Yahoo Small Business Presents: Comprehensive and Strategic Inbound Marketing Services on US Sports Net!

Comprehensive and Strategic Inbound Marketing Services

By: Sanjose Joseph

All types of businesses including small and startup can benefit with inbound strategy services Inbound Marketing Inbound Marketing is a data-driven approach to digital marketing that attracts the individuals and converts them into customers or promoters of your business. It’s a methodology that utilizes pull marketing methods, develop advertising and several promotional strategies to attract more prospects. Inbound marketing services are increasing its popularity in the field of marketing and advertising for the last several years. It has been the most effective marketing method for doing business online since 2006 and has been growing in effectiveness. SEO, PPC, content marketing, blogging services, social media, events and more are some of the forms of inbound marketing that help create brand awareness and enhance business growth. Why Inbound Marketing Agency Need to Perform Marketing Every business whether its small or startup needs to do online marketing to build a strong online presence and also reach hundreds of potential customers online. But if you are looking for a long-term, integrated marketing system to be built for your business that helps your business get found, get leads and also drive-in sales, then an inbound marketing service is a right choice for your needs. Traditional outbound marketing campaigns like cold emails, cold calls, direct mail, and interruptive ads are not as effective as they were earlier. Nowadays, consumers have access to tons of information from the marketers online. So, a well-planned inbound marketing campaign will help you stand out from the competition and gain significant recognition in the market. Inbound marketing is essential for startups and smaller businesses today. 67% of B2B companies rated Inbound Marketing Services as the top priority component of their overall marketing strategy. Companies that can afford a inbound marketing agency see a 45% increase in the volume of sales accepted leads.   Inbound marketing offers a lot of new and effective techniques with numerous benefits that can: Target potential leads Drive-in traffic to your website Promote your long-term business growth Increase brand awareness Build trust and reputation Save your time and money Easily measure your efforts Inbound marketing offers the opportunity to connect with and help your leads succeed with your product. You should start taking advantage today before your potential customers engage with other sales representatives. Inbound Marketing Channels for Best Marketing Campaign There are some inbound marketing channels (paid, earned and owned), and each focuses on not only attracting the customers but also building a relationship with them. If you are looking to improve your inbound marketing results for your business, then try these avenues: Paid channels are used for displaying the content using social media channels (Facebook ads, Twitter ads, Linkedin, Pinterest, etc.), online display ads and banners. Earned media entirely rely on your audience on how they publicize (mention, share, reposts, reviews, etc.) your content on other sites. SEO and brand content drives earned media and traffic to your website. Owned media channels are those channels that you have complete control over the content and call to action on your website, blog, social media channels, mobile site, and emails. How to Setup an Inbound Marketing Strategy Inbound marketing encompasses all the best practices including website optimization, SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, leads generation and more. A deep understanding of inbound marketing practices is essential to the growth and success of your business. Here are some strategies you can employ to optimize your inbound marketing campaign: Define your audience This is the first step of a plan to identify your audience, their thoughts, needs, interests, behaviors, and problems by creating customer personas. Creating blog posts, webinars, crafting email campaigns, discussions and conducting keyword research help you get customer insights and ideas. Create your content strategy Marketers should focus on publishing quality content on different platforms that educate and engages their audiences. The right type of content that helps in generating leads will be shared and promoted. Creating long-form contents (infographics, video, gifs) using right keywords, call to action button and publishing on third-party platforms can be accessed on multiple devices. Choose your media platform Publishing the contents in several media platforms is the best strategy for inbound marketing success. You can use blogging sites or guest blogging, social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest), mobile and interactive email marketing to spread your content. Your brand should work well to create a comprehensive experience for the people on several media platforms and devices they are using. Define lead nurturing plan The lead nurturing process helps to build a relationship with your customers at every stage of the purchase funnel. Track and monitor your client behavior while clicking, sharing, tweeting, downloading, and registering your brand content or product. Content marketing and email marketing (targeted email campaigns) are the best inbound marketing tactics for leads conversion. There is better scope for getting more leads if you create valuable offers like free eBooks download, white papers, landing pages, and webinars. Optimize your Inbound Marketing efforts Evaluate the success of your inbound marketing efforts using several available metrics. You can easily check your campaign’s performance, published articles or blogs, SEO ranking of your website, the number of inbound links, etc. Google analytics helps to track your goals and conversion.Try buzzsumo for content marketing success or use Moz’s open site explorer to measure SEO success on your website and build an online presence. Conclusion: Making Inbound Marketing Strategy in the Right Way For a successful inbound marketing strategy there are various marketing automation tools that you can use to create content, nurture and score leads, and optimize the sales funnel of each customer. If you are a start-up or small business owner who wants success in the digital world, BOOSTrust offers you targeted content and also generate qualified leads to your business. info@boostrust.com https://www.boostrust.com veera_r@competensys.com

Yahoo Small Business Presents: How To Improve The Search Engine Rankings Of Your Blog

By: Tantawi Sagara

Traffic is like a source of life to bloggers, therefore search engine ranking is the thing that give bloggers their source of life; traffic. Bloggers who are interested in reaching a large audience with their blog should consider paying special attention to search engine optimization of their blog. Reaching a large audience may be a priority for a number of different reasons. One of the obvious reasons to attempt to generate increased traffic to a blog is to generate a profit. Bloggers who rely on high blog traffic for their revenue are obviously interested in increasing traffic. However, bloggers who create their blog to promote a cause may also be interested in increasing traffic simply to allow their message to reach a larger audience. Regardless of the reason to want to increase traffic, one of the best ways to do this is by optimizing the blog for search engines. This article I wrote will discuss the importance of search engine rankings and offer tips for optimizing a blog that I learnt.

Why Search Engine Rankings are Important

The importance of high search engine rankings is they can contribute to increased Internet traffic to the blog. This is because Internet users who use search engines to find information on a particular topic are much more likely to visit websites which appear on the first page of the search results than they are to visit websites which appear on subsequent pages of the search results. The websites appearing on the first page of the results are likely to get the most traffic. However, Internet users are not likely to search through more than a page or two of the search results when looking for more information on a particular subject. That's why being at the first and the second is already a big difference.

Get 25% off Web Hosting using code HOSTING25 at Yahoo Small Business

High search engine rankings essentially act as free advertisement for a blog or website. This is because many website users rely on popular search engines to assist them in finding useful information on the Internet. The search engines apply complex algorithms to evaluate websites and rank them accordingly for specific search terms. As a result Internet users put a great deal of value on the search results produced and trust these results to lead them to the best available websites relevant to the keywords they specified in the search.

Tips for Optimizing a Blog for Search Engines

One of the most common ways to optimize a blog or website for search engines is through the use of relevant keywords. Specifically the practice of applying specific keyword densities to the content of the blog is a common search engine optimization tactic employed. Blog owners and others who attempt to optimize their websites do not always agree on the optimal density for keywords but many believe a percentage of approximately 2%-3% is appropriate.

Another method for optimizing a search engine optimization is to place relevant keywords into the code of the website. This includes the title tags and META tags. This is important because search engines often consider the prominence of keywords when evaluating a website. This refers to the location in which the keywords first appear. Placing keywords early in the content of the website is helpful but it is important to note the search engines view the code first so keywords appearing before the body of the blog will be crawled first by the search engines.

Yahoo Small Business-Managing Legal Issues for a Small Business

By Laura Sherman | Small Business

---

Whether you run a small, medium or large business, you will undoubtedly need to handle various legal issues. Some tasks you can do on your own, while others really require a lawyer. As a general rule of thumb, the larger your company, the more employees you have, the greater your need will be to hire an attorney.When and how to hire a lawyer
The first thing to determine is if you really need an attorney. They cost hundreds of dollars per hour, so if you’re anything like me, you’d like to avoid that expense. Of course, while you can ask an attorney to handle many legal aspects of your business, there are a number of legal tasks you can handle yourself, with a little research. Some examples are:

• Establishing a basic business structure.
• Applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN).
• Submitting IRS forms.
• Obtaining a domain name for your company.

It goes without saying that anything involving a lawsuit will probably require a lawyer. Avoid that at all costs by setting things up properly from the start. It’s a good plan to build a relationship with a lawyer when you set up a new company, before you’re in desperate need.
Cliff Ennico, attorney and author of Small Business Survival Guide succinctly and accurately states, “If you’re being sued, it’s too late.” He goes on to advise that once you’re in the court system it’s hard and expensive to get out.
When you decide that you need a lawyer, interview a few to find the right match. Create a list of questions ahead of time, so you don’t get tongue-tied during the interview.
It’s a good idea to find an experienced lawyer, who has connections to other lawyers who might help out if a need arises. Make sure to hire a lawyer who knows your industry well and has other clients in that arena. Having said that, avoid one that represents any fierce competitors.
While your list of questions are important, it’s also good to gauge his or her communication skills. A good lawyer must be able to explain complex legal issues in an easy to understand way, helping you to prevent problems before they happen through education.
Start-up
One key legal decision you’ll need to make before you start is which business structure is best for your needs. You can establish an LLC, S or C corporation yourself if you do a little research. Or you can hire an attorney to help you set it up. They usually charge a one-time fee.
There are various advantages and disadvantages to each option, so make sure to do your homework before settling on a structure. For instance, while a sole proprietorship is inexpensive and easy to set up, you’ll be personally liable for all debts and lawsuits. On the flip side, with an LLC, you are protected if someone sues you, but there are fees involved and the paperwork can be confusing.
When starting up a new company, make sure to determine permits and licenses you might need. Don’t forget to consider any zoning regulations that might apply as well.
Contracts
As a business owner, you will probably need a variety of contracts. It’s wise to hire a lawyer to help you create these, so you are well protected. Some common contracts you might need would be:

• A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• A partnership agreement
• An independent contractor contract
• A client contract

The NDA is something you need if you have any sort of proprietary information that you plan to share with anyone. Examples might include the content for a book you’re hiring an independent ghostwriter to pen, or your database of client information you plan to share with employees. Along those lines, you might consider asking your employees to sign a non-compete agreement as well, ensuring they can’t try to steal your clients.
You’ll need a good partnership agreement if you plan to run your business with someone else, even if that person is your best friend. Every single aspect of your arrangement needs to be put in writing. A few examples would be:

• What each person does and what they each should contribute.
• Who gets paid what amount of the profits.
• How decisions are made
• How disagreements are settled.
• What happens if the partnership dissolves.

If you plan to outsource to independent contractors, you’ll need a good Work for Hire contract template. You will need to customize one for each job and contractor, depending on the service required, but having that template will save time later.
Client contracts need to be complete and clear, but not overwhelmingly long and complex. It’s a fine line. Do your best to negate any warranties your client might naturally expect and be sure to include a section requiring arbitration if a dispute arises.

Hiring your first employee
If you plan to hire full-time employees, you’ll need to research and comply with state and federal regulations. Of course, if you only need to hire independent contractors, you don’t need to go through the following steps. It’s important to know the difference, so that you handle their employment taxes appropriately.
When hiring employees, you’ll need to apply for an employment identification number (EIN), so you can file reports to your state agencies and pay taxes.
Next you’ll need a system for recording all the employment taxes you withhold. You need to save this data for at least four years. These records will help you in the future to monitor your progress and keep track of expenses you can deduct later. You will need to file the IRS Form 941 quarterly, so each employee is credited with the taxes that were withheld from their paycheck.
Have each employee fill out an I-9 form, verifying their eligibility to work legally in the United States, within three days of their hire. As their employer, you must keep this I-9 form on file for at least three years after the hire or, if you fire them, for one year following that event.
You will then need to report your new employee to your state directory. To get a list of New Hire Reporting Centers check out this list of state agencies: https://www.sba.gov/content/new-hire-reporting-your-state
And finally, you’ll need to carry workers’ compensation insurance and place posters in the workplace, informing the employees of their rights in this area.
As a new business owner, it’s important to keep on top of all your basic legal concerns from the get-go. It might be tempting to push them off until later, but you’ll find your company will run smoother if things are set up correctly from the start.
As Ben Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” References:
https://www.sba.gov/blogs/top-legal-concerns-impact-small-businesses-and-where-find-answers
http://www.businessdictionary.com/article/538/common-legal-issues-faced-by-businesses/
http://www.alllaw.com/articles/legal/article15.asp
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aileron/2014/07/02/top-10-legal-mistakes-small-businesses-make/
https://www.sba.gov/content/hire-your-first-employee
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/58326
https://www.sba.gov/content/hire-contractor-or-employee
http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/small-business-make-a-contract.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/small-business/business-forms
http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/business-lawyer-resources/when-do-i-need-a-business-lawyer-for-my-small-business.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/10/03/big-legal-mistakes-made-by-start-ups/

Yahoo Small Business-Tips Every Business Website Builder Should Know

By | Small Business

---

Equal parts art and science, establishing a business website requires a careful blend of esthetics, psychology and common sense. Happily, a good business website builder like the one provided by Yahoo Small Business takes all those factors into consideration. However, platforms such as these also give you the freedom to customize your website as you see fit. With that in mind, here are some tips every business website builder should know.

Get to Know Your Ideal Customer

Whatever your business, the design and functioning of your site should be predicated upon the answer to the following two questions: “Who is my ideal customer and what do they want?” You can then design your site specifically to appeal to that person, virtually guaranteeing your efforts will resonate with them.
If you’re selling clothes to teenagers, the tone of your site should be markedly different than if you’re pitching municipal infrastructure support. This might seem obvious, but too many business owners miss it.

Quality Is an Important Consideration

If you’re just starting out, rather than getting caught up in a lot of different functionalities that add complexity and expense to the project, focus on the basics and make them as good as they can possibly be. Compress images to ensure faster load times (less than three seconds is preferable). Employ responsive design so your site will display and perform optimally in a mobile environment. In other words, do everything you can to be certain each visitor’s experience on your site is both pleasant and informative. 


Website Builder - Easily create a beautiful, mobile friendly website for as little as $7/mo!

Pictures Speak Volumes

Whatever you’re representing, find a way to competently depict it in pictures. Use high-quality photographs and label them so search engines can find them. Original images are always preferred—if your budget permits. When you’re dealing with a complicated topic, video is a strong ally in your quest to inform. If yours is a service-oriented or professional enterprise, use photos of your actual associates and employees to add legitimacy to the presentation. Your goal here is to help potential customers envision themselves interacting with your offerings in a positive manner.

Calls to Action Should be Hearty & Visible

A basic axiom in sales is “always be closing”. Every aspect of your site should be designed to promote your products or services. In other words, it should always be closing. Robust calls to action are of tremendous help in this regard. Offer visitors incentives for taking the desired action and encourage them with language such as: “Get $100 in gifts for booking your free consultation now!” Calls to action should be featured prominently, so your users won’t have to hunt around for them.
Keeping these tips every business website builder should know in mind when you design your site will give you the best shot at attracting a strong customer base. However, while the process is indeed equal parts art and science, it doesn’t have to be rocket science. Let Yahoo Small Business help you get started today with a free consultation!

If Hard-to-Get Loans Are the Problem, Who’s to Blame?

BY ADRIENNE BURKE | SMALL BUSINESS

---

Yahoo Aabaco Small Business Web Hosting - Build a great web site with our easy-to-use tools

Who’s to blame for the slowdown in startups? Recent research shows entrepreneurship is stagnating, and a Senate hearing explored the consequences of an America without entrepreneurs.

A bank CEO points a finger at the Small Business Administration. Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, M&T Bank CEO Robert Wilmers says that the U.S. agency tasked with helping small firms has “deviated from its core mission.”

Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data that show the pace of new business formation is at its lowest in more than two decades, Wilmers says that “half as many small businesses receive loans from the agency’s 7(a) loan-guaranty programs today as did before the recession” and that SBA’s own records “reveal these loans support only two-thirds as many jobs as they did in 2007.”

Part of the problem is 528 pages of regulations that “make it difficult for smaller banks to participate in SBA’s loan programs,” and have contributed to “a 13% reduction in bank participation since 2012,” he says. Also, alternative lenders are on the rise.

Kabbage, Lending Club, Dealstruck, and SnapCap are among the expanding breed of non-bank lenders that offer higher-interest-rate loans online to business owners with fewer regulations than banks. Wilmers suggests that traditional banks like his are more reliable and knowledgeable when it comes to serving local businesses, and better equipped to make loans that suit a community’s needs. “Credit well-extended helps create viable small businesses, which means new jobs, filled by people who buy homes and cars, shop for groceries and clothing, go to movies and museums, pay taxes and give to charities,” Wilmers writes.

To fuel entrepreneurship, he says, the government should re-focus the SBA on lending through community banks.

Predictably, readers of the business publication tend to disagree. “We need dramatically less government, not ‘better’ government,” was the sentiment shared by one commenter and echoed by 30 others. Many complained about the lengthy and costly SBA loan application process, too.

Only one commenter, Natalie Jocovic, praised SBA’s work making loans to businesses through banks: She is an executive with SmartBiz, an online platform designed to streamline the SBA application process. “Online platforms are partnering with the SBA and virtualizing what happens when a small business owner walks into a bank,” she wrote. “With smaller loan sizes, a streamlined, dynamic online application, and stellar customer service, fintech startups like SmartBiz are delivering nicely on the SBA’s promise to help SMBs and add jobs. In fact, the companies that have received SBA funding through our platform planned to retain or add more than 10,000 jobs to the economy as a result of their loans.”

Could the banks, not the SBA, be the problem?

Easy On The Eyes: Building A Better Ecommerce Site

BY | SMALL BUSINESS

---

If ever the old saying “You only get one chance to make a good first impression” was relevant, it’s in ecommerce. Online shoppers are judgmental regarding the look of a website; and they should be! Site design offers important clues about the veracity of a seller. Thus, the best ecommerce platform will always consider design.

Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep

You can have the most wondrous products ever created. But if you can’t get shoppers to stomach looking at your site for more than 50 milliseconds, they will never know. Studies have shown this is the amount of time it takes for a user to decide if they like a website. This determination is based on a number of factors.

Chief among them are:

1. 1. Colors
2. 2. Symmetry
3. 3. Type Style
4. 4. Amount of Copy

You’ll have an excellent chance of holding a user’s attention if you focus your design choices around those elements.

Smart Color Choices

Color and emotional response are closely related. For example, red attracts attention, generates excitement, and is symbolic of love, warmth, life, and blood. Green triggers thoughts of balance, action, good taste, health, money and harmony. Blue signifies honesty, quality, competence, loyalty, trust, and reliability.

Deeply saturated colors imply wealth and sophistication, while bright and simple colors are often related to children. Pastels tend to appeal to women, while darker colors attract men. Making color choices based upon the characteristics of your primary audience will increase the appeal of your site. You can seldom go wrong with white for backgrounds. Products and black type stand out well against it. That said, you can also make a powerful statement with white text and colorful images on a black background. Whatever you do though, avoid employing more than three main colors in your design.

Harmonious Arrangement of Elements

An organized design pleases the eye. Arranging elements on a page so viewers are led in a logical fashion soothes them. Further, thoughtful menu design improves navigability. Checkout buttons, search functions, calls to action and shopping carts should be readily visible and in accord with the overall design. Meanwhile, crisp logos, photography and familiar social icons infer professionalism.

Easily Discernible Type Styles

Rendering body copy in a simple, easily decipherable font is paramount to your success. It’s OK to go frilly with your name or logo, but product descriptions should be easy on the eyes. People will not struggle to read them. Instead, they will move on to a more accommodating site.

Optimal Copy Density

A delicate balance must be struck here. You want to supply enough information to answer questions. However, you have to avoid paralyzing the reader with too much. A good way to approach this is to provide strong bullet points on the product’s landing page. Include a call to action button, along with the option to click to a product page with in-depth information. This satisfies the customer who wants to make the purchase right away; while providing an option for more information for the customer doing research.

Smart design decisions such as these will keep users on your site longer, inspire trust and lead them to convert. Building a better shopping site is easy if you use the best ecommerce platform.

Happily, the best ecommerce platform templates, such as those by Yahoo Small Business already take these details into consideration. Check them out today!