New Green Workplace Practices a Big Deal for Business Bottom Line

In a world where issues like the economy, natural disasters, and the global pandemic reign as big concerns, being environmentally conscious doesn’t feature as top priority. That does not mean, however, that it is unimportant. In fact, what many companies fail to realize is that besides preserving the environment, having an eco-friendly workplace has a massive upside for the business bottom line – with both immediate and long-term benefits such as reduced spending and better quality of employee well-being.

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If you are among the many who have thus far not implemented green practices in your office, you may feel intimidated by the idea of starting out. Do not worry – a few small changes can go a long way to reduce your business’ carbon footprint by a mile.

Here we discuss various ways to implement eco-friendly practices at work that will benefit your company’s earning -both immediately and in the long run:

Consider going paperless

Using physical paper entails a chain of expenses – one that is definitely includes more than the cost of paper itself. Expenses include (but can definitely not be limited to) writing material like pens and pencils, buying and maintaining printers, purchasing ink cartridges, as well as the storage and space involved in keeping equipment as well as supplies. In fact, a study by Gartner says that companies tend to spend as much as 1 – 3% of their total annual revenue in printing-related expenses alone.

There are many ways one can implement a paperless policy – or at least reduce using paper as much as possible. You can start by either removing or greatly restricting employee access to printers and printing supplies. The next step would be to replace as many printed documents with electronic versions. For instance, instead of putting up memos on the wall, you can email them to your employees. You can even use online signature systems instead of physical agreements.

Measure Your Power Consumption

When it comes to becoming more eco-friendly, reducing your power consumption is one of the best ways to save both energy and money. And while switching off the lights when they are not in use is a fabulous start, there is so much more than you can do to implement a better green strategy. For starters, you can extend the lights-out policy to other facilties such as monitors, computers, televisions, chargers, and other appliances that are present in the office.

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Another effective way to cut back on power is by using renewable energy. For example, you can install solar-powered lights instead of conventional ones. If possible, you can also install solar batteries to power your office equipment and appliances. While these require a little investment in the early stages, it will pay off in both the short and long-term in terms of reduced costs and insurance benefits.

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Promote Positive Change

Paper is not just used for documents and official purposes. Activities such as employees using Styrofoam or paper cups to drink coffee, or disposable food cartons are also big source of wastage. The best way to avoid this is to replace these with more sustainable options. This can include a range of equipment that includes (but is not limited to) cloth towel and napkins, multi-use coffee filters, water filters, and washable utensils.

It doesn’t have to be a cut-and-dry affair – you can include your employees in your initiatives. For instance, you can gift your employees reusable mugs and straws. You can also incentivize them for small acts such as brining their own tiffin boxes to work.

 

Preparing a Business for Winter Holidays

 Best practices for business during the end of year holiday season.

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As the holidays draw closer, there is much preparation to be done. For business owners, there is a lot more to be considered and it is not always clear what needs to be accomplished during this time. Even some of the most basic aspects of business operations, such as announcing changes to hours, are commonly overlooked throughout this time of year. To help make winter holiday preparations for businesses less challenging, we have comprised a short list of best practices that may help your business be more successful than ever before.

Update Business Hours of Operations

Hanging a “Closed” sign on a business’ door will get the message across to anyone that tries to visit but, it will also be aggravating if it happens to contradict the business hours that are published online. This is especially true if the business is hospitality or retail. Now more than ever consumers check online to determine when a business is open. Misinformation may quickly lead them to seek out a competitor.

There are three main places where these updates should be applied online, at the very minimum. Those places being 1) the business website, 2) business profile on Google, and 3) Facebook. If you are a restaurant or caterer, you will also want to update any Yelp listings, if applicable. These are the most popular places people go to check when a business is open. Keeping them up-to-date is a fundamental part of managing a business and providing good customer service. If there are other websites or profiles where the hours changes can be applied then we highly encourage a business take the time to do so.

Create a Closing Checklist

Yes, that is right. We are essentially suggesting a checklist within a checklist but, bear with us a moment while we explain. Most if not all businesses, especially those with employees, have particular steps set out for closing time. These procedures maybe written out or just a mental checklist for the normal closers. However, during the holiday season it is common for vacations to be taken, shifts to be changed around and the business facilities to be unoccupied for longer periods than normal. Therefore, it is important to provide every employee with the steps that need to be done in order to safely and securely close up shop.

When making a checklist of closing procedures, a manager needs to make special considers for their type of business and facilities. Does the building or office need to be winterized for the 3-day Christmas weekend? Have all appliances been turned off and unplugged? Are security systems armed and doors locked? It is worth taking to time to make sure all that can be done is done right so you can enjoy your time away from work with a little less worry.

Share the Spirit of the Season

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If you are able to give gifts, donations or simply thanks with festive celebrations, then why not share it with the world? Many people are pleased to see a company actively giving back. Whether a business owner is throwing a holiday party for staff at the office, passing out toys to less fortunate children or hosting a gala, it is worth a the extra effort to photograph the event and share it with the general public.

Do not feel bad if your business is not able to do much this year. Sharing what you have and your thankfulness is more than enough for people to appreciate. Allowing the true spirit of the season to shine through your business in any way possible not only helps to humanize the brand but also creates opportunities to reach and engage new audiences.

Some of the best tools to use to share these experiences are likely already at your fingertips. Many professional choose to post details to a blog or a page of their website designated for such occasions. Those posts are then shared across a business’ social media. When posting to social media, we recommend tagging any charities and partners you are working with to make an event happen. You may also want to create a Facebook event to increase participation and awareness if you are a main organizer.

Businesses that are current clients of Leads Online Marketing can make quick, easy work of this task by submitting a support ticket requesting posts to their website, blog and/or social media accounts. Just make sure to send us all necessary details and within 24-hours we will be sure it is published or scheduled to publish at a time you have designated.

Sales, Deals, Discounts and Clearance Events

A promotion is not much of a promotion if it is never properly promoted. Try saying that 3x fast. All joking aside, this is an all too common problem for small businesses. A business may have a sales event running but returning customers and potential customers have no way of knowing about it. There may be a physical sign in the store or a service person may mention it but this is not an efficient way to increase sales. Details of any sales and special offers are best published to the business website along with social media unless it is a highly exclusive offer.

For businesses that still utilize print advertisement, a high quality digital copy of all ads should be requested from the graphics designer and forward to the website developer for online publication. In most cases, a business is paying an advertising company to create the graphic (the ad image) in addition to the actual printing and distributions. So, many times the business holds the rights to reuse that graphic as seen fit including in use for online display ads.

These are just a few things that business owners, operators and managers should do to prepare for this time of year. The L.O.M. team understands that ever business is unique, which is why we offer customized marketing programs to meet your exact needs and budget. If you feel overwhelmed by trying to create or manage an online presence for your business, then we encourage you to give us a call to discuss how we can help your business stand out across the web.

We wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season and thank you for your support this year!

Now on to planning for 2021!

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Businesses Need a Good Web Presence to Survive a Pandemic and Beyond

In this age of coronavirus pandemic, online presence management has become more crucial than ever before for small businesses.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has completely turned the world upside-down. With a global toll of 33 million cases (and counting), and no definitive vaccine, intense lockdowns and quarantines have become more the norm than the exception. Homes and rooms have now become the center of activity for practically everyone – with people both living and working from home. The business world has borne the brunt of this impact as well – many a great company have withered and died in the multi-faceted chaos that the coronavirus has caused. It goes without saying that in situations such as these, having a subpar web presence is not an option for any business, let alone small businesses.

All said and done, it does not always have to be this dreary – especially if you are a small enterprise. Despite the uncertain times, the one decisive factor remains – with more people stuck in place, more and more people are spending time on the internet. For small businesses especially, this can be a distinct advantage. Large-scale businesses need premium solutions and wide-ranging campaigns to stay relevant and consistent with their customer base. Smaller ones, one the other hand, can start converting by amping up their online presence with the right combination of free solutions and constant involvement with customers and prospects.

Here are 5 ways in which small businesses can ensure they have a good web presence:

Take Advantage of Business Listings

Getting themselves listed in business directories is one of the first and best steps any small business can take towards building up their online presence. Some of the major directories serve multiple purposes. First and foremost, they help customers find key information about the store in one place. This includes the location, areas served, products and services, and contact information. Secondly, these listings also have reviews and rating scores provided by past customers, which gives businesses their much-needed authenticity. Last but not the least, the more listings a business has that are consistent with accurate information, the better it may be for their website ranking and Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) efforts.

Many business directories such as Google My Business, Yelp, Better Business Bureau and AngiesList offer basic services for free. Any small business can and should immediately take advantage of this by claiming their place (i.e. if they haven’t already). As a rule of thumb, owners should regularly check and update their business listings with relevant information such as description, business hours, location, email, phone number, and social media handles. Adding new images of the business and asking customers reviews on these listings is also highly recommended especially on Google.

Amp Up Your Social Media Strategy

Social media has already been the center of online activity for most, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more so. This is a prime opportunity for small businesses to reach out to and engage with potential customers through social media platforms. In the event that you don’t have dedicated company social media pages, getting started is easy and is completely free to begin with. That said, most business tend to have accounts on major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram – this makes it a matter of keeping them populated.

Make sure that the social media pages are optimized for searching, have all the up-to-date business information, and a consistent supply of content. This can include website links (such as blog posts), business images and media (mainly videos), comments on current situations, and even interactive content such as giveaways and polls. If your product and/or service can be sold online, you can even integrate social shopping. Make sure to reply to comments and messages – this shows that you as a business are proactive and ready to engage with your followers – customer or not.

Make Sure You Have a Professional Website

In today’s day and age, a website practically functions as a business card. It will be a go-to resource for both current and prospective customers, making it critical for businesses to keep theirs completely up-to-date on all points. This can only be possible by having a professional website. Contrary to a standard website, which has basic design elements, supports basic texts and pictures, and has no SEO optimization, professional websites offer businesses the ability to add every feature they could possibly need.

Flexible in nature, professional websites support the latest and the best off-page, on-page and contextual SEO, which helps them rank higher on search engines -and helps the business stand out online. They can support any type of design aesthetic, along with interactive features such as photorealistic imaging, virtual tours, polls, contact forms. Last but not the least, you can also include the online sales of your products and/or services through these websites through ecommerce plugins and online ordering, both of which can be easily integrated here.

Be Proactive in Promoting Your Brand

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Having a great professional website with adaptive design, engaging social media pages, and high-end features are definitely the best way to start when boosting your online presence, but people do need to know more about them. In a world of competition and abundance, the only way for a small business to make themselves known is by proactively promoting their brand. The best way to go about this is through paid advertising. This is a technique that allows businesses to improve their online presence by promoting their business on Google, top search engines and social media.

There are a few types of paid advertising. One of these is Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) – these are the advertisements that typically appear on the right side and top end of search engine results. As the name suggests, these charge by the click made by a prospect. Another great method is online display advertising. These are featured on the top, side, and bottom of various websites. Besides the obvious, these advertisement methods help businesses collect important data such as behavioral and contextual metrics, which in turn helps them streamline their online marketing and advertising better.

Improving your web presence may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The above-mentioned ways can help small business cement their place online, draw prospects and convert sales in the best way possible.

 

A Few Things to Consider Before Building a Business Website

They say “organization is the key to success” and, without any organization we are unlikely to achieve our full potential. This has never been more true than it is now in our fast pace digitally driven world. Most business owners and directors, whether mindful of it or not, use this mantra every day. From the planning of the business and opening to daily operations and management, organization is important. In this article, we will discuss how organization plays a key role in building a business website.

There are a few things you need to figure out before jumping into the process of building an online presence. If you are having a hard time making a decision, contact your representative at Leads Online Marketing who will be happy to help you understand your options and make the best choice.

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Business Branding

Branding is the way your business is perceived by others, and being consistent with the use of your brand will make it stronger.  Along with selecting a good logo, a business owner will want to determine the business’ personality and a color scheme. Consider what mood or tone you would want to convey to a potential customer with a first impression. Incorporate your final choices into your whole business plan and keep the branding consistent.

In addition to the brand personality and style, we also recommend writing out a slogan, mission statement, a general description of your company and team. This is not something to be kept to yourself in a file somewhere. Pass it along to your business website designer to be added as public content. Once that is done, any random individual should able to engage your brand and have a clear idea of what you do and what sets you apart from the rest.

Remember, your brand needs to remain uniform across its website, social media, and even in print.

Page Content

You will need more than a brand and about section to make a successful website. Any and all products and services offered should be discussed somewhere on the website. The more relevant quality content available the better. One reason for this being is that Google favors web pages with high standards of content. Also, and in some ways one in the same, users should be able to learn as much as they want about your company just be browsing the website.

It is not uncommon for users, also known as potential customers, to rule out hiring a company because they were dissatisfied with the website content. This can be due to a seemingly simple questions they could not find an answer to or a service not found listed, and that person is likely to hire the competitor with the website that was most useful. No need to worry about being a good writing. As long as you are able to provide a comprehensive list of service and/or products with as many details and resources as possible, our team of content writers should be able to put the information to good use on your site.

Text is not everything when it comes to webpage content as photographs and images are great attention grabbers and can help it stand out. Set yourself apart by provide plenty of visual references to products, on-site work, projects and even your team members.

Purpose

Is there another purpose to your website other than supporting your brand and promoting leads? Consider adding other useful sections to your website such as customer forms, appointment scheduling, instant price quotes, helpful links etc. Get a clear idea of what functions you want your website to perform, make a list, then call us to discuss how to make your ideas a reality.

Having these matters sorted out before building a business website can save you and your website builder precious time and resources needed to make your business successful. Leads Online Marketing makes the process easier by assigning you a personal representative who will continue to be available to address any questions or concerns even after your site is fully launched and ranking well.

Your Guide to Maintaining Good Internet Etiquette

Gone are the days when “internet” simply meant talking on chat rooms and typing-in old documents. So many different things are done via the internet these days – from talking with friends and family in real time (even when they’re on the other side of the globe), to talking on forums and seminars, and even maintaining entire offices. With so much being done online today, it is all the more important for people to put their best foot forward online in every way they can. From talking on social media to answering emails and online advertising to website content, it is always good to think before you share while also following some basic rules.

Here are some ways in which you can keep your internet etiquette (or should we say, “netiquette”) in check:

Mind Your Manners

Just because you’re not actually talking face-to-face with the other person, doesn’t mean that you are free to say or do anything you like and not bear the consequences. Remember, any professional relationships you build online are just like the ones you make in real life – they are based on mutual respect and politeness.

Here’s a small tip to help you get started: If you would not normally say or do something in a face-to-face conversation, make sure that you don’t post it online either.

Avoid Strong Language

While strong language does include rude and foul words, those are only a part of the concept. Strong language can mean a lot of things. For instance, refrain from writing overtly verbose language – you are communicating to another person, not showing-off your superior vocabulary skills. Avoid words and expressions that qualify as rude and foul in any way.

Another thing to take notice of is not using all caps while writing. While many consider this a way of making their posts and messages more easily readable, it is often interpreted as a shouting expression, which is considered rude in most instances.

Proofread Your Work

As in real life, there are different ways of communicating with friends and co-workers or colleagues. For instance, a ‘Gr8’ can work with your sister, but won’t fly with your boss. Sticking to formality, writing in proper writing style and keeping up all the grammar rules is always the best practice.

Be Extra-Careful With Sarcasm and Humor

When it comes to sarcasm and humor, interpretations vary from one culture, and even from one person to another. While it is understandable for you to express sarcasm and/or humor every once in a while, you must make sure that the message you convey expresses the intended message clearly. More often than not, a well-meant joke can be interpreted as an offensive statement.

Don’t Forget to Cite Your Sources

One simply cannot be expected to come up with a fabulous original thought all the time. If you do borrow a thought or an idea that in fact belongs to someone else, make sure to credit them even if your expression of the idea isn’t a word-by-word copy. Not only does that keep you out of possible copyright-related trouble, it also creates a good impression on others by showing them that you are humble enough to mention when a great idea isn’t yours. Copyright infringement in the form of duplicated website content is also greatly frowned upon by Google and, if abused, is a penalizable offense.

With the internet expanding into virtually all facets of our lives, there are now countless things that are done online; from texting your best friend, to booking an appointment, and even working in offices. While it may be tempting to forget the rules and “hide” behind your computer, it is certainly not a good thing to do and can do irreparable damage to your reputation. Before you click that ‘send’ button, make sure that you have followed all there is to proper internet etiquette.

For more business, internet and marketing articles, visit our blog at LeadsOnlineMarketing.blogspot.com

Springtime Tips for Small Businesses

Today, spring has officially sprung here in the Southeastern United States and across the Northern Hemisphere! Even though the temperature is due to drop back down to near freezing tonight, we can still look forward and start planning for the warmer weather ahead. A mental to-do list may include beach days, family holidays, and lakeside hikes but, there are seasonal changes to consider for your business as well as your personal life.

In this article, we will explore ideas to help business owners make the best of the spring season. Most of these tips can be utilized throughout the summer too.

Spring Clean

Keeping an office tidy throughout the year is important for promoting better time management and productivity in employees. However, ‘organized’ does not equate to ‘clean’ and most offices need a good deep cleaning at least once a year. This is the type of cleaning not being done by the nightly custodian such as deep carpet cleaning, air vent cleaning, dusting high surfaces, and descaling the coffee maker just to name a few.

To tackle the spring cleaning of your office you may hire a cleaning service or devote a day for employees to work together to get it done. Consider structuring this as team building activity. Be sure to reward employees for their efforts, perhaps by providing them with a free lunch.

Make Changes Known

Spring time usually brings about many changes surrounding basic business operations. If there is something changing about your business that could impact customers, then make it known. Announce it on your website, change your Facebook status, update Google, and whatever else you can think of to make new information known to the public.

One of the most commonly overlooked seasonal changes is the updating of business hours. Many businesses operate on seasonal schedules, fall/winter hours and spring/summer hours, but some neglect to make this known. Having the wrong hours posted is a sure way to upset potential customers wanting to contact or visit a business. To avoid this mishap, contact your online marketing company to request a business website and listings update. (Don’t forget to do this again come fall.)

Enjoy the Fresh Air & Sunshine

It’s been proven that a regular dose of fresh air and sunshine can improve a person’s health and vitality. Employees along with employers should have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of our natural world and there are several ways to make this possible. Planning team outings, picnics, and volunteering as a team are great ways to shake things up and get outdoors. Another idea is to invest to create or improve upon an existing outdoor sitting area to give office workers the best place to relax in the time allotted for breaks. A couple benches, chairs or a picnic table and a few seat cushions are all you need to get started.

For companies fortunate enough to own their building and have adequate outdoor space available, the opportunities are virtually endless. From grilling stations and garden plots to corn hole sets and smoking zones, you can create the perfect outdoor spaces for yourself and your employees to recharge -whether it is to be enjoyed every day or bi-weekly.

Stay tuned to the Leads Online Marketing blog for more tips to help you improve your business, including a special article on Office Gardens that will publish next month. If you have any questions or feedback about the article above, please feel free to reach out to us at leadsonlinemarketing.com/contact-us/

We appreciate you reading our blog! Be sure to visit our website to learn more about our online marketing services. Give us a call to discuss how we can help your business stand out across the web, (704) 251-6519.

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