Tech Geeks Corner

When you are taking care of a business, you need to make sure that you focus on all the right ways to keep up the competition and to achieve high levels of success. One of the most commonly used and efficient ways of improving a business is with eCommerce. With eCommerce, you can simply reach out to a much largest customer base. That is not all, with eCommerce, you have the chance of gaining major benefits that will not be given to you with an ordinary, physical shop. If you are interested in boosting your business and getting it involved with eCommerce, you need to have a product strategy so that you can gain the best outcome. Here are some of the most effective eCommerce strategies known to boost up a business:

High-class development

When you are using eCommerce, you will be dealing with the customers via a website. The website needs to be designed in the ideal manner the customers are given much ease in conducting the needed deals. You can add a unique framework and create the website in the best form with magneto Melbourne, which will bring in major benefits to rather than using any other system. With the right choice of development made, you can assure that you take steps to create the best setup for the website for a reasonable price. For the price that you pay, all the needed processes such as registration, hosting, theme development, etc. are taken care of.

Moreover, the framework that you be given is user-friendly for both the business and the customer. That is not all, you can simply incorporate Google Analytics for web traffic with SEO and monitor the customer behaviour on the site. The development of the website can be done in an ideal manner that you are given the power of customizing it depending on the nature of the business.

The availability of the live chat option

When a customer visits your business website, he or she will be having issues. If there is no clear way of resolving these issues, they might not be satisfied with the website and the products that you offer. Therefore, to provide your customers with much comfort when they are browsing through your website to resolve any issues, it is important that you add the live chat option. When they are given quick solutions to the issues, the trust that the customers have in the business will skyrocket. Another added advantage of using the live chat option is with the increasing number of complaints or issues about a certain aspect of the website or the products that you offer will show a bug in the system. Even if you are unaware of it, you will be able to spot it when you pay attention to the customer feedback or the issues that come to you with the live chat option. In addition, adding this option to your website is cheap but it will bring in major benefits.

Building a successful website is a task that consumes time, money and effort. Therefore, it is highly important for you to ensure that you are making all the right decisions. If you are starting an online business for the first time, you might be confused as to whether you are making the right decisions or not. In order for your business to be a successful one, your business platform needs to be efficient, accessible and attractive. Here are some ways in which you can create such a website.

Choose the Right Platform

Before you make any other decision, you need to choose the right e-commerce platform for your business. If you want your business to be a successful one, you might want to approach Magento developers, as it is one of the best open-source e-commerce platforms in the current market. The modular architecture of the platform will offer your website great flexibility. It is also important to note that this particular e-commerce platform is scalable as well.

Make it Attractive

Some people are under the impression that a website that has a lot of images and videos will become immediately attractive and therefore popular. While visual content does impress visitors, you need to understand that bombarding the website with unsuitable images and long videos can make your website slow. It can increase the loading time and this will annoy the visitors. This can directly affect your conversion rates. Therefore, only include content that is suitable and essential to the business.

Get Help

If you think that you can handle this process on your own, you could not be more wrong. Building a professional website requires the assistance of various people. For example, you need a good graphic designer to design the website. This individual must have a good idea about the company. It is essential to make use of the brand colours. You also need to incorporate the right content for the website too. While you might know what is good for your company, you might not be familiar with what might be suitable for an online platform. In this case, leave it to the professionals.

Focus on Promotion

There is no point in building an excellent website if you do not market it the right way. In order for your target market to find out about your products and services, you need to make sure that your website is accessible. This is why you need to engage in enough and more promotional activities. Find out about marketing techniques that reach your target market. Utilise these methods and make your website and its product more popular among potential customers.

Furthermore, you also need to invest the right amount of money. When you work with a small budget, your opportunities will be limited. So, you need to find the funding to support your needs. Therefore, make sure to have the necessary amount of time. If you manage to take care of these important factors, then your online business will definitely be a successful one.

Whether you’ve been in the business for a while, or you’re looking to start a new restaurant or cafe, it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right people working for you. Most restaurant boycotts by customers turn out to be closely related to poor treatment from staff. Either a barista didn’t smile at the customer, or the waiter was rude. Even if these incidents were misunderstandings, the customer’s perception of your employees will define their opinion of your establishment and be the decisive factor in whether or not the return.

The Interview

Most people interview prospective employees based on the job they’re applying for. You might ask the man applying to be the cashier about his background with handling money. He may be the best candidate for cashier duties, but if he doesn’t have a lively personality, he just shouldn’t be placed at the hospitality POS. Imagine you’re a customer getting your coffee or lunch to go, and the cashier is soft-spoken or slow. Now imagine the cashier as bubbly and jolly, handing over your change with a “Have a nice day!” and a smile. Which one would you be sure to return to?

Training

It may be that the staff you’ve hired have the lively friendliness you were looking for, and maybe they have the experience too. But you have to recognize that each restaurant, café, or even fast food place has its unique way of functioning. As a result, you will need every incoming employee to be initiated and trained to your establishment’s system. It will also help as a reminder to them about customer care and ensuring that everyone is on the same page with protocols and procedures. This would include safety training and emergency contingencies.

Team Building

Make sure that you incorporate team building and a sense of family with your staff. If someone is having a hard time fitting in, see how you can help them become part of the gang. If they just aren’t able to gel with the other, they may not be right for your establishment after all. A well-functioning staff is collaborative and in sync. By ensuring that there is open communication, any problems that might arise can be conveyed and dealt with easily, and you won’t have to worry about back biting or conflict.

Support

Often you’ll notice that each of your staff members has their own strengths, and these will emerge over time the more you watch them in action. As you identify these strengths, do whatever you can to facilitate them and bring out the best in them. Reinforce them with praise and rewards, and address weaknesses delicately and in private. Offer opportunities for your employees to overcome their weak points, and allow them to shine where they excel.

These few efforts on your part will ensure that you get the best out of your staff, and your restaurant will be a raging success!

Chances are that your household or your office environment would consist of multiple devices that have not been around in the previous decade. Basically, times are changing and this means that new introductions are being made with every new day and it is only normal to buy into the new additions and fitting in with the times. There would be certain items that may take up a time to be understood by the user, due to their latest complexity. Although with time the matter should be resolved and understood much easier. Most companies have customer care hotlines that allow users to immediately contact the company in case something was to go wrong. Things in technologically based companies have been well thought out and resolved, in order to ensure that the customer base stays pleased. Therefore feel free to try new things out at least once.

Benefits for a difference

There are many advantages that the new introductions bring about, for a little more of the price than the traditional product, you could be purchasing something that saves you time, space and further costs that will definitely make up for the little extra expense at the start. This would be why these new innovative companies are seen to blossom and expand their production rate because their users are thoroughly pleased with the products which allow creating a good market for the products. If to consider an item that allows life to be easier, there would be the 2-in-1 laptops that have been introduced. Where the user could take apart the device when wanted to use it as a tablet or use it as a laptop where necessary. Such creations allow users to work with care and not spend on two separate devices, but could simply invest in one.

Discussing with an expert

During the times when you feel unsafe or even unsure as to if you are making the right decision by purchasing a certain item, it would be a good idea to speak to someone who may know better. If you were to buy an item, call a friend who you know to have previous experience with the exact same or even a similar item. They would be able to brief you on the matter and even give a fair share of advice that would come in handy. For instance, if your friend claimed that using a torch light which used rechargeable Duracell batteries was much more convenient, and went on to explain as to why they would prefer this, then this would plant the idea that they have a point in your mind. After some thought, you could decide on what you would prefer.

The more you understand

After all the research that you conduct, you would be quite proud of just how much information that you have managed to have gathered. You would come to realize that you have such a vast knowledge of the matter and this would, in turn, ensure that you buy into something perfect for your needs, as well something in high quality.

Magento is one of the top content management systems (CMS) for building e-commerce websites. Many notable brands use this CMS for their sites, and large businesses, in general, tend to prefer Magento. This cm is known to be powerful and flexible. Of course, Magento may not be for everyone. Certain small businesses with very limited amounts of traffic could end up overpaying for the platform. But in general, this CMS is known to be the top choice for building large and complex e-stores. If you are still deciding which CMS to use for building your own e-store, here is a list of advantages Magento offers that your business may be able to benefit from:

Different Editions for Different Businesses

Magento is offered in two main editions to choose depending on the nature of the business. The main edition is Enterprise, which comes at a full price and offers all the features. Enterprise is suited for large websites that enjoy high volumes of traffic. If you want to build a massive online store, Enterprise is definitely the solution for you. Magento also offers an open source Community edition at a price more affordable for smaller businesses. The community does not have all the features of Enterprise, which smaller sites may not actually need. The advantage of Community is that it comes with major online community support. Magento also has a version called GO, which is a hosted solution for particular types of ecommerce websites.

Free Features

This is an open source CMS. That means there are loads of features that are available completely for free. New developers also add new features users can easily benefit from. But do keep in mind that many of the star features of this CMS are available only from the paid Enterprise edition.

Platform Specific SEO

Obviously, for many ecommerce websites, SEO is a major concern. Some CMSs are not compatible with certain SEO techniques. Magento offers a unique solution to this problem with CMS-specific SEO. Generally speaking, this platform is better optimized for ecommerce SEO purposes. The CMS makes it much more convenient to do SEO things like indexing, calculating page traffic, issuing landing pages, and so on. Certain local developers also emphasize this fact. It easy to find marketing and developing teams locally, such as Magento Melbourne, for your website.

Developer Friendly

The CMS is one of the most developer-friendly CMSs out there. It’s a bit advanced, so the site will definitely need a developer. However, the developer will find it very easy to make changes like update content and add pages because the platform is designed to be developer friendly.

Multi-Store Management

Magento allows customers to add as many stores as desired and manage each from one account. If your Australian business needs to open a store for a different location like New Zealand or for international customers, it can be easily done using the platform. You can do everything from a single admin account.

The software is also highly mobile friendly, which is a must for the modern smartphone-driven market. Considering the above advantages, you won’t likely find a better CMS than this one.

If you’re in Australia and you’re trying to get your tax returns sorted out, there are a lot of factors that come into play. You have to consider all of them when you are working on your taxes for the year. This is especially true if you have worked in the country as well. Here are some of the bigger factors that you need to think about.

What is Your Tax Residency?

This is one of the biggest deciding factors in HOW you get taxed while in Australia as well as the amount that you can be refunded. Your status in the country, whether you are a resident or a non-resident, will affect your tax amount and return amount as well. In order to remain in compliance with the tax laws in the country, anyone coming in to work using a temporary resident visa will have to pay a different rate of tax for at least 6 months. Non-residents are taxed at a significantly higher rate that residents are. Make sure that when you leave the country you don’t have any liabilities left over with the ATO.

You Can Get an Income Tax Refund

If by any chance you should become a resident of Australia for the purpose of paying tax after having worked as a non-resident, the Australian government may be liable to you. This means that you might be entitled to a refund for the higher tax rate you were paying earlier. To become a resident for tax purposes, the ATO thinks about your length of stay in the country, your conduct while here, and your standing in the local community. If you can talk to a lawyer or an accountant who does tax return online,you should be able to get a clearer idea of the requirements to become a resident of Australia for tax purposes.

Get that Superannuation Refunded!

Depending on your visa as well as the nature of your residence within the country, you may not be eligible for income tax returns. However, most people are still able to claim superannuation. This is the name given to the percentage of your wages that are deducted before you get paid. This amount is then used to add to your retirement account. If you aren’t planning on working in Australia until you retire, you are eligible to claim a refund for all the money that was deducted. You can apply for this refund as soon as you leave the country after you’re done working there, or when your visa to stay in Australia expires.

If you have any work expenses while in Australia that you paid for on your own, you can boost your tax return with the receipts of this. You will also be able to minimize the tax liability that you are at with the ATO. Some of your actual work expenses are also deductible based on your job, so make sure you look into this as well. With the right factors being taken into consideration and a positive, clearheaded attitude, you should be able to get your taxes sorted out in no time!

If you want your business to broadcast go on YouTube, you can now live stream without additional encoders or software on your desktop using Chromium. YouTube announced the new feature on the Official YouTube Creator Blog.

YouTube Live Streaming in Easier Way

The live streaming has recently been simplified to simply a few of clicks, YouTube says. Before the brand new feature, streaming live content entailed going through complicated setups. Users would have to apply encoding software to capture the content using their device and send it to YouTube to be live streamed.

With live coverage, small businesses can use video to have interaction with their customers and deliver value-added services. If you are a restaurateur, plumber or piano educator, you can use live video to offer cooking food lessons, teach basic domestic plumbing or a particular music piece. And best of all, it has recently been simplified so anybody can use it.

By streamlining the process, YouTube is looking to obtain more creators to use the live coverage feature, which is now an expanding trend among users and other platforms. Facebook Live, Twitter’s Periscope and Twitch all provide the same capability.

YouTube tested the feature with creators, who were utilizing it for beauty tutorials, fan improvements and product reviews before rendering it available to all users.

As of now, you can only use the new service on Chrome, but Vadim Lavrusik, Live Video Product Director for YouTube, said in the recent YouTube article, other browsers will soon be included. The functions will also extend to mobile phones. Lavrusik says you will be able to get started on a live stream directly from the camera iPhone app in select devices in the coming a few months, including some from Asus, LG, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung. But Lavrusik procedes say the company’s goal is to make the feature available on more devices using its new YouTube Mobile Live profound link throughout the 12 months.

Today’s smaller businesses exist in fresh financial surroundings that forces creative imagination and out-of-the-box thinking as it pertains to financing. Smaller businesses have customarily been the main element driver for economic recovery as it pertains to hiring, but it requires capital, and capital can be tricky to obtain.

When my business partner and I started out our first business, we primarily used relative’s debts capital until we were large enough to get more substantial financing from angel buyers. The simple truth is, smaller businesses patch together their money from a number of different sources eliminated over time. No source of money is necessarily much easier to come across than another. It is determined by your business design, projections, and exactly how you can sell you to ultimately potential financial companions. Whether you are a start-up seeking original seed capital or a functioning small company looking for the money to grow, you need to be flexible, stay positive, and stay vigilant in your time and efforts.

Listed below are five methods for getting started with financing your enterprise:

Do-it-yourself

Most business people and small enterprises these days attended to the realization that they can have to self-fund (also known as “bootstrapping”) their jobs for a substantial timeframe until more formal money opportunities become reasonable. There are lots of ways to do this from personal savings accounts and zero interest bank cards to leveraging other personal resources. If you truly believe in your vision and also have a complete refusal to simply accept failure as a choice, you should feel safe investing you possess money into the business. Subsequently, this can make potential investors convenient knowing you have skin in the overall game. Just keep your eyes on growth and profitability!

Friends, family, and fools

Funding from friends and family is an extremely popular and effective way to gather some original capital for an enterprise. Those closest to you are much more likely than one to consider not only in your perspective, but your capability to make that observation possible. One drawback, of course, is that you will be possibly risking personal connections if the business fails as well as your contract not be set up properly. In order to avoid relatives and family sense like “fools”, I would recommend structuring this kind of financing as a higher interest loan for just one year. Borrow sufficient to launch the business enterprise into operation, build your website, or develop some additional pitch materials if you need to follow big money. So that much as you should avoid accumulating legal fees, it is very important that all gatherings get sound legal services. Not doing this can potentially cost much more later on.

Business Loans

I really know what you’re thinking. Bankers are stricter than ever before about offering loans and unless you have any credit, how will you possibly think about this route? Inside our start, I ran into this obstacle on a regular basis. When writing this short article, I used to be doing some research looking for companies that focus on helping smaller businesses get fast and simple usage of lenders. One company that stood out was all business loans. Seeking any kind of capital can be considered a regular job alone which explains why companies like all business loans can be considered a great way for taking the legwork out of it. Another reason to go after debt financing is the fact that you aren’t handing out a bit of your business.

Angel shareholders

This course is near my heart and soul because we’ve achieved extensive success in nurturing money this way. That said, a lot of it is due to timing and leveraging the right connections. In our go through the “friends and family” road has actually exposed the entrances to angel investment rounds. A great deal of trust can be built giving your early level investor his / her cash back plus interest. But because someone lent you money to establish your business, doesn’t make sure they are the right financial spouse for the long term. When elevating money from angels or VC’s you need to bear in mind that they can own a bit of the business enterprise and afterwards you have a fiduciary responsibility to do something in the needs of the business enterprise and its own shareholders. Bringing in angel buyers is a confusing business, no matter how thrilling and positive the original interactions may be, the devil is definitely in the facts. Know your business plan, be clear, less difficult your valuation with real projections (your investment BS hockey stay earnings models), and create a relationship predicated on trust.

No matter which course you take, it’s likely that you might do many of these sooner or later as your business increases. By the end of your day, you have a small business to perform and none of the matters unless it offers your full attention. So find a practical money solution that also gives you to maintain functions and give attention to profitability growth.

Everyone nowadays is building their own websites using CMSs like WordPress. Surely, if you build your own website, you can save a lot of money that may go to a developer. However, it’s very important to think twice about doing that, especially if you are building an ecommerce website. Online shopping sites should be professionally built and require more skill. If you are designing a personal blog, then you can easily do it using WordPress. But ecommerce websites require more components and tighter security protocols. You may really need a professional developer. Read ahead to find out exactly when you should forgo your own skills and spend money hiring a professional web developer:

When You Don’t Understand the CMS

For ecommerce websites, WordPress is not always the best CMS to use. There are more specialised CMSs for ecommerce sites like Magento. You can take advantage of advanced features built exclusively for ecommerce websites using a CMS like Magento. Unfortunately, Magento is not as easy to use as WordPress for beginners. It’s definitely not a drag and drop CMS. If this is the case, you are better off paying for professional Magento developers to build your site. Pro developers know CMSs in and out. More importantly, they will tell you which CMS is best for your website.

When You Have Never Built a Website Before

Most CMSs nowadays are really easy to use and do not require any skill. Wiz, for example, allows users to drag and drop components to build a website. Of course, this makes site building much more accessible for those without training. However, if you plan on monetizing using your website, then you need to build it in a way to appeals to customers. Your site simply cannot look unprofessional or amateurish in any way. If you haven’t built a website before, you risk doing that. That’s why it’s worthwhile to hire professional developers. Your site will look professional, hence trustworthy enough for people to pay online.

When There’s Complicated Code Involved

Some online shopping sites are rather complex. There could be complicated code necessary to keep the shopping cart functioning properly or to keep the site highly secure. Without any technical skill, this is simply beyond the ability of newbies. You will need to hire a professional developer to execute complicated code. You may not even know what special requirements your site has. This is why it’s beneficial to have a professional look at everything.

When You Want to Incorporate SEO Techniques

SEO is not something that starts with the online marketing campaign. Some on-page SEO techniques should begin during the site building process. Some web developers are highly knowledgeable about such marketing needs. If you want to optimise your site to get good Google search result rankings, you will need to do some serious SEO. Pro web developers are well attuned to these things. Some developers, in fact, specialise in SEO-friendly site-building. You can benefit from the long term by hiring one of these professionals.

As you can see, building an ecommerce site is not as easy as it sounds. If you want your site to look and feel professional, it’s better to hire a developer than to go about it on your own.

Designing an online store or an ecommerce website could seem like a rather straightforward process. It’s really not. While you can relatively easily and cheaply create an online store, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will be able to sell successfully. It’s usually due to making the following mistakes during the design process. Read ahead to learn about potential mistakes you can make and ways to avoid them:

Not Choosing the Right CMS

The content management system, or the CMS, is the program you use to design your website, like WordPress. The problem is, most amateur online store designers don’t know how to choose the right CMS for their purposes. WordPress is easy to use and has the convenient WooCommerce plugin for ecommerce sites. However, it’s not the only one available out there. CMSs like Magento are better suited for designing online stores that you hope to grow. Shopify and Drupal are also great choices. So, spend some time researching to make sure you choose the right CMS for your website.

Unwillingness to Invest

If you are serious about growing your ecommerce venture, then you must be willing to invest in its site design. Unless you have extensive experience in web design of any kind, you will definitely have to depend on professional site developers for your online store. It will ensure that your site looks professional and trustworthy, and not like something an amateur put together. Costs will vary depending on the firm you hire and the CMS you use. However, hiring local developers in your area may cut costs. For example, if you live in Brisbane, hire Magento Brisbane developers to get the best price.

Prioritising Design over Security

Yes, the design aspect is huge when it comes to building your online store. However, do not give priority to the aesthetic aspects and ignore security aspects, as many digital entrepreneurs tend to do. You must give both equal importance. Security is rather important; if you get hacked once, then your venture is done. You will have to start again all over. Consumers are ever more vigilant regarding cybercrime these days. Therefore, make sure you design the site to be as secure as possible.

Not Paying Attention to CRO

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is what you do to increase the chance of a visitor becoming an actual paying customer. Your site’s success will be determined by the conversion rate, not the traffic numbers that the site attracts. CRO can be done during the designing process. Rather, it must be done during the design process. CRO will involve making the layout visually appealing, easy to scroll, and more important, easy to navigate to the desired product and make a payment. From the get-go, pay attention to CRO to make your website viable for selling products.

Ignoring Page Speed Requirements

During the design process, do not overload your site with various components like plugins. While certain plugins may be useful for things like collecting data, get rid of plugins that you can live without. Additional components like plugins add bulk to the site, which makes it slow down. No one buys from a slow online store. Keep the overall layout minimalist to avoid a slow loading website.

Next time you are building an ecommerce website or are editing one, avoid the above mistakes.