Four Steps to Effectively Manage Off-Site Workers.

As more organizations turn to vendor companies and contractors to streamline costs and productivity, holding face–to–face meetings or walking down the hall to check in with team members is not always an option. Yet the need for guidance and management is no less—in fact, it is arguably even more important, especially with remote workers. Taking these steps will help ensure your distributed workforce stays motivated and productive.

1. BE INCLUSIVE: Often contractors are brought in at the last minute or are handed specialized parts of a project without being integrated into the larger team.
2. ESTABLISH OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION: Clear and frequent communication with your remote team establishes your authority while making you a respected and accessible resource.
3. ESTABLISH CLEAR MILESTONES: Remote employees need to be able to work independently and if they are good they will have established a solid work ethic before engaging with your company. That said, you can help them stay self–motivated and hit project milestones by clearly outlining goals and delivery dates, and establishing weekly check–ins where team members report on progress or submit work–to–date.
4. ADDRESS CONFLICTS IMMEDIATELY: Without daily interaction it can be easy to ignore issues or put off addressing them until a later time. But an out of sight out of mind attitude can be devastating to morale and the success of your project.

Read the full article at: http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/spotlights/fourStepsToEffectivelyManageOffSiteWorkers

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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Make a Video Connection.

Many a business has been made on YouTube—and given the weight that Google accords to YouTube videos in search results, putting some effort into devising an engaging and/or humorous mini-movie to promote your business can be time very well spent. If it's a hit, your sales could go through the roof overnight. If it's not, it will still improve your visibility online. Remember to link back prodigiously on your YouTube Channel page and on each video's page itself. Link to your other social media sites, too, and use keyword tags thoughtfully. Can't come up with a funny video to promote yourself? Try putting together a webinar that will show potential customers your expertise.

Read the full article at: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029636/make-your-business-shine-online-8-steps-to-boost-visibility.html?page=2

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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Send Out Press Releases.

Press releases are another easy way to generate a large number of back links to your website and to legitimize it in the eyes of many readers. The purpose of a press release is to encourage media to write or broadcast a story about you, but online press releases have a secondary function. Because hundreds of sites looking for free content may reprint an online press release verbatim, such releases can translate into instant links and page views...and higher visibility.

Read the full article at: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029636/make-your-business-shine-online-8-steps-to-boost-visibility.html?page=2

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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13 Ways To Boost Your Company’s Brand on LinkedIn.

1. Demonstrate value. Identify who your target audience is and give thought to the kinds of things they need to see to be engaged and perceive value.
2. Use your existing content streams. Not sure what content to post? Why not use content you have that has already proven popular on other social networks.
3. Don’t neglect your personal profile. Remember that, in terms of branding, your personal and business profile really are intertwined.
4. Create an information hub. Make sure that you include any logos and a banner image as well as a captivating description of who you are and what you do.
5. Showcase your products and services. The products tab is one of the cool features available for company pages, yet a surprising number of companies don’t use it at all.
6. Encourage colleagues/employees to connect. Your brand potentially has much wider exposure when colleagues and employees add their current position at your company to their profiles.
7. Participate in key groups. Identify key groups in which you want to establish yourself and your brand as an influencer.
8. Connect your online platforms. It may seem obvious, but is your website connected to your LinkedIn profile? What about email signatures or newsletters?
9. Post regularly. Stats from LinkedIn indicate that companies who post at least 20 times per month will reach at least 60 percent of their audience.
10. 1Create sharable content. YouTube videos will play directly in LinkedIn feeds and according to LinkedIn statistics, result in 75 percent more shares.
11. Make use of sponsored updates. This was a feature added this year which really gives companies the opportunity to reach an audience further than their own followers.
12. Follow your analytics. The analytics feature of your company page really gives you the opportunity to refine your content.
13. Increase reach. Similar to the reach from colleagues and/or employees updating their current position to your company, getting them to share your company page updates gives you access to all of their connections as well.

Read the full article at: http://www.responsys.com/blogs/nsm/social-media-marketing/13-ways-boost-companys-brand-linkedin/

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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Use Twitter to Boost Your Business Presence.

Nika Stewart: Let’s face it – social media is where you need to be. And Twitter is a great platform for getting your brand message out to your ideal customers in a big way. It’s fast and it’s short, and this makes it easy to spread information and build awareness of your brand quickly.

Twitter is also a great network for engaging with your ideal clients, building loyal relationships, and getting attention from influencers who can further share your message. In addition, you can get real-time, authentic feedback from customers, and learn how you can improve products and customer service.

Read the full article at: http://succeedasyourownboss.com/01/2014/use-twitter-boost-business-presence/

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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Hone Your Social Media Savvy.

Social media has a second, arguably more useful function in business visibility: Your social media pages will be indexed by search engines, and searches for your company name will turn up results for all of these sites. Over time, you'll want your website to be the top result in a search for your business name, your Twitter account to appear next, and your LinkedIn page to be third (or similar). A Google+ page for your business is especially critical. If you have one, a Google search for your company name will add an extra box-out with your Google+ information placed to the right of the search results. This box includes your contact information and your recent Google+ posts, greatly enhancing your visibility to searchers.

When you set up your social media accounts, don't get too fancy. Use images and logos consistently, and make sure that all contact information, spelling, and capitalization styles remain the same across each network. Everything should link back to your homepage as often as possible. When you choose your usernames for each account, include your business name to the extent you can (for example, @Bobs_Termite_Treatment_Chicago). Paying attention to keywords never hurts.

Read the full article at: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029636/make-your-business-shine-online-8-steps-to-boost-visibility.html

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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