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5 Professional Business Gigs Your Company Is Missing

Every business owner knows that there are certain functions of their company that need to occur in order to survive. Most of these functions may vary from company to company, but there are some functions that companies either try to tackle themselves or completely ignore that can be damaging to their success. If you want your business to be successful, the following are five professional business gigs that you simply cannot ignore.

1. Transcription Services

Audio and video transcription is a professional service that most businesses overlook, but it can be extremely valuable to your company. Transcription services can be a great way to provide a hard copy of company or client meetings, brainstorming sessions or even audio notes that were taken about an upcoming project. Having a hard copy of these events can be extremely beneficial in case of technical errors or issues.

Transcription services can also be extremely beneficial for your company’s SEO efforts. If your company has a large amount of audio or video on your website, having these items transcribed and placing the transcription on your website can provide the search engines with the necessary keywords they use to rank your site. This can help improve your overall ranking.

The best part of transcription services is that you can generally hire a third-party company to do this for you instead of hiring a full-time (or part-time) transcriptionist for your company.

2. Copywriting Services

Content marketing has increased in popularity over the years, and without strong content, whether on your website or other marketing collateral, your company is not going to be very successful. Using a professional copywriter can greatly help your company.

A professional copywriter has the expertise to provide your business with the content you need to reach your audience. They provide a clear and concise message, and they ensure that the copy, tone and style of writing are consistent between all channels. Having clear and consistent content is a great way to strengthen your branding efforts, and providing error-free content shows your audience that you believe in quality.

There are plenty of freelance copywriters throughout the world that are ready and willing to help your business succeed, or you can always hire a full-time copywriter as part of your staff.

3. Graphic/Web Design

By now, you know just how important having an online presence is to your business. Today’s consumers are turning to the Internet to research products, services and companies before making a purchasing decision, and if your audience can’t find you online, your chances of earning business are slim.

Some companies take the cheap route and use a website design site such as Wix.com to create their business website. These companies choose from a variety of templates, add in their own copy and consider their website complete. While these boxed design sites are easy and cheap, hiring a real graphic and/or web designer is much more beneficial for your business.

Using a graphic/web designer allows you to create a site that is truly customized to your needs, and it will help you stand out from all the other companies using boxed websites. Your company can either opt to use a freelance graphic/web designer or hire one for your staff.

4. Community Manager

Social media has made a big impact when it comes to business marketing. Some companies have yet to jump on the bandwagon, and some that already have are still struggling to manage and maintain their site effectively. This is why it’s essential that your business hire a community manager.

A community manager is an individual (or a team of individuals) that is dedicated to maintaining and monitoring your company’s social media accounts. This person will set up all your company’s social media platforms, post regularly to these accounts and engage with your audience, perform customer service and make you aware of anything that occurs on these sites that could help or hurt your brand.

Having a community manager ensures that someone is constantly watching your online presence and communicating with your audience. It also keeps the rest of your employees from guessing who’s supposed to be monitoring these accounts and allows them to get back to, and stick with, their normal job responsibilities.

5. Blogger

Blogging is important to the online success of your business, and while some companies put the responsibility of the blog in the hands of the copywriter or community manager, you can also opt to hire a professional blogger to tackle this responsibility.

Blogging requires a certain writing art form that is different than other writing styles. Content needs to be engaging, concise and informative, otherwise it’s not going to be effective. Having a blog for your company is a great way to share your company’s knowledge and expertise and attract consumers to your company. Plus, it’s a great tool for search engine optimization.

Regularly changing the content on your website keeps the search engine crawlers coming back to your site. The more keywords these crawlers find, the better your site will be ranked. If you don’t change the content on your website often, having a blog attached to your website can help ensure that your website and blog remain highly ranked, increasing your visibility.

Having a blogger on staff can ensure that your blog is regularly updated and well maintained, and it can give your company an advantage over other companies that have yet to start blogging.

About the Author: Frank Simmons is a freelance writer and avid blogger. He writes articles that are informative and engaging and often focuses on business and blogging.

Why Your Promotional Flyer Is Going Straight In The Bin – And What You Can Do About It

You have spent a lot of money on a promotional flyer to advertise your business, you have printed it on good quality paper and you have paid a distributor to hand them out all over your city. Unfortunately, as soon as your flyer is pushed through the mail slot of 99% of doors, it will be headed straight to the rubbish bin or recycling box. All of your hard work has gone to waste to create something that will probably only used by your customers to line the bottom of their birdcages.

Why are your promotional flyers destined for the bin? Is there anything you can do about it?

Take a Close Look at Your Flyers – Are They the Best They Can Be?

Take a look at the flyers that you have been distributing and ask yourself whether you can really blame your customers for throwing them away without a second thought. Do they stand out from all of the other advertisements, or are they boring and ordinary? It can be difficult to look at your flyers objectively because you are emotionally invested in your business, but try to look at them from the perspective of someone who has never heard of your company or what you do. Would the flyer pique their interest?

Unfortunately when you are distributing flyers for your business you will have a lot of other promotional mail to compete with. Unless your flyer has a great offer or is very interesting and eye-catching, you can’t really blame most people for recycling it with the pile of other junk mail.

Tips for Improving Your Flyers

The good news is that there are a number of ways you can improve your flyers and make it more likely that your customers will pay attention to them and save them. Here are a few tips to apply to your flyers to help them avoid a one-way trip to the rubbish bin.

Make the largest text eye catching. The headline or the largest text on the page should be something that makes the reader look twice. Too many flyers simply state the name of the company, which won’t catch the customer’s interest.
Use a large and impactful font for this big headline, which will make it more readable and make it stand out in a pile of papers from across the room.
Most of the time, people look at images first and then read text. Use an interesting main graphic or a vibrant colour image to grab the attention of the reader. Make sure that it is obvious how the image is related to the text.
Follow up the headline with strong and simple points that outline what you have to offer. Focus on the benefit of your product or service for the customer… what’s in it for them?
Avoid too much text. People will get bored reading the flyer and you will lose their interest.
Include a call to action at the end. Perhaps you want them to visit your website and sign up, or request a free report, or order a free trial. A leaflet or a flyer with no call to action is a wasted opportunity.
Take a random sampling of all of the other common flyers that come through your door. Does your flyer look like every other one? Think about how you can make it stand out, such as using an unusual colour or printing it on a shiny or textured surface.

These are just a few of the main ways that you can make it less likely that your promotional flyer will end up going straight in the bin and instead be read by your potential customers.

About the Author: Paula Whately is a blogger and entrepreneur in London who recently had a new flyer designed for her business. With the new design in flyer distribution, London customers were calling her at a much higher rate than usual.

Old Tricks And Traditional Skills Still Vital To 21st Businesses

You would think, with this being the bright shiny and thoroughly wired 21st Century that the more traditional skills associated with the secretarial world would be thoroughly redundant. However, despite the fact that our lives are dominated by computers, tablets, Smartphone’s and a whole range of peripherals and apps that can be added to them, some traditional skills remain in high demand. From copy typing to audio typing and transcription services, traditional skills still remain in high demand. The latter, in particular, remains a crucial part of content creation for many industries, from humble minute taking to full scale TV transcriptions. Transcription services today are also an important feature for conference organisers and transcription offers a number of significant advantages.

The Bigger Picture

Recording and filming any event was, in the past, a difficult task which required a significant number of professionals and an equally large (and cumbersome) amount of equipment. Today any event, from a pop concert to conference can be (and is) recorded on a phone and the film is often uploaded to the web in seconds. However convenient this may seem it does not replace the need for accurate and professional filming or transcription. In large conference centres where a number of speakers may be talking at one time, or where question and answer sessions are part of the presentation, both professional filming and transcription still have significant advantages. Unlike audio or video files, fully transcribed events offer users a fast look up for significant points and sections. With transcriptions now available digitally, the simple use of the find function can take you straight to the point in a way that no amount of film footage can.

Old Skills and New Methods Combined

Post event publications of transcribed documents have a number of advantages. In terms of web publication, transcription offers a handy SEO tool. The broader the scope of your written content, the more opportunities for lead generation via search engines; again in a way which means that video content alone will not be as beneficial. Also the more traditional print press, while happy to receive audio or visual material, will often rely on transcribed versions of a presentation or conference to make their own jobs easier and making things easy for journalists means they’ll be able to find time to fit your piece in.

Applied Technology

Although transcription is an old skill, long pre-dating the internet, the technological revolution has made the process of finding reliable transcription services easier and more affordable. Most transcription services operate online and transcribers themselves can be located just about anywhere in the world. This has driven down the costs of professional transcription and can open up opportunities for these services. This means any content you need to promote in overseas markets can be quickly made available in a variety of formats or languages. The process is speeded up to almost light speed thanks to modern technology. This gives modern businesses a greater and faster reach than in the past, making it possible for firms of any size to go global.

New Opportunities

While transcription services offer advantages to a range of industries they offer specific advantages to conference organisers in any field. Post conference transcripts can be marketed alongside podcasts as part of a full package for both attendees needing to refer back to the conference and as a valuable product in their own right to sell to a wider market. Working with a professional and established provider makes sense in this context and planning ahead will also make the process run more smoothly. Contacting a transcription service provider well in advance and involving them in the planning of the event will help you both to create a package that suits your needs which will result in a quick and efficient turnaround on the end product. Despite the massive advances in technology and the opportunities that it has opened up for business it seems that some of the oldest tricks are still the best.

About the Author: Pipa Rose is a freelance writer who has a keen interest in business. While technology has made business presentations and conferences far easier and more accessible for many, she believes that many traditional skills such as transcription services still play a crucial role.

Small Business: Shopping Online for Big Savings

As a small business owner, you need to conserve your financial resources as much as possible. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to utilize the Internet to save money on essential supplies and services. In fact, the vast majority of items that an office company uses will be available for a discount online, and most other industries can also find better prices by simply conducting a quick Internet search.

Saving-Money — License: Creative Commons image source

Buying in Bulk

Although you can definitely get discounts on every day office supplies by buying them in bulk quantities at a brick and mortar store, you will most likely be able to save even more from an Internet-based retailer. For example, Amazon sells several common items that small businesses need in bulk, and they also offer a subscription service that will enable you to save even more on the supplies that you use on a regular basis. When you factor in the free shipping and the fact that you will avoid spending money for gasoline, it becomes easy to see how much money you can save by buying items in bulk off of the Internet.

Buying in Smaller Quantities

If you are looking for individual items, it is still usually a better idea to shop online. There are several price comparison websites that have been created with the purpose of enabling consumers to quickly find the absolute best price on any given item. Additionally, some of these sites even include local store prices to help you determine if it makes more sense to buy a specific item locally. You can also download an app for your iPhone that will help you compare prices online for items that you are looking at in a store.

Saving with Comparison Sites

Every company needs to have business insurance and you will also need automobile insurance if you have a company vehicle. Although you could simply get a quote from the insurance provider that you use for personal purposes, you will most likely end up spending more money. Instead, you should use sites like www.monkey.co.uk to help you gather several quotes from various national and local insurance companies. Once you have all of the quotes, you will be able to compare the pricing and available options to easily determine which policies make the most sense for your company.

Shipping Costs and Transit Times

If you absolutely need an item today, you will need to go to a local store to pick it up. Unfortunately, that purchase is probably going to cost a lot more than it would have online. Therefore, whenever you have time to wait, you should always shop online. Most companies offer free shipping over a specific dollar amount, and expedited shipping options are usually available. Even if you end up paying for shipping, you will still save money in most cases.

Shopping online for the majority of your company’s supplies and essential services is one of the best ways to keep your budget in line. If you are not using online comparison sites, you are wasting money on a daily basis.

About the Author: Researcher Shelby Warden provides this information for small business owners who need to watch their bottom line. Small business owners who go to www.monkey.co.uk to compare insurance plans and costs not only get the best online prices, but can even choose a charity to receive a £10 donation when they purchase a policy.

Is Outsourcing Fulfilment Services The Right Choice For Your Business?

Fulfilment Services

Order fulfilment and distribution is the life blood of any business. If orders are not filled quickly and effectively, and distributed fast and without incident, then you can wave goodbye to your customers. For a number of reasons, many companies find themselves unable to carry out their promotional services in their entirety. Many large businesses, especially multinational enterprises, choose to outsource promotional logistics to help out in promotion of their various products and services.

While outsourcing fulfilment to a dedicated logistics firm obviously incurs some significant initial outlay, it is a cost that a large company can well afford, when the cost of undertaking the promotional service themselves is taken into account. Relieved of the problem of promotional logistics and fulfilment, the sales team is freed up to focus on more important factors such as keeping the sales end of things running smoothly and effectively. It is primarily for this reason that so many larger companies and business entities choose to look for promotional logistics service providers.

What To Look For When Identifying A Fulfilment Service Provider

As the internet age draws on, we find ourselves more and more overwhelmed with information. Every decision is made both easier and harder by the sheer number of options we are presented with when researching a service provider online. It is essential however to devote a bit of time to establishing your fulfilment needs and researching the fulfilment services offered by various companies, identifying the ones which best suit the specific a, individual needs of your company. It may seem arduous to trawl through a lot of providers websites, but getting the choice of service provider right is as crucial to the success of the business as doing the promotion itself.

It is not only the costs attached to undertaking promotional activity yourself that your business is set to save when outsourcing fulfilment services; your company will also be able to redirect the man power and other resources that you would have used on promotional activities to other enterprises. The benefits attached to this decision must be equal or greater to the cost of having to outsource.

Adding value

Promotional activities are often an additional cost to the company and they can only be valued by the contribution they make towards increasing the sales volume and popularity of the products or services. The only way to ensure that the value of the promotion services is felt by the company is by ensuring the service provider delivers quality services that are both timely and very professional. Whether collecting various promotion requirements, delivering customs clearance services, or drop shipping promotional merchandise, the service provider must provide these services with ultimate professionalism.

The challenge then is for the service provider to offer a reliable service of the highest quality, so that your business will retain its customers in a competitive industry. If the service provider fails to consistently exceed expectations then you can quickly begin to seek better service providers or build your own promotional teams from your sales divisions. This puts you as a business owner considering outsourcing fulfilment services in a really strong position, as potential service providers are constantly striving to offer the best service they can in a competitive market. Likewise, of course, fulfilment service providers are assured of customers who will always need promotional services in order to stay relevant in very competitive markets and to retain their market share.

About the Author:Kate Parker is a blogger and SEO writer who has written extensively on order fulfilment. she has written this article on behalf of Vision Logistics.