MADE FOR BIZ

B- BACKLINK

Backlinks are created by outside websites, linking directly to your website or deep link.
These can be a very good tool in optimizing your search engine visibility when done correctly.

C- CMS

Content Management System allows users to create, update and publish content on a website.

D- DATA

Data can be obtained to gain knowledge into customer behavior, audience types etc.

E- EMAIL

Email, and email marketing is an important tool in communication within your business, to both your customers, and suppliers.

F- FACEBOOK

A well known social media platform, used by many businesses around the world to connect and network.

G- GOOGLE

The number one search engine. If your business is not appearing here on Google, its time to start looking into ways to make it happen! Google features such as google ad words, makes this possible.

H- HASHTAG  #

Labels used throughout various types of social media, to help user experience when searching for a particular business, service, person or phrase.

I- INSTAGRAM

Popular social media platform in which images are the main focus, a great platform to use when trying to get a point across or showcase a portfolio.

J- JARGON

Special words or expressions used by a group that are difficult for others to understand. Probably not the best thing to be doing within your business publicly, that is if you want people to understand what you are on about!

K- KEYWORDS

Words, ideas, topics that best describe your page. Used in the digital marketing world to direct traffic to a specific source.

L- LANDING PAGE

The main entry point of a website, or particular section of a website. Great SEO implemented on your landing page is extremely important.

M- MARKETING

A simple one, yet an important one. The art of simply promoting ones business, services, website, products. This includes market research and advertising.

N- NFC

Near field communication allows smart devices to be connected, by bringing the two items closer together.

O- OPTIMIZATION

The action of making the best, or most effective use of your website tools. Implementing keywords, etc to direct traffic to your website by making it easily found on the world wide web.

P- PAY PER CLICK

A business model where a specific company places ads on your website and offers to pay a sum of money for users clicking on the advertisement.

Q- QR CODES

A machine readable code consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs, or other information for reading by the camera on a smartphone

R- RETARGET

Also known as remarketing can help you keep your brand in front of bounced traffic even after they leave.

S- SEARCH ENGINE

Collation of information, website links, videos, pictures etc that can be searched for using keywords. This is the reason your key word selection is so important.

T- TESTING

Testing, A/B testing  a click, a form being completed, newsletter, a sale. Various goals business owners want to achieve and the various methods used to achieve them.

U- USER EXPERIENCE

The ease in which customers will have when using a website, and the feedback provided.

V- VERO

A new social media platform, recently introduced and set to change the game of social media.

W- WWW

We have all seen the letters www typed at the start of a link. Do you know what it stands for?
world wide web.

X- X-RAY

Yes, it is commonly used in the medical field, but also quite frequently in the digital marketing realm when you are searching for data within your social media networks.

Y- YOU

You are the most important aspect in your business, which is why we have included this one! Without your drive, determination and persistence you wont succeed.

Z- ZIPPY

Every so often its important to give your social media bio, website, blogs a bit of a Zippy. Yes this is a created word by us! But basically the point we are trying to make here, is that its important for you to spruce things up every now and then, always ensuring your customers are having the best user experience possible.



Now that you have your A-Z all sorted, its time for you to start your business. If you haven't already then check out our other blogs that may help you too:


How to: Choose a Niche Market

Shopify for beginners

Our Top Picks for Digital Marketing

All to often business owners go on a rollercoaster of emotions, very early on in their journey. It is normal to play out the motions of excitement, confusion, nervousness etc. But how you deal with these situations is what is really going to determine the outcome of your business.

Generally the scale of emotions goes a little something like this:

Business launch- Leading up to, and upon the launch of your business the feeling of excitement and nervousness is also clouded by a sense of confidence. You wouldn't be starting the business if you didn't initially believe in it.

No sales- Then comes the confusion when the sales aren't rolling in, as you had such a strong product right?

You then may go back to the drawing board and rewrite marketing techniques to better advertise. This is when your rollercoaster ride becomes exciting, because you now have the confidence back and are ready to make these sales.

If these efforts succeed you will continue to roll, but if the first attempt doesn't succeed then its a testing time for any business owner as they begin to question themselves, and wonder "if this is really for me"  

Motivation is what keeps us moving, it keeps our business afloat and stops us from pulling out of our dreams prematurely. Its all in the frame of mind, and how you deal with situations. Which of course leads me to the next point.

When you lose the confidence within yourself, you lose motivation. These two points go hand in hand & it is all too often I see business owners closing shop, right before the Eureka moment. Now sure, this doesn't happen in every case, but if you have invested your time, effort and money into a business. Why would you give up after only a few attempts at success?

Maintaining the confidence to re-evaluate situations when they aren't working is a common scenario that many people forget.

If your initial direction changes, that means the business is not worth having right? Because well, you had a plan? Wrong. Business plans change all the time, and your direction will too. But it is key to have a direction planned out for the series of events that can easily occur.

For example: Lets say you spend your whole budget of  $5,000 on advertising & that advertising doesn't give you the expected results, what is next? 

Imagine a map of your country. If one route is closed, generally there will be a detour. And business works the same. Get the directions and detours mapped out early on to avoid any mishaps or disappointment.

How many times have you started telling a story but all of a sudden lose your chain of thought? This commonly happens in business. It takes a lot of will power to stay on track and stay focussed in what your end goal is. You are only human, and these things happen... to all of us. Hey I'm pretty sure it has happened to me a few times whilst writing this blog! A great key to helping with this issue is keeping a pen and paper handy. Write down your ideas as they pop into your head and look at the best possible opportunities at executing them within your plan.

A famous scientist once said " Only an idiot would keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result" And this statement couldn't be more true. Sometimes we get an idea that we think is amazing, so we try it. And it doesn't work. You need to learn to read your customers, and not continue repetitive behaviour if you are not receiving the desired outcome.

If you try something and it doesn't work. Then learn from it and try something else! 

This is one of the largest and most reoccurring issues that business owners are facing. 

Each and every one of these occurring issues work hand in hand with each other to create a steady flow. Business changes, that's life and things are not always going to go to plan. But have you ever heard the saying "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again" ? 

This goes without saying, that sometimes despite our efforts. The business may not work. Its all a game of determination, consistency and planning. And sometimes that planning does include knowing when to shut the door.

So how many of these traits are you applying to your business? And how do you work at changing them? We love to hear from you, so leave us a comment on your ideas and opinions.

"It all starts with your stunning website" claims  website company Wix who offer an easy to create, DIY styled website. Wix provides a template in which you simply change headings, information, images and tech. This website claims to be a breeze for newbies.

So you have just thought of the perfect business idea, and now its time to see it come to life. It all may seem easy, but you really just need a step by step guide on the basics of setting up a  Wix website. 

Step 1- Sign up to Wix for free. All you need to sign up is an email address, and of course have your business name ready too.

Step 2- Choose a template that fits your needs. There are many templates available, and you can select these based off the category of your needs. 

Step 3- Customize or add anything like text, images etc. The Wix platform, uses a easy to understand drop and drag system, so once you have selected the template in which you are happy with. You can simply change the preset information and images. Wix also provides quite a large amount of stock photos available for you to use to customize your website to suit your business needs. Don't forget to change the buttons, header, and footer.

Step 4- Publish your site to share it with the world. When you are happy with the finished product, you simply click "publish" in the top right hand corner of your screen. This will then set the website to "live" and potential customers can now see your site on the world wide web.

Step 5- Manage your entire business online with domains, email marketing etc. There are many options available to suit your business needs, and using the wix platform is free, however if you are an online store, selling items you will need to purchase an E-commerce package. This allows you to add product to your site that is ready to sell. There are various packages available to suit your requirements.  

Still a bit stumped on the information required to start a business? We have created a very simple 5 step process which explains our top picks for the 5 Fundamentals of business. You can read this blog too by simply clicking here 

*Prices listed above are as of March 2018. These are subject to change, at the discretion of wix via  terms and conditions

 Slow and steady wins the race, have you ever heard this term? Well that's because it seems to be the step that most first time business owners lack. Sure it can be exciting, starting your own business; And we are sure you are extremely eager to move forward and get selling! BUT first you need to figure out if you have a true passion for what you are about to venture into. Having a passion for the product or service you are about to promote is important for the future of your business. I mean, why would anyone buy off you, if you don't believe in the product/service yourself? But this alone will not suffice, having knowledge of your industry and doing research is a key tool to implement to ensure the longevity of your new venture.

The single most important tool in creating a business is having a plan. You may of heard people talk about a "business plan", well this is an overall document which highlights your company predictions, and the actions required to get you there.

Some of the things you will generally go over in your business plan are:

• Target Market
• Marketing 
• Finances 
• Strategies

It is also of course a great tool to look on as the months go by, to analyse if you are on track.

You have no put together a business plan, and it is time to execute. By now the information you have collated should potentially spell out the exact strategies your business will follow, however again this can change like the wind. 

The sister to strategy and the main tool used to create it is research. A term that many newbies dread to hear, yet it will become your most valued tool over time. Knowing your competition, and what they have to offer is extremely important, thus helping you decide how you plan to execute it better!

Or you may simply want to learn more information in regards to the product/service you are offering to better implement your ideas.

Knowledge is like gold, especially in the business world. You can never have too much information.

Business costs money. You may be looking at a low start up cost, but it is time to start thinking about the places you may potentially spend your money within this business.

Some examples are:

1. Stock: Will your business hold stock, and if so, how much? Clothing business' for example will need to hold items in various sizes. Some suppliers also have minimum order quantities.
2. Business Registration: Depending on your countries requirements, you will need to register your business name.
3. Website, Domain and hosting: Most business have a website, and there are various ways you can go about this. Are you going to hire a web developer to create this for you? Or will you use the "do it yourself" websites. 
4.  Yes, there are many ways to promote your business for free. But if you are looking to scale the business, you will eventually be paying for some form of advertising. 

All things that you will need to determine prior to launching your new company.

The world of marketing is a giant land of colorful advertisements, actors and songs right? Wrong.

Without marketing, people do not know your business exists. And along with your website comes the first type of marketing, that you may be oblivious to. That is SEO otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization. In other words, you are optimizing the content on your website to become easily searchable on the internet. When people use search engines such as google, and they are looking for your products/services; you want to be the first website to pop up.

Free advertising: There are many places you can advertise your business for free, social media being the number 1 source of it, forums, directories, and word of mouth being other popular sources.

Paid advertising: When you have tried the free stuff, and its just not cutting it. You will look at turning to paid advertising. Social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube all offer paid advertising options. Another huge source of traffic comes from google searches as mentioned. Which is where Google Adwords comes in. They offer a paid advertising technique to help you scale your business adverts to a larger audience.

For local business the key may be simply advertising in your local newspaper. But when you start tapping into world wide services you will need to target large volumes in short periods of time.

To summarize everything; the most important fundamentals to starting a business are knowledge, dedication, consistency and planning. A successful business does not always happen over night, and having a clear knowledge of your industry and exactly where you are going as a business, is the first step to success.

We will be providing in depth articles in relation to each of these topics, and our best picks of websites you can use to start your business. So to get notified of the releases of these, simply hit the subscribe button.