One of the most important parts of business is productivity. Companies have been trying since their inception to reach the highest productivity possible. Today, we live in an industrialized world because people wanted to create better, easier ways of doing things.
One aspect of productivity that gets overlooked a lot is the employees. The workers are what make the company run, so having happy workers can only work in your favor.
The question is, how do you achieve this? What are some things you can do to make sure you have happy employees? We’ll give you a few ideas in the paragraphs below.
1. Praise and Recognition
Sometimes, the best things you can do are also the simplest. We all need to feel needed, and letting someone know that they’re valued can do a lot towards making them feel better and work more efficiently.
Studies have shown that happy employees are much more productive. There’s plenty of cynical sayings out there about people just waiting to take advantage of your generosity and trust, but they’re often untrue.
Humans are social creatures. We’ve evolved to be social creatures, and in the course of that evolution, we have learned that groups work best when everybody does their share and gets along.
2. Be Honest and Forthright
This sounds obvious, but it goes a lot further than just telling the truth when asked. Tell people things about the company as a whole.
Keep them up-to-date on what’s going on, how it affects them, and what the future might hold. You should even ask for feedback when you can.
This goes along with instinct and group dynamic. People who consistently tell us the truth often have a stake in our well-being, or, at the very least, probably aren’t a threat to us.
Trust is one of the reasons we have paystubs. Not only do they make it easier to keep records, but it helps us to understand our pay and why we’re getting the amount we are.
You can discover more about paystubs, or even create them, by clicking the link.
3. Understand That Work Isn’t Everything
Everybody has a life outside of work, and you’ll learn more about the lives of your employees as you get to know them.
Making an employee as productive as possible means caring about their home lives as well. This means offering help and support whenever they need it. Offer them more days off, or create a daycare center in your office building.
Employee wellness plays a role. Trying to give more insurance or insurance at a lower cost mean you care not only about them, but those who depend on them.
Happy Employees Make a Happy Business
Companies benefit from happy employees. Employees who feel valued tend to care more about the company and do more to see it thrive.
The best way to get happy employees is to see people before workers. Praise them and make them feel appreciated when they do something good. Be honest with them, and understand that they have a home and a set of responsibilities outside of work.
If you want more information and advice on business, the internet, and social media, please visit our site.
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Have you made the decision to build a new office for your business?
Want to make sure you have an easy time moving? Then choosing a business moving company is the perfect solution for you.
An office move can be a difficult thing if you don’t know how to do it right, but it can be especially difficult if you’re building a brand new office yourself. It’s important that you give both your new building design as well as the moving process a lot of thought to ensure you and your employees have a smooth transition.
Luckily, we’re here to help. Below are the 7 top office moving and building tips that you should keep in mind when moving your business.
1. Take Time For Planning the Move
Before moving to a new building or office, it’s important that you do as much planning as possible beforehand. You need to make sure that you’re not only planning the new office design but that you’re also thinking thoroughly about the moving process.
It’s a good idea to use a checklist and to make a list of everything you need to move to the new location whether that includes office furniture, equipment, files, or inventory. You should also create a thorough timeline that will help guide you as the moving day approaches.
2. Hire Professional Movers
While you may think you’ll be able to handle an office move on your own, it’s usually best to get professional help instead. Be sure to look at reviews online and do your research to find great movers for the job.
Hiring professional movers is often well worth the money you’ll spend and can help move into your new space much more efficiently and effortlessly. Professionals will have the skills and expertise to make a move much less stressful for you.
This also ensures that you don’t miss a beat with your everyday activities.
3. Do Some Serious Labeling
While it may seem like a small thing, doing some serious labeling on your moving boxes is one thing that will make your move much easier to handle. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to find a specific item and having to dig through a lot of different boxes to find what you’re looking for.
Labeling your boxes will make it much easier for you to find what you’re looking for once you arrive at your new building. Doing so can help make setting up your new office a much simpler process.
Be sure you label things thoroughly when packing up your current office and your move will be easier than you may expect.
4. Get Rid of Unneeded Items
When you’re building a new office or you’re moving to different office space, it’s a great time to get rid of some of your old supplies and equipment. You should consider getting rid of anything you don’t need anymore.
Chances are that your office has some furniture around that has seen better days and could stand to be replaced or some equipment that you simply don’t use often enough. Instead of taking this stuff with you to your new space, it may be time to sell or donate them.
5. Secure Your Job Site
It’s important that you secure your equipment and materials before moving. Theft can be a serious problem for a job site and you’ll need to take measures to protect against it. Be sure that you take all of the necessary precautions when building a new office.
Particularly if you’re working with valuable materials such as copper, you need to have a plan for protecting it against thieves. Using portable storage containers can help prevent theft on job sites and will help ensure that the construction of your building goes on without a hitch.
6. Take Measurements
Whether you’re building a new building or you’re moving to a new rental space, take accurate measurements when relocating. You need to do the groundwork necessary to ensure you’ll have enough space for everything.
You’ll want to measure the furniture and equipment you’re taking with you and compare your current office space to your new one. By taking the necessary measurements of the space and planning out the layout thoroughly, you’ll avoid having space problems later on.
7. Optimize the Layout for Productivity
When moving into a new space, you should also make sure you think critically about its layout. Chances are you’ll want to alter it from what you currently have.
Most of all, you should be aiming to create a layout that helps foster productivity and efficiency and helps make daily tasks easier to accomplish.
Positioning equipment, supplies, and employees either closer together or further apart can have a big impact on your office. Be sure to think about the layout carefully to ensure you’re creating an office that meets your needs.
Making the Most of These Office Moving Tips
If you’re going through an office move or building a new office building then you need to do your due diligence and plan carefully. By using the office moving tips above, you’ll have the best chance of having a smooth transition to your new space.
Looking for more office and business tips? Explore our blog!
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If you strive for improvement, or you want to be a better leader, you need to ensure that you practice what you preach. But while there are so many behavioral approaches to running a business, if you don’t have that structure in place, you aren’t going to be able to hang greatness upon it. As such, if you need an organizational structure, especially as a small business where everybody is making him and doing everything, this can help to define roles, and create a less fuzzy approach. So, with this in mind, how can you create an organizational structure for your small business, so that everyone can kick ass?
Focus On The Three Main Elements
We are referring to operations, your sales and marketing, and your financial and administrative processes. Once you lay out the priorities for each of these three departments, you will be able to figure out what you are missing. In terms of the operations, it’s all down to the processes. And if there are aspects that you are failing in right now, then you might want to consider outsourcing. There are plenty of resources out there. A company like a Red Key that provides managed IT services, can you create a more thorough sensibility, especially in terms of technical processes. You can’t expect everybody in your small business to be acutely technologically minded. As soon as you start to focus on these three main elements, and you understand what you miss, you are ready to fly!
Defining Specific Roles
Under these three main elements, you can start to split it into even more defined roles. Sales and marketing can encompass public relations, account management, as well as maintenance of the website. Once you start to determine the specific tasks, you then have to go through everyone in your organization to see who can fulfill what role. If you have a small company, by clearly defining roles, especially according to skill, you will need to help encourage more responsibility and ownership. And from there, you can start to create a more defined organisation.
Implementing The Structure
The preparation is the easy bit, you’ve got to see it in action to truly understand if it makes an impact. Having the structure in place, and doing a thorough vetting process will help you to put the best person for each role. And while you put this in place, you’ve got to give yourself some leeway. Things may not go according to plan, but also, you may find that your employees will struggle in, what are, essentially, new roles. Give yourself that breathing space, and if something isn’t working, you can go back to the drawing board. Implementing the structure needs to take a couple of months, at least. At this point, you may find that you are concerned with the skills of a role, but there are always going to be teething problems.
In a small business, it can feel like you’re being thrown to the lions somewhat, but once you prepare, but also allow yourself to fail, you will benefit, and the structure becomes the thing you hang your ideals upon.
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Investing in the right technology is essential for any business, but it only benefits your company if you do it correctly. Overcomplicating their IT systems is one of the more common mistakes that businesses make and it leads to a lot of wasted money and confusing processes which harm productivity. But if you can streamline your business technology, you’ll find that it works far more effectively and you’ll save some money at the same time. Here’s how you can streamline your business technology in 4 easy steps.
Understand Your Current System
Before you can start making any changes, you need to understand your current system. You might be thinking that you already understand all of the technology that your business uses, but chances are, you don’t. You need to speak with your employees and understand how they are using technology day to day, and how it improves their ability to work productively. You also need to look through a breakdown of everything that you’re paying for and ask yourself what benefit each piece of software or hardware brings to the business. If you can’t work out how something benefits the business, why are you spending money on it? Once you have a good idea of where you stand, you can start finding ways to streamline things.
Identify Your Needs
Often, businesses overcomplicate their technology because they do not consider their needs when purchasing software. Instead, they are drawn in by marketing and they buy things on the promise that it will improve their business, even if they don’t really need it. It’s important that you use a needs based approach and think about the problems in your business that need to be solved, then invest in software to meet those needs. If you do it that way, you will be able to make technology investments that improve your business and stop wasting money on things that you don’t need.
Invest In Cloud Solutions
Keeping all of your systems updated is important, but when you overcomplicate things, it can be difficult to stay on top of it all. But if you invest in the right cloud computing services, you can have them manage all of your systems and keep them updated, rather than handling it in-house. That makes things a lot simpler for you, but you still get the benefit of using the latest technology.
Integrate Software
The best way to simplify your business technology is to integrate your software. When you are buying new software, you should always look for applications that work seamlessly with the software that you already have in place. Trying to use multiple programs that don’t work well together will really slow things down for your employees. But if you can integrate everything properly, it will all work perfectly and you should see an increase in productivity. Trying to manage integration can be tough, especially if you don’t really know what you’re doing, so it is best to call in an IT consulting company to implement everything for you.
Follow these steps and you can successfully streamline your business technology and save yourself a lot of time and money.
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Establishing trust with your customers is the first step on the sales journey. If people don’t trust your business and your brand, they’re not going to buy products from you, it’s as simple as that. People tend to approach businesses with an attitude of distrust until they are proven wrong because there are a lot of businesses out there that will use underhanded tactics to make a sale or mislead people about the quality of their product. So, unless you can build trust, you’re not going to get any sales, but how exactly can you do that?
The majority of people have their first interaction with a business online these days, whether that is through social media or on your website. That’s why your online presence is a good place to start when trying to build that relationship with potential customers. These are some of the best ways to build trust online.
Search Engine Rankings
We all put a lot of trust in the algorithms that determine search engine rankings, even if we don’t necessarily realize it. Think about it, when was the last time you went beyond the first page of a Google search to find a business? You might do it on occasion but usually, you naturally assume that the companies listed on the first page are the most successful and trustworthy businesses, that’s how they earned their place. That’s why the most important way to establish trust is to boost your SEO and make sure that you rank on the first page of results. It’s important for driving traffic to your site as well but even if people find your website through other means, like pay per click ads, they might still do a quick search to check you out afterwards. If you appear on the first page, they’ll be happy, but if they can’t see any mention of your company, that’s a bad sign for them.
Customer Reviews
You can go on about how amazing your product is all you like, but why should people trust you? Of course, you’re going to say that it’s great, you’re trying to sell it to them, so your word doesn’t really carry that much weight here. If you really want to convince people that your products are worth buying and you’re a company that can be trusted, you need an impartial opinion, which is where customer reviews and testimonials come in.
When shopping online, around 91 percent of people will look at the reviews of a product before buying it so they can get an impartial opinion on it. In fact, 84 percent of people say that they trust online reviews just as much as their friends. That’s why they are one of your best tools when trying to build trust in the online world. If you don’t already include customer reviews on your site, you absolutely should. As long as you’re offering good service and a quality product, you shouldn’t need to worry about bad reviews too much. You’ll always get a few and that’s fine, as long as the majority of them are positive. You should display these reviews and testimonials clearly on your website. A lot of sites have a rolling bar along the bottom of the page which shows different reviews, and you should always include them on product listings as well.
People don’t always bother to leave a review but there are a few things that you can do to encourage it. Firstly, send a follow up email a few days after a purchase has been made and kindly ask the customer to leave a quick review. If people are still reluctant, you could offer a small discount on their next purchase in exchange for a review.
Content Marketing
When you’re trying to gain the trust of your customers, it’s important that you prove to them that you know what you’re talking about, which is where content marketing comes in. Content marketing is a great way to generate traffic for your website, but it’s also a good way to offer a potential customer something of value without asking for payment in return. This shows them that you don’t just see them as another sale and you’re willing to put work into building that relationship before you start marketing products towards them. More importantly, good content demonstrates that you’re a leading expert in your industry, which means that they will trust in your products as well. If you can produce regular content on your website which gives useful information relating to your products and services, customers will be far more likely to come to you when they’re ready to make a purchase.
You can still use this as an opportunity to market your products, but you do it in a more subtle way that doesn’t put people off. People hate being bombarded with pushy marketing materials but an informative piece of content that gently suggests that your product might be of use to a customer will be well received.
Focus On Security
Online security is a big concern for everybody right now and people are always worried about the sites that they visit. This is especially true if they’re putting their credit card details in to make a purchase, so security on your site is vital. The most important thing is to make sure that your website is HTTPS secure. You might not recognize the term but if you check the web address on most sites, you’ll see a green padlock icon in the left hand corner. That means the site is HTTPS secure, and it’s one of the first things that people look for when they enter a new site. Most modern websites will be HTTPS secure so if yours isn’t, you need to rectify that (you can use this guide to help you).
The payment platforms that you use on the site are important as well. If you offer secure payment options that people recognize, like Paypal, they will feel a lot more comfortable making a purchase. If people have even the slightest doubts about the security of your website, you can easily lose a sale.
Add An ‘About Us’ Page
People like to have a sense of the people behind the logo when dealing with a new company. Social media has a big part to play in that because it allows you to show your personality a bit and connect with people more. But there are also some simpler ways to show people who you are, like an ‘about us’ page on your website. This gives you the chance to tell people about your company, why you started it, and what your core values as a business are. People are increasingly concerned with the ethical standpoint of the businesses that they deal with and it affects their purchasing decisions, so letting them know a bit about your company ethos is very important.
As well as the company itself, you should devote some space to your employees as well. Showing a photograph and giving a small description of what that person does and a little bit of personal information like their hobbies outside of work helps to humanize your company and builds trust with customers because they feel like they know you a bit more. Helping customers put a face to a name goes a long way when you’re trying to build that relationship with them.
Simplify Your Website Design
The design of your website has a big impact on the way that people see your business and they will make a lot of assumptions about you as soon as they enter the site. If they see a very outdated website that is difficult to navigate and has a lot of broken links, that doesn’t do you any favors. They will assume that you’re an unprofessional company and you don’t have the money to invest in a good web design agency. An overcrowded website is one of the things that puts people off the most because it makes the site so hard to use and it looks incredibly amateurish.
When it comes to web design, simplicity is key. You should only include information that is absolutely relevant and don’t overwhelm people with huge blocks of text. Make sure that everything is easy to scan so people can find the information that they’re looking for quickly and easily. Proper website maintenance is vital as well because if the site runs very slowly or images don’t load properly, that tells them that you’re not really putting much effort into the website. If you’re not putting effort into the website, they’ll assume that you have the same attitude to your products and your customers, so they will not have much trust in you at all.
Finally, you need to be careful with pop-ups. They can be beneficial sometimes, when building an email list, for example. However, if people are bombarded with lots of pop-ups right away, they will get the impression that you only want their money and you’re not interested in building a long lasting relationship with them.
If you follow these steps, you will be able to establish trust with your customers through your website and that will translate to increased sales.
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Putting Smiles on Faces: 3 Tips for Happy Employees
/in Talent Management/by StrategyDrivenOne aspect of productivity that gets overlooked a lot is the employees. The workers are what make the company run, so having happy workers can only work in your favor.
The question is, how do you achieve this? What are some things you can do to make sure you have happy employees? We’ll give you a few ideas in the paragraphs below.
1. Praise and Recognition
Sometimes, the best things you can do are also the simplest. We all need to feel needed, and letting someone know that they’re valued can do a lot towards making them feel better and work more efficiently.
Studies have shown that happy employees are much more productive. There’s plenty of cynical sayings out there about people just waiting to take advantage of your generosity and trust, but they’re often untrue.
Humans are social creatures. We’ve evolved to be social creatures, and in the course of that evolution, we have learned that groups work best when everybody does their share and gets along.
2. Be Honest and Forthright
This sounds obvious, but it goes a lot further than just telling the truth when asked. Tell people things about the company as a whole.
Keep them up-to-date on what’s going on, how it affects them, and what the future might hold. You should even ask for feedback when you can.
Businesses tend to function much better when employees feel trusted.
This goes along with instinct and group dynamic. People who consistently tell us the truth often have a stake in our well-being, or, at the very least, probably aren’t a threat to us.
Trust is one of the reasons we have paystubs. Not only do they make it easier to keep records, but it helps us to understand our pay and why we’re getting the amount we are.
You can discover more about paystubs, or even create them, by clicking the link.
3. Understand That Work Isn’t Everything
Everybody has a life outside of work, and you’ll learn more about the lives of your employees as you get to know them.
Making an employee as productive as possible means caring about their home lives as well. This means offering help and support whenever they need it. Offer them more days off, or create a daycare center in your office building.
Employee wellness plays a role. Trying to give more insurance or insurance at a lower cost mean you care not only about them, but those who depend on them.
Happy Employees Make a Happy Business
Companies benefit from happy employees. Employees who feel valued tend to care more about the company and do more to see it thrive.
The best way to get happy employees is to see people before workers. Praise them and make them feel appreciated when they do something good. Be honest with them, and understand that they have a home and a set of responsibilities outside of work.
If you want more information and advice on business, the internet, and social media, please visit our site.
Keep These 7 Office Moving and Building Tips in Mind for Your Business
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenWant to make sure you have an easy time moving? Then choosing a business moving company is the perfect solution for you.
An office move can be a difficult thing if you don’t know how to do it right, but it can be especially difficult if you’re building a brand new office yourself. It’s important that you give both your new building design as well as the moving process a lot of thought to ensure you and your employees have a smooth transition.
Luckily, we’re here to help. Below are the 7 top office moving and building tips that you should keep in mind when moving your business.
1. Take Time For Planning the Move
Before moving to a new building or office, it’s important that you do as much planning as possible beforehand. You need to make sure that you’re not only planning the new office design but that you’re also thinking thoroughly about the moving process.
It’s a good idea to use a checklist and to make a list of everything you need to move to the new location whether that includes office furniture, equipment, files, or inventory. You should also create a thorough timeline that will help guide you as the moving day approaches.
2. Hire Professional Movers
While you may think you’ll be able to handle an office move on your own, it’s usually best to get professional help instead. Be sure to look at reviews online and do your research to find great movers for the job.
Hiring professional movers is often well worth the money you’ll spend and can help move into your new space much more efficiently and effortlessly. Professionals will have the skills and expertise to make a move much less stressful for you.
This also ensures that you don’t miss a beat with your everyday activities.
3. Do Some Serious Labeling
While it may seem like a small thing, doing some serious labeling on your moving boxes is one thing that will make your move much easier to handle. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to find a specific item and having to dig through a lot of different boxes to find what you’re looking for.
Labeling your boxes will make it much easier for you to find what you’re looking for once you arrive at your new building. Doing so can help make setting up your new office a much simpler process.
Be sure you label things thoroughly when packing up your current office and your move will be easier than you may expect.
4. Get Rid of Unneeded Items
When you’re building a new office or you’re moving to different office space, it’s a great time to get rid of some of your old supplies and equipment. You should consider getting rid of anything you don’t need anymore.
Chances are that your office has some furniture around that has seen better days and could stand to be replaced or some equipment that you simply don’t use often enough. Instead of taking this stuff with you to your new space, it may be time to sell or donate them.
5. Secure Your Job Site
It’s important that you secure your equipment and materials before moving. Theft can be a serious problem for a job site and you’ll need to take measures to protect against it. Be sure that you take all of the necessary precautions when building a new office.
Particularly if you’re working with valuable materials such as copper, you need to have a plan for protecting it against thieves. Using portable storage containers can help prevent theft on job sites and will help ensure that the construction of your building goes on without a hitch.
6. Take Measurements
Whether you’re building a new building or you’re moving to a new rental space, take accurate measurements when relocating. You need to do the groundwork necessary to ensure you’ll have enough space for everything.
You’ll want to measure the furniture and equipment you’re taking with you and compare your current office space to your new one. By taking the necessary measurements of the space and planning out the layout thoroughly, you’ll avoid having space problems later on.
7. Optimize the Layout for Productivity
When moving into a new space, you should also make sure you think critically about its layout. Chances are you’ll want to alter it from what you currently have.
Most of all, you should be aiming to create a layout that helps foster productivity and efficiency and helps make daily tasks easier to accomplish.
Positioning equipment, supplies, and employees either closer together or further apart can have a big impact on your office. Be sure to think about the layout carefully to ensure you’re creating an office that meets your needs.
Making the Most of These Office Moving Tips
If you’re going through an office move or building a new office building then you need to do your due diligence and plan carefully. By using the office moving tips above, you’ll have the best chance of having a smooth transition to your new space.
Looking for more office and business tips? Explore our blog!
Creating A Business Structure That Kicks Ass!
/in Organizational Structure/by StrategyDrivenFocus On The Three Main Elements
We are referring to operations, your sales and marketing, and your financial and administrative processes. Once you lay out the priorities for each of these three departments, you will be able to figure out what you are missing. In terms of the operations, it’s all down to the processes. And if there are aspects that you are failing in right now, then you might want to consider outsourcing. There are plenty of resources out there. A company like a Red Key that provides managed IT services, can you create a more thorough sensibility, especially in terms of technical processes. You can’t expect everybody in your small business to be acutely technologically minded. As soon as you start to focus on these three main elements, and you understand what you miss, you are ready to fly!
Defining Specific Roles
Under these three main elements, you can start to split it into even more defined roles. Sales and marketing can encompass public relations, account management, as well as maintenance of the website. Once you start to determine the specific tasks, you then have to go through everyone in your organization to see who can fulfill what role. If you have a small company, by clearly defining roles, especially according to skill, you will need to help encourage more responsibility and ownership. And from there, you can start to create a more defined organisation.
Implementing The Structure
The preparation is the easy bit, you’ve got to see it in action to truly understand if it makes an impact. Having the structure in place, and doing a thorough vetting process will help you to put the best person for each role. And while you put this in place, you’ve got to give yourself some leeway. Things may not go according to plan, but also, you may find that your employees will struggle in, what are, essentially, new roles. Give yourself that breathing space, and if something isn’t working, you can go back to the drawing board. Implementing the structure needs to take a couple of months, at least. At this point, you may find that you are concerned with the skills of a role, but there are always going to be teething problems.
In a small business, it can feel like you’re being thrown to the lions somewhat, but once you prepare, but also allow yourself to fail, you will benefit, and the structure becomes the thing you hang your ideals upon.
Streamline Your Business Technology In 4 Easy Steps
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenInvesting in the right technology is essential for any business, but it only benefits your company if you do it correctly. Overcomplicating their IT systems is one of the more common mistakes that businesses make and it leads to a lot of wasted money and confusing processes which harm productivity. But if you can streamline your business technology, you’ll find that it works far more effectively and you’ll save some money at the same time. Here’s how you can streamline your business technology in 4 easy steps.
Understand Your Current System
Before you can start making any changes, you need to understand your current system. You might be thinking that you already understand all of the technology that your business uses, but chances are, you don’t. You need to speak with your employees and understand how they are using technology day to day, and how it improves their ability to work productively. You also need to look through a breakdown of everything that you’re paying for and ask yourself what benefit each piece of software or hardware brings to the business. If you can’t work out how something benefits the business, why are you spending money on it? Once you have a good idea of where you stand, you can start finding ways to streamline things.
Identify Your Needs
Often, businesses overcomplicate their technology because they do not consider their needs when purchasing software. Instead, they are drawn in by marketing and they buy things on the promise that it will improve their business, even if they don’t really need it. It’s important that you use a needs based approach and think about the problems in your business that need to be solved, then invest in software to meet those needs. If you do it that way, you will be able to make technology investments that improve your business and stop wasting money on things that you don’t need.
Invest In Cloud Solutions
Keeping all of your systems updated is important, but when you overcomplicate things, it can be difficult to stay on top of it all. But if you invest in the right cloud computing services, you can have them manage all of your systems and keep them updated, rather than handling it in-house. That makes things a lot simpler for you, but you still get the benefit of using the latest technology.
Integrate Software
The best way to simplify your business technology is to integrate your software. When you are buying new software, you should always look for applications that work seamlessly with the software that you already have in place. Trying to use multiple programs that don’t work well together will really slow things down for your employees. But if you can integrate everything properly, it will all work perfectly and you should see an increase in productivity. Trying to manage integration can be tough, especially if you don’t really know what you’re doing, so it is best to call in an IT consulting company to implement everything for you.
Follow these steps and you can successfully streamline your business technology and save yourself a lot of time and money.
6 Ways To Use Your Website To Build Trust With Customers
/in Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenEstablishing trust with your customers is the first step on the sales journey. If people don’t trust your business and your brand, they’re not going to buy products from you, it’s as simple as that. People tend to approach businesses with an attitude of distrust until they are proven wrong because there are a lot of businesses out there that will use underhanded tactics to make a sale or mislead people about the quality of their product. So, unless you can build trust, you’re not going to get any sales, but how exactly can you do that?
The majority of people have their first interaction with a business online these days, whether that is through social media or on your website. That’s why your online presence is a good place to start when trying to build that relationship with potential customers. These are some of the best ways to build trust online.
Search Engine Rankings
We all put a lot of trust in the algorithms that determine search engine rankings, even if we don’t necessarily realize it. Think about it, when was the last time you went beyond the first page of a Google search to find a business? You might do it on occasion but usually, you naturally assume that the companies listed on the first page are the most successful and trustworthy businesses, that’s how they earned their place. That’s why the most important way to establish trust is to boost your SEO and make sure that you rank on the first page of results. It’s important for driving traffic to your site as well but even if people find your website through other means, like pay per click ads, they might still do a quick search to check you out afterwards. If you appear on the first page, they’ll be happy, but if they can’t see any mention of your company, that’s a bad sign for them.
Customer Reviews
You can go on about how amazing your product is all you like, but why should people trust you? Of course, you’re going to say that it’s great, you’re trying to sell it to them, so your word doesn’t really carry that much weight here. If you really want to convince people that your products are worth buying and you’re a company that can be trusted, you need an impartial opinion, which is where customer reviews and testimonials come in.
When shopping online, around 91 percent of people will look at the reviews of a product before buying it so they can get an impartial opinion on it. In fact, 84 percent of people say that they trust online reviews just as much as their friends. That’s why they are one of your best tools when trying to build trust in the online world. If you don’t already include customer reviews on your site, you absolutely should. As long as you’re offering good service and a quality product, you shouldn’t need to worry about bad reviews too much. You’ll always get a few and that’s fine, as long as the majority of them are positive. You should display these reviews and testimonials clearly on your website. A lot of sites have a rolling bar along the bottom of the page which shows different reviews, and you should always include them on product listings as well.
People don’t always bother to leave a review but there are a few things that you can do to encourage it. Firstly, send a follow up email a few days after a purchase has been made and kindly ask the customer to leave a quick review. If people are still reluctant, you could offer a small discount on their next purchase in exchange for a review.
Content Marketing
When you’re trying to gain the trust of your customers, it’s important that you prove to them that you know what you’re talking about, which is where content marketing comes in. Content marketing is a great way to generate traffic for your website, but it’s also a good way to offer a potential customer something of value without asking for payment in return. This shows them that you don’t just see them as another sale and you’re willing to put work into building that relationship before you start marketing products towards them. More importantly, good content demonstrates that you’re a leading expert in your industry, which means that they will trust in your products as well. If you can produce regular content on your website which gives useful information relating to your products and services, customers will be far more likely to come to you when they’re ready to make a purchase.
You can still use this as an opportunity to market your products, but you do it in a more subtle way that doesn’t put people off. People hate being bombarded with pushy marketing materials but an informative piece of content that gently suggests that your product might be of use to a customer will be well received.
Focus On Security
Online security is a big concern for everybody right now and people are always worried about the sites that they visit. This is especially true if they’re putting their credit card details in to make a purchase, so security on your site is vital. The most important thing is to make sure that your website is HTTPS secure. You might not recognize the term but if you check the web address on most sites, you’ll see a green padlock icon in the left hand corner. That means the site is HTTPS secure, and it’s one of the first things that people look for when they enter a new site. Most modern websites will be HTTPS secure so if yours isn’t, you need to rectify that (you can use this guide to help you).
The payment platforms that you use on the site are important as well. If you offer secure payment options that people recognize, like Paypal, they will feel a lot more comfortable making a purchase. If people have even the slightest doubts about the security of your website, you can easily lose a sale.
Add An ‘About Us’ Page
People like to have a sense of the people behind the logo when dealing with a new company. Social media has a big part to play in that because it allows you to show your personality a bit and connect with people more. But there are also some simpler ways to show people who you are, like an ‘about us’ page on your website. This gives you the chance to tell people about your company, why you started it, and what your core values as a business are. People are increasingly concerned with the ethical standpoint of the businesses that they deal with and it affects their purchasing decisions, so letting them know a bit about your company ethos is very important.
As well as the company itself, you should devote some space to your employees as well. Showing a photograph and giving a small description of what that person does and a little bit of personal information like their hobbies outside of work helps to humanize your company and builds trust with customers because they feel like they know you a bit more. Helping customers put a face to a name goes a long way when you’re trying to build that relationship with them.
Simplify Your Website Design
The design of your website has a big impact on the way that people see your business and they will make a lot of assumptions about you as soon as they enter the site. If they see a very outdated website that is difficult to navigate and has a lot of broken links, that doesn’t do you any favors. They will assume that you’re an unprofessional company and you don’t have the money to invest in a good web design agency. An overcrowded website is one of the things that puts people off the most because it makes the site so hard to use and it looks incredibly amateurish.
When it comes to web design, simplicity is key. You should only include information that is absolutely relevant and don’t overwhelm people with huge blocks of text. Make sure that everything is easy to scan so people can find the information that they’re looking for quickly and easily. Proper website maintenance is vital as well because if the site runs very slowly or images don’t load properly, that tells them that you’re not really putting much effort into the website. If you’re not putting effort into the website, they’ll assume that you have the same attitude to your products and your customers, so they will not have much trust in you at all.
Finally, you need to be careful with pop-ups. They can be beneficial sometimes, when building an email list, for example. However, if people are bombarded with lots of pop-ups right away, they will get the impression that you only want their money and you’re not interested in building a long lasting relationship with them.
If you follow these steps, you will be able to establish trust with your customers through your website and that will translate to increased sales.