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Business & Marketing

Kyle

Getting Your Online Business off the Ground without Angel Investors

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If you have a business idea but lack the funds to execute it, an angel investor can get you started. But here’s the thing, as the term ‘angel’ implies you may not find them easily, and even if you’re lucky to find and have them invest, your business becomes their business too.

What this portends for you is that you will have to answer to them and come back each time, cap in hand when you need extra funding. It’s not a good look. Instead of waiting for angel investors to fund you or giving them your precious equity shares, there are other ways to get your business off the ground.

Fund yourself

You don’t necessarily need thousands of Pounds to get your business up and running and you certainly don’t need angel investors. For starters, you can use your own funds to start up and grow. This is why it is best practice to save up while working for someone else until you can stand on your own.

You can go into agreements with other start-ups like yours to share office spaces, split electricity bills, barter services, and a host of other partnerships that could reduce cost. This, would require some research on your part but you’ll still have your equity intact.

Use free business resources

The advent of the internet along with other technologies in recent times has made it increasingly easier to run businesses almost free of cost. For instance, there are tons of free materials, templates, and data online that businesses can take advantage of. Why then would you need angel investors?

And here’s a tip to use when you come across paid resources, most of them actually offer trial periods. This trial period should give you enough time to get what you need before it expires.

Get a business loan

If your business idea is one that would need a certain amount of money you don’t have, get it from a company that is willing to help and get to work as soon as possible. Sometimes saving up for long periods of time for a business is not ideal when you have the option of getting a loan and starting immediately.

The beautiful thing about loans is that you won’t have to pay the full amount all at once, the repayment can be spread out for several months. Also, you get to keep the equity shares angel investors would have got as a prize for their ‘generosity.’

Join a contest

Great singers go for X-Factor to compete and possibly win the grand prize, there’s no reason why you can’t opt for entrepreneur-related contests. You never know, you could be the winner.

Even if you don’t win you’d have the opportunity to learn directly from gurus in your field, meet people who share your drive for innovation, and boost your confidence and ability to make a pitch anywhere.

Angel investors are not the all-in-all, with the right determination and by following through with any of these tips you can start something you’ll be proud to call your own.

3 Simple SEO Tips to Help Website Video Content Rank Better

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Getting the videos that you publish on your website to rank better on search engines can be difficult. However just as you optimize other content for search engines – you need to take steps to optimize your videos as well.

While there are many factors that influence how well your videos rank on search engines, there are a few simple SEO tips that could have a big impact on them:

  • Add schema markup when you publish videos

For every video that you publish you should add the appropriate video schema markup to your webpage. Most search engines nowadays support schema markup and it will allow you to provide them with more information about your video.

To be more specific the schema markup will let you add parameters to provide the title, description, duration, and thumbnail URL for your video. Search engines will then use that information to create a ‘rich’ listing for your video in search results.

Because many of those parameters will contain keywords, your video should rank better if you include schema markup when you publish it.

  • Publish a video transcript on the webpage

Another useful way to give search engines information about your video is to write a video transcript and publish it on the same webpage. The transcript should ideally be placed near the video – possibly right below it.

As a written version of the audio in your video, the transcript will naturally contain many keywords that are related to your video. More importantly it will be in a form that search engines can crawl and process easily.

  • Improve the page speed

Videos have the unfortunate tendency of slowing down webpages, especially if they are self-hosted or use autoplay. In light of that you will want to keep a close eye on the page speed when you publish videos, and take steps to improve it wherever possible.

Search engines expect the page to load quickly, and in general you should aim for yours to load in 2 seconds or less. Any more than that and not only will it affect your website ranking – but you will start to find that many visitors abandon the page instead of waiting for it to load.

Make no mistake creating video content is easy nowadays, and you can even use Movavi Video Editor and create videos from photos by following the steps at http://www.movavi.com/support/how-to/video-from-photos.html, for example. However in order to attract more viewers to the videos that you publish on your website – it is crucial that you pay close attention to its SEO.

It should be noted that there are lots of other factors that will affect how well your videos rank on search engines. That being said the steps listed above are a good place to start, and should provide you with a convincing boost to your search engine rankings.

If you want you can then look into improving other parts of the SEO, so that your videos rank even higher.

3 Incredible Travel Spots for Businesses

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To discover 3 travel spots which offer exciting attractions and activities as well as world class business opportunities, simply continue reading to learn around 3 incredible travel spots for businesses.

Incredible Travel Spots for Businesses:

1. San Fransisco, USA

Arguably the best city to visit for business on the west coast is San Fransisco, which is a hub for well established technology focused businesses and tech start ups alike. So it’s well worth San Fransisco if you’re interested in mixing and mingling with other entrepreneurs, who have bright ideas and visions for the future of their businesses.

If your business is technology focused you’ll also be able to attend tech trade shows, where you’ll get to market your business to potential stakeholders, distributors and clients.

If you have a bit of spare time to explore San Fransisco, when you’re off duty, it’s well worth taking a drive to the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, riding a tram and enjoying drinks at one of San Francisco’s numerous harbor-side bars and restaurants.

Lastly, if you’re a coffee addict you’re in luck as San Fransisco is known for producing some of the country’s best coffee.

2. Vancouver, Canada

According to recent business surveys, Vancouver has been named the top business destination in North America and for good reason.

Not only is Vancouver a visually stunning location which offers tranquil lakes, ski-fields and a stunning waterfront but Vancouver is also an extremely safe city, which is easy to navigate and which offers countless conference centers and business related amenities.

As an added selling point Vancouver also has a population of around 631,000 and as such is a great location to consider sharing your business’ products and services with. If you’re interested in expanding your business to feature brand new locations, in an effort to increase your business’ customer base, profit and revenue!

So if you’re looking for the perfect location for a future business meeting, conference or event, it’s a great idea to add Vancouver, Canada to your shortlist of possible locations.

Whilst in Vancouver, also make sure to try out a few of Vancouver’s world class restaurants, many of which are located on the waterfront and offer unbeatable views that you’ll never grow tired of.

3. Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing business destinations in the world. So if you’re looking to visit a wealthy destination, which boasts plenty of money to sink into your business, you can’t go wrong pitching your business to interested stakeholders in Abu Dhabi.

Furthermore Abu Dhabi is also becoming a popular destination for business trade shows, so if your industry hosts an open event in Abu Dhabi, it may be well worth attending.

Another reason why you’ll love doing business in Abu Dhabi is that not only does Abu Dhabi offer modern, state of the art business facilities but Abu Dhabi also offers four and five star resorts which feature stunning infinity pools, spas and on-site restaurants. So if you’re looking to be pampered on your business trip, you’ll love doing business in Abu Dhabi.

In conclusion, no matter which of the 3 business destinations you choose for your next business trip, you can’t go wrong as all 3 destinations are among some of the most incredible business destinations in the world!

What is SEO? A simple guide to SEO

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If you’re curious about what SEO is and how understanding SEO principles can help your business grow, simply continue reading to discover a simple, easy to understand guide to SEO marketing principles.

What is SEO?

The acronym SEO stands for search engine optimization and refers to a series of marketing principles that business owners can use to direct extra traffic to their businesses website.

Basic SEO principles:

1. Make sure that your website features the right SEO keywords

SEO keywords are essentially key words and phrases which individuals can place in the text of their website in order to increase their website’s search engine ranking.

As an example, if you have a website which sells health supplements, it’s well worth doing a bit of research into discovering the top words which users search for when they’re looking to purchase health supplements online. In this scenario some words which may make ideal key words may be “supplements”, “health”, “vitamins” and “weight loss”. As well as the names of the most searched for supplements which your business may sell.

2. Make sure that your website and text have the right density of SEO keywords

Unfortunately you can’t just stuff your website or promotional text with your chosen keywords, in order to increase your SEO ranking. As all of the major search engines such as Yahoo and Google, have software in place which flags websites which have abnormally high SEO keyword density percentages.

So if you don’t want your website to be flagged for keyword stuffing, you’ll need to ensure that you don’t overuse your chosen keywords.

3. Focus on using several different key words and key phrases instead of overusing a couple of keywords and key phrases

One way to decrease your chances of your business’ website being flagged for SEO spamming is to use a variety of key words on your website, instead of just a couple of keywords.

As an example, you may be able to use keywords that are similar to each other or have the same meaning. For instance, if your business sells women’s clothing you may want to use the keywords “style” and “fashion”. Instead of overusing either keyword.

4. Visit social media to see what hashtags are currently trending in your business’ industry

One way to discover a few potential keywords for your business is to check out the social media accounts of your competitors businesses to see what hashtags they are using on their posts. As in many instances words and phrases which are popularly hash tagged also make great keywords.

Just make sure not to use actual hashtags when you place your new keywords on your business’ website or blog.

5. Make sure that your keywords appear originally

Some websites have keywords in parts of their text that don’t make logical sense, which makes it obvious to readers that they are keywords. So, do try to make an effort to ensure that your keywords appear as organic and natural as possible.

So there you have it, a simple, fuss-free guide to understanding and implementing SEO as a marketing technique!

How To Set a Marketing Budget

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In order to start planning how to market your business, you’ll need to first set a marketing budget. If you’re unsure of how to go about setting an accurate marketing budget, simply continue reading to discover a few valuable tips.

How to set a marketing budget:

1. Try to figure out how much money your competitors spend on their marketing campaigns

By visiting your competitors’ websites and social media accounts, you should be able to get a fair idea of how much money each of your competitors spends on their marketing campaigns. The reason why its so important to find out how much money your competitors spend on marketing, is that in order to compete with your competitors, you’ll need to invest a similar amount.

As even if your business produces better quality products and services, if your competitors spend double the amount on marketing, than your business, most of your potential customers will end up purchasing one of your competitor’s products.

2. Figure out what forms of marketing will best reach your business’ target audience

Different businesses should target different forms of marketing as each business has a unique target audience.

As an example, if you’re looking to sell your products and services to mature adults, you may want to allocate a portion of your marketing budgeting to traditional forms of advertisements such as print advertisements, radio advertisements and TV commercials. As well as allocating funds for online advertising campaigns.

Alternatively, if you’re marketing products to young adults aged 16-35 it’s well worth allocating your budget slightly differently and choosing to allocate 90% of your marketing budget on your business’ website and social media accounts. As young adults are far more likely to pay attention to online marketing campaigns than traditional marketing campaigns.

3. Consider how much money your business can realistically afford to spend on marketing

You should never spend more than 10% of your business’ funds on marketing activities. So be sure to be realistic when it comes to setting a budget for your business’ online and offline marketing campaigns.

If your business is relatively new, you may want to start off by spending the majority of your marketing budget on ensuring that you have a professional attractive budget. Whilst you use free forms of marketing such as social media to promote your website.

As your business becomes more successful, you’ll be able to start increasing your marketing budget and to start spending money on new forms of online and offline marketing.

4. Refer to your business plan for guidance

Your business plan should give you an indication of how much money you planned to spend on marketing your business. So it’s well worth reading the financial section of your business plan thoroughly.

5. Consider spending a small portion of your marketing budget on giveaways

It’s well worth spending a few hundred dollars of your marketing budget on giveaways, that will encourage your customers to follow your business on social media and to purchase your business’ products and services.

If you follow the marketing guide listed above, you should be able to set a well priced marketing budget.

Online Marketing Tips

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If you want to increase the effectiveness of your online marketing, continue reading to discover a wide variety of marketing tips, which will help your online business thrive.

Online marketing tips:

1. Make sure to set a budget for your business’ marketing activities

If you fail to set a definite marketing budget, you won’t be able to make the best possible use of your marketing budget. As you may blow a large percentage of your business’ available funds on an ineffective form of online marketing.

So make sure to sit down and create a budget for your business’ online marketing, which breaks down how much money you plan to spend on each area of your business’ marketing strategy. As an example, you may want to state how much money you are prepared to spend on social media adverts and how much money you are comfortable spending on commissioning a brand new website for your business.

2. Get used to posting on your business’ blog and social media accounts at regular time slots

The reason why so many business owners choose to post on their businesses’ blogs and social media accounts at prescheduled, organized time slots, is that their followers will start to learn when their business’ posts and will be sure to check their business’ posts as a part of their daily schedule.

Whereas if you post on your business’ social media accounts and blogs at random, unscheduled times of the day, your followers won’t have a rough posting schedule to check up on.

Another reason why it’s a great idea to post at regular timeslots is that you can specifically target timeslots which have a high level of traffic. As then your posts are far likely to attract a high level of user engagement. So if you want your followers to like, comment and share your posts, it does pay to be thoughtful about your business’ posting schedule.

3. Use SEO techniques to increase traffic to your business’ primary website

If one of your marketing goals for your business is to successfully double the number of hits which your business’ website gets each month, it’s crucial to utilize popular SEO online marketing tips to your business’ advantage.

As SEO techniques are unbeatable when it comes to increasing your business’ search engine rankings, which will, in turn, direct hundreds of thousands or even millions of extra potential customers to your business’ website.

4. Don’t skimp on website related costs

While you may be tempted to hire an inexpensive web designer to create a new website for your business, if you do so you’ll likely miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars of potential revenue as if new customers visit your website and are disappointed by what they see, they’ll be unlikely to follow through and make a purchase.

5. Be flexible

If one of your marketing campaigns doesn’t work, be flexible enough to make quick changes.

It’s definitely well worth using all five online marketing tips listed above to ensure that your business is able to market itself efficiently and effectively.

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