LinkedIn SlideShare is “the world’s largest community for sharing presentations and other professional content” online. It has 80 million users and it has been around for a number of years, but it is still only used by 17% of B2B marketers. That’s a huge missed opportunity for businesses looking to promote themselves online.
If you’re a business owner and you want to know more about how SlideShare can help you, look no further! Let us give you the lowdown.
Get Ahead VA offers a wide range of business and marketing services. In our Service Spotlight we take a closer look at one of these, and show you how our virtual assistants can help you and your business. This month we’re looking at website development.
What is website development?
Website development is everything to do with creating and maintaining a website. This includes designing, building and hosting – basically, everything that makes a website look good and run well. Web development is usually divided into the ‘front end’ (e.g. design, usability), which the customers will see, and the ‘back end’ (e.g. coding, hosting), which only the website’s owners will see.
Having a good website is one of the most important elements of modern business, even if you operate your company out of a physical office or a brick-and-mortar store. Studies have shown that 88% of consumers will research a product online before making a purchase, so having a website is essential for boosting your credibility and your sales. Having an online presence is also crucial for marketing – creating a mailing list, engaging with customers on social media, and finding new customers through online search all require a strong, well-designed website to be effective.
The benefits of freelancing or running a business from home are numerous, and worthy of a blog post of their own. However, for many freelancers and business owners, there are two key challenges that come with working alone in the same space in which they live. The first is the loneliness and isolation that comes with working solo, and the other is making the separation between home and work when they’re both conducted under the same roof.
Loneliness
If you’re someone who thrives on spending time with others, the absence of sound other than the ticking of a clock can have you counting down the minutes until the grocery delivery arrives for a brief moment of human interaction. Also, for me, having lived with severe tinnitus for as long as I can remember, being anywhere without background noise means all I hear is the intense ringing in my ears, so I’ll do anything to fill the void of silence.
‘Tis the season of ghosts, ghouls and all things ghastly. That’s right, Halloween is just around the corner (31st October) and many of us are already getting ready for the spooky celebrations.
No wonder, then, that Halloween is big business in the UK. In 2016, consumers spent around £310 million on Halloween goodies: mainly sweets and fancy dress. But Halloween isn’t just a good business opportunity for confectionary and clothing shops; anybody can take part in the celebrations.
If you want to get involved in Halloween this year, here are 5 marketing ideas you can use, whatever your business.
Managing your business’ social media can be a full-time job. If you want to stay on trend, connect with your audience and post regularly, you could easily spend all day doing it – never mind running your business!
This is where scheduling comes in. Rather than creating posts as you need them, there are apps that will let you schedule your posts ahead of time. This means you can create a batch of posts and release them when the time is right – even during unsociable hours.
To help you get started, here are 4 of the best apps for scheduling social media posts, and some advice about the best times to post your content.
October 9th is World Post Day, a global celebration of the postal service, designed to “raise awareness of the Post’s role in the everyday lives of people and businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic development.” But in our increasingly online world, it can seem like print and postal marketing (e.g. leaflets, flyers, newspaper ads) has had its day.
So is there still a place for print marketing? According to many, the answer is yes. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that print is not only still relevant, but an important part of modern business.
Get Ahead VA is jumping for joy, because at last week’s Women in Business Awards we were Highly Commended in the Enlightened Employer category!
The Women in Business Awards are a celebration of businesswomen in the Thames Valley, Solent and South Coast regions of the UK. The awards are given to women who have made an important contribution to their organisations, at all levels, and Get Ahead VA was thrilled to be nominated for two awards this year.
The ‘Enlightened Employer – supporting women in the workplace’ award is given to companies “that have shown exceptional commitment to gender equality in the workplace.” This includes all areas of business, from recruitment to employee development, “or any other ways of creating a positive and inclusive workplace culture which enables women to excel.”
Service Spotlight: Copywriting
Get Ahead VA offers a wide range of business and marketing services. In our Service Spotlight we take a closer look at one of these, and show you how our virtual assistants can help you and your business. This month we’re looking at copywriting.
What is copywriting?
The term ‘copywriting’ covers all sorts of jobs related to the production of written materials (i.e. copy). From blogs to adverts to newsletters to websites, if it involves putting words together for a particular purpose – to sell, to engage, to educate – then a copywriter can usually do it! Depending on the copywriter, they may also do other related work, including researching, editing, proofreading, planning campaigns and managing projects.
Copywriting is hugely important for all businesses, big or small, because having good, well-written copy can help you grow your audience, sell your products and do well in online search rankings. For example, research by HubSpot has revealed that companies who published 16 or more blog posts a month got nearly 3.5 times more traffic to their website than companies that didn’t blog at all.
This week is National Work Life Week, a campaign run by the UK charity Working Families to “give employers the chance to showcase how they provide work life balance for their staff.”
Finding a good work–life balance can be difficult, especially in the UK, where a culture of long working hours often tips the scales in favour of ‘work’. Research by Eurostat has revealed the UK has on average the longest working week for full-time workers compared to the rest of Europe, at around 41 hours per week. Evidence has shown that a skewed work–life balance can be unhealthy, leading to stress, burnout and physical health issues.
So how can we redress the balance and make sure that we get enough time for ourselves? Here are four things you can do to help find that all-important work–life balance.