Phoenix Education

Budgets – What To Think About

There are many elements to consider in such an exercise and the following are just some of the more necessary considerations recommended:

Business plans and budgeting exercises are designed to give those involved in the business a fairly accurate and current assessment of the business and its future intended direction.

The plans will also ensure the relevant information is available to assist in the business growth based on the funds available. Such information is essential to the business, especially if there is a need to secure financing facilities such as overdraft tools and bank loans or venture capital funding.

The business budget should ideally be the most accurate form of documentation available for the continuous reviewing of the business environment against the actual performance the business is running at. Most of the budgeting exercises reflect information on a monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annual basis.

Focus should be given to area such as the reviewing of the current year’s progress based on the decisions that brought about the present positioning of the business entity.

All objectives and strategies that are in place or projected to be so through the action plans and benchmarks it is measured against.

Resources should also be considered for its consistency and reliability, as these elements can and usually do effect the business in some way or another when problems arise.

The anticipated results are also something to be considered as it may require changes to be made is such anticipations take on a negative form.

Therefore on several different levels the benefits are evident when there is proper planning stages set up in the form of business plans and budgets.

The Steps

Planninng the budget. Fixed cost of websites, advertising, social media, networking…

The following are some tips on how to ensure the budgeting exercise for the business in on track and effective:

Checking industry standards and sentiments of the time is something that needs to be done periodically as the percentages of revenue earning possibilities is often affected by the market behaviors.

The smaller the business entity, the more likely it is to be effected by the volatility of the market, and this is especially so when there is a downturn in the economy.

Designing an accurate spreadsheet is another essential element that should be included as part of the budgeting exercise. Making clear estimates on the revenue amounts expected against the percentages allocated toward tools and materials relevant to the business will give a clear overview of expected expenses incurred.

Factoring some degree of slack and avenues to cut cost can also be clearly reflected in a comprehensive budgeting exercise.

Understanding that there is bound to be a lot of movement within the economy that will eventually have some bearing on the business entity and then taking the necessary financial step to limit its liability will help to keep the budgeting exercise more realistic. Ideally this will also provide better for better cost cutting exercises that can positively contribute to the overall success of the business.

New Business

I’m working on a couple of online businesses. I know I should be planning a quiet retirement, and I’ve tried that and it is boring and expensive! So I am putting books for sale on a new website, and also looking at launching some online courses. So I decided to look into some business ideas and came across the following ideas.

All businesses start out with three main elements prominently featured in the general make up of the endeavor. These would be listed as revenue to be earned, expenses to be incurred along the way and the projected profits expected. These three categories are usually studied in depth before the actual business entity is launched and through this process there is always the need to have an effective budgeting platform in place.

The expenses which usually fall into three separate categories such as the semi-variables, fixed costs and the variables are also usually considered in the budgeting exercise. All these calculations are done on the monthly ratio which the business progress dictates.

This is the most detailed section of the business engine and usually also required the most attention when it comes to managing the costing elements.

The profits meant to be derived are usually the reasons why the business endeavor is being taken on in the first place, thus the basic profits calculated are also part of the budgeting process.

Successful business entities calculate the monthly budgets and make the necessary adjustments accordingly to ensure optimum profit making probabilities. Calculations for budgeting purposes can also be done on a daily, weekly or monthly basis depending on the individual business requirements and style.

So now I have to look at the costs of running websites and what is the real cost for me in terms of writing time.

I will come back to all of that later.

And today I think …

How Can I Stop Procrastinating?

Everyone procrastinates sometimes. However, if procrastination is a constant problem for you, it’s time to make a few changes in your life.

I sat down yesterday with my Journal. I realized how many things I want to achieve. I also realized what is stopping me. I have the outlines written for at least seven books. I have the same number of online courses. I have bought licences to publish them. These courses need to be made available via Thinkific or other platforms. Below are several tactics you can use to help yourself stop your procrastination habit.

Divide Up the Task

Often, when you procrastinate, you may feel you are facing a massive task. You might think you won’t be able to finish it. Put a stop to this thinking by breaking up the task into more manageable pieces. For example, if you were supposed to clean your basement, resolve to clean one corner each day. Avoid trying to tackle it all at once. This tactic can help make any task more manageable and feel less overwhelming.

Make A Deadline

Now is not the time to tell yourself you will do something “later.” Instead, set a strict timeline for yourself, with sections of your goal having deadlines. This way, you know when you will be completing something. It may also help to have a small reward for yourself along the way. An example of this would be a student needing to write a four-page paper. And for each page the student completes, they would reward themselves with fifteen minutes of phone time.

Stop Your Common Distractions

Usually, when someone procrastinates, it’s for the same reasons each time. You intended to clean the kitchen. But then, you ended up watching a new TV show. Put a stop to this by eliminating common distractions or procrastination tactics for yourself. If the TV is a distraction for you, it’s time to work in another room.

Spend Time with Motivated People

There is nothing quite like hanging out with someone motivated to boost your motivation. Find a friend or colleague whose motivation you admire and resolve to spend more time with them. Or get a friend in on your plans and decide to help keep each other motivated regularly. Either way, it’s much easier to stop procrastinating when you’ve got others around you accomplishing remarkable things!

Discontinuing your procrastination habit can be extremely difficult. However, it can be done just by changing some minor things in your life. Start by dividing up the task, making deadlines, and getting rid of your most common distractions. Then surround yourself with other positive people, and you will soon find you procrastinate tasks less than ever before!

5 Beliefs That Keep You from Attacking Your Goals

Everyone has dreams, but not everyone makes their dreams into goals. You may have a few of these too. What are the reasons you tell yourself late at night to put the shutdown on making them a reality? These reasons are beliefs that you have, but that doesn’t mean they are valid reasons.

Not Enough Time

Everyone is busy these days. When someone asks how you are doing, you probably respond with “Busy.” But that might not be the truth. Everyone has the same twenty-four hours in the day. For a week or maybe two, keep a time ladder of how you spent your time. This includes sleeping, preparing and eating meals, social media, getting ready for work, cleaning your house. Take a good look at how your time is spent, and you might realize you have more time than you realize.

I Don’t Have ‘X’ Talent

It doesn’t matter if you want to write a book or paint a picture, you have as much talent as you are willing to work for. You may not have been born with the natural ability to paint, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn and practice.

After ‘X’ I Will Do It

“Once I get through this (insert tough project at work), I will start training for that marathon.” “After I lose twenty pounds, I will take a salsa dancing class.” Why are you waiting? Maybe that marathon training will help you work through the stress of that project at work. Perhaps salsa dancing lessons will allow you realize that no matter your weight, your body is worthy of fun and sexy movement. If you have a goal, go for it now.

I’m Not Good Enough

What ruler are you using to measure your “good enough”? You are always good enough to go after your own dreams and goals. If this is an internal dialogue, then you need to work on liking and loving yourself first. If this belief is coming from external sources, then consider those sources and if they are holding you back.

‘X’ Person Has it Easier

The grass is greener where you water it. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. There are many sayings that sum up that you really don’t know what someone else is going through. So do not assume that someone has it easier, and therefore can achieve their goals while you cannot. That person may think you have it easier or better.

Self-limiting beliefs can be a slippery slope. They can also keep you from even trying to reach your goals. Take time to examine your reasoning and come up with better beliefs to counter the negative ones.

Final 21 tips – thats 101 total!!

Publish eBooks – Write small eBooks, put them on your website using a service like Gumroad.com and the allow them to pay as little as they want (as low as a buck) and them market them on social media. People love paying what they can afford. If the book contains links back to your website, that’s even better.

Create a Viral Video – Video that is funny, awkward, quirky, exciting, and short can often become viral. But, you have to create it, promote it, and be ready for the traffic. (Hint: don’t only promote it once, promote it many times)

Write for Print Publications – There are many publications looking for both paid and free contributions. Even your local newspaper might need content. All you can do is find the publications that your audience likes to read, and then pitch content to them.

Become an Important Online Community Contributor – Any community, whether yours or someone else’s can provide an opportunity for you to be a star. Start contributing freely without concern of selling. Your name will be their guide to finding you.

Put Links in Your Social Networks – You can put links to your website in your profile, and tabs, in action buttons and more on social media. All of these including your shares are ways that you’ll earn more traffic free.

Share to Google Plus – Google plus is still a good place to share your blog posts and content. Share often, but be sure to write a nice introduction and invite comment too about the content to get the discussion rolling.

Ensure Your URL is Relevant – When you create each page of your website, and each blog post (which to search engines is like a page) ensure that the URLs are relevant with the right keywords that tell the reader what’s in the content.

Publish an Article in Popular Email Newsletters – Many people send out newsletters to their email list. They often need content. Subscribe to proper bloggers’ newsletters to watch the type of content they publish then offer to write relevant content for their newsletter. Even offering a testimonial can get you traffic.

Get Listed in Relevant Online Directories – There are many online directories that are free and still legitimate. Find the directories that your audience likes to look at before posting.

Publish in Local Publications – Local magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and blogs are good places to publish your content. Make it relevant, unique, timely, and useful to draw a lot of traffic from the exposure.

Publish in Industry Magazines – Find industry magazines that are directed toward your audience. Read them for a couple of months. Write to the editor in charge of contributors. This info can usually be found in the back of the magazine. When you’re published, promote the piece and the magazine.

Send Direct Mail – Yes, this does cost a stamp. But, that’s practically free and direct mail still works as long as it’s not a purchased list. Start collecting addresses from your email subscribers and send them something in the mail. Post cards are even less expensive. Remind them about your website and they’ll come back.

Connect With Indirect Competition – People who talk to your audience but promote complementary products and services and are not direct competition are wonderful people to Joint Venture with. When you JV with others you get access to their audience, their lists, and their popularity.

Start a Podcast – A podcast is an audio show that you can post in numbers places from your website, to iTunes and more. One of the great things about a podcast is that it’s portable. Your audience can listen while traveling, exercising, or working. Podcasts also give you additional links to your website, which people will click, if they like what they hear on the podcast.

Use a Link in Your Email Signature – Email signature links will get clicks from a variety of people. It’s important to include these informative contact links for all your emails whether from your personal account or from your autoresponder.

Send Out Press Releases – The good “old fashioned” press release still works and is still important. When you win an award, launch a new product, do something awesome. Write and send out a press release about the honor.

Get Recognized – Praise from third parties is a great way to get traffic. If someone does a story about you, offers to feature you on a TV show and more this is a great way to get more traffic.

Pick Up the Phone – If visitors and community members have an issue or problem and you have their contact information, ask them if you can give them a call. Very few people care enough to make the time for a personal call. Doing this may shock them a bit at first. However, the impression it leaves with them is priceless.

Host a Contest – Contests are awesome ways to get attention. This doesn’t have to cost you a thing if your prize is a digital product you’ve created, or a service you do yourself. Ask for videos, stories, testimonials and more that you can share with your audience, ask them to share with theirs and the winner is the one who sends the most traffic and gets the most votes.

Create Effective Navigation – If you only do a few things on this list, make this one of them. If your audience can’t navigate your site, they’re not going to be able to share it with others proudly nor will the search engines want to share your content either.

101. Post More Content– Don’t just post any content, post relevant, unique, helpful content directed toward your audience in a way that makes them know, like and trust you enough to tell others about you.

If you want free, yet targeted traffic, be sure to keep the content on your site interesting, updated, and full of relevant quality information for your targeted audience. Before you incorporate any of these tactics to increase your traffic, ensure that your website is ready for the new volume of traffic. Double check your hosting package to make sure your bandwidth is not limited to a small amount. You may need to go with a larger package if this is the case.

20 more tips for web traffic

Network with Influential Bloggers – Get to know high traffic bloggers with a similar audience. Work with them in some way. This allows them to get to know you and grow to like you. When the influencers like you, their audiences will probably like you too.

Connect With Your Audience Live – There are varieties of ways to connect live. Tell people you’ll meet them at a restaurant for a meet up. Host or attend a FB Live or YouTube Live event. Live participation helps you build trust, which helps you build traffic.

Create Relevant Categories – On your blog you can create categories for your posts, create categories that make sense to your audience. This helps increase traffic by making it easier for people and search engines to find the content they want to read.

Comment on Industry Blog Posts – When you comment on industry blog posts, depending upon the system they use, people who read your comment and are impressed can click on your name and find out information about you, including a link to your website.

Interview Influencers – Start finding high profile influencers, make a list of them with their contact information that you can find online. If possible pick up the phone and call them to ask for an interview (be prepared to record at that point in case they want to do it right now). Interview, post the interviews, and name names.

Interview Audience Members – When you invite your audience to be the star, you can create buzz that you never thought of. After all, your audience will love hearing from someone who is just like them. The interview can be shared and to bring like- minded members to your website.

Interview Your Competition – Yes. That’s right. Your competitors will want you to interview them to get access to your audience. At the same time, you’ll also want to give them an interview to get access their audience members. When done correctly, it’s a win-win situation.

Subscribe to Other Blogs That Your Audience would Like– When you subscribe to other blogs, you can learn what they’re talking about, how popular the topics are, and what readers think from looking at the comments. This can give you the opportunity to comment and use the information as inspiration for your blog posts.

Turn Your Data Heavy Posts into Infographics – If you have any data centric posts you can turn them into infographics. Watermark it before you share it, so that people can find your website.

Invite Influential Guest Bloggers – Nabbing guest bloggers can be hard to do today. However, if you can get some influential guest bloggers on your website’s blog, you’ll get a lot of traffic from their audience. You may need to figure out something to give them in return, if you don’t have a high traffic blog or website yet.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Post Content to LinkedIn – LinkedIn now allows you to post articles and you should do it. You’ll get a lot of reach if you share those posts with your groups and on your profile page and include some form of call to action.

Make Sure Your Blog is Responsive – It’s more important than ever that your audience can reach and particulate in your blog and website from their mobile device. In addition, remember that Google Search doesn’t index nonresponsive sites the same as it does responsive websites.

Check Your Website’s Load Speed – How fast your website loads is very important. If it takes longer than a few seconds to load, not only will you miss out on traffic but on search engine indexing too.

Build a Community – However you do it, through groups, comments on your page, a forum, live events – a community creates not just new traffic, but loyal fans who will yell your praises to everyone they know.

Locate Your Competition – Find your competition and follow them, and get to know them. If you can comment on their blog posts, congratulate them on their successes publically, and perhaps sell their products you can get their attention and end up with some of their traffic.

Create Viral Content – While you may not think it’s easy to create viral content, you can actually plan it by knowing your audience, and spending the time creating it, then promoting it and you can make it go viral.

Know Your Audience – You can’t create traffic generating content if you don’t know who your audience is. If it helps, create audience personas and as you create the new content think of that one person to make it more targeted.

Create an App – Apps are useful for generating traffic. But wait, that’s not free. Well, it is if you charge for it. It’s more than free for you; it’s profitable and drives traffic to your site within the app.

Send Influencers a Gift – You don’t have to pay money for gifts. Find a good article they’d like, or notice a TV show on that they might like. Send them a link to it with a note from you. More than likely, they’ll thank you by calling you out on social media, which will send more traffic to your website.

Get Testimonials – Ask your audience to send testimonials in text, video, audio or memes. The testimonials will be shared by them, and by others, and help send more traffic to your website.

More web traffic ideas

Create a Facebook Page – Make a page for your website so that you can easily promote your posts on Facebook. You’re not supposed to use your personal FB page to promote anything so this is a necessity. Create a “learn more” tab that goes to your website.

Overlay Your URL on Your Blog Post Images – When you create images for your content use a service like Canva.com to create an overlay that includes your URL so that they know exactly where to go to find more when the image is shared.

Join AllExperts.com – Join All Experts and you can ask and answer questions that people ask. You’ll create a profile that includes a link to your site and you can make the questions public so that people see your expertise and want to know more about you.

Start an Affiliate Program – You can use various plugins and websites to create a free affiliate program that enables you to let other people drive traffic to your website in hopes of making a sale of one of your products. As long as you break even after paying them, it’s technically free.

Put Your URL on Your Business Card – You already have business cards. Make sure you put your website URL or a QR code that will take recipients straight to your site.

Respond to Blog Comments – When you get blog comments, always respond to them. It makes your website more interactive and helps create more user-generated content, which will draw more search engine traffic.

Respond to All Social Media Comments – When people comment on things that you say on social media, be sure to make a comment back. Keeping the discussion going is a great way to get more people to visit your website.

Answer Other People’s Questions – In groups, forums, and on social media, ask questions. Be the expert that answers them. The more you can establish yourself as an expert the more curious they’ll be about you.

Answer Questions on Yahoo Answers – This is a great way to continue to increase your reputation as an expert, in addition to getting reputable links back to your website. Spend a little time looking for relevant questions and answering them.

Answer Questions on Quora – This is the same thing, you can spread the knowledge that you’re an expert in your niche by answering questions in an intelligent and educated manner without overtly selling or asking people to come to your site.

List Your Blog on Alltop.com – Listing your blog on reputable listing sites is still a good way to get back links to your website. But, you want to ensure that the site is reputable and relevant to your audience.

Write How to Posts – A How To blog post is very attractive to the newbies in your audience who want to know how to do things. Try to write at least one how to post about each aspect of your niche.

Write Long Form Posts – A long form blog post is a very authoritative post that goes deep into a topic. Instead of being general in nature, these posts explain, in detail, a topic of interest with graphics, charts, definitions, and internal links to more information.

Include Video In Your Blog – Today, video is very popular and is more likely to be shared than text. By including video on your website, you can dial into that type of audience member and use it to explain tough concepts or just to let your audience know you better.

Create Response Posts – When a blogger with a contrary opinion to yours posts about something you disagree with, respond, and send them a copy of the post and call them out on Twitter so they’ll go to it. (Hint: Their audience will go read it too.)

Curate Relevant Content – You don’t have to write all the content yourself, you can also be the go-to place to get any information in your niche from other bloggers, online magazines and so forth by simply collecting links to the content and providing a blurb about each bit of content you’re sharing. Because you’re sending your competition traffic they may even send some your way too.

Host a Webinar – People really do love webinars and you can host them free using Google Hangouts, or you can use another service and charge them to attend. That makes free and profitable. You’ll increase traffic to your site as you collect email addresses, add people to your list, and remind them about new blog posts in email updates.

Be a Speaker at a Webinar – When someone else hosts a webinar on a topic that your audience would want to see, volunteer to become a speaker at the webinar. Look for industry specific “call for webinar speakers” to find more opportunities.

Host a Teleseminar – This is similar to a webinar except it’s on the phone. You can host weekly teleseminars, based on various topics within your niche. If you offer excellent information and content, you can draw a lot of traffic as people share the link, channel, and details.

Next 20 tips

Optimize SEO – Search engine optimization is essential to helping you get free traffic to your website. There is both on and off page SEO. Learn as much as you can about it to ensure that you’re doing it right.

Create a Site Map – A site map is really just a list of pages on your site that you want indexed by the search engines. If you use WordPress as your content management system, you can get a plugin to help you create a sitemap.

Use Google Webmaster Tools — Google webmaster tools has a lot of training, and information for website owners to help them succeed at getting more traffic. They literally tell you exactly what you should do.

Put up Flyers – You might be surprised that a flyer will work wonders. While not technically free due to the cost of ink and paper, it’s not enough to notice. Post flyers at the library and local businesses that have customers that you want.

Go to Local Meet Ups – Go to Meetup.com and find meet ups within driving distance that you can attend. Become part of the group before you start marketing to them. But, if you let them know your expertise they’ll help you share on and offline.

Attend Live Events – A great way to get traffic is to become a familiar face in the live event circle. Going to live events doesn’t have to cost a lot of money; you can volunteer to work at the events you want to attend.

Host Live Events – Hold up, this can be free. Here’s what you do. Get sponsors and charge attendees. Invite speakers. Share news and updates on social media, as the event happens. Send out a press release and watch the traffic flow in.

Become a Speaker at Live Events – Create a good script on a topic. Record yourself after some practice and maybe a little editing. Then send it to organizers and volunteer to speak at live events. When you speak make sure you give them a reason to go visit your website.

Submit Your Posts to Reddit – Each time you publish a relevant post you feel will have widespread appeal post it to Reddit. Be ready for the onslaught of traffic should it go viral.

Do a Blog Tour – To conduct a blog tour, contact blog owners that cater to your audience. Offer to write a very specific and unique blog post just for their site that you’ll both promote. Give them an affiliate link to your website so that if anyone in their audience makes a purchase the blog owner will be paid.

Call out Influencers in Your Posts – When you write a blog post about a topic you read about somewhere else, such as on another blog or in a book, tag the source in the post you write. If the source comments on it, their audience may see and read it.

Check Your Metrics – Some people will say that the data doesn’t matter, that only engagement matters. Engagement is imperative, but studying the numbers matters a great deal. How can you know if what you’re doing is working if you don’t look?

Connect With Competitors – It might seem counterintuitive to connect with your competition but it works. You can both encourage and market each other via newsletters, blog posts and more.

Use The Right Keywords – It takes some understanding of how keywords work to understand which ones to use. It might seem like you should use the most obvious keywords but that would be wrong. Use low competition keywords that people are looking for. You can learn more by using Google Webmaster Tools.

Use Long-Tail Keywords – Three and four word keywords are called “long-tail” keywords. They are also called keyword phrases. You can discover these simply by starting your keywords in Google Search.

Comment on Other People’s Ads – On Facebook there is promoted posts, and sponsored ads that appear in your feed. If the advertisement is relevant to your needs, try to make a good comment on it. People may click on your profile and then use the link there to go to your website.

Do Facebook Live – People love live events and you can host one anytime you want to. Try to come up with a topic that you know your audience will like and ask your viewers to share.

Publish video On LinkedIn – Putting a good “about me” type video on your LinkedIn profile is a great way to describe what your website is about, what you do there, what type of content you share and a juicy offering will help encourage viewers to come to your website.

Write for Kindle – A great way to bring traffic to your website is to publish a Kindle book that you know your audience will love, sell it for only 99 cents. Include links to various blog posts that you’ve written and even make an offer they can’t refuse within the pages of the book.

Write Round Up Posts – The top ten posts on your blog, the blogs about a particular category, how to blog posts – these are all good ways to create a “top ten” list with your own blog posts that people might want to read. This is also a great way to revive older content.