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How To Use Customer Research and Smart Algorithms To Name Your New Local Business

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | How To Use Customer Research and Smart Algorithms To Name Your New Local BusinessOpening a new local business isn’t for the faint of heart. You’ll have to hunt for commercial real estate, develop a financial plan, find the right suppliers, and more. However, before you can even tackle those challenges, you’ll need to come up with a name for your store. Many entrepreneurs find that it’s harder than they expect to name their business, but often feel like they have no options other than waiting for inspiration to strike.

Modern keyword-driven name generators like Namify take the guesswork out of the naming process. Namify combines a smart algorithm with user input to develop hundreds of unique naming options. With this approach, you can feel confident that you’ll choose a catchy name for your new store that conveys the right image to your customers.

Understanding Your Ideal Customer

Before you use Namify’s store name generator tool, it’s a good idea to think about what type of customers you want to attract to your store. The theoretical personality profile of your ideal customer is called a buyer persona. This exercise encourages you to delve deeply into the ways your store is different from nearby competitors. It also helps you develop a better understanding of the marketing strategies you’ll use to connect with the customers you’re best equipped to serve.

As you explore the behavior and preferences of the customers who will compose the core of your client base, you’ll also start to think about how you can signal them that your business is the best way to meet their needs.

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Speaking Your Customers’ Language

Why spend all this time getting to know a fictional customer? With a fleshed-out buyer persona, you can start doing research on the keywords and phrases you’ll provide to Namify to generate your store’s name. Think about what your customers find useful, entertaining, or aspirational. For instance, if you’re starting a stationery company that caters to young professionals cultivating a minimalist aesthetic, you’d want to use phrases like “clean lines,” “organized mind,” “stillness,” and “classic.”

Using these terms to guide naming, imagery, and marketing copy communicates to your ideal buyer that your business was developed with their needs in mind. Since your store’s name is the first impression you can make, it’s essential to choose a name that’s informed by concepts that resonate with your prospective customers.

Using the Namify Algorithm

With several well-considered keywords, you’re ready to use Namify to generate new ideas for your store’s name. Choose the right category for your business to shape the results and all your keywords to the search field. Namify requires a minimum of two keywords but using more will provide you with more options. Once you’ve generated a list of potential names, you can start to review your choices. Consider how names sound when spoken aloud, or how they’ll look as a part of a custom domain name. If sound is important to you, try restricting your search output to names that rhyme.

You don’t have to write down or remember all the ideas that Namify presents. Click the heart icon next to your favorite ideas to mark them for your shortlist and email them to yourself so you can spend as much time as you want mulling over your top picks.

Naming your store won’t be the hardest part of launching your new business, but without any help, it can start to feel that way! Combining your market knowledge and customer research with Namify’s smart naming algorithm will make short work of the name generation process so you can move on to all the other tasks you have to tackle before opening day.

Top 5 Tips To Produce The Right SEO Content

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Top 5 Tips To Produce The Right SEO ContentThe world of SEO is always changing, as Google’s algorithm acts as a black box: no one knows what is coming next.

Being an SEO professional is all about adapting your digital marketing strategy according to the right web design. Focusing on those factors that are determinant, the phrase “content is key” summarizes all. High-quality content can be one of the top factors that will make you stand out of the competition, helping you rank higher within the SERP. However, a common crossroad that most SEO experts encounter is related to quantity versus quality. Is it better to have tons of content, and make your pages/posts larger for the shake of it, or maybe is better to make posts shorter but straightforward? We will share some light on how you can produce quality content to make it the cherry top of your SEO cake.

1.Identify your Audience and their Needs

While it may seem like a simple and straightforward tip, a lot of businesses write content just for the shake of it. The main goal of writing a piece of content is to create awareness and value for a chosen topic.

On the other hand, if you write blog posts and articles with the sole intent to promote your products or services, people would feel that their needs are not taken into account. You should ask yourself: is my blog covering a wide range of topics? Are we answering those questions that targeted and future customers are asking to themselves? Therefore, you will have to conduct extensive research into your target segment to determine what are you missing in your content.

If you push the right buttons, your site will stand out of the crowd and will enable you to rank higher then your competitors.

2. Schedule your Content Using an Editorial Calendar

Creating an editorial calendar will help you organize your content. It will dictate you when to publish new content or which blog posts you want to update. Just make sure that you stick to it, you must create blog content on regularly. Some features you might want to take into account are:

  • Use a calendar app. E.g. Outlook or Google Calendar. Calendar apps are great for reminders and to organize your daily schedule. It will also enable you to share the editorial calendar with your marketing team, so everyone can collaborate with it!
  • Keep an eye on your competitors’ updates. If you want your content to be relevant enough, check on the competition to see what kind of content is creating, and when are they doing it. This will help you simplify the whole process of engaging with your audience and will keep you at the same level than the rest of the bloggers.
  • Create special features for your site. Add some originality to your blog here: create categories, weekly updates, contents etc. Try to be engaging at all times.

3. Assign Keywords to Search Intent

One of the most common mistakes that people make is to fill up their content with a lot of keywords, just because they want to rank for them. If you overuse keywords into your content, Google will not be happy with it, as the searcher is always trying to find content that is tailored to a keyword. If the content you produce focuses on improving the search volume for your keywords instead of providing value, Google will penalize the readability of your blog.

This is why mapping keywords to search intent is so important: is an easy step but is not that difficult to leave it behind. Therefore, you may want to perform a Google search for your keyword and see the results that the SERP displays. For example, if you want to rank for “best SEO tips”, you should map your keyword to a “best SEO tips 2020” blog post, or a related service website.

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4. Update your Evergreen Content

First of all, make sure that you know what evergreen content is:

  • Searchable
  • Easy to share
  • Non-time sensitive
  • Enduring

Once you know which post/article you want to update, you may want to prioritize those posts that have earned more engagement. Check on the metrics: use ahrefs to see your top pages and pick up the right topic. Then, identify that data that is eligible for being updated, and reshape it: give it refreshment by adding some relevant information. Moreover, include internal and external links to your new content. This way, you can add new additional pages that are relevant to your article, which will add new value to your piece of content. Last but not least, remember to change those old and outdated images for new and shiny ones.

5. Focus on Quality AND Quantity

If you do have the resources to create as much quality content as possible and you can write several high-quality blog articles in a short period, just do it! However, if you cannot afford it that way, focus your attention on the 80% rule: put 80% of your efforts on quality and 20% on quantity or vice versa. Furthermore, it is harsh to put a 50%- 50% focus on both, as you will have to focus on relevant topics or publishing every day. Last but not least, identify which your overall goals are: are you looking to engage users and offer them new pieces every day? Or are you looking to create high-quality, unique content? That only depends on you, but I will try to focus on both at the same time.


About the Author

Laura is an SEO Executive working at MintTwist, a London based digital marketing agency.

Improving Your Office For The New Year

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Improve your Office|Improving Your Office For The New YearIn 2021, as professionals begin returning to their office spaces and welcoming a new year of hopeful normality, it’s important for all business owners to use this time as an opportunity. This opportunity can entail equipping the office with the equipment it needs, redoubling efforts to keep it hygienic, and using methods to improve team morale from top to bottom. Those kinds of investments are almost always worth it, because it will serve as a direct measure of trust in your brand, your culture, and your people.

Improving your offices for the new year also helps you shake up this space, likely long-vacant thanks to the pressures of this year. But what measures will actually make the difference? How can firms allocate their budget and spending towards this goal when times may be tight in the first place? These questions are worthwhile to ask, because they can provide you with a means in which to justify your approach, and better understand the investments you are making. With our following advice, you’re sure to step in the right direction:

Upgrade & Outfit Your Office

There are likely many little niggling issues that have been getting on your nerves, and that was before remote work became the norm. Upgrading and outfitting your office can be as easy as buying office furniture online and provide you with the means to get the ball rolling as soon as you return, and the space necessary to resolve those issues from the offset. For instance, office cell phone boosters from WilsonPro are proven to up the cell phone reception and signal in your office space, which can often be difficult considering the materials the building is made from.

Little resolutions like this, with inexpensive yet reliable equipment, can provide you with the functionality necessary to bring your A-game to the new year. If you can achieve that, odds are you’ll notice the difference in productivity compared to the start of 2020, when offices were populated in the best possible sense.

Ensure Devices Are Well Stocked & Maintained

Ensure your office devices are well stocked and maintained. Replenishing your stock of toner, ensuring your laptops are fully backed up with the latest anti-virus protocols, collaborating with your managed IT services, all of this will help your office functionality stay sharp and ready – much like your returning employees.

It might be that you need to recall your company devices for a moment just to ensure they are updated with the latest protocols. For instance, Google Suite has now changed into Google Workspace, and that may mean you use lesser apps to manage your workflow.
Part of renewing your devices means educating your staff in how to use them, and figuring out new methods of improving your productivity. To use an example, Google Meet could be a perfect addition to your Hangouts policies, only this may require the installation of new apps to work phones. As your devices are part of your workflow, they are also part of the office, and so this is a viable use of your time.

Thorough Cleaning Measures

Thorough cleaning can make all the difference when returning to a normal working schedule. It’s important for your office to shine, and to protect itself against the growing number of difficulties offices have faced.

Deep cleaning will help your staff feel comfortable that you have taken the right precautions, and that they can trust you and your attempts at keeping the space as clinical as possible. Window cleaning, tidying up the exterior of your business, reshining the brand signs and making sure the carpets are refreshed can help the entire space shine, inner and outer. That can help you inspire pride in your office and workplace, something worth encouraging when you hope to kickstart the renewed morale of your employees. Furthermore, cleaning also helps you identify issues that you may not have addressed for some time, from growing damp in your bathroom to scuff marks left by chairs on your carpet.

Sometimes a renewal can help you see this space as it should be seen – radiant, new, vibrant, and worthwhile. That can help any brand feel renewed confidence in itself, from now into the future. That kind of perception you cannot by, but you can come across with hard work, and it’s perfect for a new year full of positive possibilities.

Adjusting Workspace Terminals

Adjusting the terminals in your workspace will help you ensure a regular flow of productivity when staff feel safe, protected, and your space is used in the best possible manner. For instance, seating staff far enough apart with dividers can ensure nothing spreads, while also ensuring staff feel dominion over their workspaces.

It’s important to remember that staff are coming in from remote work options and have had full control over their space for some time. Moving into an office once more can certainly be an adjustment for them, and so it’s up to you to make this approach as friendly and reliable as possible.

Adjusting your workspace in this capacity can also mean investing in worthwhile ventilation, to ensure the space is breathable yet not cold over the winter period. Workspace terminal adjustment may also mean rededicating yourself to cable management, to totally reduce trip hazards and improve desk space. This can give staff the capacity to bring in their own devices, something they may have become used to during the remote working period.

Managed IT Maintenance

Managed IT maintenance will restore your business functionality in the best sense, but upgrading your serviced package or asking to renew certain measures, such as your cloud functionality support and accessibility, can help you refine your workflow.

This might involve slowly backup up all of your data onto the cloud, or it might mean ensuring you are still working with the latest cybersecurity compliance possible. Those measures can help any firm stay thoroughly capable, well-developed and measured from the offset. These efforts can make any firm retain its standing in the best possible sense, even if that means servicing the devices our staff use. Keeping everyone on the same page and encouraging a tune-up of our workflows can make a big difference after everyone has been working at home for some time – a lesson we could all do with learning.

Considering Ergonomics

It’s a good time to invest in staff health. Ensuring they are as functional and able as you hope they would otherwise be can be taken into your own hands. For instance, you may decide to invest in better office furniture, or standing desk toppers to help your staff work and exercise as they may be better off doing.

Simple a renewed intra-office campaign reminding staff to sit up straight, to lift the monitor to the top of their eyeline, and to stretch when possible can help the office serve as a functional, health-abetting resource in the best possible sense. Considering ergonomics can mean investing in chairs with good lumbar support, purchasing left-handed mice and keyboards for your left-handed employees as appropriate. This will all combine to help your staff feel thought of, and it can help them iron out any undue aches and pains that may have otherwise came from bad posture sitting at home for a time. A good place to begin, then.

Making The Most Of Your Space

Making the most out of your space can also be important at this time. For instance, it might be that you’ve been using your conference facilities as a storeroom since the remote work requirements started taking place. Making the most of your space could mean opening this back up again, and using this as a spill-in room to enact social distancing when your employees return to their stations.

It could be that you’ve been meaning to refurbish your office kitchen since forever, due to the fact that space has been disheveled for a while and you haven’t quite gotten around to it. A new refrigerator, a new microwave, and new doors on the cupboards could mean a lot to your staff, who will likely use part of this space as a means of collaborating and connecting with one another once more.

For some, making the most of your space could mean simply ensuring that your smoking area is cleaned up and that the shelters are in place to protect against the weather. Renew your standards, they can make a massive difference regarding how you see your firm, and how it presents itself to the wider world.

Simple Aesthetic Additions

It can be nice to have the little things speak to your office culture, and celebrate it. For instance, a large ‘welcome back’ sign, or a list of people who have done outstanding work remotely, or perhaps signs that reassure your staff they can visit your HR office anytime. Little additions, to help the office culture shine, can help everyone feel comfortable returning to it.

With this advice, we hope you can more easily improve your office for the new year. Your staff, your brand, and you deserve it.

Marketing Techniques to Use in 2020

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Marketing Techniques|Marketing Techniques to Use in 2020There are some marketing techniques that you should always try to use in your business no matter what sector your company might operate in. These techniques and strategies will help push your business to the next level. Let’s take a look at some of the things you should be including in your marketing strategy, regardless of your business.

Education

There is always room for you to include a little education with your content to create the best possible posts that you can be certain your audience are going to want to see. Consumers nowadays want to know where their products are coming from, and they want to know more about the companies that they are buying from. It is incredibly important that you offer your customers the chance to learn more about your brand when coming to you.

This education does not have to compromise your trade secrets in any way. If you are a Fairtrade company, put in a page about how you achieve this status. Make content explaining the benefits of your products or services. You will often find that customers want to build trustworthy relationships with their favourite brands. Education is an excellent way to do it.

Personalisation

In 2020, consumers expect their communications with brands to be a little more personalised than it might have been in previous years. This goes far beyond just slapping a customer’s name on their emails or messages. It needs to be tailored to that customer and their preferences.

There are so many tools that you can use nowadays to collect data about your customers that you can then use to create more personalised marketing for them. You can even ask them to complete small questionnaires that will help your teams to come up with content that is going to suit them. You should get to know your customers as individuals and treat them as such. Offering small deals that lead to a more personalised experience as a company is always going to be better.

Use Video

Video content is some of the best you could include on your site. There are so many interesting ways that you could incorporate video content in your business, and you should try to add some as soon as you can. From tutorials to testimonials, or even some behind-the-scenes footage that shows you take a product from design to shipment, there are so many interesting paths to follow.

Making video content can be a lot more complicated that just creating images. Reaching out to a digital marketing service might be the right choice for your company. If you want an all-round service, try these digital experts. Not only can they help you make high-quality video content but they can also help you to properly upload it to your site do it can be used with the latest SEO strategies.

Livestreams

In addition to traditional video content, your brand might also want to look into some of the benefits of livestreaming. This is easily done through your social media. Both Facebook and Instagram carry the capabilities to go live. It is easy to set up and can reach a lot of your audience in a short amount of time with a lot of engagement in return.

Live content can be used to make special announcements, or even to showcase different products or services that might be on offer through the company. You might even decide to simply have a live “catch-up”, where you just sit and answer questions as they come in. It is definitely something worth looking into.

Concentrate on Your Local SEO

Since many businesses have made the jump to e-commerce in the past few years, there has been a large concentration of SEO outreach for a more general audience. People want to be able to rank well for their chosen sectors, and so they try to focus their SEO on reaching these goals even if it means going up against some of the biggest companies around.

However, you also need to make sure that you concentrate on your local SEO too. Fill out your Google My Business listing, and make sure that you optimise your local SEO so new customers can actually find you. If you are not a wholly digital company, you might still get a lot of foot traffic from people in your local area. All brick and mortar businesses need to ensure that potential local patrons are able to find them online.

These are all key points that all businesses need to be able to cover in 2020. Make sure you add some of the above marketing strategies to your business soon. You might be surprised to see the difference it can make to your brand overall. Marketing is one of those disciplines that few businesses can allow to slide.

Keeping it Simple:The Right Cleaning Method for 8 Types of Floors

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cleaning Method for Floors|Keeping it Simple:The Right Cleaning Method for 8 Types of FloorsThere are at least eight types of flooring in homes and commercial buildings, and it is important to use the correct method and cleaners for each floor. The goal is to keep each type of floor looking clean and new without damaging it in the cleaning process. There is a correct cleaning and care method for each type of floor. Using the correct cleaning method will help the floor last longer and look better every day.

Using Professional Cleaning Services

Homeowners who have busy schedules , homeowners with limited mobility, or business owners may find it more convenient to hire floor care from Grime Scrubbers. A professional floor cleaning company has the training and equipment to clean every type of floor correctly for the best results. If a building owner has high traffic or multiple types of flooring, it may be easier to leave the cleaning to professionals then to try to figure out cleaning methods for each type of flooring.

Professional floor cleaning companies have all the correct chemicals and machinery on hand to do the best cleaning job in a short amount of time. When building owners sign up for a weekly, monthly or other regular cleaning program, there are often price breaks. Some types of flooring need regular cleaning and waxing with periodic stripping, sealing and re-waxing. This is a difficult job better left to professionals with the correct equipment. Other floors need buffing periodically to look their best.

This takes special equipment.

Buildings or homes with carpet need a different type of cleaning because of the carpet pile. They often need spot treatment, pre-conditioning, cleaning or shampooing to look their best. After cleaning, the carpet needs to be dried before the room can be used. if the wrong cleaners are used, they will attract and trap soil in the carpet pile.

The Best Methods for Homeowners to Clean Different Floor Types.

Homeowners who want to clean their own floors should follow the manufacturer’s cleaning directions if they are available or try these cleaning tips for the 8 types of floors. There are some general tips that apply to all flooring types such as always clean up spills right when they occur, vacuum or sweep the floor before mopping. When a floor is not swept or vacuum first, the mopping will just spread dirt around for a dingy look.

Use cleaner sparingly to avoid leaving a residue that will attract dirt. Use a different bucket for rinse water to rinse a floor after mopping it with cleaner. Empty both dirty water buckets down the toilet rather than the sink. This water is full of dirt and germs. When mopping, wipe in the correct direction and start at the end furthest from the exit door and mop toward the door so you will not be walking on a freshly cleaned, damp floor when done. When done cleaning the floor, clean the mop with bleach water and wring out thoroughly and air dry. Do not let the mop sit in the bucket to dry.

  1. Hardwood floors can be spot cleaned before overall cleaning starts using a cloth or sponge and a little wood floor cleaner. Now use a flat head mop, a microfiber pad, or a microfiber string mop that has been dipped in cleaner solution and wrung out thoroughly. Use a cleaning solution in a spray bottle and spread a heavy mist on the floor to mop off. Use a wood cleaning product off the shelf or make one with black tea or a mild PH-neutral soap and water. Wood floors will either be finished with a polyacrylic, urethane, polyurethane coating, or wax. If the floor has a wax coating avoid mopping and water and keep it clean with sweeping, and dusting.
  2. Laminate floors look like wood but they are very different. They are made with layers of backing, base, photographic layer and strong sun-resistant protective layer. They are installed in planks and it is important not to get water in those seams or under the flooring. This floor can be spot cleaned or damp mopped when necessary. The main cleaning should be vacuuming with the tile mode or dry mopping. Do not buff or polish these floors.
  3. Cork floors are often sealed to limit their moisture absorption. They are susceptible to water damage, so don’t mop them with a wet mop. Clean spills up ASAP and vacuum often. When they need cleaning, use a weak solution of vinegar and soapy water in a spray bottle. Spray a small section of floor at a time and wipe with a barely damp microfiber mop.
  4. Bamboo flooring needs to be swept often to get rid of dirt that could cause scratches in the soft bamboo. Strand bamboo is harder. This floor is cleaned as if it were hardwood with a very mild PH-neutral soap and writer. The mop should be barely damp, with any moisture wiped off with a cloth.
  5. Linoleum Floors are back because they are more environmentally friendly than more petroleum based floors. This floor is damp mopped with a spray bottle of a few drops dish soap and hot water sprayed on the floor, then wiped off with the damp mop.
  6. Vinyl floors can be cleaned with a commercial floor cleaning solution or a homemade solution of 1/4th cup vinegar, 1 drop dish soap and water in a 16 oz. spray bottle. Spray this on floor one section at a time and mop off with damp microfiber mop. Periodic deep cleaning with a steam cleaner gets germs and stubborn stains.
  7. Natural stone flooring must be cleaned avoiding vinegar, bleach, and ammonia. Damp mop these floors with water and a small amount of PH-neutral cleaner that won’t react with the stone, damaging it. Plain water and a microfiber mop are a good option.
  8. Ceramic or porcelain tile Floors and their grout can be cleaned with a mix of 1/4th cup vinegar and a drop of dish soap in a 16 oz bottle of warm water for weekly cleaning. Then, use steam cleaning for deep cleaning.

Cleaning all of the floors in the home or commercial building is an important part of maintenance, but do not use harsh chemicals or too much water. Carpeted floors need to be vacuumed often and then shampooed or steam-cleaned several times per year. Commercial floor cleaning companies have the right chemicals and equipment to do the best carpet deep cleaning. The home or building owner or their maintenance crew can do the daily or weekly vacuuming.

Well-maintained floors look better and last longer.