Every entrepreneur aspires to have a business that grows and generates a good profit. Fortunately, with a bit of careful planning, any company has the potential to become successful! To help you achieve success, here are some simple methods to grow your small business fast.
Use a variety of marketing techniques
Marketing plays a key role in business success. When done correctly, marketing campaigns have the power to advertise your products and services to a global audience, drive traffic to your site, and establish you as an authority in your industry. This should lead to increased sales and revenue potential. There are many different marketing strategies available to small businesses. You should aim to experiment with a variety of marketing techniques to find what works best for your business. For instance, try combining techniques like social media marketing with traditional print marketing, such as posters and business cards.
You can easily have printed marketing materials designed by searching for printing services near me online. Make sure you monitor the success of your marketing campaigns closely. That way, you will be able to identify what works well and tailor your future marketing efforts to make them more effective.
Hire a Professional Inbound Marketing Agency
There are several reasons why small businesses should hire an inbound marketing agency. Perhaps the most important reason is that inbound marketing can be highly effective in helping small businesses to generate leads and convert those leads into customers. Inbound marketing is about creating valuable, relevant content that will attract visitors to your website or blog. Once they are there, you need to engage them with compelling calls-to-action so that they take the next step and become leads. Finally, you need to nurture those leads until they are ready to buy from you.
Focus on your employees
Every successful business needs a team of productive, loyal employees. If your employees are dissatisfied in the workplace, then they are going to be far less motivated and committed to your business. This will have an obvious negative impact on your business in terms of productivity and revenue potential. For that reason, it pays to invest in your employees and take steps to boost workplace morale. Some simple ways to achieve this include offering rewards and incentives, holding regular career development meetings, and maintaining a welcoming, supportive atmosphere in the workplace.
You should also make sure that all of your employees have received adequate training and are provided with the correct equipment to enable them to complete their work tasks safely. You can find plenty of great advice on how to boost employee morale within your company.
Look for new opportunities
One of the easiest ways to grow your business is by identifying opportunities to gain new customers and increase sales. For instance, many modern companies are increasing profits by taking their businesses global with the help of international selling platforms like Amazon and Etsy. These marketplaces allow businesses to advertise and sell their products and services to customers all around the world. Many of the platforms offer packages which include order fulfillment and shipping to various countries across the globe. The profits can then be deposited into your business bank account in the local currency.
Expanding your business globally has great potential and can allow you to access a new marketplace and ensure continued growth. However, it should only be attempted after careful planning and plenty of market research. If you’re unsure which steps to take, then it may be worth consulting with a global business expert for specialist advice on how to take your company world-wide.
Provide quality customer service
Quality customer service is another crucial element of any successful business. Think about it – people aren’t going to come back to your company and spend money if they have a poor experience. Recent research by American Express found that 33 percent of customers will consider switching companies following a single experience of bad customer service. Businesses should also be aware that negative feedback travels extremely fast and far in the modern world, particularly via social media platforms. Even just a few examples of poor customer service can harm a company’s reputation and credibility. With this in mind, every business should strive to deliver the highest level of customer service possible. Finding ways to enhance the customer experience can be a reliable way to grow your business and generate more sales. Some simple methods to improve your service include installing customer service technology like chatbots, ensuring that your website is mobile-optimized, and offering customer loyalty programs.
Take the time to get to know your customers and truly understand their needs. You should also make sure that your employees receive sufficient training on how to interact with customers and provide a high-quality level of service.
Final thoughts
Every business owner needs a clear plan in place to help their company grow and reach its short-term and long-term goals. Fortunately, there are plenty of effective strategies and techniques that can be implemented to increase visibility, improve sales, and boost profits. Use the simple methods above to help you grow your small business today!
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Industrial machinery is heavy-duty, but it is not immune to wear and tear. Poorly maintained equipment is not efficient, breaks down frequently, and can be a severe safety hazard. Preventative maintenance can limit how often a machine breaks down and extend its lifespan. Below are five ways to increase the life of industrial machinery that help business owners reduce machine downtime, unnecessary repairs, and associated costs.
1.) Check Fluid Levels
When industrial equipment breaks down, it can cost the business a lot of money in lost productivity and expensive repairs. Simple measures, such as checking the Thermal Heat Transfer fluid levels, can help extend the lifespan of industrial machinery and decrease machine downtime. Thermal heat transfer fluid is often used to move heat to the outside to prevent overheating.
Another fluid to check regularly is a machine’s lubricant. Lubricants keep a machine running smoothly by reducing the amount of friction that occurs between moving parts. When lubricants run low, the machine can overheat and increase wear and tear.
2.) Clean Machines Thoroughly
The phrase “industrial machinery” often invokes thoughts of grimy, grease-laden machine shops. Unfortunately, leaving machinery filthy can cause them to break down more frequently. Dirt and debris will clog air filters, destroy the seals, and work its way into gears, causing the machine to become less efficient and eventually break down. Cleaning the machine thoroughly and often is a simple way to prevent this and extend the machine’s life.
3.) Check for Worn-Out Parts
Industrial machinery is exposed to extreme temperatures, constant vibrations, and extensive friction. These things will cause the parts of a machine to wear out quickly, which can cause an untimely breakdown. Regularly checking the machine for signs of wear such as warped belts, cracked seals, and loose bolts should be included in the maintenance schedule.
4.) Provide Extensive Operator Training
A machine is only as good as the person who operates it. A lack of training often means employees cannot operate or maintain the equipment properly, leading to wear and tear. Providing extensive training ensures that the machine is run properly and reduces the risk of downtime because of breakdowns and repairs. Proper training will protect employees from sustaining injuries because of improper operation and keep the facility in line with OSHA standards.
5.) Follow a Maintenance Schedule
Like a car, industrial machinery has a list of parts that need to be inspected regularly to keep it running efficiently. It is important for operators to know what needs to be checked and how often. The easiest way to keep track of the necessary maintenance is to create a schedule and train employees how to follow it.
Employees should not be asked to perform maintenance tasks best left to professionals, but they can perform operational safety checks. They should log every service that is performed on the machine in a logbook so that no maintenance check is overlooked, causing the machine to sustain more damage.
The Bottom Line
When industrial machines break down, it can grind production to a halt. Any pause in production can be costly for business owners. Proper equipment maintenance can reduce the number of machine breakdowns the experience and extend the life of their machinery. While there are some steps that operators or machine owners can take for themselves toward improving maintenance, in-house maintenance cannot replace yearly inspections and repairs provided by a professional.
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When trying to get noticed online, it’s easy to resort to desperate measures. Here are just a few ‘desperate’ digital marketing tactics that could end up annoying consumers, as well as a few tips on what you should do instead.
Keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing involves stuffing as many keywords into an online text as possible. The intended purpose of this is to boost one’s search engine rankings. However, keyword stuffing can often have the opposite effect – most algorithms will negatively rank your content if it comes across as too keyword-heavy. Excessive use of keywords also doesn’t look natural and could make text hard to read.
You’re much better off hiring an SEO expert and finding more subtle and natural ways to boost rankings. This could include off-page SEO and maybe even ways to improving your site’s speed.
Buying followers
Having business social media accounts with lots of followers can make your company look popular and successful. However, you need to be careful about how you acquire these followers. If you choose to buy followers, you’ll be deceiving people. Such followers are also likely to be inactive accounts, so may find that you’re not getting much interaction with your posts despite having so many followers.
There are many organic ways to build followers – such methods may be much slower and not always guaranteed, but it’s much more honest. Paid social media ads is just one example.
Faking reviews
Writing fake positive reviews of your company may seem like a way to quickly restore your reputation, but there are dangers to telling lies. If people find out that you’re lying, they’ll mistrust you even more deeply. You’re also lying to yourself by writing faking reviews of your company – and you’ll likely be left feeling guilty.
Rather than writing fake reviews, you should focus on encouraging happy customers to leave genuine positive reviews. There are lots of ways to encourage positive online reviews.
Pop-up ads
Pop-ups can be intrusive and irritating. This can be particularly the case with multiple pop-up ads. There are times when pop-ups can be used productively such as getting people to sign up to your mailing list or accept cookies. However, pop-ups of promotional deals and adverts can feel a lot like the virtual equivalent of hassling someone in a shop.
Try to use pop-ups sparingly and sensibly. A pop-up doesn’t have to take up the entire screen and you can trigger them to appear at different times.
Email spamming
Email marketing can be an effective way to convert customers. However, you should be careful of how many emails you’re sending per week. Several emails per day could be seen as excessive and you could find that you’re flooding their inbox. If they receive too many emails from you in too short a space of time, you could find that they unsubscribe.
As a small company, there may only be a need to send two emails per week. Focus on quality over qu
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The United States is under pressure to hire at least 2.3 million health care workers by the year 2025. Part of this need is fueled by the growing aging population. With these persistent shortages in the health care sector, there’s a need for stakeholders to focus on innovative ways of bridging the gap in human capital.
As a healthcare provider, you must pay attention to the healthcare industry trends. You don’t want to be caught flat footed as patterns related to administration and labor in the health care sector shift rapidly. Here are some of the key trends you can look out for in 2020.
1. Artificial Intelligence
No industry can speculate about the future without touching on the impact of artificial intelligence. The health care sector is not an exemption. AI will change how you run your routine activities for the better.
AI will also have a critical impact on opening the avenue for people and technology to connect. You can expect notable improvements in healthcare delivery through this convergence. Consequently, there’ll be easier monitoring and analysis during the process of health care delivery.
You can expect to have the best tools to handle patients as AI revolutionizes the sector. Artificial Intelligence will also help in curing the current shortage of health professionals in the United States. But are you ready for this significant shift?
You may need to prepare your organization for the transformation that AI will have in the industry. Part of this prepping may include recruiting tech-savvy employees. You may also need to invest in research to ensure that you’re up to date with the technological advancements in the sector.
2. Out of Hospital Care
Your approach to health care is about to change in a way that will disrupt routine operations. In-patient services, as we know them, often involve admission into a health care facility during the time of treatment. But with the evolution of digital health, out of hospital care may soon ouster the in-patient procedure, albeit not entirely.
The rising costs of in-patient care have become a constant barrier to medical access. Such concerns are fueling the growth of out of hospital settings as patients seek alternative care.
Digital health platforms have become critical drivers of this health care evolution. Devices, such as the RPM devices, telehealth platforms, and mHealth applications, will define the future of out of hospital medical services.
You may need to keep track of such healthcare industry trends and invest in digital health if you’re keen on remaining relevant. Employers may need to train their staff on the relevance of digital health. You may also need to focus on the recruitment of employees with the capacity to steer the digital health transformation process.
3. The Emergence of Block-Chain
How much data is in your possession currently? Well, most health care providers grapple with the large volumes of data in their databases after years of record keeping. Records are an essential part of the health care delivery process, considering the delicate nature of the health care industry.
But this data storage headache will be a thing of the past soon. The introduction of the block chain system will revolutionize how you store digital data and significantly reduce your space-related concerns. Blockchain systems ease the process of storage, retrieval, and distribution of data.
You no longer have to worry about the transfer of data across the various departments within the organization. With blockchain, you also don’t have to worry about the limitations of compatibility. Such efficiency in data sharing will improve health care delivery processes.
As blockchain systems become commercially available, employers in the health care setting will need to train their staff on the operational dynamics of the systems. Employing highly innovative individuals will be crucial in making blockchain systems a useful tool.
4. Innovations in Care Models
The traditional patient was a passive observer with fewer expectations from caregivers. But the current and future patients have a common characteristic. They are overly involved in the healthcare provision process.
Such a trend will lead to a higher demand for transparency as the ecosystem changes. You may need to orient your staff towards embracing future-focused care models, which focus on personalized products. Such models will ensure that the organization stands out as being in touch with the health needs of modern patients.
You may need to invest more in virtual care technologies. For instance, modern virtual techniques are critical when handling matters related to consultancy. Such models ensure that you remain responsive to your patient’s needs.
5. The Demand for High Capacity Human Talent Will be among the Key Healthcare Industry Trends
The wave of technology and innovations is unstoppable. But as you focus on your investment in research and design, you must also think about recruiting top talent into your organization.
It would be best if you had such exceptional human talent to keep the wheel of innovations and stellar performance going. But most health care providers grapple with how to attract top talent in the healthcare field. Once you figure out how to address this common concern in the US healthcare system, you’ll be on a path to higher levels of efficiency and quality health care delivery.
6. Voice-Based Virtual Assistance
The United States’ aging population will continue to increase as more baby boomers hit 65 years and above. Health care for these elderly individuals will move more towards home care as chronic ailments affect their mobility.
As such, more healthcare providers are moving to invest in virtual assistants, with the capacity to provide health care support to the elderly at home. As voice assistants move towards handling more sophisticated health needs, you may need to focus on training and skills enhancement to ensure that your organization remains relevant.
7. Virtual Health Care Management
No one thought the health care delivery process would get here, but this trend may catch up sooner than you would think. As telehealth becomes an ever so present reality, the focus will now move towards virtual management of health care.
Imagine owning a health care facility without the intrigues of a physical footprint? Well, this may become a probable outcome soon. But you’ll need to invest in the right people to handle such a sophisticated functional approach.
With more medical schools offering courses in such futuristic health care trends, finding a suitable virtual health care manager will require a thorough recruitment process.
Out With the Old And In With the New
The only constant thing in any industry is change. As the health care sector moves into a new decade, these seven healthcare industry trends will make a critical difference. You may need to take cognizance of such patterns and prepare your organization for the effects the trends will have on service delivery.
Explore our other posts for more insightful content.
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Each year, businesses in the United States waste about $8 billion managing paper alone. It’s a shocking statistic, given the amount of lip service business owners around the country pay to innovation. The age of 3D printing has been around for a while, yet the vast majority of businesses are still stuck on technology invented millennia ago.
One of the primary uses of paper in businesses is for creating forms that help collect information. Businesses of all kinds need to gather statistics regarding their customers and input it in their database.
Unlike eForms, handwritten forms tend to complicate things. Not only do they get lost easily, but they also become skewed. Moreover, handwritten forms are very susceptible to damage. It’s the reason more businesses are turning to electronic forms to gather and store information.
But what is an eForm? More importantly, how can electronic forms benefit your business? How do you make the transition from paper-based forms to eForms?
In this definitive guide, we give you eForm 101. Keep on reading to learn more.
What Is An Electronic Form?
An electronic form (eForm) refers to a computerized version of a form that’s paper-based. In various industries, eForms play a significant role in helping a company achieve compliance. They also help provide customers with a record upon the completion of a job.
How can eForms Benefit Your Business?
Most of the processes in your businesses rely on forms. By choosing to use eForms, here are six benefits you stand to gain:
1. You Get To Eliminate Paper from the Start
Eforms are much more than electronic versions of paper forms. They effectively capture and integrate essential data with critical business systems that you can use to run your organization. By capturing and distributing data electronically from the beginning, you can streamline processes, cut costs, and boost efficiency.
2. They Enable Quick Release Of Essential Business Information
The biggest percentage of the information you need to run your business is often trapped on paper. If you can capture all that information and move it into your core business systems, it becomes easier to shorten cycle times and lower your operating costs.
3. Electronic Forms Improve Data Accuracy
Certain features surrounding eForm information such as auto drop-down lists and completion guides help in capturing data accurately. Electronic forms can effectively auto-populate fields based on previously entered data. Since there’s no need to enter data manually from a paper form, there are hardly any data entry errors or losses.
4. Electronic Forms Make It Easy To Automate Workflow
Upon submission, eForms enable the implementation and automation of workflow depending on a company’s business rules. Applications by your personnel can easily be sent to the relevant HR staff for review. Sales orders can be distributed to the manager for approval, while the finance manager can promptly receive credit applications to review and approve.
Implementing an automated workflow in your business increases speed and accountability.
5. Electronic Forms Are Easy To Design and Set Up
You don’t need any programming skills to design, create, or publish eForm details. Currently, there’s a myriad of eForms software solutions that provide helpful features like prebuilt field validation controls, drag, and drop, and group controls. These features ensure highly sophisticated layouts that have hassle-free design and implementation.
6. You Get to Realize a Quick Return on Investment
Electronic forms typically deliver a considerable ROI within months, depending on the number of forms you process in your business every month. Eforms can radically reduce form completion, processing, and correction costs. All other paper-related expenses like supplies, transportation, and storage are altogether eliminated.
Where Can You Use Electronic Forms In Your Business?
Regardless of the type of business you run, there are many areas where you can embrace eForm technology. Here are some of them:
Human Resources: You can use eForms for position changes, timesheets, vacation requests, and employee reviews.
Accounting: eForms are ideal for expense reports, purchase orders, mileage reimbursement, and capital expenditure reports.
Engineering Department: Use electronic forms for engineering change orders, defect tracking, and requests for product enhancement.
Manufacturing Department: In this department, electronic forms can help in employee training certification, survey forms, safety inspections, quality assurance, and document change requests.
Customer Service: eForms are perfect for survey forms, incident reports, customer service requests, and customer warranty requests.
Choosing the Right eForm Software
As mentioned earlier, there are lots of eForm builder software solutions for businesses of all types and sizes. To select the ideal one for your needs, consider the following factors:
Cost – If you operate a small business, a cloud-based solution is best for your business functions. That’s because you won’t need to worry about purchasing or maintaining hardware, and the cost of the software will depend on how many people use it. For a bigger business with particular security concerns, an onsite solution may make more sense.
Ease of Use – The primary goal of downloading an app is to simplify tasks. The last thing you want is a software solution that has a steep learning curve. Opt for a solution with a friendly and intuitive user interface, not a technical one that takes you ages to understand.
Customization – Every business is unique, so your forms will be unique. Veer away from software that locks you into specific templates and designs. Choose forms that allow you precisely as you visualize them.
Customer Support – Before choosing a form builder software solution, take a look at case studies and customer testimonials to get a good idea of what to expect. You can even call their technical or customer service contact to get an experience of how they handle their clients’ issues. Generally, you want an assurance that you can easily reach customer service should the need arise, and that they won’t abandon you as soon as you’ve purchased their software.
Time to Go Paperless
As more companies strive towards becoming entirely paperless, eForms are increasingly becoming the ideal choice for businesses around the globe. Not only does going electronic reduce costs associated with the printing, distribution and storage of paper, but it also improves workflow in your business.
Would you like to read more great content like this? Please keep visiting our blog.
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Business Programs
Simple Methods to Grow Your Small Business
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenUse a variety of marketing techniques
Marketing plays a key role in business success. When done correctly, marketing campaigns have the power to advertise your products and services to a global audience, drive traffic to your site, and establish you as an authority in your industry. This should lead to increased sales and revenue potential. There are many different marketing strategies available to small businesses. You should aim to experiment with a variety of marketing techniques to find what works best for your business. For instance, try combining techniques like social media marketing with traditional print marketing, such as posters and business cards.
You can easily have printed marketing materials designed by searching for printing services near me online. Make sure you monitor the success of your marketing campaigns closely. That way, you will be able to identify what works well and tailor your future marketing efforts to make them more effective.
Hire a Professional Inbound Marketing Agency
There are several reasons why small businesses should hire an inbound marketing agency. Perhaps the most important reason is that inbound marketing can be highly effective in helping small businesses to generate leads and convert those leads into customers. Inbound marketing is about creating valuable, relevant content that will attract visitors to your website or blog. Once they are there, you need to engage them with compelling calls-to-action so that they take the next step and become leads. Finally, you need to nurture those leads until they are ready to buy from you.
Focus on your employees
Every successful business needs a team of productive, loyal employees. If your employees are dissatisfied in the workplace, then they are going to be far less motivated and committed to your business. This will have an obvious negative impact on your business in terms of productivity and revenue potential. For that reason, it pays to invest in your employees and take steps to boost workplace morale. Some simple ways to achieve this include offering rewards and incentives, holding regular career development meetings, and maintaining a welcoming, supportive atmosphere in the workplace.
You should also make sure that all of your employees have received adequate training and are provided with the correct equipment to enable them to complete their work tasks safely. You can find plenty of great advice on how to boost employee morale within your company.
Look for new opportunities
One of the easiest ways to grow your business is by identifying opportunities to gain new customers and increase sales. For instance, many modern companies are increasing profits by taking their businesses global with the help of international selling platforms like Amazon and Etsy. These marketplaces allow businesses to advertise and sell their products and services to customers all around the world. Many of the platforms offer packages which include order fulfillment and shipping to various countries across the globe. The profits can then be deposited into your business bank account in the local currency.
Expanding your business globally has great potential and can allow you to access a new marketplace and ensure continued growth. However, it should only be attempted after careful planning and plenty of market research. If you’re unsure which steps to take, then it may be worth consulting with a global business expert for specialist advice on how to take your company world-wide.
Provide quality customer service
Quality customer service is another crucial element of any successful business. Think about it – people aren’t going to come back to your company and spend money if they have a poor experience. Recent research by American Express found that 33 percent of customers will consider switching companies following a single experience of bad customer service. Businesses should also be aware that negative feedback travels extremely fast and far in the modern world, particularly via social media platforms. Even just a few examples of poor customer service can harm a company’s reputation and credibility. With this in mind, every business should strive to deliver the highest level of customer service possible. Finding ways to enhance the customer experience can be a reliable way to grow your business and generate more sales. Some simple methods to improve your service include installing customer service technology like chatbots, ensuring that your website is mobile-optimized, and offering customer loyalty programs.
Take the time to get to know your customers and truly understand their needs. You should also make sure that your employees receive sufficient training on how to interact with customers and provide a high-quality level of service.
Final thoughts
Every business owner needs a clear plan in place to help their company grow and reach its short-term and long-term goals. Fortunately, there are plenty of effective strategies and techniques that can be implemented to increase visibility, improve sales, and boost profits. Use the simple methods above to help you grow your small business today!
5 Ways to Extend the Lifespan of Industrial Machinery
/in Tactical Execution/by StrategyDriven1.) Check Fluid Levels
When industrial equipment breaks down, it can cost the business a lot of money in lost productivity and expensive repairs. Simple measures, such as checking the Thermal Heat Transfer fluid levels, can help extend the lifespan of industrial machinery and decrease machine downtime. Thermal heat transfer fluid is often used to move heat to the outside to prevent overheating.
Another fluid to check regularly is a machine’s lubricant. Lubricants keep a machine running smoothly by reducing the amount of friction that occurs between moving parts. When lubricants run low, the machine can overheat and increase wear and tear.
2.) Clean Machines Thoroughly
The phrase “industrial machinery” often invokes thoughts of grimy, grease-laden machine shops. Unfortunately, leaving machinery filthy can cause them to break down more frequently. Dirt and debris will clog air filters, destroy the seals, and work its way into gears, causing the machine to become less efficient and eventually break down. Cleaning the machine thoroughly and often is a simple way to prevent this and extend the machine’s life.
3.) Check for Worn-Out Parts
Industrial machinery is exposed to extreme temperatures, constant vibrations, and extensive friction. These things will cause the parts of a machine to wear out quickly, which can cause an untimely breakdown. Regularly checking the machine for signs of wear such as warped belts, cracked seals, and loose bolts should be included in the maintenance schedule.
4.) Provide Extensive Operator Training
A machine is only as good as the person who operates it. A lack of training often means employees cannot operate or maintain the equipment properly, leading to wear and tear. Providing extensive training ensures that the machine is run properly and reduces the risk of downtime because of breakdowns and repairs. Proper training will protect employees from sustaining injuries because of improper operation and keep the facility in line with OSHA standards.
5.) Follow a Maintenance Schedule
Like a car, industrial machinery has a list of parts that need to be inspected regularly to keep it running efficiently. It is important for operators to know what needs to be checked and how often. The easiest way to keep track of the necessary maintenance is to create a schedule and train employees how to follow it.
Employees should not be asked to perform maintenance tasks best left to professionals, but they can perform operational safety checks. They should log every service that is performed on the machine in a logbook so that no maintenance check is overlooked, causing the machine to sustain more damage.
The Bottom Line
When industrial machines break down, it can grind production to a halt. Any pause in production can be costly for business owners. Proper equipment maintenance can reduce the number of machine breakdowns the experience and extend the life of their machinery. While there are some steps that operators or machine owners can take for themselves toward improving maintenance, in-house maintenance cannot replace yearly inspections and repairs provided by a professional.
Digital Marketing Tactics You Must Avoid
/in Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenKeyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing involves stuffing as many keywords into an online text as possible. The intended purpose of this is to boost one’s search engine rankings. However, keyword stuffing can often have the opposite effect – most algorithms will negatively rank your content if it comes across as too keyword-heavy. Excessive use of keywords also doesn’t look natural and could make text hard to read.
You’re much better off hiring an SEO expert and finding more subtle and natural ways to boost rankings. This could include off-page SEO and maybe even ways to improving your site’s speed.
Buying followers
Having business social media accounts with lots of followers can make your company look popular and successful. However, you need to be careful about how you acquire these followers. If you choose to buy followers, you’ll be deceiving people. Such followers are also likely to be inactive accounts, so may find that you’re not getting much interaction with your posts despite having so many followers.
There are many organic ways to build followers – such methods may be much slower and not always guaranteed, but it’s much more honest. Paid social media ads is just one example.
Faking reviews
Writing fake positive reviews of your company may seem like a way to quickly restore your reputation, but there are dangers to telling lies. If people find out that you’re lying, they’ll mistrust you even more deeply. You’re also lying to yourself by writing faking reviews of your company – and you’ll likely be left feeling guilty.
Rather than writing fake reviews, you should focus on encouraging happy customers to leave genuine positive reviews. There are lots of ways to encourage positive online reviews.
Pop-up ads
Pop-ups can be intrusive and irritating. This can be particularly the case with multiple pop-up ads. There are times when pop-ups can be used productively such as getting people to sign up to your mailing list or accept cookies. However, pop-ups of promotional deals and adverts can feel a lot like the virtual equivalent of hassling someone in a shop.
Try to use pop-ups sparingly and sensibly. A pop-up doesn’t have to take up the entire screen and you can trigger them to appear at different times.
Email spamming
Email marketing can be an effective way to convert customers. However, you should be careful of how many emails you’re sending per week. Several emails per day could be seen as excessive and you could find that you’re flooding their inbox. If they receive too many emails from you in too short a space of time, you could find that they unsubscribe.
As a small company, there may only be a need to send two emails per week. Focus on quality over qu
7 Healthcare Industry Trends for Employers to Keep a Lookout For
/in Managing Your People/by StrategyDrivenAs a healthcare provider, you must pay attention to the healthcare industry trends. You don’t want to be caught flat footed as patterns related to administration and labor in the health care sector shift rapidly. Here are some of the key trends you can look out for in 2020.
1. Artificial Intelligence
No industry can speculate about the future without touching on the impact of artificial intelligence. The health care sector is not an exemption. AI will change how you run your routine activities for the better.
AI will also have a critical impact on opening the avenue for people and technology to connect. You can expect notable improvements in healthcare delivery through this convergence. Consequently, there’ll be easier monitoring and analysis during the process of health care delivery.
You can expect to have the best tools to handle patients as AI revolutionizes the sector. Artificial Intelligence will also help in curing the current shortage of health professionals in the United States. But are you ready for this significant shift?
You may need to prepare your organization for the transformation that AI will have in the industry. Part of this prepping may include recruiting tech-savvy employees. You may also need to invest in research to ensure that you’re up to date with the technological advancements in the sector.
2. Out of Hospital Care
Your approach to health care is about to change in a way that will disrupt routine operations. In-patient services, as we know them, often involve admission into a health care facility during the time of treatment. But with the evolution of digital health, out of hospital care may soon ouster the in-patient procedure, albeit not entirely.
The rising costs of in-patient care have become a constant barrier to medical access. Such concerns are fueling the growth of out of hospital settings as patients seek alternative care.
Digital health platforms have become critical drivers of this health care evolution. Devices, such as the RPM devices, telehealth platforms, and mHealth applications, will define the future of out of hospital medical services.
You may need to keep track of such healthcare industry trends and invest in digital health if you’re keen on remaining relevant. Employers may need to train their staff on the relevance of digital health. You may also need to focus on the recruitment of employees with the capacity to steer the digital health transformation process.
3. The Emergence of Block-Chain
How much data is in your possession currently? Well, most health care providers grapple with the large volumes of data in their databases after years of record keeping. Records are an essential part of the health care delivery process, considering the delicate nature of the health care industry.
But this data storage headache will be a thing of the past soon. The introduction of the block chain system will revolutionize how you store digital data and significantly reduce your space-related concerns. Blockchain systems ease the process of storage, retrieval, and distribution of data.
You no longer have to worry about the transfer of data across the various departments within the organization. With blockchain, you also don’t have to worry about the limitations of compatibility. Such efficiency in data sharing will improve health care delivery processes.
As blockchain systems become commercially available, employers in the health care setting will need to train their staff on the operational dynamics of the systems. Employing highly innovative individuals will be crucial in making blockchain systems a useful tool.
4. Innovations in Care Models
The traditional patient was a passive observer with fewer expectations from caregivers. But the current and future patients have a common characteristic. They are overly involved in the healthcare provision process.
Such a trend will lead to a higher demand for transparency as the ecosystem changes. You may need to orient your staff towards embracing future-focused care models, which focus on personalized products. Such models will ensure that the organization stands out as being in touch with the health needs of modern patients.
You may need to invest more in virtual care technologies. For instance, modern virtual techniques are critical when handling matters related to consultancy. Such models ensure that you remain responsive to your patient’s needs.
5. The Demand for High Capacity Human Talent Will be among the Key Healthcare Industry Trends
The wave of technology and innovations is unstoppable. But as you focus on your investment in research and design, you must also think about recruiting top talent into your organization.
It would be best if you had such exceptional human talent to keep the wheel of innovations and stellar performance going. But most health care providers grapple with how to attract top talent in the healthcare field. Once you figure out how to address this common concern in the US healthcare system, you’ll be on a path to higher levels of efficiency and quality health care delivery.
6. Voice-Based Virtual Assistance
The United States’ aging population will continue to increase as more baby boomers hit 65 years and above. Health care for these elderly individuals will move more towards home care as chronic ailments affect their mobility.
As such, more healthcare providers are moving to invest in virtual assistants, with the capacity to provide health care support to the elderly at home. As voice assistants move towards handling more sophisticated health needs, you may need to focus on training and skills enhancement to ensure that your organization remains relevant.
7. Virtual Health Care Management
No one thought the health care delivery process would get here, but this trend may catch up sooner than you would think. As telehealth becomes an ever so present reality, the focus will now move towards virtual management of health care.
Imagine owning a health care facility without the intrigues of a physical footprint? Well, this may become a probable outcome soon. But you’ll need to invest in the right people to handle such a sophisticated functional approach.
With more medical schools offering courses in such futuristic health care trends, finding a suitable virtual health care manager will require a thorough recruitment process.
Out With the Old And In With the New
The only constant thing in any industry is change. As the health care sector moves into a new decade, these seven healthcare industry trends will make a critical difference. You may need to take cognizance of such patterns and prepare your organization for the effects the trends will have on service delivery.
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Eforms 101: Everything You Need To Know About eForms
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenOne of the primary uses of paper in businesses is for creating forms that help collect information. Businesses of all kinds need to gather statistics regarding their customers and input it in their database.
Unlike eForms, handwritten forms tend to complicate things. Not only do they get lost easily, but they also become skewed. Moreover, handwritten forms are very susceptible to damage. It’s the reason more businesses are turning to electronic forms to gather and store information.
But what is an eForm? More importantly, how can electronic forms benefit your business? How do you make the transition from paper-based forms to eForms?
In this definitive guide, we give you eForm 101. Keep on reading to learn more.
What Is An Electronic Form?
An electronic form (eForm) refers to a computerized version of a form that’s paper-based. In various industries, eForms play a significant role in helping a company achieve compliance. They also help provide customers with a record upon the completion of a job.
How can eForms Benefit Your Business?
Most of the processes in your businesses rely on forms. By choosing to use eForms, here are six benefits you stand to gain:
1. You Get To Eliminate Paper from the Start
Eforms are much more than electronic versions of paper forms. They effectively capture and integrate essential data with critical business systems that you can use to run your organization. By capturing and distributing data electronically from the beginning, you can streamline processes, cut costs, and boost efficiency.
2. They Enable Quick Release Of Essential Business Information
The biggest percentage of the information you need to run your business is often trapped on paper. If you can capture all that information and move it into your core business systems, it becomes easier to shorten cycle times and lower your operating costs.
3. Electronic Forms Improve Data Accuracy
Certain features surrounding eForm information such as auto drop-down lists and completion guides help in capturing data accurately. Electronic forms can effectively auto-populate fields based on previously entered data. Since there’s no need to enter data manually from a paper form, there are hardly any data entry errors or losses.
4. Electronic Forms Make It Easy To Automate Workflow
Upon submission, eForms enable the implementation and automation of workflow depending on a company’s business rules. Applications by your personnel can easily be sent to the relevant HR staff for review. Sales orders can be distributed to the manager for approval, while the finance manager can promptly receive credit applications to review and approve.
Implementing an automated workflow in your business increases speed and accountability.
5. Electronic Forms Are Easy To Design and Set Up
You don’t need any programming skills to design, create, or publish eForm details. Currently, there’s a myriad of eForms software solutions that provide helpful features like prebuilt field validation controls, drag, and drop, and group controls. These features ensure highly sophisticated layouts that have hassle-free design and implementation.
6. You Get to Realize a Quick Return on Investment
Electronic forms typically deliver a considerable ROI within months, depending on the number of forms you process in your business every month. Eforms can radically reduce form completion, processing, and correction costs. All other paper-related expenses like supplies, transportation, and storage are altogether eliminated.
Where Can You Use Electronic Forms In Your Business?
Regardless of the type of business you run, there are many areas where you can embrace eForm technology. Here are some of them:
Choosing the Right eForm Software
As mentioned earlier, there are lots of eForm builder software solutions for businesses of all types and sizes. To select the ideal one for your needs, consider the following factors:
Time to Go Paperless
As more companies strive towards becoming entirely paperless, eForms are increasingly becoming the ideal choice for businesses around the globe. Not only does going electronic reduce costs associated with the printing, distribution and storage of paper, but it also improves workflow in your business.
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