look for freelancers to help them with the recruiting process and this brings in an average of $46 per hour.

3. Writer:

You can specialise in different fields- technical writing, content writing, editing and proofreading. A freelance writer can earn about $55 per hour. The pay generally varies from assignment to assignment, but the more experience you gain the better chances you have of landing high-paying writing jobs. Writing is an art that you can master if you devote yourself to it.

4. Translation:

Do you know two or more languages? Then you can try your hand in translating content from one language to another, and earn between $25 and $40 per hour. Publishing houses look for good translators and offer good payment for work well done.

5. Programmer:

If you have programming skills, you can try this field. You can earn up to $60 per hour. The world of computers is a developing one and you need to really know what you are doing.

Freelancing is not a way to slack. It can be as difficult as working a full-time job. So think carefully before you choose which field to step in.

Understanding Operating Capital: How Do You Safeguard Your Business?

Does your business have enough cash flow? Operating Capital (Working Capital) is the cash that a business has for daily operations within a period of time. Every business depends on this as having no cash is ultimately a big reason as to why businesses fail. Whether a business is small or large, a lack of cash can be a huge problem for them and, therefore, cash management and planning for future cash flow is a key factor in the continued existence of a business. The success of a business can be measured by how well they manage cash on a daily basis.

This explanation is easy enough to understand but putting it into action can be quite complex. Cash is not a constant factor and will change frequently day by day, therefore, managing it can be a tiring ordeal.

Working or Operating Capital can be found by getting the total Current Assets available and deducting the total Current Liabilities from it. Current Assets are the assets available to the business that can be converted to cash within that year, example, Debtors, Inventory and Prepaid Expenses. Current Liabilities, on the other hand, are the liabilities that are due within that year, example, Creditors, Short Term Loans and Accrued Expenses.

Working capital is classified as one of the most important assets of any business and they use a multitude of ways to monitor and keep the cash flowing. As a new or small business, initially working capital will come in the form of investors. This could be from angel investors, friends & family, savings or venture capital. More seasoned businesses have other venues to choose from such as bank loans or becoming a publically listed company and selling shares on the market. No matter the size of the business, they are always looking for methods to be cash flow positive so as not to affect the daily running of the company.

Let’s summarize the whole idea through an example.

Company ABC has recently noticed a significant growth in business. To keep up with this growth, they need to have more capital in hand in order to increase the production of their goods to match the current and near-future demand levels. They will first do an evaluation of their current working capacity to check if it is possible.

Current Asset value as of now

Cash in Hand – $10,000

Cheques – $5,000

Debtors – $10,000

Inventory – $5,000

Total Value = $30,000

Current Liability value as of now

Creditors – $20,000

Accrued Expenses – $5,000

Total Value = $25,000

Operating Capital = $30,000 – $25,000 = $5,000

After their evaluation, Company ABC has only $5000 in hand for the year which can be used for this expansion which is not nearly enough to match their needs. Therefore, they now have to make a decision on how to improve their current cash flow level. A short term bank loan would be the most beneficial decision right now as they need immediate cash in hand.

Benefits Of Having A Healthy Working Capital

· Working capital in hand is the backbone of smooth running in everyday business life. All future debt obligations, future expansion and sudden requirements of cash are all dependent on how well the working capital is managed in the business. Keeping a healthy level of cash, accounts receivable and liquid inventory constantly available will ensure that the business will not stutter from its path to growth. It will also give them more options as a financially secure business like being able to give out products on credit which will lead to increased sales levels. And these increased sales would need the additional stocks to be purchased which can again be satisfied if their working capital is at a healthy amount.

· The current or quick ratio that you read about earlier plays a part when it comes to lending. The reason small businesses have to depend on savings or investors is that banks or other financial institutions will not offer them a loan without proper collateral and proof that they can pay it back. The current ratio shows a value of how well a business is able to pay back their debts instantly, and so if a business is able to maintain a highly positive ratio constantly, then they will have more streams of cash flow into the business when they require it. A lot of businesses end up closing down as they run out of cash too quickly and are not able to bring in more cash to continue running. This big risk is eliminated by the proper handling of their working capital.

· Working capital is also more beneficial to certain types of businesses compared to others. Having a healthy level will give a buffer to a business in terms of businesses that operate on a seasonal basis. Example, a holiday company that relies on a couple of seasons a year to do business must find a way to continue running on the off-season days. During the times when they are busy, they must take more precaution to manage their working capital better so as to keep the daily transactions going in between that season to the next. These types of businesses can easily fail if they do not have this cash in hand.

· Having a good working capital level will also give the business an edge over its competitors in some situations. If the country that the business is operating in suddenly has a downturn, then the extra cash that the business has will allow it to survive even while those around slowly close down. Or, for example, if the business wants to make a strategic move and gain more market share, then they can lower the prices of their products below that of their competitors and use the working capital excess they have to make this happen. If these products are being sold below costs, then competitors may not be able to keep up and so the company will be able to grab that market share and grow as a whole.

The Operating Capital Cycle

This cycle shows the amount of time that the business takes to convert the Net Working Capital (Current Assets minus Current Liabilities) into cash. This will show how optimized their cash flow is and how soon they are able to make assets liquid in need of urgent cash.

A typical business would operate by using credit transactions between short periods to get their products moving. By keeping this in mind, we can see how a working capital cycle usually works during that time. Here is an example:

Company Z purchases its raw materials to manufacture their product from a supplier for credit. The supplier has given them a period of 60 days to pay them back. (Accounts Payable)

The company then manufactures its product using these materials within the next 50 days and are then able to sell it during that time, also on credit (Inventory Outstanding). Therefore, there will be a certain period of time before they receive cash for their products. In this case, it will usually take 20 days. (Accounts Receivable)

Thus, we have three values here that we use to add on to the operating capital cycle formula:

Operating Capital Cycle = Inventory Days + Accounts Receivable Days – Accounts Payable Days

Operating Capital Cycle = 50 + 20 – 60 = 10 days

The above value means that the company will be out of cash from that transaction for 10 days before they get it back.

Now, this is just an example that we used where we assume that the company only has one supplier and will only make one transaction during that period, but in reality, they will have multiple transactions happening concurrently which will make it harder for them to keep track of all of them. This cycle will allow them to have a general understanding of how fast cash is going out and coming into the business.

The working capital cycle value can have both a positive and negative value. The positive value, as shown above, means that the business will have to wait for a while once they have sold off their goods in order to pay back their bills. However, there can be instances where the opposite happens and that is when the cycle has a negative value.

A good way to understand this is by taking another typical business example. Above, we assumed that the business will sell off their products to the customers in the form of credit so there is a waiting period before they get their cash back. However, let’s assume that the business will do credit transactions with their suppliers and only cash suppliers with their customers.

In this way, the accounts receivable days will reduce to zero. So using the same example above, let’s calculate the working capital cycle again:

Operating Capital Cycle = 50 + 0 – 60 = – 10 days

The value has now dropped to a negative which means that the business will already have the cash in hand ready to pay their suppliers before the date that they were due to pay it off.

Improving your Working Capital

Now that we know just how important operating capital is to a business, we can identify ways to how they can improve and manage it in the long-term. Not all businesses that are profitable may be managing working capital well. It depends on the business cycle that the company goes through. This can depend on if the business is a seasonal business, has a high debtor day ratio, and more.

The first thing that the business must identify is their cycle. Once they know the period of cash inflows and outflows in the business, they can make a plan to improve it. Certain businesses need a cash buffer to keep running whereas others may need a lot of cash on hand all the time to manage their daily transactions.

One way of improving the working capital value is by reducing the overall use of the working capital as a whole. This means reducing the amounts spent or optimizing how effectively cash is spent in the business. There are a few ways this may be done:

1. Over-trading

We all know that the more a business receives demand, the better off they are. However, if the business is operating on credit and the payments take quite a bit of time to come back to them, then sudden increases in order quantities may not be good in the long-term.

By increasing production, the business is also increasing its overhead costs, which means that the business will face a much higher cash loss until the time that the customer pays the amount back. This makes the business vulnerable during that time due to the lack of cash. So, they have to be careful when it comes to increasing supply or production and should make sure that they have sufficient cash to run in the future. (At least a 3-month buffer).

2. Reduce inventory costs

Optimizing the way they purchase raw materials and improving their production capabilities will reduce their costs in the long run and ultimately lead to higher cash inflows.

3. Reduce constant cash withdrawals for personal use.

4. Purchasing fixed assets from the daily transaction value should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Finance should be set aside separately for these purchases.

By checking the financial health of the business by using the ratios shown above and forecasting cash flows for the future, the business can see how well they are doing at the moment as well what necessary steps they’ll have to make for the future.

And as we spoke about before, reducing the working capital cycle by improving the average debtor days and maintaining good credit scores with their suppliers, can improve the working capital levels of the business to best support them in the long run.

Using Instagram for Business: Get Leads, Customers and More Sales

Wondering how to rapidly grow an Instagram page?

Instagram has 300 million active users every month who like 3.5 billion photos every day. What makes Instagram a tactical business tool is the fact that it uses photos. Photos have a visual appeal and they pretty much market themselves. You do not need to create specific pushy advertisements.

The Top Instagram for Business Tips

By posting the right kind of content you can have tremendous marketing on Instagram. For instance, you can try to post Instagram story ads to gain engagement. Let us see how.

Step 1: Utilize Link in Bio

The goal, when it comes to Instagram for business, is to take people away from Instagram to a landing page, or website. It’s the internet and you need to spell it out. Adding your link in your bio doesn’t make you redundant. The link should take users to the page where they find the same posts which got them interested. They shouldn’t have to look for those all over again on your website – that just kills their interest.

99% of people use insta on phone so any traffic that you drive has to be mobile ready. Make sure that your website is optimized for a mobile platform.

Additionally, make sure that you don’t post a long url of the landing page. Use a link shortener because that will also give you the data analytics on the traffic being diverted to your website from Instagram. Every time you post something new, use a different link so that you can keep a track of traffic leads.

Step 2: Epic Content Strategy

What is Instagram for business without the right content strtategy? Post consistently on a daily basis. An average Instagram account posts at least once a day, and successful one does more than that which on average is about 2-3 posts a day. Posting more than that will saturate your followers’ feeds and turn them off. Make a schedule and post often.

The best thing to do is post during popular times. Do a little research and post during the times when people are most active so that you will optimally reach the followers. The timing of the posts needs to be very strategic especially when it comes to videos. The follower needs to be available to watch the video. For example, nobody will watch a video during their work hours.

Instagram is all about its visual appeal and the photos that you post must have a good look. There is a reason why Instagram has all those filters. Using the right ones will get you more views and engagement by making your pictures standout.

Instagram is not a direct market. If your photos have to have the appeal that will make followers stick around you will need to inject a little charm into them and you can do that by creating lifestyle photos. Use real backgrounds with your product in use.

Tools: Wordsswag, Typorama, Kik, Canva.

Look to find the best possible content.

It doesn’t hurt to stay abreast of your competition if you want to succeed with Instagram for business. INK361.COM (allows you to run scans on competitors accounts, so can find the most liked/commented. When you get the data on what has worked best for your competition, it gives you an easy insight as to what are the trends and appeal factors in your niche and you can use similar strategies instead of re-inventing the wheel.

If physical based product post photos of people utilizing product or service (for social proof). Using photos of real life people instead of models makes your approach authentic and gives your product way more credibility. Moreover, it increases brand loyalty, the person whose photos you used will himself want to market your product more. But make sure you get their permission before you use their photos.

Use a strong call to action in your bio or comments directing people to make a purchase. Be creative and inviting with your CTA. People won’t click on link in bio unless you ask them to. It’s what will help you in your Instagram for business success story.

Step 3: Hashtags for Instagram for business

Post relevant hashtags to niche or market. They are an important search tool for users to find stuff they are interested in. use relevant hashtags that include your brand name and product. Don’t make them too lengthy rendering them unreadable. You can also use hashtags of trending topics if they are relevant to your niche. Do not use more than 5 hashtags.

Get your audience engaged by using relevant hashtags that are relevant to your brand and your current campaign.

Engage with people in your target audience. Every good relationship is built on a two way communication. When users respond, so should you. Make sure you reply to their comments. If they have posted a photo of your product, thank them and like the picture. People love attention – make sure you are giving them enough.

Using the right hashtags can increase the engagement of your brand in leaps and bounds. They give you the opportunity to reach more people and for people to find you. Use tools such as Talkwalker to find out what hashtags your competition is using and monitor your campaigns. It’s going to help you in your Instagram for business journey.

Step 4: Shoutouts

Get as many people as possibly on Instagram to share your content. But for that, you will first need to have a loyal following. Create interesting content and ask people to share it. Another way to do this is by creating contests where followers stand a chance to win a goodie when they share your content or tag a friend. Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page and have users share the content so that you will have a better outreach across another social media platform as well.

Share for share (s4s) or paid influencer marketing is a strong cross-promotional tactic. Share the content posted by other players in your niche and tag them, ask them to do the same for you. It helps create brand awareness and gets you good exposure.

Another way of using paid influencer shout-outs is to ask a influencer who has a large following to promote your product or service.

S4S get people to mention you in the content. Share the content where people mention you and give the user credits for it. To get people to mention you in their content you can also host a photo contest.

Step 5: Analytics

Track the most engaged images, how fast the account is growing, and test your shoutouts. Instagram itself has tools that will give you insights about user engagement. You can get information about which demographic your followers belong to and what kind of posts seem to best resonate with them. This helps you learn the user behavior and you can come up with strategies which are more relevant. Analytics tools will tell you about engagement through demographics and based on time.

You also get to know how much you are being mentioned and track your sales. Use these tools to gain better insights, predict engagement, find influencers, see what kind of content gets most engagement and use these insights to gain an edge over your competition.

Tools:

Iconosquare.com : it is the most popular analytics tool which gives you high-level and in-depth insights about user engagement. Using this tool you can also add a Instagram tab on your facebook page for cross-channel engagement. Its embed feature allows you to showcase your photo gallery from your website.

Socialblade.com gives you complete insights on your Instagram activity like your followers, pictures you have uploaded, daily averages etc which you can use to create a strategy for growing your handle.

Minter.io : this tool gives you demographic details of your audience which you can use for growth and engagement. You can also track the growth in your target audience over time and see what kind of content gets more engagement.

Socialrank.com : this tool gives you insights using a follow centric service. It sorts and filters followers using various criteria. This data will help you understand what your users want and help you create strategies for the future.