We’re just going to throw this out there; the location of your business is a bit of a big deal. That much seems obvious, right? It’s the reason why shops in towns always do much better than the ones on the outskirts, and even though it’s quite the endeavor, even large facilities undergo plant relocation from time to time. It’s the reason why prime-location rent is always so much steeper than out of the way spaces. It doesn’t take a genius to work this stuff out, check out how to file taxes without the W2.

But, in the modern business world, many entrepreneurs make the major mistake of thinking that location isn’t everything anymore. After all, a decent online presence and a top-notch web design could still see you dragging in the dollars. Add to that a winning marketing campaign, and it is possible to see some success without the perfect location.

That’s not to say, though, that location doesn’t still matter a little. Unless you plan to operate entirely online, your physical space still matters a considerable amount. After all, renting or buying a commercial space is one of the most colossal expenses you’re likely to face. And, you need to ensure it pays off by picking the right place to set up.

But, how can you tell whether your location is helping or harming your enterprise? In truth, this isn’t always obvious from the onset. It may be that your company’s struggling and you don’t know why. Or, you may just not be doing as well as you had hoped. It might even be that your competitors are outstripping you every which way. This may not seem like the end of the world, but it’s enough to put any company in the ground if they aren’t vigilant.

If you have a suspicion that your space is standing in the way of success, it’s crucial you take action. To help you decide whether this applies, we’re going to look at some sure signs your location is causing you harm.

You don’t get much footfall

Perhaps the most obvious sign of trouble is a lack of footfall. There is now a focus on online sales. But, as can be seen from sites like www.timetrade.com, the reality is that 85% of consumers still choose to shop in physical stores. So, the number of customers you get coming in should still matter. What’s more, online selling relies somewhat on customers seeking you out. By comparison, physical stores in prime locations increase your chances of attracting customers. They may go on to shop online in the future, but your store and branding worked to hook that lead. When you think about it like that, a lack of footfall in your store is more of an issue than you might have considered before. Not to mention the fact this could soon lead to your losing money on that space. And, losing money is never something you want in the business world.

While branding and window displays also have an impact here, location also comes into play. An out of the way shop is never going to pull the crowds the way a space in the center of town will. Admittedly, property prices always reflect this. It may be that you chose this space in the first place because you couldn’t afford anything more central. In that case, though, it’s well worth thinking about gaining financial support for the cause. This might be difficult given your struggles at this stage, but turning to something like the the equity financing found at www.equifyllc.com/equifyfinancial could be the answer. This way, you can take out a loan on the equipment you currently have, regardless of your finances. This may seem like a risk, but your new location is sure to boost your profits enough to pay the difference. One thing’s sure; you won’t last long without taking action.

You’re close to a booming competitor

Of course, merely moving to any prime location isn’t the answer to all your troubles. It may be that your central location is too close for comfort to a successful competitor. If they were in place first, you’re sure to struggle to find success here. After all, customers have to choose between the two of you. And, the other company was established first. As such, it’s unlikely you’ll win this battle. Admittedly, it is sometimes possible to learn from close proximity to competitors. It may be that you fuel each other to be the best you can. But, ultimately, a location like this won’t work. No matter how much you improve or attempt to outshine the other company, you came second. And, customers won’t forget that. Don’t get confused, either, by thinking that you can do what big companies do. Often, retail giants set up stores purposefully close to competitors in attempts to push them out. But, it takes a big reputation and a lot of money to operate that way. What’s more, most big companies know they stand the chance of a significant loss this way. But, they’re in a position to weather the storm. You most definitely are not. So, accept defeat and pack up. Then, look for a location where you have the monopoly on the market.

The community wants you gone

It’s not unusual for businesses to come up against opposition from the community they take root in. Admittedly, this is often only the case for larger companies with unethical practices. You don’t exactly fit into that category. But, it’s possible that the community still opposes your presence. It may be that you’re threatening a company they know and love. Or, it may be that you aren’t local to the area, and they’re worried what your presence means for local businesses. Or, perhaps they oppose having a commercial space in this location at all. Either way, opposition like this means serious complications for your commercial space. Over time, it could even lead to you losing substantial amounts of money. The most obvious risk here is that the local community boycotts you altogether. If that happens, the footfall we spoke about at the start will become a thing of the past, no matter how good your location. In extreme cases, local protests may even turn customers further afield against you. And, that has the potential to trickle into your online sales, too. If that happens, your company won’t be long for this world. It is sometimes possible to integrate yourself into the community and overcome opposition. If you manage that, you’ll become a cherished part of the community. But, if you’re taking a real hit because of that opposition, it might be best to move elsewhere.

Your staff have a hard time getting to you

It’s also worth noting that your location has a standing when it comes to your employees, as well. After all, these are the people who have to head to the space each day of their lives. And, if your location isn’t easy to reach, it could do more damage than you realize. And, given employee happiness is crucial for every aspect of what you do, that should be an instant warning sign. After all, long commutes can do real damage over time. As well as facing health risks, those who travel far to work report decreased feelings of happiness and wellbeing. And, that should come as no surprise, given that they’re adding an extra 40 minutes or so of unpaid time each day. Obviously, you can’t uproot your whole location for one employee with a long commute. But if every member of your team has to hit the road for long stretches each day, a relocation could be beneficial. After all, these are the people who drive your sales. You need them happy!

There’s no call for your services

Your issues here may come down to the fact that there’s no call for your services in your chosen area. This happens more than you realize, and it’s crucial to recognize before you lose too much money. In most cases, you should do market research into an area before moving. As such, you can hope that this wouldn’t happen. But, even the best business people out there misjudge the market sometimes. And, the best thing you can do in that case is to admit the mistake and move on. It may be that you thought there was a market for your butchers, for instance, but the area’s vastly vegetarian. Or, it might be you thought your trendy clothes store would fit in, but the clientele is older than you anticipated. These are just two scenarios in a long list of reasons for failure here. To make sure you don’t fall foul, do regular research into the local area. Hit the streets and talk to people about what they look for in a company. If you always fall short, it might be best to move on. And, make sure you do thorough research next time, to ensure the same doesn’t happen again!

Most businesses get to the point every now and then of having to cut costs. In fact, you could say that this is something that businesses should do whenever possible. For a lot of companies, it is an ongoing difficulty. For others, it might only be an occasional concern. Either way, it is hugely helpful if you as the owner of the business are able to know how to best cut costs in your own company. This is one of those things that does vary quite dramatically from company to company, so there is no telling exactly what is best for your business. However, there are some choice ways of cutting costs which are always worth looking at and considering, no matter what state your business might be in, be sure you look at how to make a paystub if you are a business owner.

Go Wholesale

For certain items, you will find that buying in bulk and direct from supplier is going to be a lot cheaper, and therefore a better option for your business in the long run. A good example is anything that you know you are going to use a lot in the future, no matter what. This might mean turning to the likes of Gas Oil Fuelbox for your fuel, or even something as simple as ensuring that you buy your stationery from the supply direct. No matter how big or small the product, if it is something you are definitely going to use then you should consider going wholesale as often as you can. What’s more, you might as well, as you are always going to need them at some point anyway. Make sure to only do this for things where you know you will use them at some point down the line, otherwise buying wholesale might not actually be the best bet. But for anything administrative, you can basically be certain that this is the way to go.

Be Green

Something that works double well is to consider going green in your business. This works because it usually means you are going to have to take cost-cutting measures automatically – but it also improves your standing with the general public and with your own customers. Clearly, this is beneficial in more ways than one, and it is something that all business owners should think about long and hard if they are to save as much money in their business as they would truly like to. Consider this for a great future in your business.

Consider The Options

No matter what decision you are making in business, there are always a huge number of options available. You need to make sure that you are always considering these well if you want to save money, as it is only by doing so that you will ever run into the best cost-cutting methods out there. Remember this at every turn, and it will mean that your business can expect a much brighter financial future, no matter what. This is easier than you might think to do, so make sure that you consider it from now on with every decision.

Designing a product is never as simple as making some drawings and putting the pieces together. With strict testing law making it hard to release quickly, impatient customers giving you a hard time, and all of the other components taking your focus, it can be easy to ignore something very important, like packaging. This part of a product is one of the most critical, though, and it will be essential that you put some time into making it work for your customers.

Protection is essential when your goods are going to be transported in trucks, vans, and on boats and planes. Without this are covered, a large portion of your goods will arrive at your customer’s doors damaged, resulting in loads of returns, along with a drop in confidence surrounding your product. There are a couple of parts of this for most products, and you can find the basic information you’ll need below.

• The Box: Cardboard boxes and cardboard shipping tubes come in loads of different thicknesses and strengths, and this gives you loads of variety to choose from when you’re working on this. Thick-walled options are the best, with some featuring reinforcement, and others using materials like metal to keep them together.

• The Padding: When you’re choosing your box, it’s likely that the size will be designed to be as little as possible, making it cheaper to move the goods. There has to be room for some foam inserts, though, and you have to be careful to choose the right stuff. Closed-cell foam is great for anything fragile, as it won’t be ruined with the first impact it has to ensure.

You won’t find many pieces of packaging on the shelves of your local store which don’t have clever designs and eye-catching graphics. To achieve this, there are a couple of areas to consider, and it will be important that you get them both right, or you may struggle to create packaging which people will recognise and want to buy.

• The Graphics: Most people don’t have the skills to make logos, labels, and other digital designs. Instead, it’s best to find a graphic designer with a strong portfolio to help your company. This sort of resource will enable you create packaging which people will never forget.

• The Labels: Getting labels printed for your packaging can be done through a couple of routes. Buying blank waterproof labels and a printer will be very cheap. But, if you want the best results, it will be a good idea to have a dedicated company to print your labels out for you.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into your company’s packaging. There are loads of products on the market which will never succeed thanks to the poor work which has been done on the boxes to contain them. It never has to be this way, though, as there are loads of options around the web in the form of services that provide custom product packaging, which should be all the support you need even if you have no experience. And to help you with product packaging, you may want to buy turntable wrapping equipment.

In this article, we are thinking specifically about those working in the food business. To succeed in this industry, you have to do more than build and open your own business premises and expect people to step through your front door to see what you have on offer. You have to market yourself, getting the word out, and finding ways to show the hungry public what you have to feed them. Now, there are all kinds of ways to market your business, but it can be costly. One way to reduce costs is to leverage social media, using the best of what the internet has to offer you to put your business at the forefront of people’s minds. We will give you a few basic social media tips here, before going to on to discuss how you can utilise specific networking sites to your advantage.

Basic social media tips

• Define your target audience and consider which social media sites they will be using.

• Join social media groups, such as anything food-related, and without being too heavy on the sales pitch at first, begin to talk about your business.

• Direct interested parties back to your website from your social media accounts.

• Include social media buttons on your website, where happy customers can share a link to your business across their networks.

• Set up specific social media pages where you can share news about your business. Let people know of new recipes, highlight special events you are hosting, and share pictures of the glorious food you have on offer.

• You don’t have to use every social media site unless you have the time. Focus on two or three, concentrating your efforts on becoming part of specific communities, and perfecting your sales pitch on each.

Popular social media sites and how to use them

• Facebook. You probably have a personal account set up already, but you can use this popular networking site in a number of ways. For starters, set up a group associated with your food business, and post updates regularly with anything of interest to your customers. This can include pictures of the latest recipes you have produced or fun facts associated with anything in your industry. You can also encourage your customers to promote your business across their networks with their positive word-of-mouth. You may also consider paying for Facebook Ads to further spread word about your business.

• YouTube. Through the use of video, showcase your business in a number of ways. As one example, you could give cooking tutorials and lessons on how to use specific pieces of catering equipment. You might also invite YouTube celebrities into your establishment, to get them to promote your business on their video channels. You could do other things, such as having a behind the scenes tour of your premises, or showing happy customers (provided you have permission) enjoying the meals you have prepared. They might also leave video reviews for you.

• Pinterest. Possibly the most popular photo-sharing social media platform of them all. Here, you can perfectly capture your food in this visual format, perhaps setting up themed pin boards to display the delicious varieties you have to offer. You can then get your friends, family, and customers to follow your pins, and to encourage their networks to do the same. Alternatively, you might also utilise Instagram in the same way, another great platform to share pics associated with your business.

Social media is free marketing, so there is no excuse not to use at least one of the social platforms available. Considering social media is where many of your customers will be spending their time anyway, it is common sense to stay in touch with this popular trend.

As a leader, it’s super important that you are able to build trust in your team and it’s also super important that you are able to help them to work with one another as well. If you aren’t quite sure how you are going to do that then you can find out some useful hints and tips below.

Lead by Example

If you want to try and build trust with your team then you need to lead by setting a good example. You need to show people that you do trust the members of your team so that they are able to do it as well. Never forget that your team are always looking to you for cues and that they are always watching to see how you act, and react as well. It’s important that you take the time to trust in them and that you are able to set them a task without micromanaging them.

Make Sure that your Communication is Open

Having a good level of open communication really is essential if you want to try and build trust. You need to get everyone on the team talking to each other in a way that is meaningful. You can use a couple of strategies to try and help you with this, but first you need to try and define the purpose of the team while also giving each person a role. It’s super important that you encourage each team member to ask the questions that they need to know as well so that everyone knows where everyone stands.

Get to Know Each Other

One way for you to try and build trust is to really get to know the people who you want to work with. You need to try and see the colleagues as people and when you get to know them you can really help to create situations that will help everyone. You need to do this by asking people about their hobbies, their family, what they like to do at the end of the day and more. When you know someone personally, it is much easier for you to be able to trust them and it is also much easier for you to really make your team a solid unit.

Team Building

Team building is aptly named, and it can really help you to establish yourself and your unit as a single force. Cluego treasure hunts are one way for you to do this and you would be surprised at how easy it is for you to arrange a fun activity that everyone can enjoy. This can help your team to get to know each other and it can also help them to let their guard down as well. When the team go back to work the next day, you will probably see a huge improvement and this can make a world of difference to both them and you.

So as you can see, there are so many ways that you can encourage your team to work as one, and it’s very easy for you to get a good result out of their efforts as well.

No business is perfect, and you will have to try and do your best to ensure you are able to maximize your profits and minimize your costs. However, it is also crucial that you pay attention to the risks and address them before they cause financial loss and reputation damage. Below you will find a list of things you should focus on if you would like to make mistakes that can cost you thousands and threaten the very existence of your business.

1. Low Employee Satisfaction

It is important that you keep your employees happy, or they will be more likely to leave you, and your human resource costs will increase. If you cannot keep your staff retention rates high, you should look through your policies and try to align your values and priorities with your employees’. Happy employees are more productive and more likely to represent your brand in a way you would expect them to. If you want to build a great team of employees, you may work with an agency that offers  job searching services.

2. IT Security Issues and Data Loss

Losing your customer data and allowing unauthorized people to access confidential information can cost you more than you would think. First, you will have to spend money and resources trying to recover the information. Second, you will be fined for not complying with data protection regulations. Finally, once your customers find out about your problems, you can lose their trust, and it will take a long time to recover from reputation damage caused by IT security issues. You should get in touch with local IT services  providers to have your security updated and your data regularly backed up.

3. Poor Customer Service

You can’t afford to lose customers due to the lack of care provided by your employees. In today’s competitive marketplace, it is important that you provide value all the way. Give your employees the tools and training they need to deliver exceptional service every time, and you will see how much easier it is to make money when you have loyal customers than trying to get new ones. At the same time, unhappy customers are more likely to tell others about their experienced than those who are satisfied with the service, and negative reviews can hurt your business.

4. Not Having a Contingency Plan

No matter how careful you are, disaster might happen. Having a Plan B and Plan C in your business is important if you want to survive tribulations. Talk to a business consultant and business process analyst to get help with drawing up your contingency plan. To reduce downtime and put measures in place in case your machinery breaks down or there is an electrical fault at your premises, you have to create a carefully designed backup plan. Having the right insurance solutions is also vital in protecting your business in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

Disaster, bad planning, and the lack of contingency plans can damage your business and reduce your profits. Focus on continuous improvement, but be prepared for things going wrong, and have a detailed plan for every situation to maintain the continuity in your business. Carrying out a risk assessment can save you money and resources as well.

Learning from others is how we learn most things in life. While it can feel like an absolute triumph to learn something ourselves, often our most complete victories are those in which we are taught by someone else. After all, error teaches brutally, while foresight teaches with care. However, it’s not just written or taught instruction that can help us understand new skills, mistakes to avoid and places to look for more knowledge. Sometimes, and often, the actions of people around us all contributes to our guidance. The wise person learns from other people’s actions. You might choose to learn from the following place.

Learn From Your Staff

It might not be that your staff are as technically proficient in the matters of your industry as you are, but you can still learn from them. For example, let’s say you own a restaurant and you’re treating a young person to an internship to become a chef. It might be that you learn from them once more a revitalized and fresh love for food, or the punctuality they possess, or how to always be polite no matter who you talk to. Also, you should also pay close attention to the structure of the restaurant business you are going to put up. You may visit sites like https://bmarkostructures.com/modular-restaurants/ to see more restaurant building options. You should also take note of the kitchen hoods of your restaurant. Make sure to contact commercial kitchen hood cleaners at least once a month to ensure cleanliness. In addition, make sure to go the extra mile and ensure that food trays and containers are well inspected and cleaned, especially when dealing with food-grade containers. Make sure as well to cover these food containers with ldpe sheets for a more secure and safe food storage protection. You may also consider using food-safe 5 Gallon Plastic Pail. Even simple lessons can be lost, especially if we haven’t exercised them in a while. Methods like this help our hidden inner knowledge come out and stay present in our actions. This can be tremendously beneficial for the most part.

Learn From Public Figures

Public figures are often the most storied and their mistakes are the most public to see. This might be through simply sampling the creative output they have, reading their business case studies, or becoming aware of high profile legal cases. All of these things contribute to the overall attitudes that a business might bring to the table, and this is very much worth knowing. For example, learning management mistakes in the higher echelons of the business world can not only help you adapt to those and prevent them from happening in your own firm, but give your peace of mind that even the most ‘successful’ have had to learn the hard way.

Learn From Your Elders

While it might not seem the most important or appropriate based on the task you have at hand, learning from your elders can work massively. This might be being instructed on the value of a business handshake by your grandfather, or seeing that in first hand. It might be seeing the value of eye contact, face to face communication and a willingness to air out grievances before they become too public. Learning from these habits can give you that old school sensibility that does seem lacking from the business etiquette of today. Learn from your elders, they often have plenty to teach you.

With this mindset you are much more certain to operate in a healthy manner, taking the attitudes, ideas and experiences from those around you and incorporating them into your daily grind. After all, we only have one life with many personal and business mistakes to make. With the willingness to listen, you can avoid many of them.

If you don’t have a lot of experience in SEO or if you own a business and you want to start achieving bigger and better results then there are a couple of things that you can do about this. The first thing that you need to do is know how you are currently hurting your SEO, so you can then make the changes you need to really go that extra mile. Deploying a white hat SEO strategy would be able to counteract that because it will yield positive results.

Content Issues

It is very difficult to try and get customers to visit your website page. When they do visit this website, it is your job to try and keep them there. Customers are always looking to try and find out information, and if your site is not able to provide it then they will quickly go to another site. Quality content really is rewarded and if you don’t put the time or effort required into your text then Google will punish you for it. If you want to get around this then take a look through your site, are you only offering information that is on a surface level? Can your customer easily find out what they need to know on another website? If so then you need to go through your site and make the whole thing much more informative, as this will really help your business.

Linking Issues

Google really does take notice if you plan out your site around spam links. It also takes notice if you take the time with your links and make sure that they are all great and high in quality- so this is an important concept that you need to understand. linkbuilding really is a huge part of content creation and it will help you to get your site ranked. If you are finding it hard to get the links that you need organically then don’t worry, there are plenty of SEO providers out there that can help you, like Herdl for example.

SEO Penalties

This is quite possibly one of the most overlooked aspects of SEO. If your site is very difficult for your customer to navigate or if they can’t find what they need on your site then you won’t be providing them with a good experience. Look out for things such as a low word count, missing H1 tags or even poor images. Your site ranking really does depend on how useful your site is and if your site loads up very slowly then this is not a good sign. You need to strike the fine balance between having great and valuable content, with a speedy site. If you have too much content, your site will slow down and if you have too little then your site won’t be providing value.  For more on marketing services you should check now this blog post with a Comprehensive Guide To Contractor Marketing.

One way for you to get around this would be for you to try and research your competition so that

you can find out how much content they have and what they are providing to their customers. This is one of the best ways for you to plan out your own site and it can also help to give you some ideas as well.

In any article you post to your site, the first mention of the keyword matters the most, and then any subsequent keywords count for less and less towards your ranking. The drop off in the importance of following keywords is steep, so there really is no reason to keyword stuff for the purposes of SEO anymore.

Mistake #2: Having A Bunch Of Broken Links

Let’s suppose that you’ve written a beautiful, well-researched article with a bunch of links to your sources for the benefit of your readers. They’re merrily reading through your article when they stumble across a link reading “click here to look ten years younger.” Of course, half of the people reading the post will click to find out more.

The problem, however, is when that link is broken and the page on the other end fails to load. It’s annoying for your readers, and Google doesn’t like it either. In fact, Google will punish websites with lots of broken links to it’s a good idea to make sure that they are all in working order, learn about How to link buy.

Mistake #3: Cut And Paste Jobs

At school and university, plagiarism is a “crime.” Copying the work of another (or even yourself) was bad.

On the internet, Google takes a similar view. It doesn’t like copied content and will punish websites that it thinks are just reproducing content from authority sources. Needless to say, cut and paste jobs don’t work.

Your employees are the backbone of your business. Without them, you would not have a company. It is, therefore, vital that you invest in employee retention. You need to make sure that your employees are happy working for your business so that they do not go looking for work elsewhere. But, how can you make sure that this is the case? There are many things you can do and facilitate for them, such as access to a workers’ compensation attorney or other services they might find a use or need for. Read on to discover more examples such as these, which have been proven to be effective employee retention solutions…

It all starts with a simple ‘thank you’ – There is only one place to begin, and this by showing your employees that you appreciate all of the hard work they put in. saying thank you can make a bigger difference than you realise. It is also important to make sure you are not the type of boss that only gives feedback when it is negative. You should praise your employees when they do good work too.

Organise fun events and team bonding exercises – Corporate away days are a must. They show your employees that you appreciate them, and they give everyone a good chance to get to know one and other out of the business environment. This will do more for your business than you may realise. Not only will it make your employees more happy and satisfied, but also it will lead to increased quality and productivity due to the team-bonding element. If this is something you are yet to try, why not go all out with VIP Wimbledon hospitality or tickets to another big sporting event? You will give your workers a day to remember for the rest of their lives, and they will repay you with their loyalty.

Training opportunities – One of the main reasons why employees end up leaving their job and going elsewhere is because of a lack of opportunity. They feel like they are in a dead end job and that there is no room for progression. This is something you can easily fix by offering training opportunities to your employees. Plus, not only will this benefit your workforce, but it will benefit your business too. After all, what’s not to like about your employees bettering and furthering their skills?

Talk to your employees – Last but not least, the only way you are going to better your business in the eyes of your workers is if you actually talk to them. Find out what they do and do not like about working for your company. Do not take criticism personally. It is an opportunity to better your business and to improve your retention rates. However, sometimes your employees may not be able to personally tell you their honest feedback. This is why having an employee feedback software is beneficial for both the management and the employees. It is better that management have a personal connection with employees directly to hear their complaints than facing their workers compensation lawyer.

So there you have it: four effective ways you can improve employee retention rates. Follow the advice that has been provided above and you should notice a significant difference.