A point-of-sale (POS) system is the central hub for any retail business through which all sales, refunds and exchanges are processed. A great retail POS system is affordable, have detailed reporting features and key integrations like accounting and ecommerce. We spent hours examining the top six POS systems, arriving at the best overall. Top 6... The post 6 Best Retail POS Systems for 2018 appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/best-retail-pos-systems/
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Free business checking accounts don’t charge monthly account fees, but even “free” checking accounts vary. We looked at national providers and chose the 15 best free business checking accounts. These accounts don’t charge monthly fees, although you may need to meet certain criteria. However, they do limit monthly transactions and have additional costs for extra... The post 15 Best Free Business Checking Accounts 2018 appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/best-free-business-checking/ Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Debborah Ashley @AskDebborah. Deborrah Ashley has built 3 highly profitable businesses, been in Oprah Magazine and The New York Times, and has helped over 100 entrepreneurs build awareness around their personal brand. She is known for helping people to leverage the “IT” factor and monetize their expertise authority on online strategies to attract high value clients & opportunities. SmallBizLady: You are an authority positioning strategist. Tell us what that means. Debborah Ashley: I help ambitious experts package and monetize their expertise. This includes how to create and bring concepts and ideas to market, how to build a network and mobilize people to a cause and best of all, how to package their knowledge to make money and find opportunities in the marketplace. Creating authority is a series of deliberate steps of positioning yourself strategically in the right places and tapping into your hidden brilliance to stand out from the noise. SmallBizLady: What exactly does monetizing your expertise mean? Debborah Ashley: Many people have a business idea but don’t know where to start, or they’ve been working in their field for decades but don’t know how take what they’ve learned and use their skills to make money from it. The concept of monetizing your expertise is simply making money from your experiences, your ideas and your expertise. Everyone knows the story of the Post-It Note, and how it represents how an idea can evolve and flourish. With social media, based ideas can come to life really quickly and if it’s product based, you can build excitement around your concept. SmallBizLady: Why social media? Debborah Ashley: Social media gives you chance to play with the big dogs. It doesn’t require a big budget and it certainly doesn’t require having a big staff and the expenses are minimal. Social media gives everyone the ability to craft their own message, to brand their own work, and to reach out to people individually and then use targeted content to monetize your expertise. SmallBizLady: Tell me more about using targeted content. Debborah Ashley: The best thing about using your content (video and written) is how easy it is to get in front of the specific person who needs your product but that does require you to niche down. Done right, you get to decide how people view you based on your content. The key to a successful content strategy is understanding your audience so well that you use your content to stay top of mind for the people who need your help. If you act as an advocate and a voice for your market, you’ll be seen as the one to listen to. To follow, to look to as a resource. So, you position yourself as a resource that will save them time, that will put more money in their pocket, that will make them feel significant, or make them look sexy. Once you figure out a person’s deep desire, and clearly demonstrate that you understand their problem and can get them to their desired state, you’ll never have to search for clients. SmallBizLady: Can you go a bit more into why you encourage niching down? Debborah Ashley: As we go through this process, you may have several ideal client types that show up and that is normal. Many of us have a lot of talents and people we can help, but for the sake of sanity, let’s choose just one person to start with. If you go and target the whole world, then I guarantee you, you won’t get anyone. However, if you were just to target a specific group of people, then you’re going to get a lot of people. It’s kind of the reverse to what most people think. Everyone thinks they should make their audience as big as it could be, however, in doing that, they get nobody or worse… time wasters. SmallBizLady: What are the worst misconceptions about monetizing? Debborah Ashley: The worst misconception about monetizing is that it can be done overnight. The secret of it all is that monetization is the last thing that happens in the whole creation cycle. All the work and research and proof of concept should be done before you attempt to sell it. There’s a difference between setting up the plan and taking action and waiting and taking action. Have a solid strategy, position yourself using content, engaging conversation and be polarizing at times. SmallBizLady: Tell me more about being polarizing. Debborah Ashley: Those who challenge the norm will stimulate uncomfortable thinking in others. That keeps you memorable. You’re not helping anyone by sugar coating what your audience is going through. So be polarizing. That simply means to stand behind your values and beliefs. You want your ideal client to be clear on where you stand and what you value because people connect with you a lot quicker when you have something in common. You want to keep the wrong people out and invite the people who you can have a deeper connection with. At least once a week, I would recommend a polarizing post that challenges conventional belief SmallBizLady: What are the first few things to do to start the process of monetizing your expertise? Debborah Ashley: The first thing to do to start the process of monetizing your expertise is to come up with a problem that you can solve. Typically, this is something you already know how to solve. It could be a personal pain (e.g., I’ve been trying to lose this weight for 6 months and no matter what I tried, nothing works.) or a missing preference (e.g., why are there no gluten-free restaurant in my area?). Start with solving a problem. Then find the audience who will pay for your solution. Find the audience and then start having conversations with them. Share content to let them know that you know the problem exists and that you are the most familiar with the problem. Offer solutions with your content. Give alternatives with your solutions and then get them intrigued. Then find out what people will pay to make their problems go away. SmallBizLady: How do you determine what people are looking to pay for that answer? Debborah Ashley: This is when you have to start some market research. I call this the proof of concept stage. Interview no less than 15 people that match your client avatar and find out from them, what’s the biggest struggle in either their work/business or life. Based on their response, determine if you can solve that problem based on your expertise. Something that comes naturally for you is holding someone back from elevating in their career. This is something they would pay you good money for just to share techniques, strategies and be there as a guide while they do a mock presentation. That’s finding a gap and packaging yourself as a public speaking coach to attract women who are being held back. SmallBizLady: You mentioned standing out. What would you suggest people do to help them stand out from the competition? Debborah Ashley: Coming from a point of service makes you an asset to your industry. That is what will make your business stand out. If you consistently give value, more people will want to work with you or collaborate with you, because they know that you will add to their business and their clients. Find out what your people need the most and offer it to them. You have the solution from years of experience so all you have to do is take action. SmallBizLady: What can you do to start connecting with an audience who would want what you have to offer? Debborah Ashley: Curating content strategically involves finding, organizing, and publishing the most relevant content for your audience in a way that adds value to already exceptional material. With content curation, you’re leveraging content originally created by others to create new content for your audience that’s engaging and unique. You’re acting as an editor, adding your own commentaries and perspective, in order to help your readers get new insights into the content. Search Pinterest or Instagram to find good images that your audience would like. This is an excellent idea for any niche, but it’s especially good for niches that are highly visual, like fashion or food. You can ask your audience to choose their favorite and leave comments. You can even take a small piece of content and explain it or puts it into context for the reader. You might take a tweet, image, or quote and share it with your reader, explaining its significance and what it means. Your audience doesn’t have the wealth of knowledge you do. For example, you might take a quote from a thought leader with a large audience like you and unpack what it means, along with real-life examples from the market. You then explain why this piece of content is important. If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz For more tips on how to start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.
The post Monetize Your Expertise appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from https://succeedasyourownboss.com/monetize-your-expertise/ Learn how to start affiliate marketing by finding a niche market, creating a website and crafting content that promotes affiliate products. You can start an affiliate site for just $2.95 per month and earn thousands per month working part-time. The biggest affiliate marketers make millions each year and most started out small — just like... The post How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business in 5 Steps in 2018 appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/how-to-start-affiliate-marketing/ With the marketing environment getting more complex, it can be confusing for a Realtor to know where and how to generate leads that convert. Luckily, we’re here to help. We put together this guide with the top 41 real estate lead generation ideas to help you narrow down the options and ensure your hard earned... The post 41 Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas [Free & Paid] appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/real-estate-lead-generation/ Real estate marketing is a way to attract potential homebuyers and listings in your market. For fresh marketing ideas, check out our ultimate list of marketing advice from top-producing agents from all around the United States. You’ll find everything you need here to kick-start your marketing campaign, from virtual open houses to marketing to millennials.... The post 43 Real Estate Marketing Ideas The Pros Use appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/real-estate-marketing-ideas/ One of the most powerful ways to market your small business and develop relationships with your customers is through the mailbox. Postcards allow you to reach a targeted audience with brochures, catalogs, coupons, and more. Here are the top 25 paid and free postcard templates for all types of businesses: 1. Multipurpose Postcard Template (Free)... The post Top 25 Paid & Free Postcard Templates with Examples appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/postcard-templates/ SBA Form 1919 is the borrower information form required by the SBA. This form includes personal identifying information as well as responses to 26 questions. Questions range from citizenship status to the potential jobs created or retained through the loan. Following the right steps when filling out SBA Form 1919 can prevent delays in your... The post SBA Form 1919: What the Borrower Information Form Is & How to Fill It Out appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/sba-form-1919-borrower-information/ Building a successful real estate career requires the drive to persist, learn from others and the ability to execute. It’s estimated that 87 percent of all real estate agents fail in their first 5 years, so how can you avoid joining them? We talked to some successful real estate agents for their tips, tools and... The post Top 21 Tips on How to Become a Successful Real Estate Agent appeared first on Fit Small Business. from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/real-estate-agents-tips/ Guest Article When you want to develop a successful content campaign, you must have a plan. Key Performance Indicators or KPIs–are vital to planning and deploying a successful content. Before you write a word or record a video, take a step back and decide what metrics to track and make sure you know the answers to the questions below. Question #1: What Are Your Goals for This Content? When planning content, it is crucial to know the purpose of a particular piece. Confusion sets in when a piece is lumped into broad categories, such as “branding”, but its specific function is less clear. Is it branding a particular widget? The company at large? Both? To solve this problem every piece of content needs specific, measurable goals. For example: Let’s imagine that you want to develop a branding campaign with the following components:
At first the KPIs are straightforward: have you and your team delivered all the components? Yet, this measurement is worthless if a strong, central idea is not evident throughout. The worst “branding campaigns” fall flat because the focus is on appearance, not purpose. Moreover, many small businesses try to mimic the branding approach of competitors with larger resources and totally different goals. A more useful question to ask first is: what will this content make people feel or do? Too many business owners create content in a vacuum. Assigning blog posts to one person and Instagram posts to another only works if the larger strategy is agreed upon from the start. The larger the team, the more the members must collaborate. What about the goals assigned to each piece of content? Every medium has intrinsically different goals. For example, you might set goals on the number of social media shares for each blog post or infographic (a social action). You might set different goals to count the number of downloads on guide or ebook (a customer acquisition action, with different expectations along the customer journey). Which KPIs are most important will depend on your larger strategy. Also, you must reevaluate the campaign. Did it perform as anticipated? Should you evaluate your core positioning or rethink your target audience? Return to your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis regularly. Question #2: What Are Your Visitor’s Goals? There are two kinds of “visitor goals.” You must ask the right questions to master both. The first (and most important) “visitor goal” is: what do your visitors want? Content developed for inbound traffic needs to match specific visitor goals. If the goal is “more information,” don’t muddle the focus. Give the visitor exactly what s/he is seeking. Don’t assume the visitor wants more. Instead, make it easy for them to discover more, should they want. An example would be a landing page. Ask:
The second “visitor goal” is: what do you want your visitors to do? Let’s return to our branding campaign example. How would you like to guide your visitor through the material? Do they move from blog post (awareness) to landing page (decision) to download (action)? How can you nudge them along the path? How will you overtly direct them? One common mistake is not giving clear direction on next steps. Decide on your preferred pathway. Craft your content so that there is only one next action at a time. People prefer to think they are taking action by virtue of their decision. Make it easy for them to make a decision. Question #3: Where Should You Focus Your Efforts? Successful content campaigns do not necessarily need a long list of content. Investment in one or two quality pieces of content can outperform a broader campaign. Instead, create focused content united by a single purpose. Where do the needs of your audience, and the goals for your campaign, overlap? Focus time and attention here. Plan your content campaign with these variables in mind:
Answer these three questions in depth:
Consider your constraints as creative gifts and get started with revising your content strategy and then get to work on it. Quality content is currency online. About the author: Katie McCaskey is Content Director of OpenWater, a grant management software platform. Learn to establish and grow a grantmaking program by downloading the free resources at OpenWater. The post How to Develop a Successful Content Campaign appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from https://succeedasyourownboss.com/how-to-develop-a-successful-content-campaign/ |
AuthorHello I am Teri Crawford 26 years old living in Toronto, Canada. I have recently finished my MBA and planning to start my own business. Archives
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