3 Most Important Benefits of Having a Business Blog

Blogging is one of the most important marketing tactics that can help you reach your target audience and grow your business. It is the best channel for communicating with your target audience and engaging them in your brand. In order to reach more customers, you certainly need to market your business and promote the products or services you offer, and having a blog will help you accomplish that. It is a great way to showcase your brand message and enlarge your customer base.

No matter what field of business you are in, blogging can offer you a number of benefits that can help you take your company to another level and lead it towards success. However, you need to know that success cannot be reached overnight and you must invest a lot of time and effort into making your blog as effective for your brand as possible. When you implement all the right marketing tactics into your blogging efforts, you will most certainly succeed in improving and expanding your business.

If you are reading this, it’s safe to assume that you are considering creating a blog and you want to know what exactly that would mean for your business so, without further ado, let’s take a look at all the amazing benefits blogging can offer you.

 

Building Trust with Your Existing and Potential Customers

 

Having a blog and providing your readers with great content is the best way to build trust with both your customers and your potential prospects. People love reading good content and a lot of studies have shown that they trust the information they read on blogs, so you should definitely use that to attract them and capture their attention.

Providing your readers with high-quality content will make them engaged in your brand and they will always come back for more. You need to be consistent and provide fresh content regularly, as well as make sure that the content has real value. That will make you your readers’ go-to resource that can always help them and provide them with a solution they are looking for.

That helps you build trust with them, turning them into your most loyal customers. Personalizing your content will make your customers get to know you and your business better, which will help you create a long-lasting relationship with them.

 

Increasing Your SEO Ranking

 

You have certainly come across the term “content is king” many times all over the internet. That is because it truly is king, as it is a thing of great value to your company. Not only does it help you reach more customers and increase your sales, but it also helps you boost your SEO ranking.

Search engines, especially Google, place high value on quality content and, if you manage to provide it on a regular basis, that will definitely help you improve your SEO ranking, as well as increase your visibility on search engines result pages. With increased visibility, you will improve your credibility and reach even more customers, which will result in you increasing your sales, generating more income and ultimately expanding your business.

 

Attracting More Traffic to Your Website

 

Blogging regularly and always providing your readers with fresh content will definitely attract more readers, so you will certainly drive more traffic to your website. Since high-quality content will boost your SERP and your SEO ranking, driving more traffic to your site will actually be pretty easy. With more traffic coming to your site, it goes without saying that you will be able to generate more leads and have a lot more customers.

When Google and other search engines see that you are regularly providing relevant content rich with relevant keywords, and that you are active and you update your content regularly, they will direct more people to your site, thus pushing even more traffic to it. By increasing your blog traffic, you will also increase your sales and generate more income, which will help you grow your business.

 

Blogging can offer you quite a lot more benefits, but these are really the most important ones that can help you immensely. Running a blog for your business is a fantastic way to take things to a whole new level and ensure you reach success. It can certainly help you turn your business into a lucrative one, so go and create your blog right away and reap all the benefits.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/ivandseo/3-most-important-benefits-of-having-a-business-blog/

Finding a Good Los Angeles Headshot Photographer

Kenneth Dolin will give you a great set of professional headshots, either for a personal event or as a part of your work portfolio? If so, you want to be certain that you are going to have a great experience that is properly priced for the services you receive. Although you may feel a bit overwhelmed due to the number of photographers in the city, there are some things that you can do to narrow down your list.

If you know someone who has used a photographer for a project similar to yours, you can ask for a recommendation. However, you should never hire anyone based on one opinion alone. However, it is a great way to begin your list of potential photographers. You can also use the Internet, local publications or ads in order to compile a list of at least four or five photographers that you are interested in.

Once you have done this, you should check the websites for each company on your list. Read about their policies, services and charges. You should be able to get a pretty good feel for their operation this way. If someone does not have a website, you should be leery of them. While not everyone advertises online, it is one way to help ensure the legitimacy of the business.

You will need to see if they provide the type of photographic services that you need. For instance, some professionals in the business only work in their studio while others prefer to go on location. A great photographer for headshots may never do weddings or similar events. You don’t want to waste time researching a business that will not be able to help you in the end.

With the list of headshot photographers that remain, check out their online reputations. This can be a bit challenging because you need to be certain that the reviews you are reading are legitimate. Do not rely on the ones posted on their own websites. Obviously they are going to delete negative remarks and promote the ones from satisfied customers.

You can search for each company along with the word “review” or “scam,” or even “legitimate.” You should find several URLs that lead to both personal blogs and regular consumer review sites. Check out a mixture and scan through the contents of the feedback. You may find that someone has a lower star rating due to customers that are dissatisfied with their lives and not the services received.

Contact the two or three that stood out in your research and find out if they are available at the time you need. Pay attention to how you are treated on the phone or in the messages. You want to hire someone who respects you and behaves professionally at all times.

Going through these steps will not take much of your time. However, it will help to ensure that you find a photographer who can satisfy your photographing needs now and in the future.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/nick-chalker/finding-a-good-los-angeles-headshot-photographer/

3 Steps You Should Take If You Want to Accumulate Wealth

As we go through our education, we tend to learn about many things that surround us, but we rarely encounter quality lessons about the way we should handle money. This usually comes from the family and the end results vary greatly. There are those who successfully manage their money, however, for a great majority, wealth accumulation seems impossible which is, of course, not true.

There are actually a number of quite easy steps that should be taken. Walking down this path does not mean that you are certainly going to become a millionaire, but it does mean that you are going to have a less stressful life with an above average budget.

Start saving as soon as possible

Many people think that saving a little bit of money is useless, but this is a big mistake. A majority of people feel that they are living for the moment, without thinking about the future. This is the consumerism policy enforced by our modern society. If you can see past all the marketing tricks, you will realize that we actually require very little for a comfortable life.

People often spend money on useless things such as sweets, partying, useless gadgets and devices, without thinking for a moment about how that money could have been saved for a better opportunity in life. Cutting down on life expenses is the perfect way to start your journey towards accumulating wealth.

For example, a very useless investment is a new car, especially if it is only a transportation vehicle and not a tool that is going to earn you more money. The moment you drive it off the car lot, it loses around 15% of its value. Another example is the trend of constantly upgrading smartphones, even though there have been no significant advancements in the past two years.

All of these expenses should be cut short. After some time, once there is a bit more money accumulated in your savings account, numerous options will open up, creating faster ways of increasing the amount of money in your bank account.

Invest smart

This is something that requires experience and education. It is important to manage the money you saved in the appropriate way and use it to make more money. There are numerous financial experts who can help out before you acquire enough experience to grown on your own. When it comes to investing, it is very important to diversify your investments.

This will greatly lower the risks of you making a bad investment. For example, you can invest in real estate, startup companies, websites and many more things that are lucrative.

The local economy is great, but immediately start thinking globally, as there are numerous companies on different continents that are worth investing in. Make your financial assets more mobile by creating offshore accounts that will let you work with different currencies in different countries with ease.

When you realize that money is only a tool, you will make much better investment decisions, which will help your capital grow.

Become dedicated and work hard

It is easy to read about the right steps and know what to do, but the road to success has many obstacles. Create realistic goals and invest an incredible amount of time if you truly want to succeed. Not one person who successfully increased their capital did it easy. It takes thousands of hours only to be in a position to make smart moves. So, next time you are thinking about wasting time on some useless activity, think about what you should actually do to achieve the dream you are building for yourself. Once you are determined, nothing is going to stop you.

This does not mean that you should stop socializing, but it does mean that you should organize your free time in a much better way, a way that will let you earn more money.

These are three necessary steps that you should take if you want to succeed in accumulating wealth. It is much like a marathon and it takes a lot of time to reach the goal. But once you are there, the feeling of fulfillment is priceless.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/alexf/3-steps-you-should-take-if-you-want-to-accumulate-wealth/

5 Ways Auditory Learners Can Tailor Their Study Routine

As more students, teachers, and parents begin to emphasize the importance of learning styles, learners empower themselves to be more successful. Understanding how you learn is a crucial part of being a lifelong learner, though it can be a struggle to first determine how you learn best—and then act on it.

If you’re an auditory learner, you may find traditional classroom setups in which there is a lecturer beneficial to your process, and then struggle when you’re studying alone. Fear not! There are plenty of ways auditory learners can tailor their study routines for maximum success.

Practice repetition

While auditory learners benefit from hearing material read aloud, they can be especially successful when they’re able to repeat information and hear it for themselves. They’ll tend to remember tone, especially if they’re the one saying it. Sure, you may feel silly repeating information when you’re in a room alone, but it can help secure it in your mind.

Similarly, you may also ask your teacher for permission to record a classroom lecture. By hearing it yet again, you’ll have an easier time committing it to memory.

Grab a friend

Because repeating a lecture can only get you so far, auditory learners can really benefit from studying with a friend. The collaborative process of repeating information can be helpful, especially if your friend is also an auditory learner. By grouping up, you can hold discussions, quiz each other, or read the text aloud.

Variations of peer tutoring can work well for auditory learners also, so don’t be afraid to find other students who are interested in a study group.

Keep it quiet

As an auditory learner, you’ll want a study space that is relatively free from audible competition. This means turning the television off and (depending upon the situation/learner) monitoring your music. It will be important that you’re able to read and hear yourself read, so quiet is often best.

Your study area should also allow for you to make noise, however—a library may not be the best choice for learners who need to read aloud, listen to lectures, or discuss material with others.

Check with your teacher

Learners sometimes forget that teachers are often willing to accommodate different learning styles in unexpected ways. While this doesn’t mean assuming a teacher will be fully onboard for your out-of-the-box thinking, it can’t hurt to ask.

Find out if there are accommodations that can be made. Perhaps your teacher can provide video resources to supplement learning or will accept your essay in an audio format.  Maybe he or she is willing to be recorded or have audio lectures available—either way, you’ll be better off asking permission rather than forgiveness in this case.

Utilize technology

Today’s learners have a potential advantage over learners of past generations—we’ve got tons of technology at our fingertips. As an auditory learner, you’re in a great place to take advantage of the many tools available to you.

Podcasts are a great way to reinforce learning and can be great supplements for the materials presented in class. They’re usually free, easy to access, and portable. There are also audio recorders, text-to-speech programs, and other helpful websites available at little to no cost. Find out what resources might be available to you and try a number of them (even some paid services offer free trials) to see what works best for you.

The bottom line

While teachers are doing their best to accommodate most learning styles, you’re ultimately responsible for your own learning. Work with the teacher to establish a study setup that works for both of you, paying attention to the things you know you need as a learner.

Learning is often about experimenting, and this is true for all learning styles. By being open to new experiences, you’ll be able to tailor your auditory learning study routine for maximum success!
Heather Hamilton is a contributing writer for Varsity Tutors, a live learning platform that connects students with personalized instruction to accelerate academic achievement.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/varsitytutors/5-ways-auditory-learners-can-tailor-their-study-routine/

4 Different Insurance Types You Should Consider

As we go through life, there are numerous unexpected situations that occur. Some are pleasant, others are not, and we somehow get used to the fact that there is always a chance that something we didn’t planned might happen. However, there are steps we can take to prevent certain things and prepare for unexpected events. Insurance policies are the perfect way to deal with a variety of unpleasant situations. There are different types of insurance policies that are there to provide security in life.

Life insurance

This is practically the most important kind of insurance you can have. Especially if the whole family is relying on your paycheck. It is a selfless act, where you give your best to look after your loved ones in case of unfortunate circumstances. When it comes to determining how much insurance is enough, putting things down on paper makes it a lot easier.

It is important to take into consideration your monthly expenses, everything from food to bills, tax included. These expenses should be multiplied by the time period that needs to pass before your child is completely independent. It is not a complicated math assignment and once you get the numbers, it is time to do some research and see which insurance company has the best deal for you.

Vehicle insurance

This is a very important thing that many people forget to take care off. There are states where car insurance is mandatory so, unless you like paying for fines, having this type of insurance is a must. Even though vehicle security has advanced quite a bit thanks to new tech, accidents still happen and insurance can help greatly if you have a car accident. There are people out there who follow a logic that is completely wrong.

These things can happen to anyone, so it is very important to have car insurance. Each year, at least 10 million driving accidents occur. If it happens to you, insurance is there to cover the damage costs and medical expenses of injuries sustained in the accident. Having this kind of insurance is not a lot of stress on a budget, but it is tremendous financial security, as vehicle repair costs can be quite high.

House insurance

Having house insurance is incredibly important. There are numerous risks involved when you are a property owner. This type of insurance can save you in a variety of different situations. From a house fire to burglary, there is a variety of unfortunate occasions when having house insurance seriously pays off. Getting appropriate house insurance takes a lot of research as different insurance agencies offer different types of coverage.

Therefore, it is incredibly important to visit as many agencies as possible and pick the right type of insurance that suits your needs the most. Another things you should think about are the rates that an insurance company offers. If they have suspiciously lower rates and it’s a newer company, you should be more careful or even avoid doing business with them. Do your homework, analyze your options and pick the best one.

Pet insurance

Pet-keeping trends are growing each year, as numerous causes are fighting for keeping animals such as cats and dogs safe and away from the streets. People are adopting and keeping them as pets. What most people do not know is that there is always a chance of something going wrong with your pet’s health. These are the situations when your household’s budget can take a big hit, as animal treatments are not as cheap as one would expect.

This makes having pet insurance a viable option, as it can come in handy if your pet catches an illness. Like with all different types of insurances, finding the option that works best for you is fairly easy. With a little bit of online research, it is possible to find appropriate pet insurance reviews. Checking what kind of insurance exist out there is very important, as you want the best coverage for a variety of pet problems that might occur.

These are some of the common insurance types that many people forget to use. For a little bit of money each month, you can get quite a lot of protection for any unfortunate circumstances. If you want to sleep better, having these insurance policies is a good option that you should consider.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/nmanojlovic/4-different-insurance-types-you-should-consider/

Micro-influencers: Changing Face of Influence in Digital Marketing

From Pied Piper to Mike Jordan, from folklore tales to present day celebrity endorsements, we have seen the power of influence. Mike Jordan alone has raked in fortune, thanks to his endorsements for Nike, Gatorade, Hanes, Upper Deck, 2K Sports, etc. And what about Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and 50 Cents famous endorsements on the tube and social media platforms?

But what if you are a start-up and you don’t have millions of dollars. Don’t worry, you are not stranded. From the past couple years, digital marketers have discovered gold in the form of minor celebrities or micro-influencers. We have come a long way from million-dollar deals with celebs to $100-250 deals with YouTubers and Instagrammers who have a loyal following of tens and thousands of fans. Let’s see some famous examples of micro-influencers in digital marketing and understand how it works.

American Greetings

When American Greetings launched their Leap Day campaign named #ThankList, they used micro-influencers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to build awareness for their campaign. From Betty White to other lesser-known influencers promoted the tag and they got an overwhelming response. The post saw an engagement of over 19k followers on the influencer-generated post and in all 2152 user posts were generated within the campaign.

This post from Jessie James Decker garnered over 58.5k likes and 300+ comments. But while Jessie and Betty White are famous, a lot of others aren’t. Here’s how jeanatravels, a CA-based famous Instagrammer, blogger and photographer with over 18k followers promoted the hashtag and got over 400 likes. Jeana has no other claim to fame.

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Join the #ThankList #30DayChallenge: I’m thankful for my family – not a day goes by that they don’t make me laugh and love my life. I challenge my best friend Kas, @SouthernBellasWays, to create her own, share and join the challenge! For every #ThankList created and shared on social media, American Greetings will donate $1 to United Way Worldwide #ad #socialgood #dogood

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When compared to what Decker and Betty White achieved, this might seem quite less, but user generated posts are quite cost-effective and come across as genuine!

Love and Pieces

Love and Pieces is a small business catering to a very narrow niche with their designer jewelry. They are based in Miami and their business doesn’t seem very big or old and they seem a bit green at marketing, nevertheless, they hit the grand slam with their influencer marketing tactic. The best part is you don’t have to be a big company like Walmart or Nike to get influencers. Even small businesses who set up shop using DIY e-commerce platforms can find themselves good influencers in their budget. Love and Pieces went the influencer-route at just $100.

They contacted Jelly and Day, famous YouTubers with around 26k subscribers, through FameBit, because apparently they realized that video marketing is going big and they had to jump on the bandwagon. The video was watched over 28.7k times and got over 1600 likes. Jelly and Day are a cute lesbian couple and they don’t do many sponsored videos; they have hundreds of hilarious videos on everything from being lesbians to 6 ways to use a condom. They offered a special discount to code to customers who came from YouTube to track sales.

Source

However, since in this video their website was mentioned in the end, they decided to make a second video and this one turned out to be better than the first one. This video was created by Stephanie Lange and has been watched over 95k times and has around 2380 thumbs up. They even picked up many Instagram followers, so all in all, they had a nice experience with influencers.

Vend

Vend used Traackr to get in touch with 20 influencers, all popular editors from top retail publications and members of National Retail Federation. They further asked these 20 people to choose two more influencers and thus made a top 50 list. These people were asked to display Vend badge on their blog.

The result? They got 5,000 pageviews in the first 30 days with more than 500 social shares on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Their influencer outreach was scored at 23%, which compared to its competitors’ 0% reach looked phenomenal.

Walmart

It is not always small companies like Love and Pieces that are tapping into influencer marketing. Walmart too when they wanted to promote their Star Wars campaign. They chose Meghan McCarthy (cartoon voice impersonator), an active social media personality with presence on YouTube, Vine, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter of course. Nice choice on the influencer because the crowd who appreciates cartoon voices and play acting would appreciate Star Wars contest.

Anyways down to the details: Meghan McCarthy has over 1,100,050 followers on YouTube and if you are a millennial and spend too much time on social media, chances are you must have bumped into one of her snaps or videos. If not, congratulations, you just found out about her! Sorry, back to the topic again, the YouTube video was viewed 166,939 times and had around 7460 views and 600k engagements following the endorsement! If you are into weird girl-child voice, you can watch the video here.

From Universal Pictures to Amazon, a lot of Fortune 500 companies are now seeing the light and using the power of micro-influencing. With the face of changing influence, we can safely conclude that startups and small niche businesses are in for a lot of pleasant surprises.

Takeaways

Just a few takeaways before we leave:

1. Choose your influencer platform wisely; here’s a good guide to working with influential bloggers to help you get started
2. Design good content, contests or giveaways to ensure you get the most out of the campaign
3. Make sure your video, blog or post comes off as genuine as possible
4. Get your link or mention as early in the video or post as possible or you will just be pouring money down the drain
5. You can even go the road less trodden and get in touch with influencers directly, but something about the escrow payment services, make influencer platforms a good choice for newbies. So if you are a newbie, you know what you have to do.

Inscribe these 5 pieces of incredible advice on the wall above your desk or may be just on your sticky note!

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/twitter-avinair52/micro-influencers-changing-face-of-influence-in-digital-marketing/

How cloud based software can reduce your business costs

For years mobile phone networks held the reins when it came to price and feature options available on mobile phone plans. Networks would offer a certain amount of minutes, texts and data for a monthly fee over a period of around 12 or 24 months. However, with the rise of cloud based mobile phone applications the consumer is able to take back control of their phone usage and subsequently their spending. Though these apps are bad news for the big phone networks they’re undoubtedly beneficial to the public and could be good news for any small, large and expanding businesses too.

As recently as 5 years ago people were willing to pay a lot of money for phone bundles which included either limited or unlimited amounts of calls and SMS messages. But with the rise of FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger traditional phone calls are becoming obsolete meaning networks need to start lowering their prices to retain their customers. Why would anyone pay for a 100 free minutes when they can call any location in the world for free with the vast number of cloud based applications available. Consumers will simply not pay for a service they can get for free.

This same idea can be incorporated into any business and allow bosses and owners to save as much as consumers currently are. Whether your business has 4 or 4000 employees there are now legitimate options for running your business communications without using traditional phone networks. Skype and FaceTime, popular consumer examples of cloud based telecommunications, work in the exact same way as the larger scale software available for any business to upgrade to.

Hosted VoIP is the recommended cloud based technology for saving businesses money and propelling their software into a more high quality service.

“Our customers who enquire about Business Phone Systems often now opt for a Hosted VoIP system. It’s helpful to them because it’s a better product, at a lower price, and it’s great for us because our customers love it and there is a lot less maintenance on our side.” – Paul Conway PMC Telecom

Hosted VoIP systems conduct 100% of its calls over the internet instead of using the traditional hosted PBX systems and phone networks – saving the user any call charges. Particularly useful if you’re a frequent overseas caller or if you have offices abroad. VoIP to VoIP phone calls are completely free in the same way that Skype to Skype calls are however VoIP guarantees an HD voice quality that Skype cannot.

Because all the calls are internet based, staff don’t need to be sat by a landline to answer a particular phone call. Calls can be received via any smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC for free with the same call quality across the spectrum of usable devices assuming you have a good internet connection. Hosted VoIP is installed using an existing internet structure such as 4G, fibre or WiFi meaning installation, setup and maintenance costs can be reduced by up to 90% and the disruption very limited.

Companies who keep up to date with the latest and most beneficial technologies are switching over to Hosted VoIP to reap the numerous rewards. However, rather alarmingly, data released by PMC Telecom revealed that 72% of Telecoms customers do not know what Hosted VoIP is.
In an attempt to help companies get the best from their telecoms solutions they have released a fantastic easy to follow infographic and short explanatory video for those still unaware of the benefits of switching to a Hosted VoIP solution.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/twitter-epicninjadaboss/how-cloud-based-software-can-reduce-your-business-costs/