Author: Reginald Chan

  • How to Get More Leads for Your Damage Restoration Business?

    How to Get More Leads for Your Damage Restoration Business?

    When owning a company that specializes in restoration, one of the most important factors to succeeding is having the properties to restore. Without a constant flow of buildings needing repair, cash flow will be lacking, meaning less time working and more time worrying. There are, of course, ways to gain more business and increase workflow. These techniques range from the simple end of the spectrum to something a little more complicated, most probably requiring a professional. 

    Within this handy guide, we are going to take a look at a few different things that will help your business gain more natural leads to improve your business and generate more work. 

    If You Don’t Know, Get Help 

    Running a business is hard work. It takes a lot of time and effort to get yourself in a position where you comfortably break even. To improve your company takes dedication, long nights, early starts, and a true commitment. It’s safe to say you’re going to be committed to making your business better, but some people just don’t have the skills or the knowledge to progress with ease. Others may not have a clue where to begin. It’s in these situations where hiring a professional to help ease the burden is an absolute must. 

    Hiring a professional individual or company will allow you to concentrate on what you are good at, whilst letting them get on with what they’re good at. If you need more work then getting leads for your business is going to be one of the best ways to do so. This comes in many forms, but having a professional in your corner doing it for you is going to be time-efficient and will most likely generate more leads than if you were to tackle it yourself. 

    Ensure Your Website Is Working Perfectly 

    The website for your business is going to have to be working perfectly for customers to take you seriously. If they log on and find a website with low-resolution images, links that don’t work, and a navigational nightmare then they will click off quicker than you can say water damage. Look at the design of your site, is it aesthetically pleasing? Do the colors go together? Can you get around it easily? Is it clear and concise? If the answer to any of these questions is no then you need to have a look at fixing it. 

    Those looking for someone to fix water damage aren’t going to spend time looking through directories or faffing around taking their time. They want quick answers. Answer the questions of a consumer and you’ll have the business. 

    Optimize Your Website 

    How do you answer the questions being asked? 

    When a customer searches the web they typically ask questions. For example: “How can I fix water damage in my basement?”. If you specialize in water damage within basements then you’re going to want your website as high up that list as possible and to do that, companies use a technique called search engine optimization. SEO is a technique that helps improve the quality and quantity of website traffic being directed towards your company when customers use search engines. 

    This is quite an advanced technique so it is advised to get help from professionals. But when you do you’ll see a dramatic increase in web traffic. The more people visiting your website means more people will potentially spend money on your service. 

    Use Local Knowledge To Your Advantage

    If you’ve lived and worked in the same area for the majority of your life then it’s safe to say you’re going to know a little bit about that area. Use this knowledge to your advantage. If you specialize in water damage restoration then advertise in the areas that are going to have the most chance of receiving water damage. Is there a housing estate on a flood plain? Who lives near large bodies of water? Anyone at the bottom of a hill with a water route through it? 

    Advertise in the right areas and you’ll find yourself picking up more business in the long run. 

    If you’re ever in doubt about how to advance your company to the next level then there is no shame in asking for help or hiring a company to do so. Their job is to progress you in any way they can whilst still earning money themselves. Do whatever you can to generate leads, but when it comes to the more technical side, implementing SEO strategies for example, then hire in the pros. You’ll be fully booked before you know it.

  • 6 Clear Signs You Need to Switch to Outsourcing HR

    6 Clear Signs You Need to Switch to Outsourcing HR

    For small businesses, the business owner typically handles all aspects of his venture, even human resource needs. However, as a business grows to scale, this option may no longer be viable. Apart from a growing business, below are some clear signs that you already need to switch to outsourcing human resources (HR).

    Poor Employee Management

    One of the primary signs that you need to switch to outsourcing HR is when poor employee management is already apparent. According to the people management experts behind HR Assured, you should provide a good employee experience to your staff and workers because this will motivate them to excel in their job roles. As a result, you will obtain the productivity level that you expect of them. This is where the services of an HR consultant may prove to be beneficial, implementing the necessary HR technology to aid you in enhancing your employee management.

    Lack of HR Accountability

    Another clear sign that you need to switch to outsourcing HR is when you deem that there is no HR accountability in your company or business. In this case, the typical scenario is that the HR functions are distributed among your managers or department heads and team leads. Because of this, there may be no clear channel of communication, which means that your employees may not know where they should escalate any HR issues they may encounter. When you outsource HR services, your managers or department heads will be able to focus on their respective functions and your employees will be able to escalate their issues to the proper area.

    The Requirement to Adhere to Legal Compliance

    When you find yourself constantly researching employment laws in your jurisdiction, then it is time for you to outsource your HR functions. When you do outsource, you will have peace of mind that your business adheres to the employment laws and regulations in your region. Keep in mind that the laws may be updated from time to time and as a business owner, you may not be keen on keeping track of these updates as more important aspects of your business may need your attention.

    Implementation of Cost Reduction

    It is also a viable solution to outsource your HR function when you intend to contain your costs. While you may think that having to spend a hefty sum upfront is quite a risky investment for HR services, you may save a significant sum in the long run. The reason behind this is the people managing your HR function when you do outsource are already trained to do well in their role. They already have the skill set necessary to carry out the HR tasks that you need in your business. Conversely, when you opt not to outsource, you need to invest in training your personnel for these kinds of tasks, which is not only time-inefficient but more costly too.

    Overwhelming Maintenance of Benefits and Compensation

    As a business owner, you should ensure that the people you employ are well-compensated. However, setting up the compensation and benefits of various people having different job roles can prove to be overwhelming. This is true from the time you need to set everything up until the maintenance that you need to do to keep everything organized. In this case, you will find HR outsourcing as a beneficial means to set up and maintain the benefits and compensation of your staff.

    Missing Out on Business Opportunities

    When you deem that your processes are not quick to respond to changes, then you may be missing out on significant opportunities. To thrive in a competitive marketplace, you need to be ready whenever an opportunity comes your way, requiring you to hire personnel and expand your team immediately. When you outsource your HR functions, you will not have a problem with this scenario because hiring the key talents to add to your team will prove to be a breeze. Thus, you will not miss out on any opportunities that can lead to the growth of your business.

    It is time for you to outsource your HR needs when you already notice poor employee management and a lack of HR accountability in your current setup. It can also be that you need to adhere to legal regulations concerning HR or you intend to implement cost reduction efforts. When you are also overwhelmed by the maintenance of the benefits and compensation of your employees, or when you are missing out on significant opportunities that could have paved the way for the growth of your business, then it is time for you to consider HR outsourcing.

  • Why It Is Essential to Have Good Content Marketing?

    Why It Is Essential to Have Good Content Marketing?

    Content marketing is one of the most important aspects of the digital marketing campaign of any business. Content marketing helps define and establish your business brand, it makes every webpage of your site relevant to your customers and audiences, and it sets your brand apart from your competitors. Brand awareness, traffic diversification, and revenue increase are influenced by the quality of your content. With so many emerging businesses online, you need to make your business remain visible to your audiences and customers. 

    To help you appreciate the importance of content marketing, we will discuss here some of the reasons why it is essential to have good content marketing in your business.

    Good Content Helps Improve SEO

    Your business needs to incorporate relevant and powerful keywords to drive traffic to your website. With the changing search engine algorithms of site rankings, especially by Google, it is necessary to keep your content relevant and supportive of the SEO entries you are using. Optimized content is important in your SEO efforts, which is why any SEO company in Brisbane or any part of the world would advise businesses to make optimized content and SEO work hand in hand to achieve top search engine rankings and to drive more traffic to their websites. When you create content that is relevant or interesting to your customers and audiences and incorporates SEO keywords into these content creations, you are significantly increasing the number of indexed pages by search engines and your site links are more visible to online searchers as a result. Also, by keeping your audiences glued to your relevant content, you are increasing their time of engagement in your website, which the new Google algorithm interprets as a value indicator of your web content. When it sees that your site is providing valuable content, it will increase your ranking.

    Brand Image and Reputation Are Improved by Good Content

    One of the most important reasons for having good content marketing is to build a good reputation for your brand. Your audiences are curious about what your business does, what is the history of your business, and what relevant updates you want to share with your audiences. Readable and visual content are effective ways of creating a good image for your brand by letting your audiences know what your business does and how the audiences fit in the picture. When audiences perceive your content as educational, engaging, and relevant, they will also have the same perception about your business and your brand. It helps build awareness and trust with your target audiences and customers. When your content is doing great on your online website, take the extra effort to share that content on other platforms such as social media. It will give your business a wider audience reach, and with consistent good published content, it will build an impression of your business as an authority in the industry in your audiences.

    Your Business Remains Relevant Through Good Content Marketing

    While it is true that content pieces are time-bound and can get outdated rather easily, good and relevant content can be an exception to the case. When audiences continue to access your website and view your content time after time, it remains in the search engine index for a long time. By making your content informative, interesting, and relevant to your audiences you are ensuring sustained traffic to your website for a long time with no or little effort. When you have good published content, you can repost the content on other platforms or use it as an additional reference link for your audiences. 

    Cost-Effective Lead Generation Through Optimized Content

    Driving traffic towards your business is just half of the story. What your business needs next is to generate leads from the traffic directed to your website. Lead generation helps you generate interest from your audiences in your brand and turn them into prospective customers. Having relevant and interesting published content can help attract and nurture audience interest and convince them to purchase from your business site or avail of your business services. What makes good content marketing cost-effective is that it involves very minimal costs compared to traditional marketing efforts. It means you can maximize your budget and use the savings generated for other important aspects of your digital marketing campaign. Creating good content means you have to strategically choose your topics, select the products or services you want to promote and consider the most effective promotional methods and channels.

    Content marketing is an essential part of your marketing efforts, and you need to maximize it to gain benefits for your business. Business visibility, brand awareness and reputation, and strong lead and customer relationships are the key goals of your digital marketing efforts, and having good content marketing can help you achieve these goals. If you want to experience the benefits of good content marketing, then it’s time to get started.

  • How Profitable It Is to Become a Digital Marketer?

    How Profitable It Is to Become a Digital Marketer?

    Digital marketing is a career involving online sales and advertising. So much of the world is digital these days that digital marketing, a profession that didn’t exist 30 years ago, can now be a highly competitive and lucrative business. Today over half the world has access to the internet and therefore has the capacity to shop and browse products online. There are many facets to digital marketing, all of which can influence how much money a digital marketer can make. This makes it essential to learn digital marketing as mastering these strategies can open doors to lucrative opportunities in the ever-expanding online marketplace. Let’s take a look at what digital marketing is, how you can become an expert in it, and how profitable it can be.

    What Is Digital Marketing

    First, we think it is important to explain what digital marketing is and how it is done. A digital marketer understands the best ways to get people’s attention online. They will use a combination of various marketing tactics such as blog posting, targeted advertising, social media, and more to create unique marketing campaigns for brands and products. This can also include various other skills such as networking, web design, artistic design, and much more. Basically, it is the job of a digital marketing professional to ensure the right consumers see the right adverts online. It has largely overtaken many of the more traditional advertising spaces such as billboards, posters, and print advertising.

    Training in Digital Marketing

    There are now many ways you can train in the field of digital marketing. Steve, a digital marketing professional over at be your maverick said, “With so many online courses and training centers dedicated to the field of digital marketing, it has never been easier to learn the skills required for a digital marketing professional.” It has become such an in-demand profession that many people now offer remote and classroom-based courses in digital marketing. These courses will cost a small amount but could lead to a rewarding career in the field as you learn the skills and tricks of the trade.

    What Skills Do You Need?

    There are many skills required to be a successful digital marketing specialist. Some, you will be able to learn on a training course, while others you will need to develop yourself. The key skills you can learn through training include coding and technology skills, design software skills, SEO utilization, and understanding of online advertising platforms like Google’s AdWords. On the other hand, there are many skills required that can’t necessarily be taught, such as great communication with clients, being a flexible worker, or being highly organized. Many digital marketers work alone so need to be able to juggle plenty of tasks and clients in one day.

    How Much Money Is In Digital Marketing?

    So, the real question. How much money can be made as a digital marketer? Is it a good career choice? In short, yes. But, there are many variables when it comes to a career in digital marketing. When starting out as a digital marketer, the simplest way is to join a marketing agency as a junior or associate marketer. In these roles, the salary can start anywhere from $25 to $40,000 depending on the location and size of the company. A digital marketer in Manhattan, for example, may have a much higher starting salary than one in a small town. 

    As you progress through the ranks of a digital marketing agency you can certainly earn more money. A senior marketer or digital marketing manager could push up to a salary of $60,000 which is a great salary. And, if you end up an executive in the firm salaries can go as high as six figures. Of course, to reach this level, you will need to be an expert digital marketer, people manager, and creative lead.

    Self-Employed Marketers

    There is another route into earning good money as a digital marketing manager; self-employment. As a freelance marketer, you can charge differing rates for different projects. Many first-time self-employed marketers charge low rates with smaller clients to gain experience, and as they develop, they can charge higher rates. Without a firm behind you, it can be hard to gain clients and experience. But, as you grow, you can charge as much as a huge firm would charge and take more of the profit for yourself. You will need great client-facing skills to develop and grow as a freelance marketer, but can expect to earn a high salary if you are successful.

    As you can see, it is a lucrative business and well worth stepping into. If you think you have the necessary skills to be a digital marketer, maybe it’s time to take the leap. If you do, we wish you the best of luck.

  • How to Advertise on Instagram – In 5 Simple Steps

    How to Advertise on Instagram – In 5 Simple Steps

    Instagram advertisements are the quickest way of increasing your brand awareness. Major thanks for this go to the way Instagram displays your advertisements. There are no pop-ups to annoy the audience. Instead, these advertisements appear in the form of sponsored posts and stories in the middle of people’s feeds. This ensures visibility. Thus, these ads are the perfect option if you want to gain buy Instagram followers. And that is not all they can do. Using these ads, you can have the user visit a webpage, install an app, open your channel, and perform various other actions. You may even use them to get Instagram likes by promoting your posts. Alternatively you may just buy Instagram followers to get an instant reach.

    One factor I am particularly fond of while advertising on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, is their pricing option. This is what Facebook has to say about this:

    “You tell Facebook how much you want to spend on advertising. Then we’ll try to get you as many results as possible for that amount. If you want to spend $5 a week, you can. If you want to spend $50,000 a week, you can do that too.”

    What this essentially means is that you can choose a budget and Instagram will try to get you the best results possible for that amount. All this can sound confusing for first-time users. Fear not though since you are in luck! We have got 5 simple steps to get you started. 

    A quick preliminary checklist: Create a Facebook page. Then connect this page and your Instagram account to the Facebook business manager. Visit this page to find out how. Now visit the Instagram ads manager, click on the create button, and follow the steps below.

    Choose an objective

    All your Instagram ads must have an objective or goal. This is what you want to achieve through the ads. Do you want to increase your brand awareness? Do you want them to visit your webpage? Browse your catalog? Or direct them to your physical store? Whatever your aim is, Instagram likely has you covered.

    Once you have identified your objective, name your campaign. What you name it is entirely up to you and the option’s there just to make sure you do not get confused if you have multiple campaigns running side by side. It defaults to your objective. Go ahead and personalize it.

    Choose your target audience

    Facebook is a data-driven company. And it owns Instagram. Thus, Instagram advertisements provide you with extremely powerful targeting tools. Firstly, it allows you to filter your audience using age, languages, location, and gender among other factors. 

    Further, it goes a step beyond by helping you create a message that is most suitable for your customer. This way, you are certain to receive maximum engagement. Through tracking a user’s activity and previous interactions, Instagram automatically displays your ads to people most likely to interact with it. 

    Choose where you want your ads to display

    Instagram ads are visible in four major places: People’s feed, the explore section, the IGTV section, and between stories. 

    You can toggle visibility for one or more of these places as per your needs. Stick with automatic placement for your first try to explore what works. You can customize it for your next campaign.

    Select the budget and schedule of your advertisements

    As previously mentioned, ads on most social media platforms have a very clever pricing strategy. In Instagram’s case, you get the option to choose a daily budget or a total budget depending on the type of ad. Further, you can select when to run your ad. This option allows you to select a time range within which to display your ad.

    There are various other optimization options available and I recommend you explore them to suit your fancy. Instagram automatically displays the expected daily reach of your advertisement depending upon the factors you choose.

    Finally, launch your ad

    A couple of final steps you will need to take before the ad is up and running are as follow: First, select the format of the ad. That is, choose between displaying a single image, a carousel of images, a video, a collection, or “an instant experience”.

    A quick tip: If you are unsure about the format of images you want, visit HootSuite’s post on social media image sizes.

    Once the format is selected, it is all smooth sailing:

    • Choose the image or media you would like to display.
    • Craft your ad copy: This is the text users will see below your ad. Keep it catchy and creative.
    • Pick a payment option.
    • Review all the options you have selected and make any changes if necessary.
    • Now, click on the Confirm button and your ad will be posted.

    Sit back, relax, and watch as it slowly spreads across Instagram and brings you the engagement you need.

    Conclusion

    Facebook’s immensely powerful data collection and artificial intelligence systems provide for very robust ad targeting systems. Thus, your social media marketing campaign can get a significant boost through advertisements on Instagram and Facebook.

    Have you got some tricks of the trade you would like to share? Drop them in the comments below.

  • Strategies to Bring More Leads and Better Traffic to Your Website

    Strategies to Bring More Leads and Better Traffic to Your Website

    Is your business having issues generating visitors and traffic on your website? Without properly optimizing your webpage it can be incredibly difficult to attract clicks and generate business via online forums. 

    If you are finding limited interaction between consumers and your website, there are some simple strategies that you can employ, to help attract better traffic and more business leads to your website.

    Search Engine Optimization

    What is it, and How can it Benefit your Brand?

    One of the most effective ways to bring growth and traffic to your business website is by Search Engine Optimization. Search Engine Optimization is the way you can utilize your website to bring you, new clients, by ensuring you will be in the top-ranked search engine responses. 

    But what is this strategy, how does it work, and how can your brand benefit from it?

    Search Engine Optimization is the complex technological science and algorithmic design behind how search engines, Such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, list responses to customer queries. This is the behind the scenes working of how these search engines provide links and responses to consumers for any given search engine when a topic is inserted into the search bar. 

    Higher-rated responses are the more relevant sites that are provided first in the list of search results. 

    By ensuring your SEO is en pointe and appropriately executed, you will find more and more traffic coming to your website, as search engines begin recognizing your website as most relevant and ranking it higher.

    In today’s market, consumers will start looking for services on a search engine such as Google or Yahoo, that is their first step. The search engine provides recommendations for a specific service provider or source of information, depending on the nature of the search. Search Engine Optimization allows you to be one of the top-ranked recommendations, rather than burying your website pages and pages behind competitor websites. The farther down your website is ranked, the less chance you have of gaining new clients. SEO greatly increases your chances of reaching consumers immediately after a search is performed.

    Search Engine Optimization Professional Consultants

    This process of Search Engine optimization can often be time consuming and intimidating, and there are multiple resources available, especially for small business owners and entrepreneurs, to get the help you need to optimize your website and gain more leads and traffic for your brand. 

    If you find that your brand is struggling to draw in the online business targeted, there is a chance you need to review the SEO, and you can do so by hiring a firm, such as SEO Design Chicago. These professionals are highly trained and can provide the information and support your brand needs to start attracting leads and traffic to your website.

    These professionals are available and offer a range of services, from providing some basic tips for those entering the world of Search Engine optimization, to completing the work for you and revolutionizing the way your website attracts attention.

    Utilizing a Search Engine Optimization firm is a great way to enhance the effectiveness of your website and increase leads and traffic.

    How Do They Do it?

    Search Engine Optimization professionals will review your online content, and ensure that your website keywords and links are going to increase your traffic, by ensuring your brand one of the top-ranked recommendations.

    These professionals will work to ensure your content is properly laced with key words and relates appropriately to specific keywords that increase your ranking for search engine results.

    Keeping your content simple and specifically formatted to allow search engines to find your products or services you will see an immediate increase in website and lead traffic. Search Engine Optimization increases your visibility online and directly relates to how frequently your products or services are being offered to consumers.

    Through ensuring rich and fresh content on your website and utilizing clear, concise and original content, your brand will be on the path to becoming top-ranked and top suggested on search engines. Search Engine Optimization makes sure rankings place you ahead of your competitors, and bring you the clients you have been missing!

    Search Engine Optimization is a great step to verifying that clients are seeing your webpage and content first, and ensures a steady stream of traffic and new leads to your website, keeping your brand relevant and top-ranked in consumer searches.

    Make sure your online presence is working for you and not against you, by reviewing and revitalizing your Search Engine Optimization content, and wait for the leads to start pouring in!