How to Deal With Debt By Doing Business Marketing Smartly?

Published on: 04 June 2018 Last Updated on: 03 September 2024

Small businesses and startups often find it much easier to borrow the lion’s share of their capital. Finding an investor is never completely off the table, but it is not an easy task to do. It is much easier to find lending organizations, who are ready to test out the abilities of the new entrepreneurs to multiply their monies.

Very soon, a time arises when the creditors expect at least a part of their invested money back. Now, this is a time most entrepreneurs know will come, but none are ready to face. It is almost always “too early” or “too sudden.”

Online marking, when you are already in massive debt?

Gaining momentum for a new business not only takes time and effort, but it also takes some serious marketing skills. By marketing, we do not mean TVCs, hoardings, and pamphlets. Those are ancient forms of advertising that no one even notices anymore. If you are in such a situation, what you need is a stable dose of online marketing that will make you visible to your target audience.

Here comes the biggest conundrum in the world. When a business is already nose-deep in debt, can it afford to plunge further in by going in for online marketing? That entirely depends on your perspective of online marketing. Your contenders and contemporaries may think online marketing to be an added expense, but you know what almost 71% of the US population is already online and looking for businesses like you. So, would you deem online marketing as an added expense or a smart investment?

You need a website first :

website

The first step of online marketing is getting your own presence established online. It means an excellent site. By nice, we mean something that’s functional, professional, SEO optimized, and capable of attracting and converting traffic. It should represent your selling theme, services, and products perfectly.

Building a website is no easy feat. You may have the enthusiasm to build a website from scratch, but not all entrepreneurs can have the coding skills and analytical skills needed to construct a working business website. Building a website from scratch can take up a lot of time, and it takes a lot of algorithms to perfect the buying and payment process. Either you can opt for DIY website builders like WordPress or Joomla, or you can surely approach a professional website builder.

A professional website builder will again cost you a few bucks. If you are thinking of building a PHP based website from scratch, it will also take considerable amounts of time. Now, this is not going to be cheap for your business. Therefore, it is not uncommon for entrepreneurs to wonder if going for online marketing is the best way to a debt solution.

The inspiration you need :

So, let us tell you a real-life success story. Initially a nobody, Rank Fishkin started out with his own tech startup and went plummeting into a $500,000 personal debt. From there he is now the owner of the world’s largest SEO, social media, and content marketing website Moz that is netting about $40 million in revenue for the last seven years. That is a success story better than any fairy tale you will ever hear. Was it easy? Did it involve magic spells? No! It required endless hours of smart digital marketing strategies and intelligent investment moves.

The moral of the story is: just because you are nose deep in debt, does not mean you can invest in something new. Digital marketing and social media marketing are the new ways to reintroduce your brand to a new world of potential buyers. People are waiting out there right now to hear from you about your products and services.

How to find them?

Finding the right people at the right time is the only “magic” you need to perform. You will need a few social media listening tools like HootSuite, Buffer, and Social Sprout. These offer a few free services. Their premium services cost less than a Grande. Of course, you will need to work on your social media account before you start listening to what people are saying about your brand online! So get started. Create a professional Facebook page, Twitter account, and at least an Instagram page. You need to post daily. Sometimes twice a day. Engage in regular conversations with your customers. Stay visible and exciting.

If you ever run out of original content, do not shy away from asking your followers for some. Do it tactfully. Introduce new photo contests, quizzes, and polls with attractive rewards. That is the way to create user-generated content. It is the most efficient way to keep your page and wall filled with meaningful content every minute of staying online.

Investing is not the problem, not spending in the right places is :

Online marketing is an investment in every way possible. It is like putting a bait to catch the bigger fish. Using the right keywords in your product descriptions, doctoring your URL to suit the liking of the bots, and including image tags to become visible during Google image searches are all parts of that investment. Still, you may want to consult your personal financial advisor before you take the plunge. You need to be in touch with your financial reality before you can make new investments. Your financial advisor or your debt counselor should help you in understanding the debt program’s details. Your current debt program may have reservations about making new investments or certain kinds of investments unless you pay off a certain fraction of the amount you have borrowed.

Most businesses end up in a fiscal dead-end due to ignorance and bad decision-making, rather than investing in new marketing. We have seen companies drown because they were not adventurous enough and they have always played safe. In 2017, online marketing is not a luxury or an option. It is a compulsion you need to embrace before your competitors take away all your potential clients. Making yourself more visible on the internet will get you more sales and profit. It will help you make more money and pay off your debts faster than usual.

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Never Launch An E-commerce Platform Without Testing – Here Is Why

In simple words, without sounding too nerdy, let us try to look at what performance testing is. Performance Testing is the process of rigorously testing all the tech and digital components of an E-commerce business. This includes the desktop version of the platform and mobile app testing. The key is to look at and analyze how the entire tech and digital ecosystem operates. Especially when exposed to real-world use. Imagine hundreds of people using the E-commerce platform app at the same time. The questions that then arise are- Is the server able to handle the heavy load of all the traffic using the mobile app at the same time? Is there a lag or breakdown that any of the users are experiencing or is there a UI and UX compromise under stress? What are some of the benchmarks and standards that one should use to judge speed and whether the platform is exposing some bottlenecks? Performance Testing is more than just looking at loading page speeds. It seeks to test each aspect of the E-commerce platform and suggest the perfect optimization for the same. Important Things To Consider During Performance Testing For E-commerce: In this section, we request experts at QA Madness to help us. Specifically, to list some important things that should be considered during performance testing. 1. Testing Financial Transactions One area where things can go wrong is in financial transactions. With so many people using the same platform at the same time, testing becomes necessary. You need to test to ensure that every transaction is going through. Integrations with Payment Gateways, the ERP, and Inventory Management Software are all areas that should be covered under this software testing services. 2. Checking The Mobile App Exhaustively Mobile app testing perhaps constitutes one of the most important verticals for Performance Testing. How does the app perform? Is it SEO friendly? Is there a compromise in the graphics? These are the common issues that mobile app testing will help resolve. In addition to the app, the mobile version of the E-commerce platform’s website also needs to be tested rigorously. 3. Region-Based Testing For Different Geographies- If you are starting an e-commerce business, you are looking at a truly global audience. This is why you need to make sure that the internet protocols of the different countries are not interfering with how the customers in those countries are engaging with your platform. Changed domain URLs, IP addresses, and other rules and regulations need to be considered. 4. Data Management Testing Any successful E-commerce ecosystem is incomplete without integrated data management. For an E-commerce platform, data is the lifeblood that helps all its verticals- marketing, sales, and CRM. Performance Testing needs to ensure that the data collection, cloud storage solutions, and the final outputs are ready for systematic generation. The Three KPIs Of Performance Testing As Stated By QA Madness- While there can be multiple KPIs that software testing services can help E-commerce brands with, QA Madness states that the following are the three major ones. They refer to the same as the three ‘S’s of their Performance Testing goals. A. Speed When it comes to speed, we are referring to the speed of the website, the mobile version of the web, and the mobile application. It also includes the speed with which users are progressing from one page to another on the app and the website. The higher the speed, the better will be the user experience. This combines to deliver the best sales and revenues for an E-commerce platform. B. Scalability You do not want your website and app infrastructure to be so weak that it crashes only after a hundred visitors. You're E-commerce website and the app must go under a test for scalability to handle massive loads all at the same time. This will help you provide a fluid experience to millions of users and potential customers all at the same time without compromises. C. Stability A lot can go wrong on an E-commerce website when it is put under stress. Graphics can fall out of place and payment gateways can collapse. You never want the users to experience these problems on your platform. An E-commerce platform needs to be stable all the time, with or without load. Performance Testing seeks to build the stability of an E-commerce platform. What Do Experts Have To Say? There is no set rule as to when an E-commerce platform should go for Performance Testing. Some believe that it should be done at the early stages of development. Others believe that it should be done once the development of the platform is complete to identify the loopholes and then plug them in accordingly. No matter when you get them done, Performance Testing is essential for your E-commerce platform. If you want to create a highly optimized and result-oriented business, this is a great investment to make. If you have any other questions on software testing services or mobile app testing, feel free to ask them. Use the comments section to drop your queries. We will once again request or reach out to our friends at QA Madness to help you out. What Happens With A Lack Of Thorough Test? Not performing performance testing for an E-commerce platform can get you in a lot of trouble. Your site is live; suddenly, hundreds or thousands of people have started using it! What could possibly go wrong?- Well, without performance testing, things will go downhill really quickly. So, let’s see what could happen when not to perform performance testing. Crashes And Slowdowns If your E-commerce platform hasn’t been tested for scalability, it could easily crash when too many users try to access it. A slow website or app not only frustrates users but also drives them away. No one likes waiting for pages to load, especially when they’re trying to make a purchase. The result? A major drop in sales and a tarnished reputation. Failed Transactions Think of users wanting to purchase an item and their transactions fail. Users will not be ready to trust your platform anymore. This is why performance testing is important as it ensures that all financial transactions are smooth on your site even when there is heavy traffic. Poor User Experience Have you ever been on an app or website that lags, has images that don’t fit, or feels unresponsive? It’s not fun. The UI/UX of your platform can feel the same way without performance testing. This gives a very unprofessional impression and will make people leave your site out of frustration (high bounce rate). Increased Costs Skipping testing might appear to be a good way to keep some money in your pocket, however it will actually cost you more in the end. If your site crashes during a big sale or promotion, the time and expense of getting those issues fixed after the fact will likely be substantial. Plus, if your site is down for any longer period of time, you’ll be losing out on all that potential income. Safety Not Guaranteed! No matter what app you’re building, you’re likely going to be handling some sort of user data. Whether it’s a login and password or more sensitive financial or health information, users need to know they can trust you with that data. What About The User's Interest Finally, one of the most significant risks is losing users’ trust. If your platform crashes, slows down, or declines a transaction, for instance, and that happens to some users, they will probably never come back. Even if you fix everything afterward! When people’s trust is broken, it’s very hard to be rebuilt! 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The Ultimate Guide To Guest Posting: Scale Your Business In 2022

If you are a savvy blogger, you are most probably aware of guest posting. But why is guest posting important for your business? The concept of guest posting is quite simple - You write articles for another blog that you don’t own. Guest posting is a mutual relationship between bloggers and the owners of the website. Both get the benefits of a guest posting. Guest posting is a new opportunity for both bloggers and website owners. They are exposed to a wider pool of audiences and get new traffic from the web. Due to its several benefits, today, online startups and established businesses use guest posting to reach new audiences. However, if you are a startup owner, not familiar with the whole guest posting concept, and looking for sites that accept guest posts, you are at the right place. Today, I am going to tell you how you can use guest posting to scale your business in 2022. Best Strategy For Guest Posting At Scale In 2022 We are already at the end of the year. The year 2021 has been a tough year for businesses. The businesses that survived the first post-pandemic year are expecting great things from the year 2022. This expectation has really burdened the guest posting strategies. Market experts believe that if the businesses want to take their game higher, guest posting might play a key role. Guest posting is a tried and tested method for attracting new yet relevant audiences. It can help your business establish itself as a market expert and present itself as an authoritative figure. Step 1: Start With Setting Your Goals The first step towards creating an effective guest posting strategy is to outline your goals. Having goals will ensure that you are walking on the right path. Ask yourself: Why are you planning this campaign? How will this campaign affect your business? Your answer to these questions will help you determine your goals and make things clear for you about the objective of the guest posting campaign. Step 2: Look For Prospective Sites Creating a guest posting strategy means that you first need to find a platform you can contribute to. This step is crucial as you cannot just post your content on any website. It is imperative that you post your blogs on websites that matter the most to you and are relevant to your niche and industry: Here are a few criteria that should be met while selecting websites. Relevant niche. Huge social media following. DA of at least 40. Keeping your search filtered to these key points will ensure you high-quality, relevant websites for guest posting. Step 3: Make Your Pitch Once you have listed down the website, you want to write for. The next thing is to make a comprehensive and convincing pitch. This is where you will be selling your content idea to the site owner via mail. Do not go for generic pitches; they do not stand out. Furthermore, the website owner will show no interest as he receives hundreds of pitches every day. Here is what your pitch should contain. Introduce yourself and showcase your area of expertise. Show appreciation for the post published on the website. Tell them about your goals. Present your idea. You can even add a brief outline of your idea along with the mail. Step 4: Craft Your Content If your pitch is accepted, it is time to craft your content. Now, what most people do - they think, as this is not their website, giving any content will do. However, that is not the case. Remember, guest posting is a mutual relationship. If your content is of poor quality, it will not perform on the website. Hence, your purpose of guest posting will stand void. Always focus on quality content, as this content will become your advocate. If the content is of high quality, readers would want to know about the author and will trace you back to your website. Step 5: Write An Interesting Author Bio As we have already said, people check the author bio of the writer who creates high-quality content. Hence, it is important that you write an appealing author bio for yourself. An author bio is the only place to directly market yourself, talk about your skills, and even add links back to your website. However, while writing an author bio, don’t make it too long. Just keep it enough that the readers know the kind of person you are. Step 6: Promote Your Content After your guest post is accepted and published on the site, you need to promote your post. This ensures that your content reaches as many people as possible. Here is a cool trick you can use to promote your content. Ta or Mention the site while sharing or writing your content. Step 7: Keep Track Your work is not complete after the guest post is published. In fact, you are just halfway through. One of the advantages of guest posting strategies is that they are scalable. That means, if you can enhance their performances, you can easily scale up your reach. Once your content goes live, make sure to go through the comments. See what readers feel about the content and respond to their comments. Actively engaging with the readers creates a good reputation in the industry and makes the reader feel that their words are taken care of. Guest Posting Is A Communication Exercise You must see guest posting as a communication exercise that needs practice. You will have to accept the fact that even after trying and following all the best practices, you are bound to make mistakes or might not get the results you desire. Making mistakes doesn't mean the end of your effort. Instead, come out with experiences and pitch again—this time ensuring that you do not repeat the same mistake. Like a communication exercise where you talk more instead of thinking, the same thing stands true in guest posting. The more you pitch and connect with the other bloggers in guest posting, the better you would become. 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The 4 Essential Marketing Strategies To Help Boost Any Small Business’s Revenue

When your small business needs to bolster its revenue, you may want to revamp your marketing strategy. Although you may not think that your approach to marketing can have a dramatic effect on your bottom line, the truth is that good advertising can help attract new customers, make new sales, and even improve the company’s reputation within the industry over time. Small businesses should look to aggressively pursue digital marketing strategies to ensure a strong online presence. With search engines and social media becoming the most important platforms for reaching new customers, building visibility, and driving sales. Effective digital marketing strategies like SEO, SMM, PPC, and Content Marketing can generate revenues and profits for a small business. However, settling on an effective marketing strategy can seem difficult, especially if you’re a new small business owner. Fortunately, there are four essential strategies that can help any business expand its efforts, gain name recognition, and eventually boost revenue as well. Check out the top options you should consider adopting for your own small business. 1. Writing and Posting Tailor-Made Company Content Whether you’d prefer to write your content yourself, hire the best content writing services out there to help with writing and editing, or hire a new staff member to handle content matters, writing and regularly posting tailor-made company content is one of the top ways to take your marketing strategy to the next level today. A company blog, website, or social media channels can allow your customers to get to know your business better anytime, anywhere. Moreover, having a business book increases business value and it can open doors to numerous off-shoot opportunities for reach and sales. This strategy not only allows you to put out marketing materials on a low budget, but it can also help you: Keep readers updated on news in the company Improve SEO efforts to get additional website clicks Demonstrate professional expertise Hone and strengthen a distinctive, professional brand voice 2. Expanding Advertising Across Numerous Digital Channels If you’re still stuck advertising on a single channel, such as print media, now is the time to consider expanding your marketing horizons. Using social media for business purposes is one modern trend that can help your company reach out to large numbers of consumers at once. If you don’t have profiles set up already, you may want to look into starting company pages on: Instagram LinkedIn Facebook YouTube Twitter 3. Crafting Highly Creative and Strategic Print Advertisements Are your ads exciting to consumers, or are they coming off as generic and stale? If your print advertisements are a little on the boring side, you may have a hard time seeing a strong return on investment. That’s why it’s crucial to craft creative and strategic print ads that grab customers’ attention. For instance, you may want to consider: Advertising in the magazines your customers are most likely to read Strategically placing ads in highly circulated local newspapers Expanding a marketing campaign across multiple print channels, potentially even including highway billboards 4. Boosting Word-of-Mouth Advertising Among Longtime and Loyal Customers Finally, don’t discount the effectiveness of word-of-mouth advertising. If you have a strong base of longtime, loyal customers already, you may be able to lean on them to get the word out about your business. This strategy could help boost overall revenue while generally offering: Low to no financial burden Organic marketing An expanded base of trusting customers In order for any small business to survive and thrive, having strong revenue month after month is essential. However, if you don’t currently have a great marketing strategy in place, you may struggle to maintain current customers, attract new ones and gain name recognition within your industry. Thankfully, there are numerous tried-and-true marketing ideas that can help any small business gain a foothold in its sector and eventually boost the bottom line. If your company needs some financial help and you’re looking to revamp your approach to marketing, try posting tailor-made company content, advertising across several types of channels, crafting creative print advertisements, and boosting word-of-mouth advertising. These approaches can help you reach more consumers and possibly even improve your revenue streams over time. Read Also: Which Marketing Mix Element Deals Specifically With Retailing And Marketing Channel Management? The 7 Most Common Email Marketing Mistakes Content Marketing Mistakes You Shouldn’t Be Making Digital Marketing Classes: What You Need To Know

How to Deal With Debt By Doing Business Marketing Smartly?