Category: Grow a Home Business

    Major Challenges with Live Video Streaming

    Live stream broadcasting is exciting and people are jumping on it like wild fires. But there are some key challenges that people using the technology are going to run up against. Bandwidth and buffering being two that come to mind.

    Bandwidth has two issues. Video coupled with audio, uses a high amount of bandwidth. If you are one of those lucky enough to have a data plan on your smartphone with unlimited data usage, you probably have nothing to worry about. Although, talk to people that have reached a high amount of usage even on those plans. They will tell you their providers complain about fair use, etc.
    If you have a plan that is limited, you could end up paying some hefty overage fees if you go over the limit. This may not be a problem if you are able to monetize as a result of the broadcasts you are doing. But you will need to make more than the extra charges that your smart device is running up.
    Of course, if you are broadcasting from your home, you could easily set your phone up to use your Wi Fi connection. This will circumvent any usage on your data plan, assuming that your Wi Fi usage is still unlimited. At this point, most home internet plans allow for unlimited use. It remains to be seen if that will last forever.

    Buffering can occur if you have a slow connection. If you plan on broadcasting, it is a good idea to stop any background processes from running during the broadcast. Also, you may want to shut down any file sharing and file uploads while the broadcast is running. Remember, you want to make the experience for your viewers as smooth as possible. Since broadcasting is live, any buffering will cause delays for your viewers. This will likely get them to move on from your broadcasts. The idea is to keep them coming back not to scare them off.

    It’s going to be interesting to see, now that live video streaming has exploded onto the scene, how that will affect data plan prices going forward. It could be just the thing needed to motivate the phone service providers into offering more robust plans. These plans may come at a higher price, at least initially. But that is certainly a better option than having to pay per minute overages any time you go over your limits. Besides, as more phone service providers scramble to get your business, the end result will likely be lower prices across the board.

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    Getting Started Using WooCommerce

    Since its creation in 2011 WooCommerce quickly became one of the best plugins for creating WordPress ecommerce websites. The reason it is so popular is because it is extremely easy to use and there are many useful extensions available that add to its functionality. Even though WooCommerce is very easy to use it is important to know what it can and cannot do in order to make sure that your site lives up to its potential. Here are some tips for getting started with WooCommerce.

    Choosing a Theme

    WooCommerce works well with almost any WordPress theme, but your store will benefit from using a theme that was customized especially for the plugin. For example, the standard theme for WooCommerce is not very mobile friendly so finding a theme that works across all devices will be essential for all the mobile traffic coming your way. In addition, there are several themes that provide customized features that enhance the built-in functionality of WooCommerce.

    Payment and Shipping

    For payment options WooCommerce only works with Simply Commerce and PayPal by default. It also accepts checks, COD, and bank transfers. If you do not have a large budget to work with then the standard PayPal offering may work fine. Consider adding a payment gateway to your site that allows credit cards to be used. This will look cleaner and provide a less confusing experience for your customers.

    When it comes to shipping things can get complicated. The simplest way to set up shipping is by using a flat rate or a table rate. The problem with this is you may lose money when shipping to locations that are far away. You will need an extension in order to set up a table rate on WooCommerce. An extension tie in can be used with almost any of the shipping providers, but this can be a bit difficult to set up as the size and weight of the product must be considered.

    When it comes to shipping, do what you are most comfortable with. Just make sure you are not gouging customers with high shipping costs or losing money by charging too little for shipping.

    Once you have these things figured out, make sure that you check your site daily and keep it updated. This will ensure that WooCommerce is working for you in the best possible way.

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    Creating a Google Analytics Account

    Creating your Google Analytics account is a fairly simple process.

    The first step is to visit the sign up page. If you currently have an email account through Gmail you can use it to sign into your analytics account. For those without a Gmail account you will need to create the entire account first.

    Google currently offers a universal access account along with the classic account. The universal access account is currently in beta and has several extra features. If you choose the classic account you will then be upgraded to the newer features when they are out of beta.

    All of the information on the sign up page is quite self-explanatory, simply enter the URL of your website, create an account name, enter your time zone, country, etc. Once the information has been entered you will then get a tracking ID after agreeing to the terms and conditions.

    Installing Google Analytics on WordPress

    After you have created your Google Analytics account, it is important to copy your tracking code to use on your website. Since WordPress is one of the most popular website platforms out there, we will look at it.

    There are several ways for installing Google Analytics through WordPress. They are:

    Using a direct copy/paste to your themes footer/header file
    Updating the functions.php page
    Or with plugins.

    The recommended method is to use a plugin as this will make the entire process much simpler.

    There are a ton of different plugins that are available that will help you add Google Analytics to your website. Using one of the simple, lightweight plug ins is recommended when you are first starting out.

    The direct paste method is fairly simple as well. You will simply copy your Google Analytics code to the header.php (or footer.php) file of your theme. It should be pasted right after yourtag (or right before thetag in footer).

    You should really only use the Functions.php method if you absolutely know what to do. You will want to use the appropriate code in the functions.php file for your theme on WordPress. You will also need to paste in the Google Analytics code you received when you signed up.

    Using Google Analytics

    Google Analytics is really a must have for every website. This service is free to use and will provide you with valuable insight into your websites traffic. The only way to truly improve your website is to use the data provided by Google Analytics to fully understand your audience and what they are doing while on your site.

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    A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Automation

    Marketing automation sounds rather complex. Basically, it is simply tools and software you use to do things for your business without having to manually do them. For example, you probably have heard of an autoresponder. That is a basic form of marketing automation and one every business should have, even if they are a standard brick and mortar business. Collecting emails and building a list the right way is crucial to any business.

    An autoresponder allows you to collect emails from people who opt in and want to be on your list. You can then separate the list based on interest, or which optin form they used. You can set up emails to drip feed automatically to the list. You can send to some or all of the list as needed. This kind of automation frees you up to work on other projects and allows your customers to get what they opted in for, or products they buy immediately without having to wait for you do to something.

    There are other tools for marketing automation as well. For example, there are several tools that allow you to set up posts for social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, reddit, and others, to post for you at specific times. Use these sparingly and wisely because people do not appreciate not hearing directly from you. Especially in Facebook groups, you may find yourself banned if you keep posting only automated posts to the group. Remember that a big part of social media is about being social and communicating directly. However, if you use automated posts correctly, they can help you brand yourself and have more of a voice on the sites.

    Another type of marketing automation is used with blogs. Word Press has this built in, plus there are many free and low cost plug-ins for Word Press that can add more features to the marketing automation for your blog. The basic one that Word Press has built in, is the ability to drip feed your blog posts. For example if you know that next week you will not have time to post on your blog, you can spend the weekend writing the posts ahead of time and set it up to drip feed the content on your regular posting schedule. A lot of marketers do this on a regular basis.

    These are just a few of the examples of marketing automation out there that can help your business. Whatever methods you end up using, be sure to remember that automation is just a tool, and not a magic pill, to running your business.

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    Four Tips for Every Newbie Self-Publisher

    The journey to self-publishing can be an arduous one. You need more than just amazing writing skills and a burning passion to go the full mile without giving up. Self-discipline and self-monitoring are key to staying focused and meeting your authorship goals. These four tips will help you keep the momentum going less painfully.

    Be patient

    It’s not for nothing that patience is regarded as a virtue. There are quite a few logistics involved in both print and e-publication, and many first-time self-publishers tend to miss key steps when navigating the process. Look at it this way : in a publishing house, different individuals and departments handle different aspects of publication. When you’re on your own, you have to wear more than one hat, and go about the process patiently. Expect your patience to be tested even more when you’re balancing your personal and work (if you’re employed) commitments.

    Be objective

    If you’re a non-fiction writer, the ability to see your work through the lens of literary agents can come in handy. It can help you make objective decisions on content creation and marketing, by answering questions like ‘what kind of value does my book offer the target market?’ and ‘how unique and necessary is my book in its category?’.

    Don’t skimp on the research

    It is critical that, prior to publishing, you do your research and clearly understand all your options. Some of the not-so-glamorous aspects of self-publishing include obtaining an ISBN and barcode, figuring out the payment mechanisms and tax obligations, creating your copyright statement, and developing your website. As you’re readying to publish, you need to implement your web marketing plan. Even after you’ve published your book and started work on your next project, you must keep marketing your previous project.

    Stay committed

    Some writers can draft an 80,000 page book within a month while other may take up to a year to write the same number of words. If you can write only 400-500 words a day, and not write at all on some days, it’s fine. What’s more important is that you’re committed to the endeavor, because ultimately, writing a novel or creating a picture book is both time and effort intensive. Serious writers regard their work as a labor of love. Anyone who doesn’t want to take the pain to tell a story probably isn’t a serious writer. This quote by the great American writer Flannery O’Connor can help put things in perspective : ‘Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.’

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    Common Mistakes made Using WooCommerce

    One of the reasons WooCommerce is so popular is because it is easy to integrate and use. Because WooCommerce is easy to use many people make the mistake of thinking that once they install it, configure their store, and add their products, they are done. While this will get you started, there is a bit more to it.

    One important thing to remember is that WooCommerce is a tool. It is a good tool and when used correctly can be extremely useful. As a business owner you will need to make sure that you keep your site running smoothly all the time. Here are some common mistakes that many ecommerce storeowners make.

    Running Old Versions of WooCommerce

    WooCommerce is updated on a regular basis. You should make sure you update your version as soon as you are notified. Security should be one of your top priorities and running an outdated version of the plugin could mean that you are putting your store and your customers at risk. One bad security breach could be the end of your business.

    Not Using a Staging Site

    A staging site is a separate replica of your live site that can be created to test plugins, themes, and custom code. This is one of the best ways to test out any changes that you are planning to make to your site. If you make a change on the staging site and it crashes will be able to figure out what the problem is without causing any downtime on your live site. The last thing you want to do is to make a change on your live site that causes all sorts of issues and not be able to get them fixed in a reasonable amount of time. A staging site allows you to test all changes first to see how they will work.

    Not Running Backups

    Another mistake that many WooCommerce users make is not using backups. Some people are running very successful online businesses, but do not have it backed up. A security incident could wipe out their entire business. There are many backup options available and there is simply no reason not to use these methods in order to keep your business secure.

    These are just a few mistakes people make when using WooCommerce. If you are running an online business make sure that you are not making these mistakes.

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    3 Tips for Using Social Video on Facebook

    Know the Community Guidelines

    Facebook has about the largest audience of any social media platform there is. As such, they have perhaps the strictest rules about what can be shared, who it can be shared with, and so on. The Guidelines (as they call them) are not overly restrictive, they’re just long. Be sure to set aside a chunk of time to familiarize yourself with them before you begin any type of marketing on Facebook, video or otherwise.

    Penalties for violating the Community Guidelines vary depending on the severity of the offense, among other factors, but if you are a repeat violator you can, and will, have your Facebook account deleted and banned. Predictably, the penalties for marketing-related violations are generally stricter than for non-marketers. Facebook staff are not known for being extremely flexible once a decision has been made, and although appeals and reversals are not unheard of, it’s a better practice to avoid sanctions in the first place rather than trying to appeal a negative decision. The most basic advice here is to ensure your videos and other marketing messages are family-friendly.

    Don’t Overshare

    This applies more to posting your videos (or other marketing messages) on your own account or in groups or pages, rather than advertising. As far as paid insertion, your budget seems to be the only real limit. But for social sharing, don’t overdo it. Not only will people begin to bristle at your omnipresence (especially if you’re also sharing the same basic message through paid ads), too much presence through free channels may backfire and generate some negative publicity.

    Don’t be the party guest that refuses to leave. There’s a fine line between not enough and too much. It may take some experimentation to find that line.

    Target, Target, Target

    Simply put, it’s a waste of money to insert your video where it’s not wanted. If you take the shotgun approach to placing your advertising messages, you are not only going to irritate the individuals who see it but don’t have any interest, but if they see it over and over again, you may generate negative goodwill. Why not save money and only show your videos to the people are likely to want to see them?

    Targeting is simple on Facebook. They offer a myriad of demographic choices to narrow your audience down to precisely who will likely be interested in your message. Split testing and constant adjustment of your target audience will also serve you well here.

    Facebook may seem intimidating, but if you study their rules and culture, social video marketing can be very rewarding on that particular platform.

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    5 Tips for Using Google Analytics

    It is important to measure how successful your inbound marketing efforts are.

    One of the best tools for this is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is free to use and it allows you to learn more about your website traffic, track where your visitors come from and why they are visiting your site.

    Here are a 5 ways to use Google Analytics effectively to make sure you are getting the most out of this extremely useful tool.

    1. Tracking Email Campaigns

    Google Analytics allows you to track your email campaigns. To do this you will need to go to the admin page and then to custom definitions and to custom metrics. Here you will create a metric called email opens. Make sure that this is active and then create the email in your email software program. Use the given code to track your email campaign.

    2. Creating Custom Campaign URLs

    There is a free tool that you can use in order to customize URLs for any of your marketing campaigns. This tool will allow you to identify 5 parameters, your medium, source, content, term, and the name of your campaign. Once you have set up the custom link you can use the full link or a shortened form created by a tool such as bitly.

    3. Analyze Site Searches

    You may use behavior/site search if you have the search function enabled on your website. This will allow you to analyze the data of what users typically search for. A user that performs a search on the site is more likely to convert to a sale than the ones who do not. If you see what your users are looking for you will know what they want, which allows you to publish content that is related to those searches.

    4. Weekly Reports Email

    There is an option to have reports emailed weekly or monthly to provide you with a snapshot of the most important metrics of your site. This is perfect for those who do not want to use Google Analytics manually.

    5. Watch for Updates

    It is important to make sure that you watch for any updates to Google Analytics. Consider following the Google Analytics twitter page so that you are up to date on these new functions and features as they come about.

    Take the time to implement these tips and you will be able to fully track your website traffic to learn more about what works and what does not.

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    How Businesses Can Use Live Stream Broadcasts

    With all the buzz surrounding live stream broadcasts, it may not be clear on how businesses can use this technology. There are likely to be some creative ways as time goes on. Here are some of the more common uses.

    Interviews
    Most businesses can take advantage of interviewing experts in their field. Perhaps the business owner himself will want to be the one interviewed. It is simply a matter of finding someone to interview you and creating the broadcast. But even that isn’t completely necessary as you can run the interview on your own. You simply come up with questions that you want your viewers to know the answers to, then you start broadcasting those answers.

    Customer Q&A
    Why not invite several of your trusted customers to jump on a live stream broadcast and let them ask you questions about your products and services? They can also tell you what they like about your products and what areas could be improved. This is a golden opportunity to connect directly with them and get some great feedback.

    Business Tips Column
    Any business can offer to give tips about the business to customers and potential customers. Plumbers could teach people how to identify leaks in pipes. Marketers can give tips about how to increase conversions in a sales funnel, etc. These are just two of many examples.

    Testimonials
    Testimonials help sell more products. Potential customers love to know that others had a great experience with products and there is no better way to provide this than to use testimonials. The challenge will be in convincing customers to do so via a live broadcast. The app available from Periscope has made it quite easy for anyone to create a broadcast with smartphones.

    A word of caution about testimonials: be sure to ask the customers to provide an honest testimonial. Governments are cracking down on false testimonials or ones that are given in exchange for cash or awards.

    Before and After Broadcasts
    Any company whose business model is to transform something into something better, can easily employ before and after broadcasts. This can help show potential customers just what kind of work the business is capable of doing.

    Crowdfunding
    You can use broadcasting to state your case when you want to raise funds for your business initiatives. You can give information on where the money is going to go. You can also let potential funders know what kinds of rewards are available (if any) at certain levels of funding. Also, you can get people that have pledged money to state why they chose to fund your initiatives.

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    Four Strategies to Market Your Self-Published Book

    One of the biggest challenges self-published authors face is effectively marketing their work. The problem isn’t so much with the marketing methods or channels; it is more about how well you can leverage them and promote the hell out of your book. Self-publishing has created a level-playing field no doubt, but the playground is fiercely competitive. If you want a fair chance at healthy sales, these marketing strategies can give you a good head-start.

    1. Price your book competitively

    The trend of initially selling their books for free for a few days has served indie authors well, garnering them visibility and helping them build a fan base. Low prices on long books also attract readers, which is another tactic employed by many writers. But the flipside is that readers may equate very low priced books with questionable quality and hesitate to buy them. Also, pricing your book too low can be a drag on your revenue, especially if you aren’t exactly selling many copies a year.

    A not-too-high and not-too-low price is a good compromise for newbie authors. This price could be between $2.99 to $4.99 for a full-length book and $1.99 for a novella.

    2. Get an author website

    Your author website will be the one-stop destination for readers and the media to get more information and the latest news about you. Add a brief biography, high resolution photographs, links to your social media profiles, positive reviews and press quotes. Also consider a blog section where you can interact more intimately with your readers.

    3. Get social

    Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ are some of the popular social networks where authors can engage with fans/followers. Guy Kawasaki recommends getting on social media before you start writing a book, as it will take you anywhere from nine months to a year to build a social following.

    Create a great profile that elicits interest, and makes you appear likeable and trustworthy. Add your high resolution photo, but make sure it’s just you and not you with your spouse, pets or car. Write a few sentences about yourself and tell your personal story, staying honest to whatever image you want to portray and without going over-the-top about it.

    Don’t just self-promote, focus on initiating engaging, lively and useful conversations with your readers. You can talk about your interests, opine on a news story or topical subject, and even post interesting photographs from time to time. Answer fans’/followers’ questions, give advice, and follow people whose content you find valuable and share-worthy.

    People like sharing posts and tweets about contests. You can launch contests on social media and give away free copies of your book as gifts/prizes.

    4. Create Google Alerts

    When you create a Google Alert on your name, the search engine will notify you every time someone writes about you and your book(s) online. You can reach out to these entities to explore more promotional opportunities or thank them for the mentions.

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