What to Make of E-Commerce and Millennials


e-commerce best practicesThere’s a catch-22 for marketers when dealing with Millennials. This tricky demographic is thoroughly enmeshed with the digital revolution. It’s already been established that those between the ages of 13 to 18 are heavy users of social media – 81 percent, in fact – leading many marketers to believe that e-commerce should be their preferred avenue for purchasing. If Millennials are spending an extraordinary amount of time online, plugged into social networking sites like Facebook and increasingly Twitter, then making the leap to shopping online seems to be intuitive. The only problem is that it’s just not the case. Business leaders and marketing professionals need to understand this age group is inherently worried about visibility. That includes maintaining a highly manicured Web presence, but it’s far more important to engage in social activities, which include shopping in physical retail stores. Read the full entry


3 Reasons to Prepare Your IT Department for Cloud Computing


business technologyInformation technology has undergone a dramatic shift during the past year. You’ve probably noticed investment in technology infrastructure like servers and personal computers has slackened as of late in a growing number of corners in the business world. Soon there will be nowhere for traditional IT departments can hide, as cloud computing alleviates many of the disruptions associated with maintaining computing systems, software upgrades and data storage capabilities. Read the full entry


Funding Your Startup After the Bank Says No


small business loanFor several years now, walking into a bank looking for a small business loan has been like walking into the desert looking for a drink of water: You might find one, but it’s likely going to be a long walk before you get there.

“We knew that,” said Aidan Augustin, whose start-up company, Feathr, is going on its third year of operation without a dime of help from a bank. “We knew banks would want us to put up collateral and do a lot of things we weren’t going to be comfortable doing, so we didn’t even bother asking them for help.” Instead, Augustin and his college roommate and co-founder, Neal Ormsbe, combined some old-school business funding techniques (tap friends, family and personal savings) with some new-school innovations (enter contests, do crowd-funding, seek grants) to get Feathr crawling and now, finally, walking on its own. “We sort of hopped, skipped and jumped our way around from one funding source to another to get us going,” Augustin said. “Then we started generating some revenue in May, and revenues have kept building up to the point where now we’re self-sustaining.” Read the full entry


Greening Your Business: 10 Ways to Save Money


eco-consciousWith all of the products and services consumers have to select from, it’s never been more important to make your business rise above your competitors.  Greening your business is a way to save money – a top priority for most companies with the high amount of business debt many have incurred.  Take a look at these easy steps your business can take to save money and decrease its impact on the Earth. Read the full entry


Management 101 – Avoiding Mistakes is As Important As Making the Right Decisions


startup and employee management best practicesMany retail and office managers will spend inordinate amounts of time agonizing over important decisions and then ruin their efforts by making a snap decision over a seemingly innocent issue. Here are five actions that managers take that are actually counterproductive when it comes to effectively managing their staff and some steps to avoid the problem in the first place. Read the full entry


Crafting Content to Maximize SEO and Customer Engagement


content marketingWriting is an exacting art. If you’ve ever tried to feign your way through the process of creating content optimized for websites, it can feel a bit like trying to manage a Phillip’s head screw with a flat head screwdriver. Yes, it’s entirely possible to do, but the effort involved requires a painstakingly slow progress. Moreover, all conventional wisdom goes against it. Creativity certainly has its place in content marketing, but it’s also a practice that makes use of fairly well-defined conventions. While there are many in the marketing industry who tend to eschew ideas that depend on preconceived notions, even the most innovative ideas have a basis in practices that are foundational in one way or another. In fact, the constraints of SEO marketing limit the manner in which writers create content. Consequently, one of the basic premises that content writers should keep in mind is packaging the product in a vehicle that suits whatever a company is trying to market or advertise. Read the full entry


10 Truly Effective Ways to Land New Clients


sales selling tipsThe age old question in business is how to get new clients and how to retain them. Below is a list of 10 ways to improve your sales approach, which will lead to landing more clients.

1. Be confident.

How many times have you heard the phrase “Swimming with the sharks” in relation to the sales effort? It’s a given that successful sales is about being assertive, which should never be confused with aggressive. Confidence is a byproduct of fully comprehending how your company operates, everything about the products and services you sell, and how they will benefit your client. When you present yourself confidently, you instantly set your potential new client at ease. They feel like they’re in the hands of a pro who’s interested in securing their business for all the right reasons. Read the full entry


How to Avoid Shopping Cart Abandonment Syndrome


cart abandonmentWe’ve all seen it before. The agonizing sight of a shopping cart or basket discarded without the slightest hesitation after a customer enters and exits a retail location. What causes customers to abandon their potential purchases? First, you have to take a look at the different avenues for buying goods. On one hand, there are brick-and-mortar locations that are exceedingly convenient for customers who take a more tactile approach to shopping and want their products in their hand before they complete the purchase. However, the drawback here occurs when there are a thousand other people with a similar penchant for having first-hand knowledge of the goods or services they’re about to buy. Read the full entry


Understanding e-Checks and How They Might Benefit Your Business


payment processingPayment methods have evolved over time from bartering with items like puka shells and precious metals to today’s electronic commerce payment vehicles. There are advantages and disadvantages of utilizing different payment vehicles. It depends on your type of business, and the services or goods you provide. Accepting e-checks is one such payment vehicle that can provide multiple benefits for some businesses. Read the full entry


How to Choose a Legal Structure for Your Small Business


b corp LLCBusiness structure formation is not exactly a topic that business owners clamor to read about, but it is important for entrepreneurs to understand as much about it as possible. Sole-proprietorship is typically the default business structure entrepreneurs wind up working with and while it’s easy to form, it doesn’t provide you with much fiscal or legal protection. If your business doesn’t take off quite like you expected, or if the business is sued, debtors could seize your personal assets to pay for the business’s liabilities. I know firsthand how it feels to stare into the unknown and wonder if the gamble to start up your own company is worth taking. Though turning your business into its own, separate legal entity may seem daunting, it does lower the stakes, especially when you research the structures beforehand. So, when you look into choosing a legal structure for your business, ask yourself these three questions before choosing the one that meets your needs. Read the full entry