Business Blog

How to Give Your Business a Boost in Web Marketing.

5 Web Marketing Basics to Give Your Business a Boost.

1. A WELL-DESIGNED WEBSITE: Your website is the most powerful marketing tool for your business.
2. SMART SEO: Finding the right tools, understanding keywords, revising website and blog structure, and regularly creating content.

How To Hire and Keep Top Employees.

10 Tips to Hiring and Keeping Top Employees.

● Recruit Continuously.
● Know What You Need.
● Interview Many Candidates.
● Ask Probing Questions.
● Check References.
● Clarify Expectations.
● Offer Attractive Compensation.
● Establish a Buddy System.
● Develop People to Their Full Potential.
● Conduct Exit Interviews.

Read the full article at: http://www.stengelsolutions.com/tips18.htm
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.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant

Second Way to Give Your Business a Boost in a Slow Market.

Get Feedback From Non-Buyers.

The people who don't buy from you can sometimes be more important than those who do. Understanding the reasons why a potential customer did not pull out their wallet might open your eyes to problems with your website or your in-store merchandise selection that you hadn't noticed before. In sales theory, they call these things "barriers to purchase." Take a moment to contact some recent prospects who didn't buy your product or service. Ask them what the barriers to purchase were for them. Was your price just a bit too high? Did they not believe your testimonials? Did they misunderstand your guarantee? If you can find out what some key barriers to purchase are for your business, you can get to work on fixing them. As a thank you for their feedback, you should offer them a free gift of a nominal value. The feedback will be well worth the modest expense.

Read the full article at: http://www.franchising.com/articles/shake_up_sales_3_ways_to_give_your_business_a_boost_in_a_slow_market.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.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant

What are the basic rules for employees to be more productive?

8 basic rules for employees to be more productive.

1. Know Them: People are more than a resume. Take the time to get to know your people-their values, their interests, their capabilities, their challenges and aspirations.

2. Develop Them: Offer opportunities at work for your people to grow.
3. Communicate Clearly, Early, and Often: Be clear about your expectations of them. Wherever possible, keep people informed about the whole business.
4. Inspire Them: You're the architect. Communicate a clear vision of where you want to go as a team, and talk about how to get there.
5. Recognize Performance: When you celebrate accomplishments, you demonstrate you care about them.
6. Request Feedback for Yourself, Demonstrate Humility: Demonstrate your willingness to grow and change along with them.
7. Establish SMART Goals: SMART goals are critical to delivering quality and successful results.
8. Acquire/Enhance Your Coaching Skills: Being present, listening well, and asking open-ended questions are critical coaching skills.

Read the full article at: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/managingpeople/a/Leadership-Communication-And-Recognition-Are-The-Keys-To-Success-Of-Your-Business.htm
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.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant

A Trick to Give a Boost to Your Business This Year.

Launch a Response Campaign.

Essentially it is commenting on blogs, articles and editorials where you have expertise. You see, reporters are as time crunched as we are and most of them are doing the job of three experts. So they don’t have time for the long lunches and coffee dates and editorial meetings of old. But what they do have time to do is read the comments people have left on their content. This is where you come in. Choose one newspaper, magazine or blog that makes a difference in your industry.

It can be the Wall Street Journal or one of your trade publications. Choose just one. Then, once a week, comment on one writer's article, blog post or editorial. If you disagree, fantastic! Say so. But do it professionally. Keep this up. After about six weeks, the reporter will feel like he or she is beginning to know you. Our human inclination is to learn more about the person who is taking time to get to know us ... and it could end in you being a resource in an upcoming story. Every quarter, add another publication, so you have four that you focus on each year.

Read the full article at: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/3-easy-tricks-to-give-your-business-a-pr-boost/

A Way to Give Your Business a Boost in a Slow Market.

Offer Temporary Discounts or Deals.

Discounting is not a long-term strategy for success, unless you're the size of Walmart and can afford to make small margins by moving huge volumes of product. However, when you need to shake things up, a temporary discount to the price of your product may be the ticket. It should help to convince those people who are sitting on the fence to pull out their wallets and make the purchase. Consumers are more price-sensitive these days, as evidenced by the continuing success of Walmart and other big box retail stores offering low prices. A modest discount that you can live with could be a great tonic to help you grow your sales numbers. Also, remember that plenty of good things come from sales, including testimonials, positive word of mouth, and more. As the old small business saying goes, "activity breeds activity."

Read the full article at: http://www.franchising.com/articles/shake_up_sales_3_ways_to_give_your_business_a_boost_in_a_slow_market.html