7 Reasons Why Employee Drug Testing Might Be Implemented By Employers

7 Reasons Why Employee Drug Testing Might Be Implemented By Employers

When those who work at rehabilitation centres have first contact with someone they are going to support and help free themselves of drug addiction, it is often done via the patient’s employer. Many employers have drug testing as their policy and part of contracts of employment, and they are there as much to have criteria that are designed to support their employees rather than punish them.

There are arguments on both sides of the divide regarding workplace drug testing. Some employees believe their rights are being trampled on by employers insisting that they have drug tests, and this is not because they take drugs and fear being caught and ordered to register for drug rehab. Instead, they feel that a drug test is an invasion of their privacy, and it is a legitimate argument that they make.

However, if an employer wishes to have a drug policy that includes the right to drug test their employees when those employees sign their contract of employment, of which the company’s drug policy is a part, then they are agreeing to be drug tested at work.

As for the reasons employers choose to conduct drug testing, there is more than the most basic one, which is to catch someone who is using drugs. In truth, there are several reasons why drug testing is instigated, and below, you can see that we have outlined seven of those reasons.

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Is it Worth Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency?

Is it Worth Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency?

In this era of change, hiring a digital marketing agency can be a game-changer for your business. For instance, SLINKY, an Australian company, has gone beyond just offering services such as web design, SEO, and comprehensive digital marketing strategies to their clients; they have transformed their experiences.

Navigating the intricacies of online marketing can be likened to traversing a maze in the digital era. Here’s a more experience-based, tailored explanation of why hiring a digital marketing agency might be your greatest option to date.

The Benefit of Expertise

  • Real-life example:  Imagine a café in Perth that was previously obscured by digital shadows. Following an agency’s intervention? Its bespoke SEO technique has made it the talk of the town.
  • Key takeaway:  The most important lesson is to master the usage of the tools in your particular context rather than only being aware of them.

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7 Web Design Secrets To Augment Your Dental Practice Website

7 Web Design Secrets To Augment Your Dental Practice Website

In cities around the world, such as Perth, WA, dentists have a variety of methods at their disposal to acquire new patients and grow their practice.

One of the most effective strategies for a Perth dentist is to leverage word-of-mouth referrals, encouraging existing patients to recommend their dental services to family, friends, and colleagues.

This approach not only builds a strong local reputation but also fosters a sense of community trust.

Additionally, paid advertising plays a significant role in Perth dentists’ acquisition of patients. This can range from targeted pay-per-click online campaigns, which are particularly effective in reaching a broader audience in the Perth area, to traditional local advertising methods such as newspapers and billboards.

These advertising efforts, when executed well, can significantly increase visibility and attract new patients to their practice in Perth.

One asset almost all dentists have, and which can be used to attract new patients, is their website. Given the growth of the internet, any dental practice that does not have a website is almost considered off-the-grid; however, simply having a website is not sufficient to see a steady stream of new enquiries. That will only happen if the website has been designed properly, and that is where many fail.

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5 Proven Local Marketing Strategies Every Dentist Should Implement

5 Proven Local Marketing Strategies Every Dentist Should Implement

Trying to keep a dental practice as competitive as possible within its local marketplace is usually tricky for any dentist. Although their considerable expertise is in dentistry, not marketing, it is also true that local marketing is highly competitive, especially if other dental practices already have a regional marketing strategy in place.

Does that mean you should give up if you have not yet begun marketing locally? Of course not. You should know that local marketing is constantly in flux, representing new and improved tactics and strategies that appear regularly. It is also the case that, whilst your competition may have done some local marketing already, it does not mean it is optimised or effective.

We often see that a dental practice will have tried to market locally, which is to their credit. However, without advice, input, or even action from a professional local marketing or SEO agency, they often fail to maximise the results.

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The Importance of SEO for Web Design

The Importance of SEO for Web Design

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is more than just increasing traffic to sell products or promote a brand online. It’s actually a science and has a lot to do with how your website is perceived by casual visitors and consumers alike. Of course, this is not the only solution for getting traffic, but it has proven to be the most effective one by far.

Say for example your website ends up attracting users from another site that has content similar to yours. Those users are actually attracted to it because they think they will get similar and more informative content from your website as well, which may not be the case. In other words, even if they do not like what they find, chances are they will bail and may never come back either.

SEO’s Role in Web Design

This is one of the reasons why SEO and web design have to go hand in hand in order to attract modern day users. Unfortunately, many businesses forgo this stage when they get their websites updated or designed, not knowing that effective SEO services can actually boost their site’s ranking. Making a website look ‘trendy’ by filling it with unnecessary technology will only make it more cumbersome to navigate and slow down browsing at the same time, two things which can kill your web presence easily. In fact, it can even slow down or block a search engine that is trying to access it!

However, by incorporating effective SEO practices in your content, you can attract those search engines and thus more traffic easily. This goes beyond just linking to sites that have similar content; ease of navigation, the technology you utilize as well as your site’s architecture will determine how far your web presence goes online.

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Do I Need to Pay Special Attention to Anything When Moving a Business?

Do I Need to Pay Special Attention to Anything When Moving a Business?

Depending on the size of your online business, relocating a company office can be a big job. There are a lot of things to consider, which means that it’s crucial to find a skilled removals company that you can work alongside.

Professional removalists will be able to guide you through the entire relocation process, but there are still plenty of things that you will need to pay special attention to. In the rest of this article we’ve outlined some of the most important.

  1. Carefully Consider Your Budget

For starters, we always recommend spending a little time working out exactly how much your office relocation is going to cost. It’s best to do this right at the start so that you know if it’s really worth going through with the move. Think about things like:

  • The cost of using a professional removals company. This is a non-negotiable, but you still need to keep it in mind.
  • Any items that need special transporting, such as chemicals or research samples.
  • The cost of any new equipment that you will have to purchase when setting up your new office.

In addition, you also need to take into account the indirect cost of lost income due to work disruptions during the moving process.

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Benefits of 100% Organic SEO

Benefits of 100% Organic SEO

If you have a tremendous website with highly valuable content but you are still not getting a high number of visits, then maybe it’s time you make use of SEO. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is commonly used in order to increase the rate of visits on a website through the search engine results.

The main target of this process is to increase the frequency of relevant users on your website to make it stand out and gain popularity. This is done by using keywords, building links, meta-tag optimization and emphasizing on content creation. Organic SEO and non-organic SEO are two ways by which you can increase the traffic on your site; however, organic SEO has the most advantages.

Below are a few advantages of using Organic SEO, which will help you decide whether you want to opt for it.

Less Expensive

Increasing ranking through organic SEO is mostly free, unless you are paying to generate SEO content. Compared to non-organic content, for organic SEO, you don’t have to pay for every click you get on your ads, and merely with the help of SEO, your content views will climb up.  You can thus, save your money on Pay-per-click costs. The best part is that after receiving the desired results, you don’t have to spend more than 10 hours per month on this area of your business and can start focusing on other important aspects.

No Third Party Commission

Views can be earned by linking your site to a third website such as Expedia or Orbitz, but not as much as the direct traffic from a search engine. Moreover, by including the third party, you are increasing your expenditure, which is also not generating as much frequency of visitors as it should. Through organic SEO, you can reduce the usage of a third party to facilitate your views on search engine results.

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Turn Your Website into a Marketing Source

Turn Your Website into a Marketing Source

In the past, traditional marketing methods were used, where businesses tried to reach broader audiences and only a small chunk of them would answer back. These methods included inside sales, print promotions, direct emails and mails, telephone selling, exhibitions and sessions, etc.

However, conventional forms of marketing are now being replaced via digital agencies using mediums in order to increase profits, brand awareness and to make an impression. Many businesses are using their websites as marketing tools to their advantage.

These websites can eventually be used for more purposes than just sales, such as:

  • Branding
  • Enhancing Image
  • Business Awareness
  • Selling Products and Services
  • Communicating with the Customers

In order to do all these things, the first step is to ensure that your website is found in the top search results by those who are actually interested in your products and services. According to Google’s eye-tracking heat map result, people focus most on the top triangle; therefore getting your website there will gain you a larger audience which will eventually increase your sales. Following are the ways in which you can utilize your website for advertising purposes using new marketing methods:

SEO

The organic way to make your website appear in the search engine results is through SEO. This can be done by adding relevant keywords to the content. The title of your site, URL, H1, H2 and H3 tags all play an important role in making it appear on the initial pages of Google or any other search engine’s result page. No matter how attractive your website looks, the results will only detect those websites which have followed proper SEO tactics.

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7 Core Web Design Principles You Should Adhere To

7 Core Web Design Principles You Should Adhere To

In any field of work where the performance of what is being created is important, there will be some core principles that should be followed. This applies whether the creation is an office block, a cruise ship, a piece of software, or a website. Given the title of this post, you will not be surprised that we are going to focus on the last of those examples and in particular some of the core principles that need to be followed for effective web design.

With all the templates and website building tools available, it could be said that anyone can build a website. However, what cannot be so easily stated is that everyone can build an effective website that performs and produces the results its owner is looking for. The reason is that truly high-quality web design is based upon several core principles known only to web design professionals, at least they were until now.

We say that because outlined below are some of the most important web design principles and, if included in any website you create, should ensure it generates results. Even if you are employing a web design agency to build your website, by knowing these web design principles, you can ensure the website they design for you meets the necessary criteria.

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Acquire Success and Profits with a Responsive Web Design

Acquire Success and Profits with a Responsive Web Design

In the last few years, mobile marketing has been flourishing and rising speedily as the use of smartphones has increased. People want to access everything on their cellphones and tablets because of which, the need for a responsive web design has ascended. This web design gives optimum experience to the users on their phones, while meeting their demands. It also helps business owners in expanding their businesses and reaching out to a larger audience.

Responsive Web Design

Following are the ways in which you can boost your profits and gain success by acquiring responsive web design.

Cost Effective

In the long run, it will be an intelligent choice to invest in responsive web design. Although many believe that creating a responsive web design is expensive and time consuming; that is not the case.  Even though the cost of getting a responsive website is greater than that of a traditionally designed website, the expenditure on making an alternative website for mobile or other devices is reduced.

Moreover, the ownership costs are also lower, as maintenance of different versions of the website is not needed. This will reduce your expenditure and will ultimately bring you greater profits and success.

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5 Critical Benefits Of Team Building

5 Critical Benefits Of Team Building

If you are a manager, a coach, or someone who is responsible for any group of individuals, you will undoubtedly have heard people tell you that you should use team building to make your team achieve greater results. Obviously having better results is a great reason for using team building, but it is not the only one.

Although better results might be considered the ultimate goal of team building, it usually happens due to the many other benefits that team building can offer. These benefits to your team help them to work better together and that invariably leads to greater success. So let us look at 5 of the top benefits that team building can produce.

Knowing Each Other Better

It is a sad truth that there will be employees within a workforce who will have been there for years and yet they barely know much about their colleagues. We are not talking about them knowing every gory detail about each other’s private life, but rather knowing what motivates them, what skills and talents they have, and most importantly, what, and how they contribute to the team.

If every member of a team knows the strengths and weaknesses of the others within that team it means they can adjust their input accordingly to compensate for others where necessary or defer to those who are better at certain tasks or skills. Also, bear in mind being ‘lonely’ within a team is not desirable so creating an atmosphere where everyone knows and respects each other is what you should be striving for.

Inspiring Ideas

If your team trusts each other, and you have created an atmosphere where everyone’s opinion is valued then it creates an environment where bringing new ideas to the table is encouraged. Having several people all sharing, discussing, and working on ideas is a much more positive way to make improvements than relying on individuals doing so.

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How Google Adwords Actually Work (With Examples)

How Google Adwords Actually Work (With Examples)

Imagine if the only way to advertise your business was physical billboards unless you big enough to afford tv or radio commercials. When you were trying to figure out where you wanted to advertise, you and your team would pretty quickly realise that the best place to put your billboard would be right next to the busiest road you could find, so that the most people would see your message.

Well, when it comes to the large, growing and increasingly confusing world of internet advertising, that simple example seems a little hard to relate to. Should you spend a truckload on SEO? Or maybe paid social media advertising is the place to be. Or perhaps a mix between the two above and ‘influencer marketing’.

Stop, Back to Basics

But despite all that apparent confusion, the lesson from the first simplified example still applies. You want to advertise on the ‘busiest road’ so that the most potential customers and clients see your messages.

And online, there is one road that has 259,000,000 unique visitors and 4.8 billion interactions on it. Daily. That’s Google.

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Effective Lead Generation Ideas for Start-up eCommerce Business

Effective Lead Generation Ideas for Start-up eCommerce Business

The survival of eCommerce business rests on an effective digital marketing strategy centered around lead generation strategy. Competing with big and established online brands is no walk in the park. In order to beat the online juggernauts, start-up eCommerce business have to plan out effective online marketing strategy to funnel maximum number of qualified leads to the site.

Here we will reveal effective lead generation ideas that that will help start-up firms to take business profits to a whole new level.

Embrace Social Media Marketing

Online social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and others have blossomed in the past few years connecting billions of people all around the world with each other. Social media sites represent  a gold mine for eCommerce companies that they can exploit to boost their online presence.

Social media marketing is the most economical way to build and maintain an online presence.  Posting related content can act like a snowball in maximizing online presence. Posts about products, services, events, staff members and others will help in connecting with the online social media ‘fans’. When the fans like or share the post, it will show in the feeds of people in their social circle. As a result the eCommerce site will be able to attract great number of online visitors that will take the profit of the company to the next level.

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Law Firm Link Building – Is It Necessary?

Law Firm Link Building – Is It Necessary?

Although digital marketing is something that most lawyers would probably rather ignore, it’s an essential component of running a modern law firm. The modern law industry is competitive, and it can be hard to find high paying clients without a strong digital strategy.

One of the major components of digital marketing for law firms is search engine optimisation, or SEO. While things like Google AdWords and search engine marketing can deliver results, they are also extremely expensive when it comes to law related search terms. When done right, SEO is lasting, cost effective and a very good way to consistently drive visitors to your firm’s website.

What is link building?

If you’ve looked at the basics of SEO and how it works from an expert such as SEO Perth, you’ve probably heard of this mysterious thing called ‘link building’. Basically, search engines like Google look at a range of different things, known as ‘ranking factors’, to determine your website’s position in the search engine results for particular keywords. The amount of high authority backlinks to your website from other reputable sites is one of the most important factors that is looked at.

Basically, link building refers to the creation of these backlinks. This can be done in a number of ways, including guest posting, forum posting and online business listings. Guest posting usually involves placing your own blog or article on someone else’s website and having it link back to your own site. You often have to pay to do this. Forum posting and business listing pages are great ways to build strong backlinks for free.

Why is link building important?

As mentioned above, things like Google AdWords are very competitive and expensive for lawyers and law firms. When done right, SEO is a lot more affordable and has the potential to deliver significantly better results.

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5 Reasons Why You SHOULDN’T Use AdWords to Market Your Law Firm

5 Reasons Why You SHOULDN’T Use AdWords to Market Your Law Firm

Google AdWords is one of the most popular digital marketing mediums in the world. It is used to great effect by a wide range of small businesses, especially when the businesses in question aren’t in a competitive industry.

However, Google AdWords is actually quite ineffective for people like lawyers. Even a single click can cost hundreds of dollars for some keywords, and this is really not viable for most law firms. With this in mind, we’ve put together a short list of 5 reasons why you shouldn’t use Google AdWords for your law firm. These include:

  1. AdWords is extremely expensive:

Let’s start with the obvious. Google AdWords is extremely expensive for commerical lawyers Perth, which means that it can eat into your marketing budget extremely quickly. Unless you’ve got a huge budget, it’s simply not viable to spend hundreds of dollars per lead, especially when they’re not all going to convert to paying clients. You would be much better off spending your money on things like social media and organic search engine marketing.

  1. AdWords is hard to get right:

Unless you’re a digital marketing guru, it’s extremely hard to get Google AdWords marketing right. When not done right, AdWords marketing will direct a lot of disinterested people to your website, wasting both your time and money. Since disinterested people aren’t likely to become paying customers, AdWords can quickly drain your money away. If you do decide to use AdWords, make sure that you employ an expert to set it up for you.

  1. Organic search engine marketing is a lot more efficient:

Unless you’ve got a huge firm that’s already at the top of the organic search engine rankings for most keywords, you’re going to be much better off spending your money on search engine marketing. Sure, SEO may be expensive to begin with, but it’s important to make sure that you plan for the future as well.

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Showcasing Your Landscape Design Business On Instagram

Showcasing Your Landscape Design Business On Instagram

Landscape design is predominantly visual art, which means that it should be showcased on platforms that focus on visual content. When it comes to social media platforms, Instagram is the king of the visual. Millions of photos are shared every single day on Instagram, where they are viewed by billions of people.

As you’re probably already imagining, it’s important for a landscape design company to create an Instagram account for business promotion. There’s plenty of reasons why you should do this, but it all comes down to one key thing: promoting your business on Instagram will lead to more followers and more people coming to you with work.

Why exactly should I use Instagram for my landscape design business?

The world is changing. People don’t look up businesses in the phone book anymore. Instead, they find them online and on social media. Creating an Instagram page for your landscape design business and showcasing some of your best work will help you attract two types of clients:

The client who’s looking for a designer – A lot of people will head to social media when they’re looking for a high quality landscape designer. If you’ve got an active Instagram page with a lot of followers, they will probably find you. Sure, they won’t all choose to work with you, but some will, especially if you can show that you do a good job.

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What Are The Best Ways To Market My Law Firm Online?

What Are The Best Ways To Market My Law Firm Online?

Online marketing is an essential part of running any modern law firm. It allows lawyers to get their name out there, to let people know that they exist, and to gain more clients. When people are looking for lawyers, the first place they go is online. This means you must build a strong, targeted online presence that will help you get more clients.

However, many law firms don’t know how to market themselves online. With this in mind, we will look at some of the best online marketing methods you should use. These include:

SEO

SEO, or search engine optimisation, makes your website appear highly in search engine rankings. When someone searches for something like ‘criminal lawyers in ‘your location’’, you want your firm to come up first. Many people will head to your website, contact you, and employ you for their law needs if it does.

There are many aspects to SEO. These include creating high-quality content for your website, ensuring that your site follows all of the search engine rules, and ensuring that many other high-authority sites link back to yours. Although this may sound difficult, it isn’t that hard – especially with the help of a professional SEO agency. However, it takes time to reach the top of search engine rankings.

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Online Reviews and Defamation

Online Reviews and Defamation

Oops… Watch What You Say – The Dangers of Online Posts
We live in a mobile society dominated by the Internet and all that it provides.  One particular hotspot is celebrity posts in various forms of social medial.  Typos, nipples, even misspelling can draw the ire or ridicule of millions and put people in the position of needing good commercial lawyers.

Debra Messing recently tweeted about gun violence while wearing a t-shirt with text that read: “Under the Gun.”  Kim Kardashian, a world renowned fashion icon misspelled the name of one of the most famous designers in the world – Giorgio Armani.

Not only do celebrities embarrass themselves writing about their lives, they also tend to flub when it comes to promoting products.  Scott Disick recently pasted manufacturer instructions for a protein shake into an Instagram post and Rito Ora promised to “drop” her new single if her tweet got 100,000 retweets (she deleted the post after it only got 2,000).

According to lawyers, even if celebrities are making mistakes online, far more troublesome activity is happening in the world of ecommerce.  We live in an era where buying decisions are dominated by what we find on the Internet.  A few telling statistics paint a vivid picture:  Half of adults under 50 routinely check online reviews before buying new items and a full 38% of adults consider online customer comments second only to price in importance.

There are other factors contribute to making a company’s web presence extremely important.  Websites remain in existence forever.  How many of us still have a Myspace account from years ago we haven’t deleted?  The truth is, once someone posts a negative review it can persist for years, if not decades.

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The Top Five Cybercrime Threats in 2018

The Top Five Cybercrime Threats in 2018

Businesses no longer have only their brick and mortar security to worry about.  Their presence online as well as local and cloud-based data are all at risk.  The news seems constantly filled with stories of data breaches, ransomware crimes, and hacking that has brought some companies to their knees.  It’s a criminal lawyers dream.

It’s no wonder that cyber-crime is at the top of the list of concerns most corporate boards are facing.  Even well prepared sophisticated companies have found chinks in their armor.  Below are five of the cyber-crime threats to face companies in 2018.

The Hoard Is Growing

The sheer quantity of cyber-criminals will continue to grow in 2018.  Why?  Because the technology enabling these people is becoming easier to learn, access, and deploy.  In years gone by you’ve needed to be a computer genius to even contemplate running a hack, but today that landscape has changed forever.  Today limited technical knowledge is required to launch sophisticated viruses.  And the press isn’t helping.  Every time a cyber-crime is publicized hackers take notice and redouble their efforts.  For example, many news outlets reported that ransomware was a billion dollar industry in 2017; how could any reasonable hacker resist such a juicy honey pot?

Are You An Unknowing Cryptominer?

According to criminal lawyers, Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin require vast amounts of computer power to “mine”, and with limited resources, hackers have become proficient at hijacking individual and company computers to do their mining for them.  Countless corporations have fallen victim unknowingly to this form of “cryptojacking”.  Unbeknownst to them, their internal computer networks have been working for another master, the cryptojacker who’s taken over and using their machines to mine for gold.

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6 Social Media Marketing Gaffes to be Avoided

6 Social Media Marketing Gaffes to be Avoided

Once your website is designed, it is time to think about your website marketing. After the website design stage, your focus should be on how you are going to get people to view your existing (or new) website. Social media marketing is something that many businesses do. It helps them to brand their business and get it out there in the public eye. It establishes a more personal connection between the business and prospective customers  – warming them up to make that purchase and talk to their friends about it.

However, there are some mistakes that can easily be made that can hurt your company badly. Since a good reputation is an essential in business, you need to know what they are so you can avoid them. Here are some of them.

  • Businesses go after ‘Likes’ especially on places such as Facebook. Sometimes they do it by using a controversial headline that has nothing to do with the business or the product they are selling. They may get many likes or tweets about it, but it does nothing for their business and genuine potential customers will not be fooled, knowing why you have done it. The main result will be that people who could have been loyal customers will be turned off.
  • Similarly, you can actually buy likes and followers. You may think this is a good idea in theory, but in reality it is not. Such people will have little or no interest in you or your product and so will not interact in any way with you. The idea of getting genuine likes and follows is so that people will spread the word about your product.

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4 Things You Can Do To Make Sure That You Are Following The Tax Rules

4 Things You Can Do To Make Sure That You Are Following The Tax Rules

When it comes to accounting and bookkeeping, it is very easy to make mistakes, especially if you aren’t very experienced. Unfortunately, even small mistakes can have big consequences when it comes to tax time, and the Australian Tax Office (ATO) won’t hesitate in penalising you.

Accountants Australia advise that it is therefore very important to make sure that you do everything in your power to follow the Australian tax rules, even if they seem complicated. There are a lot of different ways that you can do this. Four of the simplest things that you can do to make sure you are keeping up with your tax obligations include:

  • Use an accountant!

If you are a new business owner or you don’t really understand what is required of you when it comes to keeping records for tax time, then you should consider at least speaking to an accountant. A decent accountant will know the Australian taxation system back to front, and they should be able to make sure that you don’t make any mistakes. If you are somewhat short on money and don’t think that you can afford to employ an accountant regularly, then at least speak to one once or twice to give you an idea of what you need to do.

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The Power of Google AdWords for Business Success

The Power of Google AdWords for Business Success

If you run a business that wants to become an online success story, then you have to make Google AdWords your best friend. By definition, Google AdWords is a comprehensive online advertising tool/service that allows people to display ad copies to users. In other words, it makes marketing much easier than it has ever been, especially when it comes to targeted audiences.

Google AdWords marketing enables advertisers, marketers, and websites to get measurable results from their ad campaigns, and is integrated seamlessly with the search engine. What makes it practical is the fact that unlike television ads and industry directories, it helps you get measurable results that can further improve your ad campaigns in the future.

Quality Leads

SMEs to large organizations today use Google AdWords to increase their online presence. As a paid advertising platform, Google makes sure that your advertisement copies get high rankings in local and international search directories on its search engine.

For instance, when you type ‘best Irish bar in Melbourne’, three paid ads will appear on top of the search results, typically highlighted in yellow. Most of the time, people will find what they’re looking for by clicking one of the three links, which increases the conversion potential by many folds. Unlike organic results, this allows you to gain qualified leads and increases the revenue potential.

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How SEO Can Take Your Business to New Heights of Success

How SEO Can Take Your Business to New Heights of Success

When it comes to online marketing, a crucial aspect for the imminent success of a website, business, or ecommerce store is the SEO strategy. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is basically the actions and steps that improve the visibility of a web page or website in the search engine’s unpaid results. This is also known as organic or natural SEO.

SEO not only incorporates technical elements, but creative elements as well, that improve search engine ranking, boost traffic, and drive awareness. Let’s take a look at some of the ways SEO helps drive business success on the internet that can translate to real time growth!

Traffic Potential

When your websites, its pages, content, Meta data, and other elements are optimized for search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, you will be awarded with a higher ranking. Depending on the keywords that are used, your website or web pages may make it to the first page of search engine results. As a result, your visibility increases, which increases the potential of traffic.

Let’s say that you recently posted a blog on ‘How to Start a YouTube Channel’. Now practically speaking, your goal is to get this post on the first page of search engine results. Provided that you use the right keywords, Meta data, and write a quality post, your post will be able to climb the search engine rankings ladder naturally.

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Having An Effective Branding Strategy

Having An Effective Branding Strategy

When any business starts to think about its corporate branding, it must first understand what exactly makes a branding strategy successful. This applies whether that business is new or an existing one that needs to overhaul its brand.

Successful branding of a company helps everyone involved with it to have greater confidence in its products and services. This confidence should be felt throughout the business, from the CEO, the management, the staff and crucially the customers of that business. With confidence being an intangible, it is difficult to measure the level that exists in relation to a business. Discussions with staff and their feedback will give some indication internally of how confident they are in the business they work for, and how much the brand helps that.

In respect of customer confidence, there is a much clearer measure of its level and that is via sales data. When customers have faith and confidence in a brand, they tend to buy more. If your branding strategy is working then sales performance will reflect that.

To create a successful branding strategy for your business, the first task must be to carry out research within your industry, which should include looking at your competitors. Obviously, customer research will be a part of this initial process to help you form a full understanding of the market you are entering, and to subsequently determine how to position your brand within it.

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3 Advantages of a Buy Sell Agreement

3 Advantages of a Buy Sell Agreement

There are many agreements needed in business. In fact, commercial lawyers would tell you that almost every contract is an agreement of some kind and all are important parts of running a business. But when it comes to the Buy Sell Agreement, some businesses don’t have one and this can really complicate matters. What is a Buy Sell Agreement?

It is a document that details what will happen should one partner suddenly die or be incapacitated. Other names for the document are Business Succession Agreement and Business Will. Having it in place will enable the business to continue running smoothly when and if a partner dies or has a stroke so that they are mentally incapacitated.

Having this document means the partners have agreed to buy out the share of the person who has died or become incapacitated. The funds that are paid will go to the family of the deceased and can really help them in their time of need. However, they may go to another person that is specified in the document.

It is important to have advice from a legal professional in drawing up such a document. What should it contain?

  • The value of the agreement – what should be paid? This can be defined through an independent valuation, a specified formula or an agreed value that is revised periodically.
  • The trigger for the payment – usually death or incapacity of some kind.
  • In what way the payment will be funded – there are many possibilities.
  • Tax consequences.

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A Grey Area in Property Contracts

A Grey Area in Property Contracts

When buying a property, few people fully understand every aspect of the contract, partly due to the terms that are used in it. This is why it is essential to have your property lawyers go over the contract and explain everything to you. Even then, they may miss something thinking it is obvious because they are used to it, whereas to the first home buyer especially, it may not be the least bit obvious.

One term that may seem obvious when given due consideration is often missed in amongst all the other terms and that is buying “as inspected’.  If the term is hidden amongst a lot of other jargon it can be less than clear – or people just don’t think about it. Even if they realise it means that the property they purchase will be in the same condition it was when they inspected it, they may not realise what the ramifications are.

In actual terms, it means that if something was broken or not working properly when you looked at the home, you can’t expect it to be fixed when you sign on the dotted line – or even before then. If the floors were in a dirty state or the flyscreen was torn when you inspected the property and agreed to buy it, the seller has no legal obligation to clean or fix it.

According to Clause 6. 1 (b) 2 of the General Conditions on the property contract all the seller is required to do is move their possessions, vehicles, chattels and rubbish from the property, leaving the property ‘chattels’ in place.

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7 Tips on Consumer Law for New Business Owners

7 Tips on Consumer Law for New Business Owners

The advent of the Internet has allowed many people to start up business buying and selling. These people are often not trained in business, so don’t know all the laws that govern them. Without commercial lawyers to help them they can easily break a consumer law without realising it, but ignorance is not considered an excuse, so they may still find themselves in trouble.

Since many of those Internet businesses are to do with selling goods of some kind to the public, here are 7 tips on Australian Consumer Law (ACL) that you may not have known, if you are a new start-up business.

  • If a customer finds a small defect or flaw in the good they purchased, they can ask for a refund, repair or replacement. Most will want the former, but in fact, your customer must accept the free repair if it is offered to them. It is only if the flaw makes the product dangerous or unsafe, if the product is different from what was advertised or displayed, if the product can’t be fixed easily or if the person would not have bought the product had they known about it, that your business must replace or refund it.

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The Most Important Part of a Business Plan

The Most Important Part of a Business Plan

Any financial planner will tell you that to start up a business, you need to draw up a business plan. But as important as the plan is, it is the financial section of it that is the most important. Without this section, all the rest is basically just a concept – an idea. Without the financial planning – that includes estimates of cost and income, no lender of finance will be interested in offering you a loan.

People with a dream of starting up their own business are often more interested in the other parts of the plan. Where their business will be located, what kind of tools and equipment they will need and even what colour scheme the place will have. These things are of great importance to the prospective business owner, but not to the bank manager. A financial advisor is the best person to help you with the financial part of your business plan, so lenders can see it is going to be a viable business; one that won’t go broke in the first year.

How is a financial plan different from accounting? While accounting is an essential part of any business, it uses numbers from the past. Until you actually start your business there will be no figures to use in accounting. While the financial plan looks similar to accounting figures, it is a forecast of the future you expect to see for your business. However, the figures used won’t be totally accurate because they are based on research, your own knowledge of the market and what you expect and hope to see for your business.

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Legal Guidance for Ecommerce Businesses in Australia

Legal Guidance for Ecommerce Businesses in Australia

As Australia is witnessing a boom in the ecommerce industry, whether you are just starting the business with a new brand, or whether you’ve been a retailer but are now taking your business online; you need be aware of the legal issues that surround ecommerce. There is no doubt that ecommerce has an exciting rate of success and growth, and it offers a great future for your business. However, playing by the rules will just make things safer.

While there are many advantages of ecommerce, the complex legal issues can make your ride to success a bumpy one and have you calling in commercial lawyers to help you. Different countries have different rules; which is why, as a business in Australia; it is important for you to know what to expect and what applies. Keep in mind that the law is fluid, which means that it is subject to change with time. Therefore, you must remain up-to-date all the time so that you can continue to reap the fruits of success.

To know if you can conduct electronic business in different parts of Australia, check the legislation regarding electronic transactions in the following territories:

  • Australian Capital Territory
  • Western Australia
  • South Australia
  • Northern Territory
  • New South Wales
  • Queensland
  • Victoria
  • Tasmania

First off, prepare to take the necessary steps to ensure that everything you do meets the officially permitted requirements for establishing and running online businesses in Australia. If necessary, talk to good lawyers for professional legal advice and prepare accordingly. Here are some simple details to point you in the right direction:

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How To Promote Your Website on a Budget

How To Promote Your Website on a Budget

Building your website is the easy part; getting it out there in front of the eyes of the people who you want to see it is the most difficult challenge facing any webmaster or small business owner today. There is now so much competition and so many websites vying for the short attention span of a global audience that knowing what tricks you can use can seem extremely daunting. It’s true, big web marketing and promotion budgets often result in more visitors. But what do you do if you simply cannot compete with the big guns in your industry? It certainly does not mean giving up. Using some imagination and creativity can however give you the breakthrough you need to get eyes to your website, and turn those visitors into customers.

Thankfully there are now more opportunities than ever to promote a website on a small budget. With the growing popularity of social media, whereby anyone is able to reach an audience for little or no cost, the chance of being able to promote yourself to a huge worldwide audience has never been better. This still means having to be creative in order to stand out from the crowd, but with such a large potential audience at your fingertips, it is an exciting time to be involved in website marketing. Using Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google Plus and other social websites, you can build a following and create unique promotional plans to attract the attention of potential customers and fans.

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WordPress Features that can take your Web Presence to the Next Level

WordPress Features that can take your Web Presence to the Next Level

Making a website is not a big deal but getting it noticed among hundreds and thousands is what counts. You may have the best content on your site but if it doesn’t get the right traffic and presence, all your efforts will go south.

WordPress has been around for more than a decade now and is widely used in improving websites and web presence by most bloggers and business owners. The things that attract users towards this CMS is that it is completely free, easy to use and manageable. A data revealed that around 600 million websites make use of WordPress. With numerous tools, plug-ins and themes that make your website look creative, it also has features which will get your website recognized and known, some of which are discussed below.

SEO Friendly

Sites that are constructed through WordPress are SEO friendly, which increases their chances of  being ranked higher and appearing in the top results on search engine. With the added bonus of new content, you can easily crawl up the ladder and get your site in the limelight. This will increase the traffic and eventually make your brand renowned.

Fast Loading

Since a WordPress site loads rapidly, this reduces the risk of visitors leaving because of slow speed and poor user experience. With a quality browsing experience, more and more people will visit the site and make the most of it.

Manageable

When the website is easy to manage for the owner, they will keep updating it by adding new content and blogs. This will expand your business and as a result, it will also increase the digital brand awareness.

Responsive Website

WordPress not only lets the user access the website on their computers, but also on other devices, like cellphones, iPhones, iPads, tablets and many others. This makes your site a responsive website. These days, people prefer using mobile phones to browse online and as a result, you will be able to target the audience in this category as well.

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5 Reasons Why You Should Go For Secure Web Hosting

5 Reasons Why You Should Go For Secure Web Hosting

With modern advancements, all the dealings are being done through the Internet and eCommerce is now a common concept. Thus, security of online data is becoming more challenging. As a result, businesses are shifting towards sites that have secure hosts. In short, the value of privacy is increasing and people are ready to invest in it as well.

Following are five reasons you should select secure Slinky Web Hosting when choosing a host for your website:

1.     Encryption and Decryption

Hacking of databases, leakage of private information, such as postal addresses and credit card numbers, are becoming a norm.  To avoid such occurrences, the demand for secured web hosting is increasing. With it, a proper and secure encryption is made to protect the data transmission between two parties. Decryption of data is provided only to the owner; therefore, even if the data is hacked, it won’t be readable as it is present in code.

2.     Protection and Recognition

SSL certification is provided to sites when they pay for secure web hosting which secures the data of their previous customers. It also helps in attracting new clients as the security of data encryption is promising protection from hacking and malware. Updating the technology that protects data makes you renowned and popular among your clients. Another factor that adds more credibility is your domain name URL that has the S in HTTPS:// which is a sign of a secured website.

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How WordPress Can Be Used To Create Brand Recognition

How WordPress Can Be Used To Create Brand Recognition

Brand awareness plays an important role in any business because awareness of a product determines its performance and marketing success. Over time, it increases the presence of your goods and services and hence, boosts your sales. Hence, every business needs brand recognition to survive. Even if you manufacture top notch products and services, but without brand recognition, it will negatively affect your business and will not earn you loyal consumers.

WordPress can help you build websites which will contribute to the recognition of your brand with its following features:

Blog Content

WordPress initiated as a platform for bloggers; therefore this feature is the strongest among all.  Blogs, in general, play an important role in reaching your target audience and telling them about the products and services your business deals with, to enhance their awareness. It is a marketing tool used by many to portray themselves as leaders in their businesses. Blogging high quality content from time to time will thus, boost the presence of users on your website.

Blogging through WordPress will provide you with creative tools to manage your content professionally. It is easy to post, edit and publish on WordPress because it has a built in blogging system. It also provides users with subscription and feedback options which will help your business gain loyal consumers and improve your reputation accordingly.

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The Secrets of a Good Shopping Cart Website

The Secrets of a Good Shopping Cart Website

Whether you own a brand-centric eCommerce store or just a small shop on Etsy selling homemade items, you will always try to convert as many browsers into buyers as possible, right? That is basically the lifeline for your business and the easier you make their shopping experience, the more they will want to click on that checkout button.

Of course, if they abandon their shopping carts midway, then you won’t experience the profits you need. Since your success will depend on how engaged your browsers are in your website, you have to make sure that they remain interested till they actually turn into buyers and beyond. The following are a few secrets on how you can increase those chances:

Keep it Mobile Friendly

According to a study conducted by Google, more than 93% of smartphone users prefer to use their mobiles to research a product before making a purchase. Since they are already on their smartphones, you know they would instantly search for online stores where they can buy said items. If you make your eCommerce store more mobile friendly and responsive, they will be attracted to your shop. This means making the site’s visual presence more appealing by:

  • Adding bigger buttons for easy clicks
  • Bigger web pages that can fit on a smartphone’s screen without zooming in
  • Making sure the pages load quickly on current mobile internet speeds

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The Secret to a Responsive Web Design

The Secret to a Responsive Web Design

Let’s face it, if you don’t have a responsive web design then your website might as well be invisible online! A responsive web design has become a standard in eCommerce due to the rapidly shifting perception of consumers and their increasing dependence on smart technology.

This also includes current workflows which call for web designs that are as pleasing to the eye as they are easy to use. The good news is that all of this is possible with a single trick: using percentages instead of pixels to measure page size for the following:

Images and Grid Systems

According to a report, smart devices outnumber U.S. consumers (which number 125 million approximately) and more than 50 million of them depend on tablets to take care of daily tasks. In other words, consumers and users are more connected than ever before and web design has to follow suit to attract them. The best way to do that today is to use magazine style grid systems or column structures as well as background images.

However, in order to ensure the design remains flexible, the measurements have to be made in percentages rather than pixels. For example, a page that is 50% wide will cover half the screen no matter how large or small it is. This is what will make that page responsive and it can be made more attractive with the addition of background images. However, only illustrations that can be tiled in the grid system should be chosen for obvious reasons.

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5 Tips For Growing Your Business Using YouTube

5 Tips For Growing Your Business Using YouTube

Digital marketing, including things like search engine marketing, social media marketing and email marketing, is extremely important if you want to become successful in the online space. In the past, anyone with a half-decent website and a willingness to work could make a decent amount of money online without too much trouble. However, this has changed in the past decade or so, as the internet has expanded exponentially – to over 650 million websites – and everyone has tried to take their slice of the digital pie.

This means that, if you are serious about becoming a successful online business person in the modern world, you need to learn how to use digital marketing. One of the most cost-effective ways to increase your online presence using digital marketing is via social media marketing (SMM). Platforms like YouTube are often overlooked when it comes to SMM, but they can actually be extremely effective.

Below are our top 5 tips for growing your online business using YouTube:

  1. Create a dedicated business channel:

First off, it is important to realise that you need to create your own dedicated business channel on YouTube. Don’t try and promote your business via your personal channel or some other channel, as this is unprofessional, and will be seen as such by potential clients.

  1. Upload a business introduction:

Unless you already have an established YouTube channel which your business has been operating through for some time, you should consider uploading a business introduction video. Include information about who you are, what you do and why you believe that you are good at what you do. Remember to link to this from your main business website.

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Google Update Regarding the Future of Web Design

Google Update Regarding the Future of Web Design

Importance of mobile-friendly web design is increasing as people are getting involved in marketing their business. The reason behind is that these web designs get greater viewers and produce more sales. Like in past, Google has again startled webmasters, marketers, and business owners. A new update is added by Google and it affects your website ranking. If your web design is mobile-friendly then you don’t have to worry. But if your web design is built in a way that it is non-responsive i.e. not mobile-friendly then it is time you change it to a responsive design.

Google has started labeling all the websites, which are created on responsive design, as ‘mobile-friendly’. All the websites whose functioning is reviewed by Google search algorithm .will have the same tag attach to it. These labels will be visible on the mobile devices and their search results. When the person surfing the internet through cell phone comes across website which are not labeled as mobile friendly, he will not open that link. This will save them time and increase their satisfaction which is threatened when websites take too long to load.

What features determine if the web design is mobile friendly or not?

The basis of mobile ‘friendliness’ is on the following features:

  • If the buttons and links on the website allows space so that it’s easier to tap them then it is mobile friendly.
  • If the visitors can view the page on the phone without scrolling them horizontally i.e. if the page fit to the screen in a horizontal manner, it is accepted as mobile friendly.
  • As the mobile phones do not support Flash websites, the absence of them in web design makes them responsive.
  • The web design is mobile friendly if the words are clearly visible and do not require zooming in.

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Flash Storage Playing a Vital Role in the Era of Digital Business

Flash Storage Playing a Vital Role in the Era of Digital Business

Businesses and service providers are aware that currently customers are more likely to use mobile devices and gadgets at a high rate. This has led companies to rush up their services to match up to the consumer demand for services that are available round the clock.

The conventional rules are changing for better. Fresh service expectation, communication and potential capacity marks the departure of ‘flash memory’ and welcomes the ‘flash storage’. A huge number of customers are adopting mobility and Flash Storage is playing a significant role in this mobile revolution by allowing slim smart gadgets to offer bulk services. Customers demand for highly developed, refined and responsive services have led to the rush in the technology developments. A mobile app offering awful experience supremely affects the brand and the business. A customer won’t wait for the app to get better, rather would switch to a better competent app immediately.

Businesses are facing complex storage demands. All the information that is being produced is shifting to the cloud, which calls for storage virtualization. To manage this difficult requirement efficiently, enterprises should majorly concentrate upon customer’s privacy and data security. A present expectation is the guarantee that serious customer and company details will be safe and conveniently accessible. This has to be readily fulfilled.

Flash storage supports the digital business era and works to convert enterprise platforms into proficient and high-performing engines. Flash storage doesn’t have moving parts. It uses sophisticated chip technology which makes it quicker, stronger, dependable and efficient.

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