POST CATEGORY : Economy & Environment

Small Businesses Need an Online Presence, Too!

When you think of company websites, you may think of online retailers: Amazon, for instance. These giant companies live online – that’s where their customers are, where their products are sold, and where their money comes in. So it’s no surprise that they need websites. But what about a small business? What about your local plumbing company, or a small shop you run with your family? Do you really need a website if you run a business like that?

Online business

Yes, you absolutely do – because in this day and age, even business done in person often starts online.

Small businesses do need websites

When a customer walks through the doors of a local shop and buys something they need, it’s easy to imagine that the entire transaction took place the way it would have forty or fifty years ago.…

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How to Create the Right Working Environment for Employees

When it comes to running a business, it is vital that you take steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your employees. First off, failure to do this could result in the breach of health and safety regulations, which could result in big issues for your business. Secondly, if you do not provide workers with a safe and comfortable working environment, you could end up losing valuable staff members or even being sued in the event of an injury.

Employee working hard

There are a lot of different ways in which you can improve the working environment for your employees. This will result in a safe and happy workplace and reduced the risk of regulatory breaches.…

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Faith In Manufacturing Jobs On The Decline

Although the American economy has grown by about 2 million jobs this year, none of them are in the manufacturing sector. This is alarming news–not just for manufacturing workers, but for the economy at large.

American manufacturing worker

Why is this such bad news? After all, consumer spending has leveled out, and unemployment continues to fall. Even gas prices are relatively low. Aren’t these signs that the economy is strong enough to weather any possible economic “storms” on the horizon? Well, not exactly.

Despite these indicators, people’s faith in the economy is pretty low. Fears about job security are high, reflecting a generally pessimistic attitude among the nation.…

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How to Launch Your Own Business Selling Art

The global art market is not in the greatest shape. The worldwide sale of art rose a modest 1.7% in the past year and is now valued at around $45 billion. This follows a seven percent drop in sales between 2014 and 2015. If you are an artist, or at least someone interested in launching a business selling art, this may not seem like the right time.

Sell art online

In reality though, this could be the most opportune moment to launch your business in the art world. The TEFAF art market report quoted earlier in this article estimates that nearly $28 billion of the total $45 billion came from private sales.…

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5 Things That Aren’t Covered Under General Liability Insurance

As a responsible business owner, you’ve taken the steps to protect your business through general liability insurance. What you may not know is that your policy doesn’t protect you completely from liability.

General liability insurance

General liability only provides protection against third-party lawsuits.

If you don’t purchase additional insurance, you may be leaving your business vulnerable to lawsuits.

Here are five key things that your general liability insurance policy won’t cover.

1. Professional Snafus

Mistakes happen in the business world, even when you try your hardest to cover all of your bases. Unfortunately, your general liability policy doesn’t cover these mistakes, which can leave your business vulnerable to lawsuits.…

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5 Features Your POS System Must Include

In just a few years, Point of Service (POS) systems became a new standard for most restaurants, cafes and diners. Technology is reshaping everything, and the food service industry is among the sectors that experienced the biggest changes of the digital revolution. Customers now expect their food and services provided to be as smart and efficient as their smartphones are, while traditional menu papers and waiters are rapidly becoming an obsolete part of our past.

Using POS system

A POS is now a necessity more than just a commodity, but finding the right one among the hundreds available can be a daring feat. A good POS software must provide a good degree of automation, possess an easy and immediate interface, provide you and your customers with a lot of feature, all while not being so much expensive to affect your monthly costs.…

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Writer’s Guide to Establishing Trust on SMB Service Pages

Small service-based businesses must have service pages that not only promote their services but are also optimized for local keywords. If you want to come up for local keywords, it’s important to write service pages that convert and will continue to be evergreen.

Content writer

A few methods, and there are a lot, to increase your conversion rates while also properly optimizing your page for local keywords are:

1. Establish Trust With the Reader

Honesty and ethics mean a lot to consumers. Clients need to trust your business, and this is apparent in the Edelman Trust Barometer report from 2016. But how do you gain trust with a reader and potential customer?…

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Publish Your Business Profile on These 5 Free Sites

If your small business doesn’t have an online presence, it doesn’t exist in the minds of millions of potential customers and clients. A study by Google found that “4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.” In today’s world of business, you must have an online presence to be successful. That’s simply a fact of modern life.

There are a couple of ways you can accomplish this. You can hire an internet marketing firm or you can do it yourself. If you choose the latter option, consider free profile sites to start.

A few of these sites are discussed here, in no particular order:…

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3 Ways to Promote Your Limo Service

Limo services need to continually come up with interesting and creative ways to promote their business. By accomplishing this challenge, you’ll get a better reputation in the industry, increase your service’s sales, and ultimately add more clients clamoring for your phenomenal services.

Limo service business

It’s certainly possible to promote your limo service in a number of different ways. We will provide several simple methods you can implement today to begin growing your limo brand. These methods are manageable, inexpensive, and certainly effective, so give them a try sooner rather than later.

1. Take Advantage of Content Marketing and Distribution

First and foremost, limo service providers need to start sharing valuable content on the web.…

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3 Alternatives to Bankruptcy for Small Businesses

Small businesses go bankrupt. The Small Business Administration states that 50% of businesses survive past the five-year mark. This means half of the entrepreneurs that follow their dreams and start their own businesses will see their dreams go up in flames.

Bankruptcy

Business is a risk, and one late shipment or one lost contract can mean the difference between a business thriving or boarding up their windows.

There are options outside of bankruptcy that can stop a business from dissolving.

1. Direct Negotiating Outside of Court

Lenders will negotiate with a business outside of court. When negotiations take place away from the stringent requirements of the court, there are a plethora of benefits, such as:

  • Avoiding court proceedings, which allows a business to save money
  • Direct negotiations take far less time to complete
  • A plan to get back on a financial track will be drafted, and will work for all involved parties.
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