These days, there’s a lot of talk about outsourcing. If you outsource, you can cut costs and save time in your company, so they say. But does it really work that way? Many business owners find that in fact outsourcing costs just as much as hiring a team of staff, specifically for specialized roles.
There’s also no guarantee that you find a great outsourcing service. Instead, you might end up with a shoddy company that offers nothing but a slow turnaround.
We think you’ll agree that is the last problem that an up and coming startup wants to deal with. It can damage your reputation and kill your company before it’s even begun.
Despite this, it is true that businesses do need to look for ways to save money. So what if instead of hiring someone else to complete the job for you, you fixed it for yourself.
Rather than worrying about whether the company you’re using is actually a pro, you can put the future of your business in YOUR hands. It’s an enticing idea, isn’t it?
The problem is that we’re constantly told that certain areas of the business are too time-consuming and complicated for business owners or employees to handle. Take SEO as an example.
SEO is viewed in two ways. Either it’s so simple you could do it in your sleep, or it’s so so dangerous that you can easily end up with a Google penalty. Neither view is correct. SEO isn’t simple, but it can be with the right tool.
That’s what we’re going to talk about today. We’re going to look at how you can run your own marketing and other aspects of your business by knowing what tools you should be using. We’ll start off with SEO and promotion, working towards more specialized areas of your company.
DIY SEO
Before we get into how to DIY SEO, let’s think about what you need for an SEO campaign to be successful. You definitely need links on your site, but it’s not enough to just plant them in anywhere.
They need to be carefully placed to ensure they fit the content naturally. You also want to think about where they are linking to. Basically, you need to aim for links that have high domain rankings.
If this is getting a little too technical, that just means they are high up in the SERPs. So, if you find a site relevant to your content high in the SERPs feel free to link it. But don’t link too many as this can attract the attention of Google.
Then, there are those darn keywords. The keywords on your site ensure that your company connects with the search engine when users are looking for a company like yours. Choosing the right keywords can be tricky which is why you should check out a site like WebsiteRocket.com.
On a site like this, you can use software that will help you with a step by step guide for optimizing your site. How long will it take? With just thirty minutes a day, you could quickly find yourself closing in on page one of the SERPs. If you love this idea, you’re definitely going to want to keep reading.
Your social media, your way
Let’s be honest, we all know how to use social media because it’s a big part of our personal private lives. We’re all on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Many of us will be using Linkedin to promote our career history or perhaps Pinterest if you love shopping. Why then, do we need to hire a pro when it comes to marketing our company on social media. The answer, of course, is that you don’t. Instead, you can handle it yourself.
For social media, the basic goals are boosting your brand and getting content shared. And guess what? Both are ridiculously easy. Particularly when you try using a tool from a site like Zoho.com.
Using software from a site like this, you can easily create things like Facebook landing pages, but that’s not all. You’ll also be able to check on whether customers are responding to your campaign. If they’re not, you can change up your game.
But if they are, you can build on it using the same software. It’s not just Facebook either. With a click of the button, you’ll be able to set up your campaign on all the different sections of your online profile. As such, there’s no way a customer is ever going to miss one of your promotions.
Don’t forget one of the easiest ways to manage social media is to encourage UGC or user-generated content. User-generated content is exactly as described on the tin!
Your customers will market your company for you, and if you think that sounds too good to be true, it isn’t. All you need to do is engage your customers to push them to share. You’ll soon have material you can use, and they’ll love you for it.
Email on the go
We think business owners hire marketers for email campaigns because they think it takes time and effort to get that perfect email. The one that guarantees customer conversions and strong traffic levels. But it doesn’t have to.
What if we told you that you could create emails for marketing within minutes with all the information you need? Better yet, what if you could do this from your phone or tablet? Well, you can and if you don’t believe that just have a look at SendInBlue.com.
With company software like this, you’ll be able to create your own emails with all the information you want for your customers. You won’t need to worry about not getting the conversions either.
You’ll be able to track progress, and if things aren’t working, you can quickly reshape your campaign. With tools like this, why bother with the so-called experts?
When it comes to email marketing, many business owners struggle with building their email list organically. However, building your email list is the most important part of your email strategy: you’re building a list of warm leads who have manifested an active interest in your products and your brand.
Use sign up forms, pop-ups, landing pages, etc to capture your visitor’s attention, and keep it with an incentive they can’t turn down, like free shipping or a first purchase discount. From there, follow up with the incentive promised, and you’ll craft a list of customers that are looking to purchase from you in no time.
The tax man cometh
Moving off marketing now, let’s look at a different section of your business and think about finances. One of the worst part of running a company is handling the finances. We’re sure you’ll agree.
This is particularly true if you have a variety of different inputs and outputs into multiple accounts. There’s always the fear that you’ll pay too little into taxes and get penalized or pay too much and lose money.
Contrary to belief if you overpay on your taxes, you’re probably not going to get that money back from the government. But you can bet they’ll chase you up if you pay too little.
Usually, handling taxes means hiring a trained professional who typically charges a fortune with hourly rates. So, if you have a lot of accounts that need sorting it can take a sizeable amount of your budget.
The solution, you might have guessed is to check out some DIY tax software. You can have a look at an example on TurboTax.com. If you think the name means you can handle your taxes quickly without any trouble, you’d be right.
You’ll be able to take a quick snap of your W-2, send it in and instantly get your tax return sorted. No delay, no trouble, no wait time and the comfort of knowing that you won’t be paying too much or too little. The tax man might be coming, but once you’ve sent yours online, he won’t be knocking at your business door.
Online accounting easy
Of course, managing your accounts is more than just tax. Accounting is about making sure that you have enough money in your account and that your business isn’t about to slip into the red. Or ensuring that you’re using your capital resources as effectively as possible.
Again, this usually does involve hiring a licensed accountant to manage things, but there’s another possibility. Have a look at Xero.com, the award-winning accounting software that makes life simple.
You can check out your accounts on the cloud server, keep up to date with outgoing payments and always know exactly how much money you have. One of the best things about this software is the sheer speed of the service.
Minutes after you’ve switched on your computer or tablet, you’ll have access to all the financial information you need for your company. Manage the digital books and keep things up to date without spending a lot of time scrolling through numbers.
Web design without worry
Finally, let’s think about the heart of your business online. That’s definitely your website. This is the place where your customers are going to find info on your products or updates about your company.
It’s the main resource for your marketing materials and the crucial point of your SEO campaign. As such, you need to make sure that you have a website to dazzle and delight clients and users which might mean paying for an expensive custom design.
Or, you could DIY and still get great results. These days there are so many unbelievably awesome website builders online like Wix.com. Using Wix, you’ll have access to a variety of different images and templates to build your website with.
Or, you can use the basic building blocks to create one brand new from scratch. Either way, we think that you and your customers are going to love how your website looks when it’s launched after being designed with this software.
