Category: Blog

Many small business’s today, overlook the benefits of text messaging when it comes to advertising and promoting their services and products to customers, as social media has mostly dominated that area. Savvy entrepreneurs are tuned into text message marketing and have been able to engage with customers in a very quick and cost-effective way. People enjoy looking at their phones and this can be viewed as a resource.

While it can be a daunting task, trying to choose a text messaging service for your small business, as there are so many of these services available offering different things, finding the right one is the key to reaping the benefits of mobile text marketing. Examples of small business text messaging benefits are:

You Can Engage With Customers In Real Time

Social media has been a boon to many up and coming businesses but text messaging has an advantage over social media platforms – the information is more immediate with text messaging, on Facebook for example, people like many pages which leads to many notifications, a lot of scrolling is involved to get the right information. With a text message you see the information there and then.

Reach More Customers At Once

A good texting service will offer automation as a key tool ,this means that you will send the same text message to all of your customers at the same time. You can also send regular reminders with this every now and again as is necessary.

Customize Your Texts

Some text marketing services are able to store and process customer data, like birthdays, locations and names, this opens a world of possibilities in creating personalized marketing campaigns – it makes the customer feel special and more engaged.

Gather Customer Feedback

Through sending surveys and polls to customers by text, you can get a clearer sense of the way customers think without actually having to talk to them and people do like to be asked their opinion, this gives your business an advantage as you can adapt accordingly. Many texting solutions offer this way of engagement as a function.

It Is Cost Effective

When you compare the cost of texting to other marketing strategies, it is a cheaper way of reaching the public with information on your business. There is no having to pay for expensive printing or mailing letters and brochures, many of which have graphics and pictures in color. adding to the expense of printing.

In Summary

The ways in which small business text messaging solutions improves companies, more entrepreneurs are bound to utilize this strategy and for many it will be the way forward for their business.…

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Being in the business world means that you’re categorized into certain groups as you grow from a small to established company. If you’ve been placed into the “high risk merchant” category, you want to know what that is and how it pertains to your future. Learn all about the high-risk merchant designation so that you can take control of your business prospects.

Specific Industries

It’s a fact that the financial world is discriminatory when it comes to certain industries. They’re deemed as “high risk” regardless of your stellar background. These industries can include these areas, such as:

• Adult products

• Online-relationship fulfillment

• Bail bonds

You might have a legitimate business, but you’ll still need the help of high risk merchant services in order to conduct daily operations. The old adage of “spending money to make money” still applies. These merchant services allow you to charge consumers’ debit and credit cards as necessary.

Guarantor’s Credit History

Your company may also be a high-risk merchant if the guarantor has poor credit. Bankrupting a previous business or ignoring monthly bills are alarms for banks. They don’t see you as a responsible entity.

To prove the bank wrong, you need some credit to build up your new perspective on life. These options are possible through high risk merchant services. Show off your responsibility now so that future credit applications won’t be immediately earmarked as high-risk scenarios.

Future Deliverables

Another industry-specific reason why you’re categorized as a high-risk merchant is selling future deliverables. A good example of these sales are charges for hotel stays next year.

In essence, you’re charging a person a fee based on a promise to go on vacation. That buyer may pull out of the deal at some point, which forces you to return the money. Banks don’t look upon this practice as a solid way to make guaranteed money.

Financial Overreach

Did you overestimate your sales last year? Did you end up in the red? Financial problems for startup companies aren’t uncommon, but banks will hold it against you as financial overreach. They simply don’t want to take on the risk of losing money with your account.

The only way to pull yourself out of this problem area is by staying in the black all year long. In fact, you may need to prove several years of good numbers before you aren’t considered a high-risk merchant.

Credit-Card Blacklisted

It’s hard to believe, but there’s a blacklist in the credit-card world. Referred to as TMF or MATCH, this list goes through Mastercard. Any company that’s had serious issues with credit will be recorded and advertised through this platform.

You’re officially a high-risk merchant at this point. Turning to high risk merchant services may be your only way to operate now. Access to charging credit and debit cards is crucial in any business today.

Working hard and making a name for yourself will help you move from the high-risk category. Go through the financial steps in order to solidify your stance in the industry. Your integrity shows through, which leads to easier financing and more options in the near future.
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When you want to enhance your SEO strategy, you want to start with the basics. There are a few strategies that you can start implementing today that will start to pay off in the near future. The key is being consistent with your efforts so that they have time to work for you.

Leave Pages Up
If an item goes out of stock, do not take the page down. Instead, just let people know when they can expect to be able to purchase the item again. You also do not want to replace or hide them. Do not use them to feature another product. People might search for the product and they need a page to land on. Even if it is out of stock, they might search for a similar item, resulting in a sale.

Offer Alternative Products
On the pages where items are sold out, give customers some more options to choose from. Just make sure that they are similar. For example, the same product in an older or a new model, or one in a different color. You can also offer the same product under a different brand. Just try to ensure that the price and quality are similar among the alternative products.

Utilize the Right Keywords
Just like all other websites, you want to take advantage of keywords to make sure that your ecommerce seo is allowing you to rank high in the search results. Do some keyword research associated with the services and products that you are offering. This will tell you the terms people are using to find those items on the internet.

Create Unique Product Descriptions
Whenever possible, you want to ensure that your product descriptions are unique. This can help you to rank higher in the search engines. Utilize keywords and make sure that the description is high in quality and free from errors.

Consider Adding a Blog
A blog is a great way to further your SEO efforts and keep in touch with your customers. You can announce products that are coming down the pike and offer solutions to common problems your customers might have. You can also use this space to create product reviews so that customers can learn more about the items you have to offer.

With the right e-commerce SEO tactics, you can boost your sales and help to grow your business at a steadier pace over time. You want to utilize these strategies as soon as possible and make sure that you give them time to produce results.…

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With a tight work schedule and a family to take care of, preparing healthy meals can be challenging. You have to make trips to the grocery store, stick to a routine and ensure you make the right choices. That’s when it’s best to plan your meals ahead, which comes with the following benefits.

Saves Time

Without a plan, you may end up spending time thinking or deciding on what to cook. Since you may not want to eat the same meal each day, a meal plan can come in handy. A great idea would be to have a detailed list of what you will have for all your meals and snacks.

With that, you can arrange in advance and prepare your meals in advance, which can save you time to handle other tasks. Alternatively, you can subscribe to a meal subscription box where you can have your food items delivered to your doorstep. With easy to follow recipes, you can have a meal ready in a few easy steps.

Saves Money

Shopping in bulk will most definitely save you money. For example, with a weekly plan, you can schedule a day for grocery shopping where you buy only what you need for the week. You will end up cutting down on costs from making multiple trips to the grocery store picking up ingredients each day by now only going once per week.

Helps You Make Healthy Choices

If you have no plan of what you are going to eat, you are most likely to get a take out or snack on easy to reach foods. Meal planning eliminates the urge for fast food and other unhealthy choices by keeping a tab of what you should eat throughout the day. Additionally, since you can prepare your meals ahead of time, you will have no reason to eat out.

Easier to Shop

How many times have you paced in a grocery store thinking of what you might have forgotten? Sometimes, you even go back home without some essentials.

A plan helps you come up with a list of everything you need for your meals. Consequently, you have an easier time picking your items without worrying about leaving some out or wondering what you are going to do with the ingredients once you get them home.

Breaks Monotony

Most times you may find yourself fixing something quick each night. Meal planning helps you to prepare more balanced meals and break the monotony of eating the same thing all the time. Also, meal planning helps you come up with new, exciting recipes.

A Variety of Options

Some people tend to think that meal planning can be monotonous having to follow a specific meal routine. But, you can alternate various recipes and come up with new ones after a while. When you have a list of what you will eat for a week, you can have ideas to switch things up and create different dishes.

Besides saving money, meal planning comes with plenty of benefits. You will have less food waste, healthier meal options and simpler shopping.

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More and more people are choosing solar energy over traditional electricity. Undoubtedly, there are many reasons to opt for solar power for your home. You can find campuses and even towns running on solar power. Many modern construction companies keep a provision for solar electricity to be set up in the buildings they offer their customers. This green energy is the wave of the future and gaining an awareness of it and its uses in your home are important.

Why Solar Power?

When you consider the advantages of solar energy and how it can affect you, there is little doubt that it is something to think about seriously. Jimmy from Luminous Solar says that you can save a lot on your power bills, as it is free and maintenance is very cheap. No matter how much you consume, you don’t pay even a single dollar for it. Solar power is generated using the sun’s freely available energy. Despite the cost of installation, once the solar power unit is set up, you can enjoy free power for a very long time. With the amount of money you save, you can pay off the installation costs quite comfortably.

Additionally, solar energy causes no side effects or pollution. It is considered a green fuel and does not harm the environment. It is a renewable source of energy and does not exhaust the earth’s natural resources. This makes it eco-friendly, unlike fuels like coal, petrol, diesel, kerosene, and other fossil fuels. Considering the above facts, solar electricity definitely proves to be a better option when compared to traditional power. It can be used in your home as well to give you the same advantages.

Let us look at some of the solar power systems or options available to use in your home:

Solar cooking-

This is a cooking implement that uses no conventional fuel to cook food. Food can be cooked for feeding 1-5 people. The variety of food types that can be cooked using this method is surprising in that you can boil food as well as roast and bake. The only drawback maybe that it is not an extremely quick way of cooking, but with planning that should not be a problem considering that is a way of cooking that uses a free energy source and therefore can greatly reduce your power bills and save power.

Solar lighting-

Home solar systems can convert the sun’s energy into power to cover your home’s lighting needs. This happens by charging cells with solar energy during the day and releasing power from these cells overnight. Once you have installed your home lighting solar system in your home, you can kiss your worries about paying for power usage goodbye!

Solar heating-

Having a solar heating system installed in your home will first of all reduce the power you will need to pay for each week. This is good on a global scale in that it helps reduce the demand on our limited supplies. Switching to an inexhaustible supply for some if not all of you power needs will reap benefits now and in the future. If you have concerns about the cost or the type of system being installed, bear in mind that this system is an investment in producing a free sustainable source of energy that will pay for itself within 3-4 years and thereafter the power is free, and companies that provide these solar power solutions at home have developed heating systems that are now aesthetically pleasing for your home.

Taking control of at least some of your power supply, ensures that you can …

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