Month: January 2020

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProductsSaaS

Mobile Point of Sale (mPOS)

The entry of the mobile point of sale (mPOS) has revolutionized many business sections by simplifying the options of cashless payments. Industries like hospitality, healthcare, travel, and tourism have been using mPOS systems and endpoints quite extensively. The rapidly growing payments ecosystem has mPOS as the major catalyst that triggered the industry into new heights.

Easy, seamless, and secure cashless payment transactions free customers from the obligation of carrying a high amount of cash and at the same time, the business owners can focus on offering improved customer experience. It fastens the sales completion cycle, boosts productivity, saves time spent on manual cash-counting, drives financial accuracy, provides customer satisfaction, and overall security.

Check out the Infographic to glean interesting insights about the current trends and future market of mPOS industry.


[Infographic] mPOS: Apprehending Future Market & Enterprise Benefits by Kiosk Lockdown Software


[Inforgraphic] Why Companies Need to Rethink Their Communication Strategy for Remote Teams by Team Communication App

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The Most In-Demand Jobs in 2020

At the start of a new year, people want to make significant changes in their lives. You might have made resolutions to stop a bad habit or get more sleep every night. Plenty of people also decide to take the new year as an opportunity to quit the job they don’t enjoy and look for something better.

Whether you’re taking control of your career or looking for a place to land after an unforeseen change in your employment, it’s a great time to potentially work with a service like ARC Resumes to get your resume as slick and professional-looking as possible and start to look for a new position. There are tons of jobs ready and waiting for the right people to fill them, but where should you start your job search?

Check out this list of the most in-demand jobs in 2020. You’ll find open opportunities in these fields and more job security in the future, since the need for these kinds of employees won’t go away anytime soon.

1. Physical Therapist

Patients sign up for physical therapy sessions for a variety of reasons. They might need to build their strength after surgery, learn how to balance better or regain movement in injured limbs. Although patients go to their doctor for most health concerns, physical therapists study specialized exercises patients won’t be able to learn anywhere else.

There will always be a need for physical therapists, which is why it’s one of the most in-demand jobs this year. National employment for this position should grow at least 22% by 2028, which is faster than most other occupational fields. 

2. Blockchain Developer

Even a few years ago, not many people knew about cryptocurrency. Now it’s a worldwide phenomenon, so more companies decide to invest every day. Businesses need people to develop cryptocurrency infrastructure to get started with a currency like Bitcoin, which is where blockchain developers come in. Specifically, people who have experience in creating contracts with Solidity will find jobs the fastest.

3. Commercial Drone Pilot

You might think flying drones is a fun hobby, but it could also be your career. Most industries need commercial drone pilots to take aerial photos and videos for marketing and surveillance purposes. Job opportunities quadrupled in the last year alone, so positions are open for both high school and college graduates.

4. Certified Electrician

Jobs that don’t require a college degree are becoming more in-demand than ever. Companies need people to fill open trade job positions that were hard to fill in recent years. Consider becoming a certified electrician, a field that experts expect to grow by 10% by 2028. It’s a job that pays an average of $60,000 per year, and you can start as soon as you get certified according to your state’s laws.

5. Cybersecurity Project Manager

The entire world functions in a digital space now that almost everyone has access to and relies on the internet. It equally presents a world of possibilities and challenges. Companies need cybersecurity managers to protect their data and projects from hackers and competitors. Around 3.5 million jobs will open to new talent by 2021, which is a 350% growth from 2013.

Consider Your Skills

Think about your current experience and what you want to learn in the future. You might be the perfect candidate for some of these in-demand roles this year.

DevelopmentInsights

Don’t Live in the Past — Invest in These Ag-Tech Gadgets for Your Farm

Farming is challenging work — you have to wake up early, work grueling hours and deal with emergencies as they arise. If you want to ensure that you have the best crops and livestock, then you need to make sure that you’re getting everything done correctly and promptly.

In the past, farmers had to rely on their knowledge and work ethic to get tasks done on time.

Thankfully, this is no longer the case. There are several ag-tech gadgets that you can purchase that will help your farm or agribusiness reach its full potential.

1 – Rugged Computer

This is the most critical piece of ag-tech that you can have on your farm. Rugged computers are high-quality pieces of machinery that can be used in extreme environments and weather conditions. Additionally, many rugged computer monitors have LCD touchscreens, making them easy to use and see (even in poor lighting conditions).

Modern farmers rely on rugged computers to access important data, use agricultural programs and communicate with their employees. Top-of-the-line rugged computers can run Windows 10, giving you access to a plethora of applications and digital services.

These versatile pieces of ag-tech can be installed in your tractors and motorized harvesting equipment. This means that you can take them out into the field and use them while you work.

If you’re planning on purchasing one or more rugged computers for your agribusiness, you should go to a reliable and experienced manufacturer that makes custom products, like Smallpc.com. These companies provide their customers with high-quality products and unmatchable service.

2 – Livestock Sensors

Do you ever wish that your livestock could tell you when they’re hungry, thirsty or fertile? Have you ever lost an animal only to find it several miles away?

If you said yes to either of the questions above, then you need to invest in livestock sensors for your farm. Farmers can use livestock sensors to track:

  • Fertility
  • Hunger
  • Location
  • Temperature
  • Health

These gadgets use GPS (global positioning system) and RFID (radio frequency identification) systems to track these essential details. You can access this information from remote locations, which gives you the ability to watch your livestock without physically being at your farm.

3 – Telematics Technology

Some farmers like to claim that their equipment “speaks” to them. Although this may be a slight exaggeration, you can learn more about your motorized equipment, like your tractors and harvesters, by using telematics technology.

Farmers can use telematics technology to track their motorized equipment. Additionally, farmers can monitor important information like their fuel levels and harvesting progress.

Telematics devices obtain this information by utilizing both cellular and satellite communications. This information can be accessed via smartphone or rugged computer, minimizing the amount of time you and your employees have to spend in the office.

Regardless of the industry, it’s always better to work smarter, not harder. However, this saying rings particularly true in the agricultural sector. To do this, you need to invest in tried-and-true ag-tech gadgets like rugged computers, livestock sensors, and telematics technology.

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List of the Best Websites That Can Help With Studying and Save Your Time

Everyday classes and academic assignments take a lot of time and cause stress for many students. If you have to combine getting a degree with a part-time job, the time becomes the most precious resource. 

Luckily, innovations bring many benefits. Today, there are ways to spend time rationally while studying. There are hundreds of websites and apps in our digital world for efficient time management. 

Take a look at our list of top options that will definitely may your student’s life easier!

EssayPro

Let’s start with the obvious. There will inevitably be situations during your studying when the deadlines appear too tight. You may face the possibility of failing an assignment or a few.

Luckily, there is a whole field of academic writing. The hardest part is to choose real pros. Whenever you require assistance with an essay or feel like you’re not going to make a term paper in time, you should know one thing.

Clicking https://essaypro.com/term-paper.html, you will be able to connect to the network of professionals and find an expert in the field you need. This company cares about reputation, so writers make papers plagiarism-free and unique.

Also, you can visit a social network of writers if you want to reach out to the world with your writings.

This is the best way for students to save time for personal matters without worrying about an unfinished assignment.

Quetext

Taking into account a strict policy of many institutions, students often use web applications and services to make sure their papers are plagiarism-free.

Quetext is a plagiarism detection software with more than a million users worldwide. The algorithm of this tool helps students compare their papers with billions of other sources and detect matching parts.

The free version runs on an easy-to-use platform. All that the user needs to do is copy the text, paste it into the field, and click the “plagiarism check” button. Wait for the text to compare with other sources, and get a report indicating the percentage of plagiarism.

However, the free version has certain limitations. The user cannot upload files and is limited to three searches and three reports. The premium version costs $9.99 a month. 

Grammarly

Whenever you feel unconfident about your grammar or punctuation, you can check the text via Grammarly.

In general, the service is brilliantly simple. It checks papers in English for a wide range of mistakes, making them clear and well-written.

Grammarly is based on artificial intelligence. The service enhances the quality, clarity, and tone of the essay. There is also an editing option. Moreover, it explains how to avoid repeating mistakes in the future, advancing the writing skills of students.

MyHomework Student Planner

MyHomework website helps to organize the academic life of students at any level. This is a perfect planner that tracks classes, projects, tasks, and tests. Using it, you will never miss any deadline. 

There are two options available: basic and premium for $4.99 a year. If you have never used myHomework, try it out for free. The premium package has more advantages and includes file attachments, enhanced app widgets, and other extra features.

Trello

Trello is a visual collaboration tool used in many entities all over the world. It facilitates the learning process, teamwork, and discussion. And all of this comes for free. 

Trello is a system of boards with cards, which are organized into lists. Its integration with Google drive enables the creation of presentations from cards. You can attach documents and make folders. This extension saves time and excludes jumping from one service to another. 

Here are a few other features and extensions:

  • Dropbox – attaches the corresponding files and folders from Dropbox to Trello cards;
  • Card snooze – helps to archive tasks for a certain time and focus on more important ones, and then return the cards once again;
  • Countdown – keeps track of deadlines;
  • Slack – connects different applications for communication with the participants of the board;
  • Zapier – connects Trello with over 1000 apps, including Google Sheets, Evernote, HubSpot, Facebook, and others;
  • Gantt Chart – is an extension for creating diagrams to monitor the level of tasks efficiency;
  • Gmail to Trello – is an extension that helps to transfer all tasks from Gmail to the desired board. 

All these features exclude the need for using dozens of websites at the same time during studying. This way, you are more concentrated on the assignment and save time. 

EasyBib

EasyBib is the service that helps in creating a citation for any kind of paper. It provides students of different academic levels with tools for working with the library.

Using it, you can easily generate the list of references in full accordance with the selected standards, such as MLA8, MLA7, APA, and Chicago. It is possible to add exact links to the sources, including books, articles, and websites.

Wrapping Up

With the digitalization of all spheres of our life, it’s becoming easier to study than ever before. Modern technologies are the best friends of current students. 

Hopefully, you will find this list helpful and make a few more bookmarks in your browser!

InsightsMartech

Do You Own an Online Business? Here’s How Social Listening is Your Ultimate Tool to Online Success

For a business to exist in the contemporary world, it’s crucial to have an online presence. Enterprises that lack an online identity are invisible to the world of business and a massive online audience.

However, I believe apart from access to high-speed internet and a chic logo, there’s far more that goes in for a business to become successful online.

Similar to traditional businesses, digital businesses also require customer feedback and response. However, sustaining the reputation requires the use of social listening tools and a lot of brainstorming before measures that lead to the success of an online business are taken.

What are Social Listening Tools and why does it Matter?

Let’s be honest, the internet is a great place to access. Especially if you have high-speed internet and undivided time to spend online; a multitude of benefits can come your way through this medium.

From your daily dose of news and gossip to the goodness of wholesome memes, the internet blesses an individual with more than he/she expects.

However, for online businesses internet has become more than just another place to sell their products or services. The medium provides effective platforms to channel and market a service or product. Through the internet, businesses can reach an entirely different audience that is more targeted, diverse and responsive. The good part here is that even the mightiest social media sites, like Facebook and Instagram that were essentially created for social networking, have updated their respective platforms in ways that benefit online businesses immensely.

And apart from all this, the internet also facilitates businesses with tools that encourage the seamless functioning of an enterprise. An example of this is social listening tools. Social listening tools not only make things easier for the business in terms of customer engagement and brand strategy but provide businesses with guidance on undermentioned aspects.

Social listening tools allow businesses to analyze, track and even respond to comments that are about your business or the online business industry as a whole.

To understand social listening tools more, consider it as a competent supervisor of a traditional set-up business who keeps an eye on everything happening at the workplace. Nonetheless, from keeping an eye upon how your business is functioning to receiving feedback from visitors and customers, social listening tools are more vigilant than an average human supervisor.

Now that we better understand how social listening tools basically work for online businesses, we shall address the part which must be very obvious by now.

So here are some of the reasons why social listening tools matter to online businesses: 

1. Essential for Customer Engagement

The aforesaid benefits of the internet only presented the bright side, quite oblivious of due acknowledgment of its dark or downside. The internet might be the greatest place for entrepreneurs, small business owners and of course, for well-established brands and enterprises too, but what’s troubling is its ability to tarnish the well-built reputation of a business concern literally overnight.

In recent times you might have noticed the power of a single tweet or a Facebook post that’s accusing a brand of its poor customer service or below par product quality. Such content takes rounds on the internet while the brand’s award for great customer service or its efforts to boost revenue cry in the corner.

It is because of these horrifying days that a business needs to take all possible measures to maintain a good business reputation. And social listening tools come most handy in this regard. Social listening tools help businesses in identifying possibilities that allow them to engage in conversation regarding their brand, product or service. 

2. Perform Action According to the Requirement

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, an online business doesn’t achieve success with only fast online connectivity and a stylish logo, a mammoth effort is required. Luckily because of social listening tools, these efforts have been rendered simple for smart entrepreneurs. 

More than just a tool for customer engagement, social listening tools present a medium that helps observe and analyze social sentiment. 

Social sentiment is known as an online response a business gets from customers. Social listening tools allow a business to keep an eye on the factors that trigger social sentiment in – positive or negative – in the first place. 

Positive social sentiment can either be the result of a successful brand campaign or a powerful product marketing strategy. In any case, a business must keep into consideration all kinds of social sentiment that come its way. Because this is what symbolizes and presents, in a nutshell, the ultimate signals that tell how a product or service is impacting your existing and potential clientele. 

Moreover, via analysis of collective response or customer feedback, social listening comes to help a business with altering brand strategy as per the requirement at any given point in time. As a result, an enterprise may come to understand how it should mold its brand strategy in order to work effectively at any appointed time.

3. Tells You More About Your Competitors

Social listening is one of the greatest tools that facilitate gain of information about how your competitors are working. 

Business is all about having maximum knowledge about your competitors. Especially if its an online business, even the slightest information about a competitor is equivalent to a treasure. 

Social Listening tools can help a business in knowing whether or not their business competitors are launching a new product; whether they are opting for a new marketing strategy or calling a press conference etc. 

All this information about competitors assists a business in going one step ahead and eventually bagging more opportunities for success.

Final Words

In conclusion, social listening tools let you analyze data to find out what people are thinking and saying about your business and what you can do to improve the performance and reputation of your enterprise. Also, in case you came here looking for the best social listening tools, we will for sure mention a few you may find advantageous: Hootsuite, HubSpot, Buffer, and TweetReach are some of the best from the lot.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Strong Online Reputation Management in Workplace Matters – Know Why 

Undoubtedly, today, information spreads much quicker than before. It applies directly to product reviews or service made by consumers and clients. Social media’s growth coupled with the ability to access the net easily irrespective of where one is has produced the requirement for ORM or online reputation management. It is a process to monitor and influence the online presence of one’s business.

The Need for a Strong ORM in Place

Look at the vital steps that throw light on the need for a strong ORM in place

  • Put the Best Face Forward- The reputation of a company is how the investors, potential employees, and consumers view it. All or any of these can get impacted by a single unfavorable tweet, review, or post on Facebook. So, if one fails in having the right strategy, which includes a prompt reply to such complaints, the image of their brand can be tarnished.

It will indicate that their customer’s response indeed is not vital for the company; this is something no one desires to convey. It is through reputation management services from an ORM company New York that one can put their company’s best face forward. One needs to ensure that they are that go-to company for solving issues within their domain or the top service via overseeing reviews as well as replying to each.

  • Credibility and Building Trust – the day will arrive when one gets a negative review. Be it on Twitter, Facebook, or any industry-specific website, it is genuinely inevitable in keeping every bad comment at bay. Though unfavorable comments may sway the decision of purchase of a prospective client, yet not reacting or responding to such review can create a bigger impact. 

Today people research companies much more compared to before. So, the moment they notice that any company has unanswered complaints, this will act as the red flag thus will be hesitant in doing business with them. Being capable of recovering from bad reviews will help in restoring the confidence that is lost in one’s company and thereby help in regaining trust with their audience. One should show their prospective business partners and customers that they genuinely value their feedback via acknowledging that they have appropriately seen it as well as letting them know of the fact they will mediate or consider the issue. 

  • Analyze the Needs and Wants of Consumers- To check all the reviews will give one an insight regarding what is right and what is not for their business. Consumers surely will point out things which they cannot get enough along with the things which they can do without. Most companies in New York refine their business via spotting such complaints as well as tracking those which appear consistently. That, along with helping them with their bottom line, will also show that their business is adept in adapting the current times and is also innovative.

Apart from these, companies in New York are also putting efforts to maintain their thought leadership. To know more, contact the best reputation management service provider in New York today.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

The Guide to Sending Bulk Emails without Spamming

An email is a powerful tool for the modern marketer, but it’s easy to lose sight of its importance when juggling responsibilities. Before you know it, your meticulously-crafted emails can end up in junk folders all over the globe without ever being opened.

What’s worse, recipients may mark your emails as spam. When this happens, your mass marketing campaign may struggle against spam filters of major email providers.

Open rates may plummet, and all that time and effort will go to waste. Not to mention, you may end up with a poor return on investment (ROI).

In this article, you’ll learn how to avoid these pitfalls of email marketing. Instead, we’ll show you how to send bulk email without spamming your readers.

Why do Bulk Emails land up in Spam?

Bulk emails, especially if they contain promotional content have a higher chance of landing up in Spam. This can be due to a number of various reasons. And most common among these is the use of Spam trigger words, which leads to some emails landing up in Spam. Since your bulk email list is probably huge, it’s a good idea to use an email verifier to check for invalid emails as the number of Spam or low engagement rates have a very adverse effect on your IP and sending domain reputation. This can cause your triggered or transactional emails to land up in Spam too. Another reason the engagement rates are usually low for bulk emails is that usually people are bombarded with so many promotional emails in their inbox, they tend to ignore all emails which seem promotional in nature. Using a Bulk Email Service Provider goes a long way in making sure your emails land up in Spam. Also, keep reading to find some interesting tips to craft promotional emails in ways that can be more engaging to your users and get you better ROI on emails.

Here are 5 things you need to keep in mind before sending out Bulk Emails

1. Is your email content useful?

With your audience personas in mind, brainstorm some topics that address their pain points and personal goals.

Look for solutions to their problems, or opportunities to help them in the journey towards their goals. Sending people industry updates is great, but it must be relatable to them.

2. Is your template engaging?

Your templates add as much, if not more value to your emails as compared to the content you have placed in the email. Email templates that are very image-heavy and contain spam trigger keywords are going to land up in spam. It’s a no brainer. However, emails with a simple template having your company logo, containing maybe 1 CTA, are most likely to reach the inbox. Again, here the content you have placed in your email matters the most. If the user identifies your brand as one which is going to give them content that helps them, they will most likely open your emails as soon as it reaches the inbox. Keep your template simple, your content fresh and let the voice of your brand be clearly seen through your bulk emails.

3. Are you delivering on your promises?

As aforementioned, it’s important to set expectations for your subscribers. By delivering emails they weren’t expecting, you’ll deter recipients and lose subscribers.

After you set their expectations, there should be no nasty surprises, which means you can reduce the risk of spam complaints or a drop-off in subscriber numbers.

Just make sure that you follow through with the valuable content they need.

4. Are the emails in alignment with your business goals?

Your goal may be to build a bigger audience, sell a product, or drive more traffic to your website blog. Whatever it is, your emails should be intrinsically linked to your goals.

Every email you send to subscribers should be another step along the buyer’s journey, providing value for them, and also nurturing trust so that you can eventually get them to answer your call-to-action.

5. Are your emails adding value to your business?

You might want more people to sign up to your app, or more people to purchase stuff from your store, or you might be sending out email blasts to your customers just as a retention tactic so that they don’t forget your brand. All these emails serve a certain purpose which is contributing to your business achieving its goals. Email Blasts are not simple to execute, they require a lot of time and resources of your company and creates a brand perception among your customers/prospects. You need to make sure that these people only receive the best kind of email from you, which is beneficial to you as well as to your customers.

Wrapping Up

Knowing how to send bulk email without spamming is important for all marketers in the current digital landscape. As social media shifts towards being a paid advertising platform, the opportunities for cheap, easy marketing are dwindling.

An email has a lot of potentials, but only if you know how to use it.

Sending out a generic email that offers no value to the recipients will no longer cut it. You should treat all of your email campaigns as a direct extension of both your business and your brand.

Using a conversational tone is great, but above all else, you must be consistent and provide valuable content that your recipients find useful, interesting, and unique.

By setting expectations early, and then following through with valuable emails, you can build a list organically, and avoid being marked spam as people recognize your brand as one that delivers.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaSSEO

8 Warning Signs of a Bad Website Host Provider

Your web host is one of the most important aspects of your website. Thus, choosing a good web host is recommended to ensure that you can easily optimize your website, as well as provide an excellent user experience. A poor hosting provider not only hurts your search engine rankings but will also cost you a lot of money in the long run. It is because your web hosting can play a significant role in how search engine bots can crawl and index your website. By having a good host provider such as Verpex, you will avoid all of these issues and many others. Fortunately, you can spot the warning signs that will tell you whether or not you have a good web host.

Frequent downtime

While a web host could not precisely guarantee you a 100 percent uptime, it is not a good sign if it is frequently down either. Frequent site downtimes can decrease your site’s overall traffic and conversion, and eventually, your bottom line. You might have to pick another web hosting provider and migrate your site if that is the case.

Poor customer support

No provider in the market could guarantee that your site will not encounter any problems or issues along the way. However, a lousy hosting provider can create issues like having a reduced response time and inadequate technical support. If you cannot talk to anyone in your host’s support team as to why you are experiencing some issues, then it is high time that you switch to another web host.

Slow loading time

The amount of time it takes for your site to load is a determining factor whether or not you will be able to convert more sales. There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait for a site to load. So, if your website is taking too long to load, there might not be enough bandwidth across the host server. Cheap hosting companies will be selling shared hosting to numerous websites. They will bog down the processors and bandwidth across the server. The result? A slow-loading site. So, if your site is taking more than three seconds to load, it might be time to switch to another web hosting company.

Insufficient storage space

The amount of storage space that you need will usually depend on the type of website you are running. So, if, for some reason, your current web hosting provider is unable to meet your needs, you should start looking for a new hosting company. That way, you would not hamper your site’s productivity.

Inadequate security features

Your website should have top-notch security. A cheap web hosting provider will not provide you with security applications, leaving your site compromised and open to being hacked. If your current web hosting company is not offering security features like a firewall, anti-malware applications, and anti-virus software, then you could risk losing that information and get hacked. Choose a web host that will offer you strong security so that all your information and data are safe. Also, if you are running an e-commerce store, your data is not the only thing that is at risk ‒ your consumer’s data as well. Pick a web hosting company that will give you and your customers’ strong security features that will keep your data safe across all servers.

High renewal charges

There are some web hosting companies that will offer discounted rates for first-time customers. But they are also making it clear that they are giving discounts for the first year only. But here is the thing: They are also forcing their customers that have already subscribed to pay exorbitant rates to renew their subscription. In essence, old customers should continue paying for what they initially paid. It is the new customers that should pay for the new rate.

Bad user-interface

The primary purpose of UI is to make it easy for the user to do something on your site. But if they are encountering a lot of errors, and the content of the page does not make sense, then those couple of dollars that you saved with a cheaper host is not worth it.

Lack of features

The features that a web hosting company is offering should be on par with the price that you are paying every month. Being able to implement features like Media Wiki, Joomla, PHP scripts, or b2evolution technology is vital to keep up with the latest trends in the market. Moreover, other features that are common in the most excellent web hosting providers include WordPress, vBulletin, and Drupal. So, if you are working with a web hosting provider that does not have these features, then you might have to install these features on your own.

Final Thoughts

Web hosting is one of the most crucial aspects of your website. When you pick a cheap host, then you are putting yourself at a terrible disadvantage. So, do not rush in setting your site up and picking a web host. You should do your research, do a website hosting comparison, and carefully weigh the pros and cons of a specific web hosting provider. Remember that a poor choice can lead to negative consequences later on.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Growth Strategies and Landmarks for Small and Mid-market Merchants

It takes unflinching determination and a will of steel to be able to start something of your own knowing the risks involved and the immense competition. Cheers to the never say die spirit of entrepreneurs.

Once you’ve set foot in the industry digital maturity is something that you must have planned to achieve considering the heights to which the internet can scale your business. It’s safe to say there would hardly be any small or mid-market merchant not thinking about digital transformation to shift their business to the web.

What are the Growth Milestones for small and mid-market merchants?

The journey of a business need not be accounted in terms of months, years or decades, rather in the milestones that it has achieved in the however limited time it has been running. What are these milestones now? Let’s find out.

The strategies, the working model that works for your competitor may or may not be the right ones for you. Investing enough time and dedicated energies towards your venture will help you get closer to the business model that would bring you success. The business model hence becomes the first and foremost milestone for your budding business.

Prepare your e-commerce business model keeping in mind the importance to stay relevant to your customers throughout the run. Identify your target audience and what exactly are their expectations for better product delivery. You might need to make changes to your model basis the changing needs but that’s alright till you have your finances managed. This brings us to another important aspect of a business model, i.e. financial management. Analyze, from where and how much revenue your business would generate, the part of it that would be utilized in business development and the part that remains as profit.

Source: blog.ibsindia.org

Once the model gets planned next up would be a struggle to find customers. Your first few customers are going to bring immense joy which will be another very important business milestone as a small and mid-market merchant.

Try to make sense of what the audience you’re targeting actually needs when it comes to not just the products but also the overall experience. If you tap the right nerve you’ll never again struggle for customer inflow.

Once you start getting your old customers back for new products, consider that you’re doing something right that’s bringing them back. Loyal customers serve as great testimonials for the products, services and the experiences you provide. 

Striving hard and building strong relationships with customers is extremely crucial for you to look at success in the near future. Try to tap the right nerve and serve exactly what is required. And, as they say, do your duty and a little more, a small reward or loyalty bonus time and again for your customers would go a long way.

Another most important aspect of your e-commerce business would be to have a positive cash flow in check. A business that too a budding one would begin to struggle for finances without a consistently positive cash flow. Even with a well-paying customer base, stagnant cash flow would start to pose problems. If you have that managed you’ve successfully made your business reach another milestone.

It’s crucial for small and mid-market merchants to have a well-planned marketing strategy chalked out. It not only helps in well-constructed marketing but also ensures effective utilization of resources available at hand.

Source: http://websitemarketing.com.ng

If you’ve not yet come up with one, do it at the earliest. You might need to make changes to your strategy as you go on but that’s inevitable. Prepare the plan keeping in mind your resources and how far you are ready to stretch. Keep your goal in mind to come up with a plan that suits you best and ensures positive results. And, that would be another growth milestone for your business.

A good team consisting of people whose goals align with your business’ is the most important to constitute. Find time to recruit and train employees to understand your niche and the demands of it. Only a well-meaning team will give in their 100% to meet your targets. Would it be anything less than a milestone if you’re successful in constituting one such workforce?

When you’re all set with a business model at hand, loyal customers to seek your services, a marketing strategy at your disposal and even a good team, what comes next is your plan for expansion. If you’re not just sustaining your business but also expanding it however slow the rate be in the initial years you’re moving towards your next growth milestone.

The road to meeting these growth strategies can get somewhat challenging if you’re not following the best practices to mitigate risks and handle growth and expansion. As a business owner, it takes gallons of courage and effort to start your own venture. Take every step carefully to avoid any blunders. Some best practices followed by successful business owners can make your road to success smoother.

What are the key considerations and best practices for your e-commerce business?

Several risks may pose a threat to your business in the initial years. Let’s find out what they are and the prospective solutions for the same.

-Lots of Cyberattacks keep looming over e-commerce business dealings. Stringent security measures must be taken to protect your online website from such cyber threats. Obtaining SSL certificates, using strong passwords, deploying multi-level security and closely monitoring transactions are few ways through which e-commerce business websites could be secured.

-Customer disputes might arise which may need immediate resolution. These issues could be ranging from product quality issues, delivery concerns to clerical errors. Such problems could be dealt with by having a return/refund policy in place and prompt customer support service in action.

-Safeguard your IP and diligent audits performed regularly.

-Also, take care of regular tax payment and maintain consistency in marketing to avoid any glitches and experience the best results. 

-Take measures for business growth and expansion from day 1. Make efforts to build a database of customer emails. Stay in touch with them and constantly update on the running deals.

-Choose the right platform and focus on making your website search engine friendly in order to attract traffic organically. Also, leverage the power of social media in the current age.

-Utilizing pay per click options, making your website mobile-friendly, deploying affiliate programs, providing for efficient subscription services are a few other extremely popular methods of keeping your website in the limelight and attracting customers.

Shared above are the key milestones along with the business considerations that you shall not miss. Taking informed decisions is way better than blindly following any popular trend that your competitors might be after. You know your customers and their requirements best. Keep experimenting and utilizing the best practices for amazing results.

About the author

Abhishek Jaiswal is a serial entrepreneur and a co-founder at CedCommerce. He is an e-commerce enthusiast and takes great interest in exploring different dynamics of the industry. CedCommerce is an e-commerce facilitator, founded in 2010 for abling Small and medium businesses to make an easy shift to the web. With over 10,000 satisfied customers to date, CedCommerce is a proud achiever of several industry accolades.