Category: SEO

SEO

Tips For Moving Home When You’re Self-Employed

Things can often seem that bit more complex when you’re self employed, including moving home. Whereas you would normally choose to book time off of work as holiday, you’ll have to sort out your own clients and work around your schedule. You’ll need to leave more time to plan ahead and inform your clients as much in advance as possible. You will want to get the move done as quickly and efficiently as you can and need to be organised with your belongings so you can get back to work as soon as possible. In this article we’ve put together some top tips for moving home when you’re self employed. 

Get professional help with moving to make it as efficient as possible

One of the first things you need to consider is to make your move as efficient as possible. This means you can get it all done in one day and get back to work and make money without delay. It’s a good idea to choose a removal company who can help you pack up your belongings in an organised fashion, move it and unpack it when you arrive at your new home. This means you don’t need the additional stress of moving alongside thinking about all your work you need to do and consider. 

Organise your work ahead of time

A key element to being self employed (as you will know) is being organised ahead of time. You want to inform your clients as far in advance as possible that you’ll be taking the day off and will be unable to take calls or reply to emails on that day and the ones leading up to it or after it too. By being organised you don’t need to be stressing all day about your inbox piling up. Ensure you update your business information on your website and let your clients and business partners know your new address if it’s something they will need to know.  

Ensure you know where to find all your important documents and items for work

Once you’ve moved, the last thing you want is to be searching for all your work items when you need to get back to it. Realistically, you won’t unpack everything at once, so having your work items in an easy to find spot means you won’t be stressed when it comes to working again. If your home is going to be a work in progress, it might be worth looking for a co-working space that you can rent out or working from a temporary desk somewhere until you’ve set up your home office space again. 

These are just a few top tips for moving home when you’re self-employed. Moving house can be a stressful time anyway, but coupling this with being your own boss can make it even more of a challenge. What are some top tips you have for moving home when you’re self-employed? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you. 

SEO

Considering The Customer Experience: What Matters When You’re Trying…

Impressing customers should be a high priority goal in your small business. After all, the more you can do for them, the more they’re going to do for you. Free word of mouth advertising, bringing in repeat custom, leaving helpful and positive reviews for other potential customers to benefit from – it all adds up in the end!

That’s why you should continually strive to improve your business in areas regarding customer experience. It’s not enough to just be professional; you’ve got to prove you’re the best business for their purposes, up to and after they’ve gone through the checkout. As such, here are the elements that matter when you’re thinking about refining the service you offer. 

Where They Can Find You

The bigger your online presence, the easier you’re going to be to find. Potential customers and returning customers alike won’t have to go far to see what you’re currently offering, or to find contact details to get straight in touch with you. 

Make sure this element is signposted well on your website; have your phone number or email address plainly available for all to see, and include a link to your social media profiles for easy access there too. 

As the online world gets bigger, try to match this in your own respective size. For example, more and more businesses are using TikTok to bring attention their way, which was unheard of two to three years ago. Match this style and try new things in your marketing to help a customer make their way over without even needing to try. 

The Usability of Your Website

Quality web design really speaks for itself. This is something you should invest in from day one, no matter the size of your budget. When someone has a smooth online experience, that’s what they’re going to expect from every facet of your company here on out. That’s a good impression, and one that’s going to make you a lot of money! 

Routinely test your website to ensure customers are landing where they need to and getting the information they need from you. It’s not just about pushing products in their face, no matter how sales driven you really are. You want them to feel like spending time surfing through all your pages, and a clear understanding of UI and brand expectations will help you to create a website that feels good to use. 

How You Treat Returning Customers

Do you recognise the loyalty in your current customer base? When you start recognising someone’s name on the delivery label, or you’ve taken to chatting to someone because they walk into your store multiple times a week, you should do something to reward them. 

The way you treat returning customers is very important in the current shopping generation. More and more of them have little to no brand loyalty and simply shop wherever is cheapest to do so!

So when you do get someone who comes back time and time again, hand out something to make their efforts worth it. A loyalty card that provides a proper discount, or an exclusive membership card that means they can get something free every time they shop with you. The more you reward this kind of behaviour, the more your generosity is going to market your shop for you. 

The Way Your Employees Act

Your employees are representatives of your business. When they’re on the job, they need to act in the exact way you want them to, give or take a bit of wiggle room. After all, the customer isn’t right every single time!

But outside of these boundaries, how can you ensure that your employees give back to the patrons that have made you a success? It’s all about the training you provide. 

Acting in customer interests, being able to service the checkout with little issue, and making sure to handle customer disputes effectively are three things every employee should know how to do. If they’re the only one on shift, you want to be sure you can trust them to see the sales process through to the end. 

What You Do Differently

What makes you different from the company a street over that offers the exact same service as you? This is the number one question to define your customer experience by. Why should people come to you and not them? If you don’t know how to answer that question, they never will either! 

So, what makes you the better business to come to? This is where your customer experience efforts should answer. You’re simply the better place to be because you do more, and the journey from initial interest to buying a product is smooth and delightful. A customer knows when they’ve ‘got it good’, so don’t be the business that lets them down. 

How You Resolve Issues

When a customer comes to you with a complaint, whether they want to return a product or let you know about an employee’s bad behaviour, how do you respond to them? What action do you take that proves you take these problems seriously, and know how to investigate? 

This is the biggest element of customer service to invest in for the future. When you take the time to make amends, and hand out discipline when it’s truly deserved, you’re going to be recognised for your customer service efforts.

What to Remember About the Sales Journey

Your customers need to have the best time when they’re shopping with your business. That’s going to mean something a little different to everyone who visits your website or walks through your door, but you can still tailor your services to suit the general populace at large. 

To start with, think about your accessibility, your value of loyalty, and the way your staff have been trained. These are the top three elements that make a difference to your customer service, and it’s going to be very clear in resulting reviews if you don’t make an effort for them!

SEO

5 Ways to Make Your Office More Functional and…

If you want your business to find the level of success it needs to thrive, you’ll need to make sure your office is up to scratch and working properly. If it’s not giving you and your team what you need, it’s time to make some changes. This is easier said than done, especially when you’re not quite sure where the problems lie. So, let’s take a look at some of the changes you could make to make things run more smoothly.

Use technology

If you’re finding that some of the issues stem from lack of communication, then it’s time to look into connecting your staff with technology. Teams function better when people are able to work together without having to work too hard to communicate. For example, if two people at the opposite end of the office need to work together, your best bet is to give them the ability to communicate without having to move from their desks. Things like Slack and Basecamp are a great place to start.

Consider external storage

If there’s a lot of equipment and clutter that’s building up in your office then it’s time to consider looking into external storage. By using a self storage contractor, you can make better use of your workspace and be able to move around freely. Not only does it prevent you from accidentally knocking over someone’s belongings, but it means that documents that don’t need to be on site can be stored neatly. So, make sure to use any local self storage options you can find to free up some room.

Create different types of work spaces

You should look into creating different types of work spaces. There should be space for lots of different types of working in the office. For example, you might need an open desk space for meetings so that people can work together without a divider. But, in other instances, you may also want to have closed off spaces for those times your employees need some peace and quiet to hit deadlines.

Divide it into departments

As mentioned earlier, sometimes your team might need to collaborate with another department. If this is something that happens regularly, it might be time to rearrange where people in the office are sitting to different places so that the office makes more sense. If some departments might distract or affect others, you might benefit from getting an office partition to create different work zones that can be used in different ways.

Make sure the environment is optimal

Finally, you need to be doing what you can to make sure the environment is optimal. Making sure that the light and sound levels are properly controlled prevents your employees from becoming distracted. A lack of light can negatively impact your staff’s mood, and too much sound can be counterproductive, not to mention headache inducing. Getting the balance right for both light and sound shouldn’t be overlooked. You may want to take a look at the decor to see if that might be counterproductive to your team. It could really impact the productivity of your team.