by Mark Bloom | Apr 5, 2021 | Small Business Advice
Can’t I Just Separate Business from Pleasure?
Ray Access has been in business for more than seven years, and in that time, friends and clients have overlapped several times. Friends have become clients, and long-time clients have become friends. Additionally, some friends have worked for the company, and some of the long-time contract writers have become friends. It happens. But when it happens, you have to take precautions to ensure that neither relationship suffers.
It’s common for small businesses to lean on friends and acquaintances when they’re just starting out. You may value friends and clients differently, depending on what they were first to you, but that’s a nightmare scenario. You don’t want to lose a friend because of business, and you don’t want to lose a client — or a productive employee — for any reason.
Are Friends and Clients Mutually Exclusive?
The short answer is No. It’s perfectly copacetic to have friends as clients and vise versa. The trick is to maintain the lines between the two roles. Some examples include:
- You can’t go out to dinner with a client-who’s-a-friend and just write off the entire meal if it wasn’t for business.
- It’s not wise to give your friend-who’s-a-client a special deal that hurts your business.
The real threat to friends and clients involves money and trust. Just as finances can break up a marriage, so too can it ruin a friendship. You may find it impossible to confront friends who are clients about an overdue invoice. Similarly, friendship inspires a certain amount of trust. Destroy that trust, and you destroy the friendship and lose a client. If you expect more from your client or your client expects more from you, someone is going to end up being disappointed.
How Do I Avoid the Pitfalls with Friends and Clients?
There are a number of proven tips to maintain the friendship of your clients who started out as your friends. There are also some tips for keeping your clients happy, whether they’re friends or not. Friendships are relationships you enjoy. Clients are professional relationships. There are ways to nurture both, such as:
- Be clear in your communications. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Make sure you’re understood and make sure you understand. Repeat everything back to your friend if you must. Don’t take for granted that the message you shared or the message you heard got through intact.
- When in doubt, put it in writing. You may not need contracts for all your clients — and certainly not to maintain a friendship, but it’s not uncommon to put the terms of a business arrangement down on a page. More than anything, it can set deadlines and prevent misunderstandings.
- Be proactive about problems and potential problems. Don’t make assumptions. When a problem or question pops up on your business radar, get it out in the open as soon as possible. Your friends and clients will appreciate your candor, and if there was something to the issue, you deal with it before it grows in scope.
- Take your business seriously. If you take your business seriously, you do your work as a professional. Don’t miss deadlines just because your client is a friend. Similarly, don’t let a friend-who’s-a-client slide on a payment. It’s the first step to not getting paid at all. If your friends value your work, then they should pay on time.
- Set definite boundaries. There’s a time for work and a time for play, but of course there may be overlap. It goes back to being clear. If you charge by the hour let your friends and clients know when you’ve started the clock — and when you’ve stopped it.
At certain times, you may question your decision to take on a friend as a client. If you feel taken advantage of, perhaps the friendship wasn’t as strong as you imagined. Talk it out — but do it at a time when you’re not feeling angry or threatened. A calm conversation can clear the air … or give you the gumption to pull the cord and let the relationship wane. There are many benefits to mixing friends and clients, but it takes some work too. Good luck.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Guest Blogger | Mar 8, 2021 | Small Business Advice
Get Targeted, On-Demand Services for Less!
Are you thinking of hiring third-party services to handle your marketing in 2021? You’re not the only one. The global outsourcing industry generates around $92.5 billion each year, and a big chunk of it is sure to go toward marketing efforts.
After all, promoting your products and building your brand is hard work. If you lack in-house expertise and can’t face the hassle of hiring marketing staff, then contracting outsourced marketing services makes complete sense. They benefit from your brand-building efforts in ways you may not even expect.
Get Instant Experience
You and your team may know nothing about the craft of marketing or brand-building. The latest trends for marketers may be a mystery to you. The idea of learning a whole new field may seem overwhelming. But none of those apparent disadvantages matter if you outsource the task.
Outsourcing allows you to leverage someone else’s expertise. You’re bringing on someone to show you the ropes, explain the best way forward and walk you through the nuances of formulating brand strategies and campaigns. It’s a way to jumpstart your branding.
No Need for New Hires
While you always have the option of hiring a full-time marketer for your in-house team, you know better than anyone how much time, effort and money that takes. You have to advertise the position, interview the candidates, train them and cross your fingers that you hired the right person. It’s messy and unnecessary.
By comparison, outsourced marketing services allow you to start straight-away. You can begin the process of building your brand without the rigmarole of hiring someone. Best of all, you can cancel the contract and find someone new if it doesn’t work out. Third-party services aren’t on the payroll. As a result, they work as much or as little as you need, without taking time off for sickness or vacations.
That’s good news when it comes to scaling marketing efforts. You’ll never have to pick up the slack from someone taking time off or pay someone’s wages when they’re not even in the office. All told, you’ll have more resources to invest in your brand.
Where Innovation Meets Needs
Another bonus of hiring outsourced marketing services is the education they’ll provide to you and your employees. By working with pros and seeing how they work, you’ll pick up the skills required to build a brand. With these new skills, you’ll be better prepared to have a more significant role in the current and future marketing processes. In time, you may no longer even need external support.
External services bring a fresh perspective, as well. They’ll shake things up, show you novel approaches to traditional problems and identify things you’ve done that can be improved. Get ready to innovate. You’ll explore exciting new marketing platforms, inbound advertising strategies, lead generation software, targeted advertisements and ideas to boost your brand.
Benefits of Outsourced Marketing Services
Outsourced marketing services are in high demand, and for good reason. They provide invaluable assistance to small business owners who struggle to advertise their products or services. They teach you how best to cultivate trust with your audience and develop your brand.
Have you been thinking about hiring third-party marketers for similar reasons? Perhaps these insights have revealed how they can help. Remember, if you can do it yourself or if you have the in-house expertise, go for it, but there are affordable third-party resources available to help.
This was a guest blog post written by Ester Adams.
by Mark Bloom | Feb 22, 2021 | Small Business Advice
Why Do We Hire Remote Staff?
In Part 1 of this series, Ray Access outlined how we hire contract writers remotely, what we look for during those first few assignments and what we value in a remote worker. In this installment, you’ll learn a few more tips for hiring remote staff and gain an understanding on how to manage their work and expectations.
But first, let us remind you what Ray Access is and why we hire remote staff. We are content specialists. We write website pages, blog posts, electronic newsletters and more for internet agencies and individual businesses. A remote business since its founding in 2014, we hire writers from around the English-speaking world. It doesn’t matter where they are, as long as they can deliver quality work.
What Else Do You Need to Know about Hiring Remote Staff?
Before you agree to add a remote worker to your staff, you still have to conduct a proper interview — whether by telephone, through an internet video call or by email. Rely on the typical interview questions as if you’re speaking with them personally. In the end, you take the same risks as if you were hiring in-person, since you don’t really know if the one you hire will work out or not.
When you interview by email, you really get a sense of their ability to communicate remotely. Without personal contact, hiring remote staff requires finesse and reading between the lines. One of the benefits — and drawbacks — of hiring and working remotely is not having to adhere to a 9-to-5 work schedule. That means much, if not most, of your communication is going to be through email.
How Can You Prove It’s a Good Match?
At Ray Access, once we and the candidate agree that a collaboration holds promise, we follow up with an assignment. We don’t make an offer of employment until we receive the first completed work, for which we provide a reasonable deadline and clear instructions. We pay for the job and can usually tell — by how the writer communicates and by the assignment itself — if the writer will work out with us.
While you may not be in the business of writing, find an assignment that gives you an opportunity to see how your remote candidates work. It also gives them a chance to prove themselves. It may be a detailed plan on how to approach a project, a project cost estimate or a short presentation. Provide directions and a deadline. Pay the candidates for the time needed to complete the project; it’s much less expensive than hiring the wrong person.
When you receive the submitted assignment, look for how well the candidates followed your directions. Review the body of the work for the quality and thoroughness of the work. Also, note if the assignment was handed in on time, early or late. If you’re deadline-driven business like Ray Access, adherence to a deadline is crucial.
How Do You Manage Expectations after Hiring Remote Staff?
We don’t expect our contract writers to nail that first assignment perfectly, so we provide coaching and guidance. We also have clear internal guidelines about how long it should take a new employee to get up to speed. If they still don’t get it after two or three more assignments, we usually let them go. No reason prolonging the stress on either side.
While giving your remote workers the occasional benefit of the doubt, remember that managing remote staff is a process. Give an occasional mulligan to an employee you trust. No one’s perfect 100 percent of the time. What you don’t want to see is the same mistake repeated over and over.
To manage your expectations, listen to your internal business instincts. Discuss the pros and cons of hiring remote staff with your partners, managers or even trusted employees. It’s easy to give too many chances to a remote worker, but you don’t want to let an improving remote worker go due to frustration.
Is Hiring Remote Staff a Balancing Act?
Managing a remote staff requires patience and compassion. You’re hiring someone to do a specific job. Since the new hire isn’t coming into the office every day, you need to make sure the work is getting done. You need a way to check, whether through an online project management tool, ongoing project reports or regular video meetings.
You want to pay for your staff’s best work while giving new-hires a chance to get up to speed, but don’t feel like you have to pick up the slack yourself. Track your employees’ work to assess their progress. To be able to sleep at night, learn to trust your remote staff, but develop a backup plan, such as setting earlier deadlines than needed.
You can save money by avoiding brick-and-mortar expenses, but as a trade-off, you need to maintain a level of authority over your business. Technology has its limitations, but you have to rely on it to grow your business. It’s a balancing act, for sure. But if your business can run with a remote workforce, you may find it’s worth the effort to build an infrastructure that supports hiring remote staff — and swift, efficient firing.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Feb 8, 2021 | Small Business Advice
What’s the Trick to Hiring Remote Staff?
Ray Access has been a virtual company since its founding in 2014. Our work-at-home business model suits the type of work we do and the often-distant location of our clients. It simply doesn’t pay to keep an office when all our business is conducted via email and cell phone. And not having one keeps the overhead low.
Originally, Ray Access consisted of founders Linda Ray and Mark Bloom. We did all the work. But as the business grew, we needed help, eventually hiring (and sometimes firing) dozens of contract writers and support staff. Along the way, we’ve picked up insights into hiring remote staff, which we’d like to share if you’re considering doing the same.
How Do We Hire Remotely?
This question comes up a lot. How can we hire someone we’ve never met in person? The solution to this seemingly difficult problem is simple. After all, we ask the same of our clients. We want them to hire us to write their website content, blog posts or newsletters without ever actually meeting us.
When hiring remote staff, it’s all about building trust. You want to trust that your remote workers are doing the tasks you’ve hired them to do. Some businesses pay by the hour; we don’t. We pay per project, so it doesn’t matter to us whether it takes 10 minutes or 10 hours to do the work. The pay is the same. Our clients get the same deal: their price is the same, regardless how long it takes us.
What’s the First Sign of a Good Hire?
The first hurdle is prompt, professional communication. When prospective team members contact us — or when we contact them — the promptness of the reply tells us how eager they are regarding our opportunity. An unanswered email or a late response doesn’t send a positive message. There are valid excuses, but prompt replies create a starting point for any remote relationship.
Promptness isn’t the only criterion. When we’re hiring remote staff, the level of communication is also pertinent. Our goal is to get to know someone we’ve never met. The only clue, so far, is the way they communicate. We value communication as much as an assignment that’s well done; therefore:
- We expect well-crafted email messages. Misspellings and incorrect grammar usage are clues that the candidate isn’t a good fit for us. You may feel similarly.
- An unprofessional tone is another deal-breaker. We offer a source of revenue for our freelance writers. In return, we expect them to take our expectations seriously and maintain a professional approach.
How Do We Set Expectations?
At Ray Access, we don’t hold formal interviews when hiring remote staff. If you do, use a phone call or a Zoom meeting to meet your prospective remote worker. Once a potential writer passes the communication test, we offer a test assignment. The writer gets paid for this work whether or not we deem it good enough to use — unless we find it’s been plagiarized.
Along with the test assignment instructions, we send our style sheet and non-negotiable guidelines, in which we set our expectations for communication and work. We’ve fired contract writers for repeatedly breaking these expectations, although we usually give everyone a second chance.
The test provides an example of their work and makes them feel like they’re really working for us. We provide some coaching and encourage questions. We give enough time to complete the assignment. The process gives us an insight to how new writers work, what they’re capable of and how well they respond to instructions. If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, we pay them and send them on their way.
Read Part 2 for more tips about hiring remote staff in our next blog post.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jan 25, 2021 | Writing
And How They Apply to Your Website
Since Ray Access is in the business of providing content to businesses, the principals know a thing or two about writing. The various research, writing and editing projects the company undertakes always has a clear purpose behind the scenes. No client is going to pay Ray Access to produce a word unless that word serves the business in some way.
The same is true for online content. All writing has to help you gain an audience, maintain your customers or build your brand. These are specific reasons for you to hire Ray Access. But there are four general types of writing, whether you do it for business or for yourself. Whenever you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, you do it to:
- Explain
- Persuade
- Sell
- Entertain
Let’s explore how each of these types of writing play into your online presence. You may intuitively understand that a social media post is fundamentally different from a website page, you may not understand why. That difference is its purpose.
1. Writing to Explain
This style of writing always involves the facts. You’re writing to explain a concept, a definition, a process or a procedure. This kind of writing belongs on specific web pages, where visitors want to learn about a specific topic in which your business has expertise.
Like all types of writing, you must know your intended audience well and write in their language. Your goal is to explain the primary points or the various details, depending on the readers’ desired level of knowledge. Additionally, format the content so that it’s easy for your readers to absorb the pertinent information, as people don’t consume online content like hardcopy content. They scan, instead of reading it straight through. Use plenty of formatting tricks, such as:
- Subheadings
- Numbered lists
- Bulleted lists
- Short sentences
- Short paragraphs
2. Writing to Persuade
Also known as rhetorical writing, this type of writing has as its lofty goal nothing less than changing readers’ behavior. When you’re writing to persuade, you make arguments in favor of a certain course of action, whether it’s to buy something, click a button, provide an email address or vote a particular way. To reach its goal, to actually get readers to change their behavior, persuasive writing has to touch an emotional level. To do this, it has to contain more than just facts.
Rhetorical writing presents unassailable reasons for taking a specific action. Some web pages use this; others are just informational. After visitors know enough about your business to trust it, your deeper website pages can push them to take action. That’s the reason for call-to-action buttons and links. You want visitors to take that step since lead generation is the purpose of a compelling website.
3. Writing to Sell
While this and writing to persuade are similar types of writing, this type tends to be more forceful. You’re pushing readers to buy something you think they want or need. You see this type of writing in advertisements, and it doesn’t belong on your website. If you come off as too sales-oriented, you may scare away all but the neediest visitors. Save sales types of writing for your ads and mailers.
You can’t sell anything until prospective customers trust you, your product or your service, even if they really want or need what you’re offering. Remember, there’s another vendor around the corner of the internet. If you’re a known commodity, you can push a little stronger. Otherwise, you have to spend time building trust and providing social proof.
4. Writing to Entertain
While it may seem counterintuitive, there’s room in business for entertaining writing. Just as a little humor in a business meeting can help break the ice and engender goodwill, a little levity in business writing can earn kudos from its audience. The right kind of entertainment, aimed at its target market, can actually help your company sell its products or services. Entertaining types of writing:
- Is memorable
- Gains trust
- Connects readers to your company
- Often hits readers at an emotional level
- Promotes your company’s brand
This type of writing may not find a home on your website, but it definitely has a purpose in social media, in relevant blog posts and in newsletters, especially as an engaging opening. Writing to entertain reminds potential customers that there are real people behind your business. And people like to do business with companies and people they like.
These four types of writing sometimes overlap in their purpose. Use all four wisely. Mix and match where appropriate. Wield your words with authority and sense of purpose, and you’ll help your business establish a loyal customer base. But if it’s too much to consider, hire Ray Access to do the hard part for you.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jan 11, 2021 | Writing
Tips Every Writer Can Use
You may not believe that poets, novelists, essayists and other world-famous scribes and literary masters have writing tips that any ordinary writer can use — even content providers like those at Ray Access. But writing is writing. While composing a stage play is a vastly different exercise than writing a blog post, both are forms of the same type of communication: the written word.
With that in mind, we present a random sampling of writing tips. You may not recognize all the masters below, but please search them out online if you aren’t familiar with their work. They are all great, in one fashion or another, and all are worthy of paying attention to. Good luck, stay motivated and keep writing.
Writing Tips for You
Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else. — C.S. Lewis
Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless! — Joyce Carol Oates
Do back exercises. Pain is distracting. — Margaret Atwood
Do not write long sentences. A sentence should not have more than 10 or 12 words. — V.S. Naipaul
Don’t overwrite. Avoid the redundant phrases, the distracting adjectives, the unnecessary adverbs. — Sarah Waters
Don’t use big words. If your computer tells you that your average word is more than five letters long, there is something wrong. The use of small words compels you to think about what you are writing. Even difficult ideas can be broken down into small words. — V.S. Naipaul
Don’t wait for inspiration. Discipline is the key. — Esther Freud
Each sentence should make a clear statement. It should add to the statement that went before. A good paragraph is a series of clear, linked statements. — V.S. Naipaul
Editing is everything. Cut until you can cut no more. What is left often springs into life. — Esther Freud
Go easy on conjunctions such as “but,” “and,” “yet,” and “however.” The prose may feel fluid to you when you use these; but if you go back and simply remove them the prose may be even more fluid. — Anne Rice
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. —George Orwell
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. — Elmore Leonard
Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it. — P.D. James
Limit the use of the verb “to be.” There’s almost always a better verb. — Saul Stein
Never send [what you’ve written] … on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it. — David Ogilvy
Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.” — C.S. Lewis
Never use a long word where a short one will do. —George Orwell
Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass. — David Ogilvy
Never use the passive where you can use the active. —George Orwell
Never use the word “then” as a conjunction — we have “and” for this purpose. Substituting “then” is the lazy writer’s non-solution to the problem of too many “ands” on the page. — Jonathan Franzen
Never use words whose meanings you are not sure of. If you break this rule you should look for other work. — V.S. Naipaul
Prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them. — C.S. Lewis
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. — Mark Twain
Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs. — David Ogilvy
Use the right word, not its second cousin. — Mark Twain
[Write] every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don’t follow it. — Geoff Dyer
Write the way you talk. Naturally. — David Ogilvy
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Dec 29, 2020 | Small Business Advice
Outsourcing in 2020 Prepared the Way for 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a number of fundamental changes in business. The businesses that have survived the assault on the normal world order either sustained considerable losses or adapted to the new ways that consumers shopped. Few businesses were unaffected by the coronavirus.
Some say the changes are for the better, as they forced businesses to become leaner and more efficient. Others point to the economic turmoil and ask how it could be good for business or the world. The fact remains, however, that the world is different than it was a year ago. These changes are likely to last into some or most of 2021, as vaccines roll out and other issues come to the fore.
Has Outsourcing Helped or Hurt Businesses?
Every time a business hires an employee, it incurs additional costs besides salary. Due to the pandemic, businesses learned that outsourcing in 2020 cut those costs. As a result, more and more businesses chose to outsource tasks that they had once hired people to do in-house. And so, outsourcing grew throughout the year.
In researching figures that reflect this new business reality, the principals of Ray Access learned more about outsourcing in 2020. In an effort to sum up the figures and impact of outsourcing on businesses last year — and so gain some insight into how businesses may behave in 2021 — we’ve decided to share an infographic about outsourcing statistics (see below or read the entire article at https://whydoeseverythingsuck.net/blog/outsourcing-statistics/).
What Are the Key Takeaways?
Nearly every industry saw their outsourcing investments grow. More than half of all small businesses outsourced some of their functions. Outsourcing in 2020 grew for many reasons, most often because businesses were interested in:
- Increasing efficiency
- Reducing expenses
- Increasing flexibility
- Improving in-house expertise
- Allowing employees to do other tasks
- Efficiently using available resources within the business
For all these reasons, more businesses made the shift to outsourcing in 2020. Many more will join them in 2021. And it’s become an international phenomenon as well, since the pandemic affected the entire world. While transitioning from in-house to an outsource model takes patience and a plan, it can reduce costs and become an industry staple.
That was 2020. For 2021, a comprehensive research project titled “Small Business Outsourcing Stats (2021 Edition)” from TechBehemoths.com covers similar information, but with updated data. It’s based on 324 surveyed companies from 38 countries.
When you want to outsource your content without sacrificing quality, contact Ray Access There are contractors in your area for every need, from graphics, PR and data retrieval to website design, development and marketing. Instead of simply hiring someone, save money and hire a contractor. Outsourcing in 2020 will become one of the major business trends for businesses in 2021.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Dec 15, 2020 | Communication
Is There a Better Way to Use Zoom Video Conferencing Software?
As the pandemic drags on, more employees are beginning to feel the effects of Zoom burn-out. To avoid that and make better use of your time and video meetings, you need to find the best tips for using Zoom. Then you can minimize your meeting time and maximize the video conferencing software that’s gained so much popularity and notoriety in the past few months.
These tips for using Zoom may not all apply to your situation, but everyone who uses Zoom in any capacity will be able to gain some benefit by reading through this list of tips. Note that many of these suggestions are meant for those with paid Zoom accounts, not those who use the service for free.
Great Tips for Using Zoom
You’ve attended or held Zoom meetings. You may even recognize the pitfalls of the technology, from attendees who seem distracted to hosts who drone on and on. To get the best use out of the experience, follow these tips:
- Schedule your recurring meetings. Zoom meetings aren’t always one-off events. If you hold a regular meeting through Zoom, you can schedule them all on a recurring schedule. The advantage of this feature is that you can use the same link for the meeting every time you hold it. You may still send out invitations, but the link is always the same.
- Invite your attendees to get to know Zoom. You don’t want your attendees to be playing with backgrounds or accidentally mute themselves when speaking. If they’re new to Zoom, make sure they’ve already set up their default options and are already familiar with the software.
- Have a list of talking points before you start. Don’t go into any meeting unprepared, but especially not a virtual meeting. To avoid burn-out for all your attendees, make sure you stay on target. You can accept questions and comments during your presentation, if that’s important to you, but keep the meeting moving forward.
- Adjust your own video before you start. No matter what kind of device you’re using to connect to the meeting, make sure you come across visibly and in complimentary lighting. Make all your adjustments before joining the meeting to look as professional as possible.
- Test your audio before joining the meeting. Make sure you’re audible, but not screaming at your attendees. If you’re using a built-in microphone, test the clarity and volume before you join your meeting.
- Pick a neutral background. Be careful of using the Virtual Backgrounds that come with Zoom. While they may look cool, they take a lot of computer power and may cause parts of you to fade in and out if you tend to move around a lot. It’s better to find a place in your home or office that can make a neutral backdrop for your video meeting.
- Silence all the other notifications on your devices. Don’t let everyone else know that “You’ve got mail” or that your Amazon package has just arrived. Keep it professional.
- Mute all attendees when they arrive. Keep chatter to a minimum. You don’t want your group to be talking over you with each other. They’re in the meeting to get what you have to give. Of course, this is a meeting, not a video. When it’s appropriate, open it up for questions or allow feedback at times. And mute yourself when you’re not speaking.
- Share your screen when appropriate. You don’t need a slideshow presentation for a Zoom meeting. Sometimes, you just want to show the interface to your software or a cool website. Get creative.
- Remember you’re in a meeting. Behave just like you would in a face-to-face meeting. Dress appropriately, at least from the waist up. Be respectful of others. Remain professional at all times because people are watching you, even if it’s not your turn to talk. Don’t multi-task.
Remember these 10 tips for using Zoom, and you’ll have shorter, more productive meetings. You’ll feel better about them, and your attendees will thank you. That means they’ll come back for your next virtual meeting.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Guest Blogger | Nov 28, 2020 | Small Business Advice
We’re Living in an App World
Want to send money to a friend? There’s an app for that. Want to buy groceries? There’s an app for that. Want to find a charity you can donate money to? There’s an app for that.
So with more than five million apps across the various mobile application distribution platforms, it’s safe to say there’s an app for everything. As a small business owner, you may be thinking about developing an app of your own. While you may think it’s a smart move to jump on the bandwagon, you need to avoid the most common mistakes when it comes to building an app for your business.
1. Building an App When You Don’t Need It
Which business doesn’t need an app in today’s world? It’s true that a mobile application sometimes can take a business to the next level, but not every business needs an app. Perhaps your business is just getting started or the nature of your business doesn’t warrant an app service. Before you start building an app, establish whether your business truly needs it.
If you just launched a small business, for example, there’s no value in focusing your efforts on app development. A proper business app costs a tidy sum to build, and you likely have other priorities that you need to fund first. So hold off on building the app until your business is making sustainable profits.
Another example is if you’re in the petroleum manufacturing industry. Because of the way petroleum products are consumed, your business isn’t going to benefit substantially from having an app. The people who buy petroleum products, such as engine oil, typically don’t order them online. They drive to a gas station to get the product.
2. Not Knowing What Your Target Users Need
When you’re building a business app, you aren’t making it for you and your employees. You’re making it for your customers — your target market consumers. Don’t make an app without knowing what they want. If you do, you risk ending up with an app that doesn’t solve any of your customer’s problems.
The journey to building a useful app starts with doing in-depth research, so you can develop a good understanding of your customers’ needs. For example, you can conduct a survey, asking your customers to list the features they’d like to see in the app. Don’t create a need; solve one.
It also helps to do some competitor research. Because apps are readily available in an app store, download your competitors’ apps to discover what they’ve done. With this information, you can then embark on building a better app to satisfy your customers.
3. Deciding on a DIY Approach
While you can do certain projects in-house, such as writing blog posts, there are others you should leave to the experts. One example is mobile app development. It’s easy to see why some entrepreneurs resolve to take the DIY route. The cost of a small business app can range from $50,000 to $250,000, depending on its functionality.
If you’re running on a shoestring budget and can’t afford to pay for professional app development services, what do you do? Don’t take the DIY route when it comes to business app development. Leave it to the experts. Your business has a reputation to uphold. Offering a half-baked app is a sure way to ruin your business’s reputation and hurt your customer experience.
Instead of taking the DIY approach, it’s better to hold off on building the app until you have the financial capability. And when you’re ready, be sure to find the best app development service. An experienced app developer can build an app that meets your users’ exact needs. Whether you’re a tech magazine that wants to make it easy for readers to access tips and learn tricks — such as how to split screen on Mac — or a grocery store that wants to offer in-app shopping, a professional developer can bring your vision to life.
4. Developing a Bloated App
Have you ever used an app that felt convoluted, as if it wanted to do everything at once? That’s what your users will feel like if you build a bloated app. A bloated app doesn’t just lower customer experience. It can cause your customers to start buying from a competing business that offers a better app.
Small business owners are at risk of developing bloated apps when they don’t understand an app’s niche or purpose. While a professional app developer advises you on the maximum number of features your app can support, based on its structure, you may keep coming up with “great ideas” that you demand the developer to include. Resist the urge and stay focused.
5. Failing to Update the App
At long last, you finally launch your app. You may believe that the task is done for good. But that’s not the way it works.
App development isn’t a one-off task. It doesn’t end as soon as your app goes live. An app needs to be improved and updated regularly. If you’re not doing this, if you’re not willing to do this, it won’t be long before users start uninstalling it.
Avoid These Business App Mistakes
Now you know the mistakes to avoid with business apps. Mistakes with apps are common, especially among small business owners. While a useful, targeted app has the potential to compound sales in your business, it can also do the opposite if you don’t take its development seriously.
Don’t let a bloated app or a poorly designed app lead to a decline in sales. Be prepared for the long haul of development and maintenance when you’re ready to enter the business app market. It can do wonders when you avoid these mistakes for small business apps.
This was a guest blog post written by Ester Adams.
by Mark Bloom | Nov 16, 2020 | Small Business Advice
Is It Time to Outsource?
Ray Access works for other businesses, as well as online agencies. As a contractor for your business or agency, we write:
But when is it appropriate for a small business to outsource? How do you as a business owner or agency owner know when to outsource and when to keep the work in-house? To answer these valid questions, we turned to fundera, which outlines the benefits of outsourcing in this clear graphic that we hope you enjoy and can use:
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
