In business, communication is everything and as we move towards the rollout of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), digital communication solutions are now available for the forward-thinking business owner. Today’s call centre uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions to handle all of their client’s business calls and remotely located receptionists handle all incoming calls, which are answered by a qualified telephone receptionist and what’s more, the provider guarantees that every call will be answered within 5 seconds.

Virtual Receptionist Services

This is the ultimate package for every small business and rather than directly employing a receptionist to handle incoming calls, you simply outsource to a call centre. If you have a specific greeting that you would like the receptionist to use when answering your calls, they can be fully briefed and will work to your script. Simply put, the remotely located receptionist will do everything a resident employee would and the caller would be unaware of this background connection. Calls can be forwarded to any landline or mobile number, plus they offer a message-taking service, should it be required. You will never miss an important call again and with professional call handling, you are projecting the right image. While we did use analogue systems, today’s call centre technology is much improved, with VoIP applications that provide crystal clear connections across all platforms.

Essential Business Support

Many businesses offer their customers 24/7 support and it is very expensive to cover this if you use your own employees, whereas the call centre is running 24/7, meaning they can cover the calls with ease and it is a lot cheaper. If, for example, a company has several mobile teams that offer customer support, the remotely located receptionist can pass on information to send the team to their next service location, thus ensuring a rapid response, something the customer will appreciate. If you are not technically minded, hiring an IT consultant could prove to be very useful.

Seamless Connection

Whether the regular telephone, a VoIP platform or indeed any other digital application, calls can either be answered, or forwarded to the relevant people. The call handler is very flexible regarding their services and you only pay for the services you use, while there are no long-term contracts to bind you.

Live Chat

Many businesses use a system that automatically connects a site visitor to a chat window, where a staff member can help with an enquiry and this is something the call centre can handle, guaranteeing that every time a potential customer makes an enquiry, it is professionally handled by a receptionist.

Cover Staff Holidays

You may already have a permanent receptionist who does a million and one jobs and is indispensable, yet when she has her annual leave, you can use the call centre temporarily until she is back at work after recharging her batteries.

If you are planning to run a TV advertising campaign and are expecting a healthy response, you can have the call centre handle all the calls, providing you with qualified leads and with seasonal surges, the call centre is always ready to handle any volume of calls.

Has your online company ever had an SEO audit? Statistics show that about 81% of Australians in 2019 have shopped online, according to Web Alive. If you own or manage an Australian company, it needs to have an online presence and use search engine optimization. Meanwhile, SEO Sydney services might help to boost your company’s Google search rankings. When considering an SEO audit here are some key benefits you can get:

Free Audit

While not all SEO companies offer this feature, it’s certainly a perk worth considering. One of the main reasons is these audits can sometimes be worth hundreds or thousands of Australian dollars. It’s just the first step in optimizing your company’s SEO but is certainly a critical one since your company can’t fix SEO problems it hasn’t identified.

It’s important for your business to know the basics of search engines. Meanwhile, SEO specialists can help your company’s website boost its rankings on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). A free audit is an effective start of this process.

No obligation

Some SEO audits offer an SEO audit that’s not only free but also requires no obligations. This provides your business with useful information about how it can optimize SEO. You might decide to sign up for the company’s SEO services.

Meanwhile, if it’s a no-obligation audit, you won’t have to make any financial commitments. What’s most critical is to know the pros and cons of your existing SEO strategy.

SEO Specialists

When you have an SEO audit conducted, you can find companies with a massive amount of experience, in optimizing sites for higher SERP rankings.

In 2013 Google’s “Hummingbird” algorithm changes were one of the most significant ones in the tech giant’s history. Thus, a company with about a decade of industry experience will likely provide more effective services than a startup SEO company, for example.

SEO Plus

Some companies’ website audits cover more areas besides SEO. This can include social media presence and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Both are critical factors for optimizing your website’s performance.

Today nearly 65% of Australians are active Facebook users, according to Stat Counter. It’s the world’s largest social platform, so it’s important to gauge your company’s presence on the social network.

Meanwhile, PPC requires higher average costs than SEO and effective long-term investment in terms of online marketing. Thus, it’s important for a website audit, to include an evaluation of your company’s PPC performance. In fact, if your company isn’t using PPC, an SEO specialist can also propose a strategy to use this powerful marketing tool for driving web traffic to your site.    

Improved Content  

Today it’s not enough for websites to have content or even lots of it. It’s quality content that will ultimately provide higher SERP rankings in the long-term. SEO specialists can use the website audit to review your company’s content. It can then determine strengths and weaknesses. In short, your company should be providing content that visitors are looking for.

Conversion Rates

This is one of the most important statistics for e-commerce companies. One of the goals of SEO is to boost web traffic to your site. However, it’s also important to increase how much visitors navigate your site. The ultimate goal is to have a higher ratio of buyers to visitors.  

If your company wants to boost SEO performance, then an audit by SEO Sydney services can help. It can evaluate and improve your site in terms of SEO, content, conversion rates, and so on. In some cases, the audits are also free and no-obligation, so literally, you have nothing to lose.

Author Bio: Alison Lurie is a farmer of words in the field of creativity. She is an experienced independent content writer with a demonstrated history of working in the writing and editing industry.  She is a multi-niche content chef who loves cooking new things.

There are so many working hours in a day, so it’s important to ensure your employees are making the most of their time. There’s nothing more important to your small business than your employees, so if your employees are happy, production will increase.

In most situations all it takes is a few small changes to significantly improve the efficiency and productivity in your business. Here are a few tips to help get quality work, while improving productivity.

Limit Distractions

Social media is a big issue in many small businesses and it’s a leading cause of poor productivity. Unfortunately, it’s not always feasible to have a no-phone policy in the workplace. A solution is to encourage your employees to turn their phones off while working, but allow for regular breaks so they are able to check their phones.

This will help to prevent time spent on social media, ensure more production while they are at their work station and keep employees focused, while still giving them time to check their phones.

Provide the Right Tools and Equipment

Whether it’s software testing or a fast printing device, providing your employees with the proper tools and equipment is essential for them to perform required duties efficiently and timely.

For instance, there’s nothing worse than time that is being wasted because employees have to wait for contracts and other paperwork to print from a slow printer. High quality, up-to-date equipment and programs can make a significant difference in employee productivity. An example of this is having a contract repository system. This tool can improve the way contracts are stored. It creates wider benefits at a high level across the business and for individuals in their day-to-day roles.

Provide Good Workplace Conditions

A working environment that is too cold or too hot can cause employees to focus more on regulating their comfort than focusing on productivity, so make sure the work spaces have a comfortable temperature.

It’s also important to make sure work spaces are clean and organized, which can help eliminate distractions and it will help your employees feel more comfortable in their environment.

Ensure you set realistic and achievable goals for employees. Assign tasks to only those employees that you are confident they have the experience and motivation to finish the assigned task.

Consider offering incentives for completed projects, especially projects that are complicated, stressful and time-consuming. When employees complete a task or project, don’t hesitate to thank them for a job well done, this will not only help with confidence, but it will encourage future production.

Your business relies on applications, documents, and data to run. That means losing these things can be costly for your enterprise. For example, FEMA’s recent study suggests approximately 40-60% of small organizations may never reopen due to the effects of disasters. However, having a disaster recovery plan can protect your business. This guide explains why your business needs a disaster recovery plan, including:

• Natural disasters
• Human errors
• Cybercrimes
• Loss of clients
• Loss of employees
• Improved customer service

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters like floods, fires, and storms can cause permanent damage to your enterprise. If you don’t have a disaster recovery plan, it can be challenging to resume your operations. According to research, 80% of businesses never reopen after closure for over five days. Fortunately, a trusted IT company in Alexandria can help you get back on your feet through data recovery.

Human Errors

While you may expect accuracy from your employees, no one may be perfect. For example, issues like accidentally deleting a crucial document may occur to anyone. You may depend on training programs to reduce such errors, but the most effective way to save your business from data loss is regular data back-up.

Cyber Crimes

Cybercrime is increasing at a fast rate and affects many businesses. A ransomware or virus attack can jeopardize your data, leading your enterprise to cease operations. Closing your business for several days can result in a considerable profit loss. A reliable disaster recovery plan may safeguard your data against hacking attempts, enhancing its safety and accessibility.

Loss of Clients

Any business owner needs to understand the modern customer may not be patient. What do you expect your customers to do if they can’t get the necessary services from you due to a disaster? As you try to restore your systems, expect them to find better offers.

If this happens, it means you lose revenue while opening doors for your competitors. Unfortunately, this can have long-term impacts on your organization because some customers may never come back.

Loss of Employees

If your firm battles a data disaster, this can affect your employees. The experience can be frustrating as they have to handle the pressure to satisfy your unhappy clients. The data disaster may prevent them from using their email, phones, and software, reducing their motivation and self-esteem.

In the long-term, if your employees cannot work because of your company’s lack of disaster preparedness, they may decide to look for greener pastures. Remember, they need to make a living and support their families.

Improved Customer Service

Your business needs a disaster recovery plan to ensure continued service delivery to customers. You do not want to lose customers to your competitor because of shutting down your company or experiencing a prolonged interruption of services. The quicker you resume your operations after a disaster hits your firm, the happier your customers will be.

Conclusion

Any business can lose data and application access. If you run an enterprise, do not wait to act when it is too late. Consider having a disaster recovery plan to ensure data loss won’t cause significant issues within your business. It will restore your company’s data, providing a faster return to operations. Use this checklist to create a plan and protect your organization from various potential disasters.

Are you looking for a great payroll system for your small business?

Payroll can easily be one of the most strenuous aspects of running your business.

You want to make sure you always pay your employees on time. You want to make sure you always have sufficient funds in your bank account. Keeping in touch with payroll tax laws is another nightmare!

But with a payroll management system service, you can have all these tasks managed for you.

So how do you find the right payroll management system for your business?

Here are the criteria that you should know about:

It Offers Reimbursements and Additional Payments

You want to choose a payroll management system that lets you make additional payments.

These include payroll tips and other fees that supplement your employee’s wages.

These payroll services will let you add columns to pay these additional fees. You can leave a note for your employees so they can keep track of additional fees and why they were paid.

You can also look into PayActiv TimelyTips and Mileage to accommodate payroll tips and mileage reimbursement.

Crucial Features

Next, let’s look at some of the crucial features that you should expect from all payroll management systems.

Here’s what you should expect:

• Direct Deposit: This feature will connect your payroll service to your employee’s bank accounts. This expedites transfers between bank accounts
• Tax Compliance: The service should let you calculate payroll taxes, sales taxes, and withhold taxes from wages
• Salary Options: This lets you handle different payment types such as a monthly salary, hourly wage, fixed wage, etc.

Make sure your payroll service has at least all 3 of these crucial features. If even one is missing, move on and find another option.

Advanced Features

Now let’s look at the advanced features that you want in your payroll management system.

Always opt for the payroll service that has more features, even if you feel it’s out of your price range. In the long run, you might depend on these advanced features.

Here are the advanced features you should expect:

• HR Workflow: The service should help create invoices, pay stubs, and track working hours
• Works on the Cloud: It’s easiest to work with a payroll service that works on the cloud. When you’re away from your work computer, you can check your payroll information through your internet connection. This makes your payroll services much more convenient!
• Geo-Compliance: Make sure you find a payroll service that works for your geographic area. This means it can follow the payroll laws and taxes of your jurisdiction without you having to do any research
• Tax Classification: It should work with W2 and 1099 workers

Efficiency

You want to choose a payroll management system that makes payroll more efficient. 

For example, how simple is it to onboard and terminate employees? If you hire an employee, you should be able to add them within minutes. The same goes for if you need to remove them from the payroll system.

You shouldn’t have to wait a few days to verify your employee bank accounts. This will postpone them from receiving their wages on time.

Employees should also have access to the payroll management system. They should be able to download PDFs of pay stubs and W2s when needed.

There should also be automation features. This way you can plan your payroll schedule in advance.

After you do it, your payments will get sent on time without you having to do any additional work.

Pricing

You want to choose a payroll management system that has tiered pricing. This means that there are different packages with different features. You can choose the tier that works best for your business.

This also means that the payroll management system is always working to improve its service. As such, you can upgrade your payroll package as you scale your business.

Make sure there are no hidden fees for the payroll service. The only fee you should pay is the subscription fee for your package.

Take your time to research different pricing options among payroll services. You don’t want to opt for the cheapest service as this will offer the fewest features. Conversely, the most expensive payroll service might be overpriced.

It’s best to choose a payroll management system that doesn’t exceed 10% of your monthly expenses.

Reputation

Make sure you also research the payroll service’s reputation online. This will tell you how other small businesses assess their features.

You should check product review sites to read reviews for the payroll service. You want to choose one that has overwhelmingly positive reviews.

If there are negative reviews, make sure you read them. These critiques might point out red flags in the payroll service.

You also want to see if the payroll service has reviews and testimonials on its website. The best payroll services will not hesitate to share customer feedback on their website.

Ask your fellow entrepreneurs about which payroll services they like the best. If you’ve dealt with a payroll service for your previous jobs, contact your former employers to ask them for their feedback.

Customer Service

It’s imperative that you choose a payroll service that has great customer service. If the features are great but the customer service is poor, you’ll get frustrated with the payroll service.

The payroll service should offer many ways to contact customer service. There should be an email address, phone number, and live chat option. There should also be a helpdesk and FAQ page.

After you’ve created your shortlist of payroll services, contact a support agent from each of them. Ask them about the payroll service and how it can help your small business.

Use this session to assess the quality of customer service. If you find that they know the product and are willing to help, you should consider the payroll service.

If they’re in a rush to “hang up” and sell you the product, you should move onto another choice.

Choose Your Payroll Management System

Now you can choose the right payroll management system for your small business. 

Make sure you first check that they have all the crucial features we outlined. Next, you want to make sure they have as many advanced features as possible.

You want a payroll service that’s efficient and has excellent customer service. If it has a great reputation and is reasonably priced, you should consider it for your business.

You can find more great business tips on our website!

We live in an era where the average person sees around 4,000 advertisements per day. To make sure your email campaigns stand out and lead to conversions, you’ll need to rethink the way you look at email marketing.

Curious to find out how you can start seeing better results? Keep reading for a quick and easy step-by-step guide on how to boost your email marketing without spending a fortune!

Only Market to Qualified Leads

As simple as it may sound, you can often chalk up the lack of response to an email marketing campaign due to a lack of interest.

Think about how you view email ads. How annoyed do you get when you open your inbox and see an email from a company you’ve only purchased from once?

Rest assured, a segment of your customer base feels the same way. However, that doesn’t mean you should throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Instead, it’s time to break out the analytics and find the most responsive customers. These are the people you’ll want to prioritize.

You can even use the emails clicked on the most as email campaign examples to learn from.

You’ll also want to pay close attention to those who open your emails but don’t follow through with a sale.

Members of this audience segment are known as marketing qualified leads. And as emailoversight.com points out, they’re some of the most integral potential customers as they’ve expressed interest in your business before.

Make It Personal

If you’re struggling to create attention-grabbing subject lines, here’s an easy trick: start personalizing! Data shows that personalized subject lines can boost email open rates by as much as 50%.

And adding personalization to your subject lines is easier than you might think. Most email marketing software has options for personalization, so it’s as easy as clicking your mouse or typing in the recipient’s name.

While it might be a smidge extra work, it’s worth it for a more successful email drip campaign.

Get to the Point

If you were to look at a collection of the most effective email marketing examples, you’d notice one thing they share in common: they get to the point, then they get out.

This is something to strive for. The shorter and more efficient your email, the better. You can also create email campaign templates to make the process even easier.

All marketing emails should follow a pretty basic premise:

• Personalized subject line
• Greeting/reason for contact
• Information about the promotion
• Call to action

It’s that simple! Each section of the body only needs two to three sentences max.

Optimize for Mobile Users

Most of your audience will see your email through their phone. Accordingly, you’ll need to ensure that all images, video, and GIFs come through as they would on a desktop email client.

There’s no reason for broken images, poor formatting, or long load times. What’s more, these aspects can make your business look unprofessional.

Optimization is easy and only takes a few moments, so there’s no excuse for poor-looking email marketing on mobile devices.

Improve Your Email Campaigns With These Easy Steps

Email campaigns are as effective and important as ever. With these tips, you can ensure your next campaign delivers fantastic results!

Plus, each of these tips only takes a few minutes to implement. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to make some great marketing emails!

For more helpful hints on strengthening your marketing, make sure to check out the rest of our blog!