Issue 14

I s s ue14•J a nua r y / F e br ua r y2016

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Cont e nt s 0 2 MessagefromtheEditor 0 3 AdministeringYourOfficeLikeaBoss 0 5 UseLatestMarkengTrendsToYourAdvantage 0 7 4WebDesignsTipsforSmallBusinesses 1 1 20TipsToGetPaidQuickerWithOnlineInvoicing 1 5

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1 7 KeyMarkengStepsforFreshStartups

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Wi s hi ngy oua ndy ourf a mi l yaha ppya ndpr os pe r ousne wy e a r .

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Administering Your Office Like a Boss

By Raul Harman In the modern world of business, competition is tough and the only way to succeed is to do everything right, every step of the way. One of the first steps on this journey of thousand miles lies in properly administering your office. The job of an office administrator is not an easy one but it is more than necessary. Finally, if there is something that The Office (US version) taught us, it is that it’s not unusual for an office administrator (like Pam Halpert nÊe Beesly) to be everyone’s favorite person.

Here are some tips on how to administer your office like a boss.

Start at the reception For starters, you should never underestimate the significance of first impression. Just remember one thing, you can never get a second chance to leave a positive first impression on someone, so you must do this right. This means that not only does the reception need to be well organized but person working at it needs to

be suitable for the job. What you need is a positive and optimistic person, someone who inspires trustworthiness with nothing but their presence. One more thing, it does not suffice for them to just look like that, they must sound this way over the phone as well.

A clear agenda When it comes to the agenda of the company, this is yet another responsibility of the office administrator. So, if there is any field trip incoming, it is up to you to organize it. Two things here are the key.

First one is notifying your co-workers in time and the other one is trying to save company some money. However, these field trips are not your only responsibility, in fact they are not even the tip of the iceberg. Organizing appointments, conferences and meetings are just some of your additional duties as well as dealing with some unforeseen occurrences. Still, how administrators handle themselves in these circumstances is a reliable way to differentiate the best from the rest.

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Managing consumables

Multitasking

Next thing that is in line for an office administrator is how to manage consumable materials like paper and printer ink. A recent study shows that an average office worker consumes no less than 10,000 sheets of copy paper on annual basis. This number can be alarming both for your budget and the environment but there is a way to remedy this. For paper, try resorting to recycled one. This will help you save both paper and your company’s budget. As for the printer ink, since you will need them in large quantities, try buying toner cartridges online. In this way you will always get the best deal.

Even though some might not agree with this, for most successful office administrators, office is no short of a battlefield. This means that you are working in a chaotic environment in which every single party requires your immediate and undivided attention. Of course, this is almost impossible to accomplish, which is why a successful administrator must excel in multitasking. Not only does an administrator deal with all things that were mentioned above, but also has to be fully prepared for all eventualities. Because of this, office administrator can be anyone, but a great office administrator is something that only those extraordinary few can deserve to be called.

Being the focal point As an administrator, you are the focal point of the entire office. Every bit of information (sometimes even the most insignificant), goes directly through you. Amongst your responsibilities, there are composing emails and circular emails, business correspondence, reports and memos. So, if there is a problem in office communication it will usually be your fault. With this in mind, it would be wise for you to save every single message that you send in both digital and printed version. This step is crucial not only to protect yourself, but also to keep track and record of everything that is happening.

In the end, same as successful office administrator can improve the productivity in the workplace, an unskilled one can completely ruin it. With this in mind, you must do all that is in your power to raise the level of organization in your workplace and in this way, take your entire business at a whole new level. By managing your office successfully, you will not only make some visible results but also demonstrate to everyone that you have what it takes to succeed in this modern dog-eat-dog business world.

About the Author Raul is a B.Sc. in Innovative entrepreneurship and his main areas of interest is digital marketing for enterprises and small businesses. He is also a regular contributor on technivorz.com Twitter | Facebook | Google +

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Use Latest Marketing Trends To Your Advantage

By Lilly J Adams Options for promoting products and services are virtually limitless today. The costs of digital marketing are low and the amount of “how to� information is mindboggling. But, that is not the reason to get complacent. On the contrary, it means that businessmen must make an extra effort to select the most efficient marketing tools at their disposal.

Overwhelm and confusion are not uncommon in a world where the rules change every day and cutting-edge technologies evolve with lightning speed.

Striking design Consumers are spending a whole lot of time online, and digital avenues are where marketers must meet them.

People are quite tech-savvy and they know a quality website when they see one. They are used to the constant shifting of the digital landscape, so it is a good idea to refresh the design every now and then. Also, Google rewards quality design, as it serves as a factor affecting the all-important rankings.

Overdoing it, however, might create a counter-effect. Clean and functional design is always the best way to grab attention.

Mobile optimization Since last year, mobile devices have outnumbered the people in the world, and they have transformed the way we consume marketing content. A modern businessman cannot afford to ignore such a roaring trend, and is better off taking advantage of mobile optimization. Many enterprises are making this a priority and invest in apps integration, responsive design, interactive content and mobile ads.

A website that seamlessly renders across multiple mobile devices has the best chances of attracting internet traffic.

Online video marketing And this is one of the major reasons why so many serviced offices continue to pop up in major cities worldwide, giving businesses more room for flexibility. The changing business design demands a change in the office structure as well. And serviced offices are able to cater that and more to

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these businesses that are looking for something more than a space where they can do their work.

Loyalty incentives Most customers come and go, but there are those who are loyal to the end. They are prepared to spend well and provide valuable referrals. Rewarding the repeated purchases used to be a popular way to build loyalty, but now it is fading away.

People would much rather participate in engaging activities, social causes and creative actions. The visa gift card is one of the favorite rewards, and it fits almost any budget. Little things can mean a lot, and sometimes a hand-written thank you note is enough to put a smile on a customer's face.

Pay to claim A bulk of businesses makes good use of free online tools. It is an effective way to cut costs and still stay in the game.

However, paid online ads are on the rise,

and more and more companies are allocating their funds there. It is estimated that digital media has reached 30% of global market share, and in a few years time, it will surpass the TV revenue in the U.S. Hence, companies strive to develop highly targeted advertisements.

They aim at networks like Facebook and Pinterest and most often manage to get a positive return on investment.

Back to the future New marketing techniques and channels pop up with each passing day, and one needs to keep up the pace with the latest trends. The marketing is migrating to online and mobile platforms, and you cannot be the one to fall behind. Use stunning videos to increase visibility and stay ahead of the curve. Keep your loyal customers and attract new ones with appealing design and unique content.

Hesitating to pay for online promotion is a relic of the past, and the exciting marketing future is now.

About the Author Lilly J Adams has worked for six years in different marketing agencies across Australia. Her specialties are advertising, digital marketing, marketing for small businesses and consumers behavior. She loves art, books and watching crime TV dramas.

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4 Web Design Tips for Small Businesses

By David Park

In this age of technology, old school people still exist. Many owners of small or local businesses don’t believe in or simply don’t understand the effectiveness of a web home for their businesses. Their website designs are either absent or so atrocious that they immediately put

off the visitors instead of attracting them towards the website.

Today, every business needs a website now, especially if the customers are present on the web which they are nowadays. If you are a business owner, you need a decent and refreshing website, the same

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way you need a good signboard or logo at your front door and not an ugly one.

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Convey a Considerate Business Personality

A successful home or local business would understand the importance of conveying a thoughtful and kind image of the business, where customers are not just IDs but real persons with real names.

Specialists identify that a popular business website is the one which is welcoming and puts people first and properties second. For example, a real estate company should emphasize on humanizing the process of buying a home where people have more importance, not houses.

If your website’s homepage has stories or struggles of people you have dealt with in just a few words, it sends a positive message. You can add a fan mail section and suggestion box and keep the appropriate suggestions open for everyone to show that you care about their experience.

Many businesses, especially when they are no longer small, tend to move towards more product and service oriented websites and its better if that is avoided and the human connection is prioritized.

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Your Products Will be Highlighted With a Harmonizing Design!

If you choose to put emphasis on selling your products through Internet, ensure your website design compliments that. An attractive and beautiful website with a beautiful imagery of products on it will impress customers and increase sales.

If you have a product belonging to a certain fashion or culture phenomenon, ensure to adjust your website according to it as well. If you are selling Game of Thrones related items – cleared of all copyrights issues of course – such as games or puzzles or your collection of theories, a website designed along similar theme will be so much more effective than a plane design.

The presentation should be clean and there should be nothing to divert the attention from the merchandise. A

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site like that will express organization and simplicity and it quality your customers are always after.

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Consider the Tendencies of your Target Audience

A website design targeted at a certain demographic or a group of people who may be lurking there for the products is far more effective.

You have a set target market and they might have some similarities, so you ought to appeal to those parallels whenever possible.

For example, if you sell sophisticated products, you can add a more expensive looking style to the design that will appeal to the people who actually buy those luxurious items.

The focus should also be on educating the high-minded customers who would in their cultured tastes would look for aesthetically pleasing designs, not just in the products but also in the website design. The site would feel like the products displayed on it and would charm the right visitors.

The lesson is that if your clients feel accustomed to your website, they're

more prone to browse and buy. Study who your customers are when you grow your web presence. Your web designer should be able to know this via you communication.

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Make Informational Sites Fun

Some government websites are even more horrifying and terrible then small businesses. It seems that government officials don’t care about the Internet. Of course, they have a disadvantage of being purely informational sites which people only access in times of trouble and rarely when they are happy and enjoying.

This seems to be the problem with all the informational sites, too much text and lack of captivating styles and imagery.

About the Author David Park is a professional digital media marketer with a dynamic personality and skills. Creative designing and writing are his passions and he enjoys being an active part of the online world. At present, he is managing all the creative works for One Logo Design You can follow him on Twitter

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20 Tips To Get Paid Quicker With Online Invoicing

By Veronika Tondon

Timely payments are essential for every business. An online invoicing system helps in simplifying the business invoicing process and getting paid in a timely manner. Here are some tips to get paid quicker with online invoicing.

Send Professional Invoices Sending out professional invoices is very important for every business.

Online solutions help in sending out invoices that look professional and showcase the brand identity of the business.

Adding the Necessary Invoice Details The invoice must have the corporate logo and company address along

with due date of the invoice. It must mention the details of the product clearly, along with the prices and discounts etc.

Advance Payments As a policy, you can start with new clients on the condition that they pay you an advance. This helps ensuring that the client takes you seriously and pays up on time, in the future as well.

Due Date Adding a due date on the invoice helps in communicating the expected date of payment clearly.

Online invoicing leaves no room for confusion and helps in improving the payment cycle.

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Stick To Your Payment Terms Adding all the necessary terms and conditions related to the invoice, helps in ensuring these are clearly communicated. Besides that, one should be firm about the terms and conditions and ensure that these are taken seriously.

Invoice Scheduling

the transaction, in advance. Once the estimate gets approved, one can send out the invoice on time, as well.

Estimates ensure that the client understands all the details and duly approves them.

Add Late Fee To Invoices Adding a penalty to invoices helps in getting paid on time for the goods/ services delivered. Online invoicing solutions have the option of adding a penalty on the invoice itself. This helps to encourage the client to pay on time.

Add Work Reports

Timely payments call for timely sending of invoices. This is important to shorten the payment cycle and help in quicker payments. Online solutions help in scheduling your invoice and making sure, it is sent on time.

Send Estimates On Time Timely sending of estimates is important for getting paid on time.

Estimates help in getting approval on

Sending out detailed work reports along with invoices helps in giving the client, a clear understanding of the work done. This helps in showcasing facts and reducing any chances of an invoice deduction. If the client is sure that everything is up to the mark, the payment would surely be made on time.

Online Payments This is another useful technique for getting paid in a timely manner.

Online payments help the client to pay instantly and easily. This hastens the process of payments and improves the payment turn-around time.

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Automated Payment Reminders

Track Invoices Efficiently

Following up for payments can be a time taking and a frustrating task.

Sending out automated payment reminders helps in getting paid on time. This is useful in reminding the client that the payment is due.

Online invoicing helps in tracking the status of each and every invoice anytime, anywhere. An invoicing dashboard helps in checking whether a particular invoice has been paid for or pending.

Recurring Invoices

Invoice Aging Reports

This is another useful way to retain the client for longer and getting timely payments. Offering a subscription based model to the clients, helps in sending out monthly bills and receiving on-time payments for them.

Invoice aging reports are useful in find out the average age of invoices after they have become due. Longer ageing means the client is constantly paying late and needs to be penalized.

Use The Notes Section

Early Payment Discounts Incentivizing the client for early payments is a useful way to get paid in a timely manner. Giving a small discount for paying up on the due date can really work very well.

Auto Bill Setting up auto-bills helps you save time and effort in sending invoices and receiving payments. Such profiles help in sending out invoices and receive payments automatically.

This makes the process faster and payments quicker.

The notes section of an invoice can be used to send out useful information.

This can be related to earlier dues or

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interesting offers. One can use this space to get the client to make payments on time.

Maintain a Healthy Client Relationship A healthy client relationship is very useful for getting paid in a timely manner. Making sure that the client is satisfied with the services automatically creates a sense of responsibility to make the payments on time.

Error Free Invoices Invoices that are error free ensure that there are no invoice disputes and the client is completely satisfied.

Online invoicing helps in sending out error free invoices that reach the client mailbox in a timely manner.

Use A Cloud Based Billing Solution Using a feature rich, cloud based billing solution like Invoicera helps in sending out invoices that are professional, timely and error free.

One can also make use of its other features to get paid quicker for the services rendered.

Every business must take the invoicing process absolutely seriously. This is crucial for its survival and growth.

Using the latest tools and techniques goes a long way in simplifying the process.

About the Author Veronika Tondon is a business enthusiast. She writes about emerging technologies and opportunities for business.

She is working as a Marketing Manager with Invoicera, a leading cloud invoicing solution.

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How to Juggle Training for a Qualification and Running Your Own Business

By Hadyn Luke Image: Iosphere— freedigitalphotos.net

How to juggle training for a qualification and running your own business Running your own business, in whatever capacity, takes time, energy and commitment.

As does training for a qualification. So is it feasible to do both at the same time? The good news is that it is possible to juggle training and running your own business. Not only is it possible, but training for a relevant vocation or subject can make savvy business sense and may ultimately help your business venture be more successful in the long-term.

Nonetheless, nobody said juggling the two was easy. If you are thinking about embarking on a training qualification alongside running your own business, you may find the following advice on how to merge the two useful.

Discipline Without a boss or manager breathing over you and ensuring you stay motivated, running your own business naturally requires discipline, but when training for a qualification as well, an unwavering amount of self-control and motivation is required.

You will need to identify and plan periods whereby you concentrate on the business and periods you dedicate to the training. Set yourself an agenda or timetable and do your best to stick to it.

If you are to successfully train and run a business in conjunction with one another, you will need to maintain the discipline to separate the two ventures, whilst devoting adequate time to both.

Train on a part-time basis Whilst it might be tempting to train for a qualification on a full-time basis to become qualified as quickly as possible, as a significant proportion of your time will be devoted to your business, a part-time course is likely to be the most feasible option.

Most training and vocation courses offer a part -time study arrangement, which will mean that the course will be spread out over a longer duration but you are able to concentrate on other things simultaneously, such as running your business.

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Flexible study options With advancements in digital and mobile technology, it is now much easier to train remotely. Having the flexibility to study and train when and where you want can be particularly advantageous to business owners who will have greater freedom to juggle business operations and training.

One example of a flexible vocation course is CMS Vocational Training’s (CMSVOC) AAT Level 3 Diploma in Accountancy. This intermediate level accountancy course enables students to gain vital qualifications whilst studying in a flexible way as they have the option of studying full-time, part-time, from home or online.

Outsource certain tasks Nobody is super-human and there are only so many hours in a day. Outsourcing certain business tasks can be a great way to nurture business growth at the best of times but when you’re training and running a business concurrently, outsourcing can be an essential way to keep afloat of both your training and your business, not to mention stay sane!

As entrepreneur Jeff Shore warns, rejecting outsourcing tasks because of the extra costs

can be detrimental to a business as: “They fail to calculate the value of opportunities lost because they sank too much time into energy-sapping tasks best left to others.”

When a business owner is training for a qualification, this premise holds even more weight for the simply reason, the entrepreneur will have even less time on their hands.

From accounting to marketing, book-keeping to sales, outsourcing certain business tasks can help you juggle educational and vocational training such as AAT qualifications with running a business in a more proficient and less stressful manner.

Find a mentor Whether it’s a mentor related to your training or a mentor in your field of business, finding a mentor who can advise, assist and help you though the busy time of training and running a business, can be an invaluable asset.

If you don’t know of a potential mentor off the top of your head, your college of training provider may offer mentoring programs, designed to aid academic study and assist students in achieving their goals.

Hadyn Luke is Contract Manager at CMS Vocational Training (CMSVOC) and CMS Fitness Courses (CMSFitness). CMSVOC offers a wide range of commercial and government-funded training courses and coaching opportunities throughout Yorkshire and the North of England. CMSFitness is part of CMSVOC and specialises in offering a range of health and fitness-related qualifications.

If you are looking for a flexible course to study for alongside running your own business, CMSVOC offers a range of flexible courses with part-time, work from home study options.

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Key Marketing Steps for Fresh Startups

By Marcus Jensen A great business idea or superior products alone are not enough to win the customers over. When you are a fresh, new player, it is crucial to announce your existence on the market. Otherwise, it is like you do not exist for people who are supposed to spend money on what you are offering. The good news is that the surge of modern technology equipped each and every businessman with the necessary tools to forge lasting, and mutually beneficial relationships with the customers.

Invest yourself The first step is to devise a marketing plan containing devices and strategies you will use to communicate with your target audience. Get to know the market, identify your competition and focus on the potential customers. The goal is to create a profile of the end user of the services and products you offer and build your marketing into them. To nail this step, startups should use killer customer research tools like Facebook Ads.

(Image Source: Flickr )

Many companies like Snapchat, Hotmail and Dropbox managed to hit big on a shoestring marketing budget. The trick is to embed the marketing message into products, and make them something worth recommending. By going viral and using social media to your advantage, you will be able to achieve a rapid growth. Just note that many startups make the mistake of targeting a mass audience too soon.

Furthermore, instead of trying to limit the spending on marketing, focus on a positive return on investment (ROI). More and more

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businessmen are starting to realize that paid media channels make a difference today, so use display, search and affiliate marketing. Facebook advertising is one of the most effective ways to attract new customers and the same goes for Google Adwords.

Digital arsenal It is necessary to establish a distinctive online presence, and not just on social networks. A well-designed site which is optimized for mobile devices and filled with quality content is the best shot you got. As it needs to show up in search results, engage in some search engine optimization (SEO) and boost your Google rankings. Not all visitors convert into customers, which is why startups should get into conversion rate optimization (CRO) as well.

If these efforts fall short, it is likely you need to enhance the marketing messages and value propositions. Hence, small business owners should approach potential customers and ask them where the room for improvement is. Their feedback is invaluable, so install chat plugins like Olark that enable a real time conversation with visitors, or ask them to do surveys.

You can join forces with similar enterprises

or marketing agencies to widen your reach.

It turns out that one of the best decisions I made was seeking the services of a digital agency in Sydney. I realized that there are many aspects of digital marketing strategy I overlooked or deemed irrelevant. Digital space is saturated with a myriad of advertisements, and getting to the position where you benefit from earned media marketing is a tough challenge.

Lead the way To lay the foundation for the marketing strategy, conduct a thorough market research and identify the most effective communication channels for your audience.

Get in touch with potential customers and use their feedback to set the right course and do something beyond the norm.

Observe everyone else, but try to be the opposite: unique, daring and innovative. In the information age, it is often the digital tools that allow us to take the lead role.

About the Author Marcus is an Australian IT support professional. He’s running his own business, working with companies that outsource their IT maintenance. He often writes about technology, business and marketing and is a regular contributor on several sites.

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